House sparrow

Passer domesticus

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Common name:
house sparrow (en); pardal-doméstico (pt); moineau domestique (fr); gorrión común (es); haussperling (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Passeridae

Range:
The house sparrow originates from Eurasia and northern Africa, but has been introduced to most of the world. It is only absent from northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, central Africa between the Sahara desert and D.R. Congo, western Australia, southern China and south-east Asia and north-eastern Russia. It is also absent from Antarctica.

Size:
These birds are 14-17 cm long and have a wingspan of 19-25 cm. They weigh 25-32 g.

Habitat:
The house sparrow is closely associated with human settlements and buildings, from the largest urban areas to human structures in remote rural areas. It can also be found in a wide range of habitats, including arable and irrigated land, pastures, rural gardens, temperate and tropical forests, grasslands, scrublands and wetlands, but always near human dwellings. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 4.500 m.

Diet:
They mainly eat grains and seeds, including corn, oats, wheat, rice and sorghum, as well as the seeds of wild grasses, but also rely heavily on food discarded by humans and livestock feed. They also hunt some insects, especially when feeding their young.

Breeding:
House sparrow can breed all year round, varying between different parts of their worldwide range. They usually breed in small colonies, each pair nesting in a hole in a building or other human structure, filled with coarse dry vegetation and lined with feather and artificial materials such as paper and string. The female lays 1-10 white, bluish-white, or greenish-white eggs with brown or grey spots, which she mostly incubates alone for 10-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 12-16 days after hatching, only becoming fully independent 2 weeks later. Each pair can raise up to 4 broods per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and a global population estimated at over 540 million individuals. In Europe the population has declined at a moderate rate in recent decades.

Rock sparrow

Petronia petronia

Photo by Ray Wilson (Ray Wilson's Bird & Wildlife Photography)

Common name:
rock sparrow (en); pardal francês (pt); moineau soulcie (fr); gorrión chillón (es); steinsperling (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Passeridae

Range:
The rock sparrow is found around the Mediterranean, in southern Europe and northern Africa, and eastwards through the Middle East and the Caucasus, through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and into northern China and Mongolia.

Size:
These birds are 14-17 cm long and have a wingspan of 16-17 cm. They weigh 26-39 g.

Habitat:
Rock sparrows are found in rocky areas, dry grasslands and woodlands and rural gardens.

Diet:
They mainly feed on seeds, berries and fruits, but during summer these are complemented with insects, especially grasshoppers and caterpillars.

Breeding:
Rock sparrows breed in April-July. They nest in is a hole or cavity in rocks, earth bank, tree, building or other structure, commonly in old, or sometimes usurped nests of other species, particularly bee-eaters but also nuthatches, swallows and martins, and even in rodent burrows. There the female lays 4-8 white eggs with brown or blackish spots. The eggs are incubated by the female for 11-15 days, while the male provides her food. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 16-22 days after hatching. Each pair may raise 2 clutches per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 20-220 million individuals. In Europe, the population is increasing moderately, but the trend in Africa and Asia is unknown.