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The house sparrow (scientific name: passer domesticus) is a small bird seen all year round. Male house sparrows have a streaky brown colour along their top with grey underneath. Their heads also usually have bright black and white colours. Females are more consistently brown. Tree sparrows look incredibly similar to males, however are distinguishable by spots on their cheeks. They often get mixed up with dunnocks but there are slight differences.
House sparrows are commonly found in all areas of the UK. They are frequently seen utilising bird feeders in peoples’ gardens. As they closely follow the habits of people, they can also be seen in any kind of human environments such as city centres, woodland and any urban and rural setting.
Whilst they follow human habitation, they will generally avoid interaction with them, so it can be hard to miss them. They will seek out buds, grains, nuts and seeds of weeds, with garden feeders the best source of these. Although, if their preferred food is hard to come by, they will become much more opportunistic and scavenge insects and food scraps.
Despite being seemingly native to the UK and most of Europe, they are actually native to the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions. House sparrows are particularly sighted around the Mediterranean and are a common site throughout Asia. They have also been introduced to other areas of the world, most commonly in America.
The house sparrow was originally introduced to Brooklyn, New York in 1851. Fifty years later it had reached the expansive Rocky Mountains. After more introductions in Salt Lake City and San Francisco, the house sparrow became prevalent on the west coast. Nowadays, you can see them everywhere except for northern Canada and Alaska.
When it comes to breeding, house sparrows form monogamous pairs. Between February and May, nests are built on trees or in whichever space the sparrow can find, such as in between crevices on buildings or roofs. They pull together dead vegetation, litter, feathers, cotton wool buds and any other soft item and form a nest.
Five babies are usually hatched, although this can generally vary between one and eight. The eggs are then incubated for up to a fortnight with both males and females taking turns. Once born, they only live for an average of several years. They are particularly at risk from hawks, owls falcons, raccoons, cats and dogs.
The IUCN Red List categorises house sparrows as being of the least concern, with approximately 5.3 million breeding pairs in the UK. Nonetheless, they continue to be monitored due to their very slowly declining population. This is in part due to a drop in standards of their habitats, although their population numbers are so vast it would take significant changes to affect the levels.
There are 12 species of house sparrows in total, divided into two groups: the Oriental P. d. indicus group, which covers southeast Asa, and the Palaearctic P. d. domesticus group, covering Europe.
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