House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

Photo by christineredgate

Description

Very common and higly adaptable. Male has a grey crown, bold black bib with white cheeks. The male's bib is most prominent in the breeding season, and his bill changes colour from horn coloured to black. Female duller without males head pattern, though the female has a cream eyestripe which is lacking in the male

In both sexes the back is brown and heavily streaked.

Habitats

Heavily associated with humans, found in city to remote rural farms.
"Wherever people build, sooner or later House Sparrows come to share their abodes."

Breeding

Often uses holes in buildngs or other structures, though house sparrows will also breed in thick ivy and natural structures.
In the UK the breeding season is from April to August; in the Northern Hemisphere the start varies with latitude - starting in mid-March at 30N and starting May at 60 degrees North. In the UK there are typically three clutches of four eggs over the breeding season, incubated for about 12 days. After hatching the nestlings fledge in approximately two weeks, though they are still dependent on their parents for food. (ref: The House Sparrow, JD Summers-Smith 1963)

Food

Chiefly grain, but will eat nuts and household scraps
Sparrows require insects during the breeding season to feed their nestlings, and it is thought that the recent decline in Northern European urban areas, particularly London is connected with a dearth of insect food for the young. Seven out of ten London sparrows were lost in the six years before the millenium, and the House Sparrow in now on the UK red list of endangered species [ref] DEFRA (UK) House Sparrow decline PDF

Identification

L 14 to 16 cm. Breeds in proximity of man both in rural and in urban areas. Is therefore well known, and often thought of as the most numerous bird, which is far from the case (commonest in Britain are Wren and Chaffinch). Resident. Social, even when breeding, and usually occurs in dense flocks. Nests under roof tiles, in air duct, recess, sometimes in tree. Hybridizes with Spanish Sparrow.

Bird Song

The sound of the House Sparrow has been described by some as a monotonous chirping. The writer of that field guide entry did not listen to them carefully enough, the sparrow has a much wider range of vocalisations than is generally credited.
Here are some sounds - (sounds with house-sparrows.com in the Artist field are licensed exclusively to Birdforum and may not be used elsewhere without permission of the recordist)

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A flock of about 200 sparrows, recorded at Titchwell bird reserve, Norfolk

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This is the classic sparrow chirp, often heard at length (up to half an hour!) in the Spring from an unmated male at the nest site trying to attract a female; although most persistent at that time the chirp can be heard from either sex all year round though for much shorter periods. Observation seems to indicate that as well as the breeding period usage of attracting a mate this call is also used to keep the flock aware of where other individuals are. A lone sparrow arriving may start up a chirp which attracts other sparrows. There is another variant of this, which has a disyllabic chirr-up, giving rise to an old English name for the house sparrow, "Phyllip sparrow" where the "phyll-ip" is onomatopoeic It is the loudest vocalisation of this bird.

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This 'chattering' sound is common where there are sparrows in proximity. Although it is hard to avoid an anthropomorphic association with angry scolding, observation shows this sound can also be uttered by an individual on discovering a new food source, and may therefore also simply draw attention. It is also used to warn of ground predators

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Low level churrs. Though the house sparrow is a common bird not many people have heard this sound because it is emitted at a fairly low level. This was recorded about six inches from sparrows feeding at a confined location (squirrelproof mealworm feeder) and seemed to enable the sparrows to feed in a closer proximitiy to each other (< 1 inch) than even this social bird normally permits.

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Listen in an external program

Issues and conservation status

In Northern Europe there has been a steep decline in House Sparrows particularly in urban areas, which is leading to conservation concern (the species is on the UK Red List) especially because the cause has not been clearly identified.

The introduction of the house sparrow to the United States around 1850 was not good for some of the native US birds that occupied the ecological niche that the house sparrow occupied in its native Europe, particularly the Purple Martin and Bluebird.

Relationship with Humans

As its name indicates, the House Sparrow has formed a close relationship with Humans, taking advantage of our buildings for nest sites and our wasteful habits for an easy meal. The relationship is an uneasy one - though in the Old World the sparrow is often looked upon with fondness by modern Humans it was not always so and the bird is still very wary of us, even though it chooses to live close. In the past the house sparrow has been an agricultural pest, feeding on grain and contaminating grain stores.

Though the city has lost the majority of its house sparrows, Londoners did have a particular fondness for the cheeky 'cockney sparrow', identifying with the bird's enterprising and opportunistic nature. Denis Summers-Smith describes how Londoners used to feed flocks of sparrows by hand in the Royal parks in the 1950s and 1960s - nowadays you yould be hard pressed to 'twitch' a single sparrow in the Central London parks. Not all Northern European cities have lost their sparrows - Paris has retained its sparrows though even there a decline is observed, but tourists keep the large flock at Notre Dame in good strength. The relationship of the House sparrow with Humans in the United States appears to be generally hostile - at least from Humans, where it is resented for its displacement of some charismatic native hole nesting species.

External Links

• View more images of House Sparrow in the gallery
• BTO House Sparrow Information sheet
• RSPB House Sparrow page
• Kate Vincent House sparrow decline PhD thesis Kate Vincent studied potential reasons for the decline between 2000 and 2005 part sponsored by the RSPB and English Nature.