How to Identify a Sparrow

Sparrows are the least colorful members of the bird family that includes cardinals. There are many varieties of American sparrows, including White-Crowned, Rufous-Crowned, Song, White-throated, Tree and Chipping, but the House sparrow is the most common type found in the United States. They can be nasty birds, sometimes killing adults bluebirds and their young and smashing their eggs. To easily identify a House Sparrow, watch as they ground feed.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Note the house sparrow is short, about six inches tall, stocky, with shorter legs and thicker bills than their cousins. Their back is brown with black streaks and their breast and belly are gray without streaks. Males have a black v-shaped bib under the beak, which turns black during mating season. Females have a light streak behind the eye.

2. Trace the house sparrow back to its native Britain, northern Scandinavia, and northern Siberia. After being introduced in the United States in 1851, the species spread rapidly across the eastern part of the country and northward to Canada. They shy away from woods and deserts, preferring instead, to be near buildings and humans.

3. Check out the house sparrow's diet. About 60 percent of its food comes from livestock feed, 36 percent from weed seeds, and 4 percent from insects. Due to the decline in agricultural activity in the United States, the number of house sparrows is also declining. In urban areas, bird feeders provide the most food for house sparrows.

4. Watch the nest boxes in your yard if you've left them unattended for a while. You're likely to see house sparrows taking over the former tenants' homes and feeding grounds. Actually, house sparrows prefer holes, although small spaces in outbuildings and in trees and shrubs are also used for nesting purposes.

5. Learn more about house sparrows through the resources listed below. They are a bird of many contradictions. While they'll kill other birds to take over a nest, they also congregate with other sparrows at a feeding site, then engage in communal singing for up to an hour.

Tips & Warnings

• Although not a water bird, the house sparrow can swim if it needs to escape a predator. Capturing on film a house sparrow amidst a splash session could prove financially rewarding for the photographer.

Resources

• The American Birding Association
• A guide for birding coast to coast

[rnkeith87]

on 6/9/2009 Hello, this article actually is wrong! Cardinals and Sparrows are not in the same family of birds. Cardinals are in the family Cardinalidae while Sparrows are in the family Emberizidae. The two birds are in the same ORDER of Passeriformes not in the same family as the article states

[rnkeith87]

on 6/9/2009 hello