House Sparrow

With a population of more than one million couples, the house sparrow is one of the most numerous types of bird in Europe, Northern Africa and Northern Asia. You can easily spot the males by their dark grey crown, chestnut brown neck, black chin and throat spots and white cheeks. The female is a duller shade of brown than the male and does not have the grey crown or black throat.

House sparrows stay near the nest throughout the year, in winter they sleep in it, too. The house sparrows’ messy nests are built with grass and straw, and lined with feathers. It is usually built under roofs or in cracks in walls. The breeding season is from April to August: a couple will annually rear eight to ten chicks. The chicks appear after 11 to 14 days and are able to fly within a fortnight.

The house sparrow moves by jumping, looks for food in large flocks and regularly takes a sand bath. The house sparrow follows humans and lives off them. But they’re useful too since they feed their young with insects. In the autumn these seed feeders can be often seen over cornfields in large flocks where they repeat endlessly: “cheep cheep cheep...”)

The house sparrow has been introduced in Australia and America.