Noise Could Be Killing Baby House Sparrows

Urban noise could be the culprit in the deaths of baby house sparrows in the UK, says a new study in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE. Researchers from the University of Sheffield have found that noise could be preventing adult birds from hearing their offspring’s hunger calls.

Julia Schroeder, the co-author of the paper (Passerine Birds Breeding under Chronic Noise Experience Reduced Fitness), and other scientists carried out their research on Lundy, a 1,100 acre island that is about 12 miles (19 km) off the North Devon coast. As she tells the BBC, she was struck by the silence on the island and then the noise when she stepped into a barn containing an electricity generator which was quite loud.