What sparrow is this?

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cassie.c87
cassie.c87's picture
What sparrow is this?

Is this a house sparrow?

billbrooks
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Yes, these are European House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). Both these are males.

timmo
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Out of interest, are there other types of sparrows (in Aus at least)?
I only know of the Common/House sparrow.

Cheers
Tim
Brisbane

Woko
Woko's picture

There's the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, timmo, which may have been introduced from Europe or Japan. It's range in Australia covers much of Victoria extending into southern NSW. It's slightly smaller than the House Sparrow & has a chestnut crown with a white nape. (Information from Morcombe).

billbrooks
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I'm from the UK where this the House Sparrow is one of our commonest birds.  By contrast, the the Tree Sparrow is quite scarce here.  

I have visited Australia twice and seen House Sparrows on both occasions.  It would seem that since introduction, they have been very successful - perhaps they are more adaptive than whichever native species occupy the equivalent niche in parks and gardens. 

Woko
Woko's picture

I suspect we've made conditions here quite conducive to the house sparrow. Ms Woko & I bought a property that was largely feral grassland with, at times, hundreds of house sparrows. Twenty five years later our native revegetation is maturing & the house sparrow numbers are down to a maximum of six over the last twelve months. I'd like to think the ecological restoration has helped reduce the house sparrow numbers by providing conditions more favourable to native birds.

cassie.c87
cassie.c87's picture

Thanks guys, these little ones are in the car park of my local shopping center. They seem to love it there and have no prob jumping around chairs where people are sitting or going right past your feet while walking

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