House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family PASSERIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The Sparrow to many, the House Sparrow was introduced into North America from its native Europe in the 1850s. It successfully spread across the continent, and is abundant in urban and agricultural habitats. Although it is found in many remote places, it nearly always stays near people and their buildings.

Cool Facts

• The House Sparrow was introduced into Brooklyn, New York, in 1851. By 1900 it had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Its spread throughout the West was aided by additional introductions in San Francisco, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

• The House Sparrow has been present in North America long enough for evolution to have influenced their morphology. Populations in the north are larger than those in the south, as is generally true for native species (a relationship known as Bergman's Rule).

• Although not a water bird, the House Sparrow can swim if it needs to, such as to escape a predator. Sparrows caught in a trap over a water dish tried to escape by diving into the water and swimming underwater from one part of the trap to another.

• The House Sparrow is a frequent dust bather. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water.

Description

• Size: 14-16 cm (6-6 in)
• Wingspan: 19-25 cm (7-10 in)
• Weight: 26-32 g (0.92-1.13 ounces)

• Small, stocky songbird.
• Bill thick.
• Legs short.
• Chest unstreaked.
• Wingbars.
• Male with black throat and white cheeks.

• Back brown with black streaking.

Sex Differences

Male with reddish back and black bib, female brown with eyestripe.

Male

White cheeks. Black throat and chest. Back of head chestnut, extending to eye. Gray cap. Bill black. Broad, white upper wingbar. Back feathers edged with chestnut. Underparts whitish gray. In winter, the black bib is hidden by pale tips to the breast feathers that eventually wear off and reveal the black.

Female

Dingy brown all over. Unstriped gray brown chest and underparts. Large pale yellowish eyestripe. Black and straw-colored stripes on back. Bill yellowish. Eyes black. Crown plain gray brown.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult female.

Similar Species

• Although the female House Sparrow looks much like the American sparrows, her stocky build, short tail, plain brown crown and straw yellow-colored eyestripe distinguish her.
• The female Dickcissel closely resembles the female House Sparrow, but its bill is longer and thinner, and it often has a tinge of real yellow in the eyestripe, behind the bill, and on the chest.
• Harris's Sparrow has a black bib and chest, but it lacks the chestnut on the back of the head and the gray crown.
• Chickadees have white cheeks and black bibs, but they lack the chestnut head and gray crown, are much slimmer birds, and often hang upside down to get food.

Sound

Calls a slightly metallic "cheep, chirrup." Song a series of cheeps.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Resident from northern British Columbia to Labrador, and across Canada and the United States southward into Mexico and Central America. Native to Eurasia. Introduced into Hawaii, South America, southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Habitat

Found in human modified habitats: farms, residential, and urban areas.

Food

Seeds, especially waste grain and livestock feed. Also weed seeds and insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages primarily on ground.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a ball of dried vegetation, feathers, string, and paper, with opening on side. Placed in cavity, on building, or in tree. Nests in small colonies.

Egg Description

Color: Whitish with gray or brown spots.

Egg size: 21.3-21.6 mm x 15.2-15.5 mm.
(0.84-0.85 in x 0.61-0.60 in)

Incubation period: 11 days.

Clutch Size

Usually 4-5 eggs. Range: 1-8.

Condition at Hatching

Naked and helpless.
Chicks fledge in 14 days.

Conservation Status

Competition from the House Sparrow for cavity nests can cause decline of some native species. House Sparrow populations declining across most of range. You can help scientists learn more about this species by participating in the Celebrate Urban Birds! project.

Other Names

Moineau domestique (French)
Gorrión domestico, Gorrión común (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Lowther, P. E. and C. L. Cink. 1992. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). In The Birds of North America, No. 12 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.