General

House Sparrow: Medium-sized, stocky sparrow with black-streaked brown upperparts and pale gray underparts. Wings are brown with single white bar. Cheeks and crown are pale gray, contrasting with black throat, upper breast, and bill. Legs are shorter and black bill is thicker than in native sparrows. Nonbreeding male shows less black on throat and breast. Female lacks black and is pale gray-brown overall with buff eyebrows; bill is pale. Juvenile resembles female. An urban species introduced from Europe.

Range and Habitat

House Sparrow: Native to Britain, northern Scandinavia, and northern Siberia to northern Africa, Arabia, India, and Burma. Introduced and established worldwide except in Antarctica; resident throughout temperate North America. Preferred habitats include cities, towns, and agricultural areas.

Breeding and Nesting

House Sparrow: Three to seven blue or green eggs, spotted with gray and brown, are laid in a loose nest made of grass, feathers, strips of paper, string, and similar debris, and built in a man-made or natural cavity; also nests in bird boxes. Incubation ranges from 10 to 14 days and is carried out mostly by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

House Sparrow: Diet consists of insects, seeds, and fruits; forages on the ground, in trees and shrubs, usually in urban and rural areas.

Readily Eats

Sunflower Seed, Commercial Mixed Bird Seed

Vocalization

House Sparrow: Song is a twittering series of chirps. Call is a monotonous, repeated "cheep-cheep-cheep."

Similar Species

House Sparrow: Eurasian Tree Sparrow has a black spot on ear coverts and an entirely brown crown. Unstreaked, gray underparts and large, pale bill distinguishes the female from other sparrows.