What do they look like?

House Sparrows are a stout, stocky sparrow, with shorter legs and a thicker bill than native American sparrows. Members of both sexes are brown backed with black streaks throughout this area. Their undersides are pale buff. Males have white cheeks and a black bib, while females do not. The tail is usually three-quarters of the length of the wing. Males are slightly larger than females. Wing length is 76 mm and average mass is 28.5 grams.

Where in the world do they live?

House Sparrows are distributed almost worldwide, excluding the polar regions. They are native to the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions and have been introduced to the Nearctic, Neotropical, and Australian regions. Their introduction into North America occured in 1851, when a group of 100 birds from England was released in Brooklyn, New York.

What kind of habitat do they need?

In North America House Sparrows prefer areas that have been modified by humans, including farms, residential areas, and urban areas. They are absent from uninhabited woodlands, deserts, forests, and grasslands.

How do they reproduce?

House Sparrows form monogamous pairs for each breeding season. Nests are built between February and May. House Sparrows nest in crevices inside and on buildings, and in coniferous and deciduous trees. Nests are built from dried vegetation, feathers, strings, and paper. Eggs are layed at any time in the nesting period. One to eight eggs can be present in a clutch, though there are usually 5, with the possiblity of four clutches per nesting season. Both males and females incubate the eggs for short periods of a few minutes each. Incubation lasts for 10 to 14 days. After the eggs are hatched, both males and females feed the young through regurgitation.

Both males and females incubate eggs and brood young until they have fledged. Both parents also provide their young with food.

How long do they live?

A wild House Sparrow lived to be 13 years and 4 months old, though most will live for only several years.

How do they behave?

House Sparrows tend to forage for food on the ground, using a hopping movement when not in flight. Their flight is direct, with continued flapping and no periods of gliding. House Sparrows aggressively protect a small territory just around their nesting site. This is believed to be strictly a protection of the nest site, and not of any feeding areas. Sparrows have been observed to threaten, and if necessary, attack 70 species of birds that have come into their nesting territory. In these attacks males attack males and females attack only females. House Sparrows are gregarious and active during the day. In North America there may be some local movements in response to weather changes but House Sparrow populations do not migrate extensively.

How do they communicate with each other?

House Sparrows use a set of postures and behaviors to communicate with others of their species. House Sparrows also have a set of vocalizations that are used to attract mates, deter intruders, and warn others.

What do they eat?

House sparrows eat various kinds of seeds supplemented by some insects. Rural birds tend to eat more waste seed from animal dung and seed from fields, while urban birds tend to eat more commercial birdseed, weed seed, and human trash. Studies of the contents of house sparrows' stomachs in Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Vermont have shown approximate amounts of seed to be 60% livestock feed (corn, wheat, oats, etc.), 18% cereals (grains from storage or from fields), 17 % weed seed, and 4% insects.

What eats them and how do they avoid being eaten?

Many hawks and owls hunt and feed on house sparrows. These include Cooper's hawks, merlins, snowy owls, eastern screech owls, and many others. Known predators of nesting young or eggs include cats, domestic dogs, raccoons, and many snakes. House sparrows avoid predation by foraging in small flocks so that there are many eyes watching out for potential predators.

What roles do they have in the ecosystem?

House Sparrows are abundant near human habitations. In these areas they serve as an important prey base for birds of prey and they may have an impact on plant communities because they consume large quantities of seeds.

Do they cause problems?

Because of their preference for human-modified habitats, House Sparrows are considered a nuisance species, an aggressive competitor with native birds, and an agricultural pest. Large aggregations around buildings produce annoying noise and large quantities of feces.

How do they interact with us?

House Sparrows are well-suited for studies of general biological problems, such as the way animals evolve and pest control.

Are they endangered?

When first introduced into the United States in 1851, House Sparrows were protected from predators and fed. The species soon began to prosper in its new setting, and opinion changed to see House Sparrows as a nuisance. Since the 1960's, with the changes in farming to larger, single crop farms, House Sparrow populations have declined. They are not, however, seen as threatened and are not included in most Canadian and U.S. regulations.

Contributors

Jennifer Roof (author), University of Michigan: May, 2001.

References

Lowther, Peter E. and Cink, Calvin L. 1992. The Birds of North America. No. 12. The American Ornithologists' Union.