Lost species of Sparrows ( maybe ) (1 Viewer)

Hi my name is Tom i am from London ,i have only today joined your forum
i live currently in amsterdam netherlands,.... i have a curious question of which maybe some one could help me on,,, that is a long time ago in the late 1980s i visited some friends in the north of germany , and i was suprised to find that a species of sparrow of which i found so interesting were just the same as our common house sparrow only difference being that they had a spiked form of feather which protruded from the top of there heads ,
They were locally called THE KAISER SPATZE or Kaiser sparrow for pretty obvious reasons
Now i was back in northern germany recently and theres not a sparrow to be SEEN !!! neither house or kaiser sparrow
i would be very happy to know what has happened ,to these lovely Birds ???

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum

We're glad you found us and thanks for taking a moment to say hello. Please join in wherever you like
I hope you get some answers to your thoughts.

 

[Xenospiza]

They must have been Crested Larks, which used to be common in towns.
They have completely disappeared from northern Germany: now they only occur in a small area in the southwest and in eastern Germany.
I cannot find the name you heard (the official name is "Haubenlerche"), but it makes sense!