House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
House Sparrows perform communal 'dust baths,' hollowing out small pits in dry soil to scrub parasites from their plumage.
- Scientific name
- Passer domesticus
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Passeriformes › Passeridae › Passer
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- urban
- Habitat
- Urban centers, suburban gardens, and agricultural lands.
- Diet
- Opportunistic: primarily seeds and grains, but also insects, fruit, and discarded human food scraps.
- Range
- Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia
- Size
- 14-18 cm length; 25-40 g weight
- Lifespan
- 3-5 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Modern building designs reducing nesting cavities, intensive farming, and decline in insect populations.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and highly social. Observe from a distance to watch their complex social hierarchies. Avoid feeding bread, which lacks nutrients; opt for high-quality birdseed or suet. If an injured bird is found, place it in a ventilated box and contact a local wildlife rehabilitator.
The house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. A small bird, it has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer , the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin,...
Photo: Esteban Poveda, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/c0753bf5-ee7b-4ca6-b5c2-7e22eb823778.md