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Photo by prmsantos

Passer simplex

Includes Asian Desert Sparrow or Zarudny's Sparrow

[edit] Identification

Length 13-14 cm. An extremely pale sparrow.

[edit] Distribution

Sahara and deserts of south-central Asia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Passer simplex has three subspecies:¹

• P. s. saharae

• Sahara of south-eastern Morocco to Algeria, southern Tunisia and central Libya. New work shows that this subspecies may be invalid and has to be lumped into simplex.

• P. s. simplex

• Southern Sahara from Mali to northern Niger (Aïr Massif), northern Chad and central Sudan

• P. s. zarudnyi

• Deserts of south-central Asia (eastern Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan)
• Split by Sibley & Monroe² as Asian Desert Sparrow. New scientific work³ supports the split and introduces a new name, Zarudny's Sparrow.

[edit] Habitat

Sandy plains at desert edge; also oases and settlements.

[edit] Behaviour

It builds its nest in muddy walls.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019
2. Sibley, CG and BL Monroe. 1996. Birds of the World, on diskette, Windows version 2.0. Charles G. Sibley, Santa Rosa, CA, USA.
3. Kirwan et al: Taxonomy, identification and status of Desert Sparrows. In Dutch Birding 31: 139-158, 2009.

Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links