As a group, sparrows are mostly seed eaters in the winter, because in the North where cold winters prevail fewer insects are available. They glean seeds from farmer's fields, crabgrass and other lawn weeds, and plants in abandoned lots, meadows and forests.

However, during the summer when insects are abundant, sparrows go after vegetable garden pests such as cabbage loopers, cucumber beetles, cutworms and leafhoppers for themselves and their young. Various sparrows also eat pests of landscape plants such as spruce budworms, grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, leafhoppers, true bugs, ants, wasps, spiders and crickets.
Insects Sparrows Control

Lunch For Sparrows
Ants	Cutworms
Asparagus beetles	Grasshoppers
Cucumber beetles	Leafhoppers
Japanese beetles	Spruce budworm pupae
Mexican bean beetles	True bugs
Other beetles	Caterpillars
Cabbage loopers	Wasps
Crickets	Spiders