House sparrow - description, photo and video. House sparrow - description, photo and video Description of the house sparrow

In our regions sparrow considered one of the most common birds. People are so accustomed to these birds that sometimes they don’t even notice their presence. Sparrows are everywhere - on the roofs of houses, on wires and simply hovering in the air.

They belong to the passerine family. It may seem only at first glance that sparrow bird stupid and insignificant in anything. In fact, this is quite an interesting and gifted bird. From observations, these permanent neighbors of people have excellent memory, obstinate, cocky and sociable disposition.

With the appearance of these smart, daring and courageous birds, we associate the approach of spring. They are one of the very first birds to hurry to tell us with their sonorous chirping, jumping across newly thawed puddles, that winter is finally over.

In fact sparrow's voice so ringing and joyful that not only the arrival of spring, but also the arrival of spring makes your soul feel incredibly joyful and good. The loud chirping of a sparrow is an enthusiasm that is transmitted to everything around.

Description and features

The incomparable appearance and chirping help to recognize these amazing birds. Initially, their plumage may appear to be gray. Looking closely, you can catch brown shades with black splashes on top of the feathered bird. The head, area near the ears, and abdomen of the bird are painted light gray.

The bird has a fairly powerful beak and a short tail. Birds of small size. The average length of their body reaches up to 15 cm. And sparrows weigh no more than 35 g. The wingspan reaches up to 26 cm.

There are noticeable differences between males and females. The very first of them is that males are always larger than females. The male has a clearly visible black spot. It is located in front on the chin and breasts.

The head of the bird is much darker than that of the female. She also lacks a black spot. Her chest and top of her head are painted light gray. And the eyes are decorated with a barely noticeable gray-yellow rim. The birds stand on short limbs with weak claws. Their wings are short.

The most basic feature of sparrows is that they are in close contact with people everywhere. You can meet them both in populous cities and in modest, almost deserted villages and fields. On ships, these travelers find themselves in places where they have never been before and remain there for permanent residence.

In essence, this is a sedentary bird that almost never leaves its familiar territory. Sparrows can rarely cross the line of this area, and then only in order to scout out what is happening beyond it.

Currently, large flocks of sparrows are observed, which live, despite their massive concentrations, in excellent proximity to people, birds and animals.

But sparrows do not establish trusting and peaceful relationships with all birds. These robbers can sometimes completely drive tits and swifts out of areas. Small birds sometimes cannot withstand the strong pressure of the impudent little ones and give up their territory to them.

Sparrows have excellent memory. They can connect everything connected with a person into a logical chain. They are afraid of cats, but they can, at their own peril and risk, tease her at her own feeding trough. The same picture can be observed in relation to horses.

Sparrows are not at all afraid of rabbits and chickens. They freely sneak into their territory and share a meal with them. Sparrows are not afraid of people. But they are precisely those birds that are very difficult to tame, so sparrow photo and a person is a real rarity. True, there are isolated cases of people becoming friends with these birds, but this really happens very rarely.

Character and lifestyle of a sparrow

These sedentary birds prefer to nest in one place. Their offspring remain with their parents after growing up, so these birds form very large flocks. A pair of birds find one for life.

For their nests, sparrows choose a variety of places where they can be placed. The nest of this bird can be seen on the eaves of a balcony, birdhouse, in empty wooden and brick buildings, among pipes and even heaps of garbage.

The character of these birds is distinguished by its nastiness. They fiercely and jealously guard their possessions. They boldly fight for their territory and survive birds that are even larger in size. In addition, they show their temper not only towards strangers. They can bully their relatives with or without reason.

Silence and silence are absolutely not characteristic of these birds. The slightest movement near them causes a very violent reaction, which is accompanied by noisy sounds.

In spring, when pairs form between birds, it becomes especially noisy and “hot”. Males fight for primacy among themselves not only on trees and rooftops, but also high in the sky.

There are no bloody consequences after this. The rivals scatter in different directions, but some time passes and they fight again.

Habitat

There are about 35 species of sparrows in nature. Each of them has its own external distinctive features and habitat. You can meet these birds everywhere, except for cold continents, where life is practically absent.

Birds are not picky about anything. They follow a person wherever they go. They easily found refuge in Australia and developed the territory of the tundra and forest-tundra. Places where, to put it mildly, life does not seem like a fairy tale to everyone. There are very few places left that are not inhabited by these birds.

Types of sparrows

It has already been mentioned that in nature there are about 30 species of sparrows. Each of them is characterized by a certain characteristic and habitat area. Some of them are worth considering.

House Sparrow occurs most often. The length of its body does not exceed 16 cm. Its entire back is decorated with rust-colored plumage with black splashes. Gray colors are visible on the abdomen, the cheeks of the bird are painted white.

House Sparrow

The wings of the bird are yellow with white stripes, and black feathers are visible on the neck. Courage, cunning and importunity are inherent in these birds. You can meet them in the open spaces from Siberia to Portugal.

For a long time they have been found in Australia and on the American continent. House sparrows can damage agriculture, fruit trees and vineyards. But they also provide great benefits in the form of the destruction of harmful insects.

tree sparrow

tree sparrow It is smaller in size than the brownie. It has a red-gray nape and parietal area, black cheeks and several stripes across its wings. They prefer to live not in populated areas, but in the fields. In winter they can move closer to human habitation. Europe and Central Asia are the habitats of tree sparrows.

Stone sparrow prefers rocky terrain in Southern Europe. They are gray-brown in color with a yellow stripe near the eyes and a yellow spot in the throat area.

Stone sparrow

They take a large part in the destruction of insect pests. Stone sparrows are most often found near us. They are the ones who warn us about the coming of spring.

Snow sparrow lives in the South-East of Altai and the Caucasus. It is a very beautiful bird with black and white wings and a tail edged with white and a black patch on the throat. The snow sparrow makes sounds that cannot be compared with anything else.

Snow sparrow

Camel sparrow bird in fact, it is not a sparrow at all. This name was given to the ostrich, which, apart from the name consonant with the sparrow, has nothing in common.

Nutrition

Sparrows eat everything in the literal sense of the word. They don't have any special preferences. They eat insects, grain, crumbs, human food waste. These birds are not particularly modest. They can sit and brazenly look into the mouth of a person who is eating at a table in an outdoor cafe.

If you remain motionless in this case for some time, the bird can safely climb onto the table and grab what attracted its attention. The slightest movement causes the bird to flee. Birds do not have greed for food. The whole flock flocks to the tasty morsel, after which the feast begins.

Unfamiliar food is tried with great caution. Summer time is especially good for country sparrows. In the village they simply have a huge abundance of food. Moreover, the scarecrows built by people in the garden to scare away birds are absolutely not scary for sparrows.

In addition to this food, sparrows also feed on caterpillars and other harmful insects, which in large quantities can cause irreparable harm to the national economy.

Reproduction and lifespan

At the end of winter, the songs of sparrows are heard and some of their fuss is noticeable. This indicates that their mating season is approaching. Fights between rivals can very rarely be avoided. As a result, a couple is formed for life, which by the end of March is building its own family nest.

In April, the female lays eggs. There are usually no more than 8 of them in a nest. The male and female will need about two weeks to hatch them. And they do this together.

Parents also feed insects and take care of their newborn babies together. From such care, the chicks quickly become winged. This happens in early June. At this time, parents begin to make a second clutch. If living conditions are appropriate, they may have about three such clutches.

They do not live long, about 5 years. But among the sparrows there were also long-livers who lived twice as long. The short lifespan of these birds occurs due to the severity of winters in some places.

The house sparrow is the most famous bird in Russia. The weight of the sparrow is 28-37g, the body is 14-18 cm long, the wingspan is 22-27 cm. House Sparrow - The male is more brightly colored than the female. The male has a gray cap on his head, his chest and neck are black, his cheeks and belly are white and there are white stripes on his shoulders.

The back is full of dark spots. The tail and wings are brown. The female is all gray, only the lower part of the body is lighter. The house sparrow is distributed in all parts of the world, with the exception of the Far North.

House sparrow

House sparrow bird description - lives in all human settlements: cities, towns, hamlets. They build nests in early spring. Having split into pairs, they look for places suitable for building nests. Such places occur in cracks and niches in walls, in the voids of lampposts, in window cornices and window sills, on drainpipes, etc.

The male and female build a nest together, using thin pieces of wood shavings, dry blades of grass, pieces of cotton wool and tow; They line the inside of the nest with feathers and down. The female lays 5-6 eggs, brownish-bluish in color, covered with dark spots. Both the female and the male take turns incubating the eggs for two weeks.

And for about two more weeks the chicks remain in the nest, while their parents take care of them. They warm and protect them from enemies, bring them various insects (bugs, worms, caterpillars...) and feed them. In mid-summer, the chicks grow up and leave the nests, uniting in flocks and wandering near the nest territory. Meanwhile, their parents lay eggs again and take care of the next brood of chicks.

With the onset of autumn, house sparrows gather in large flocks and wander through parks, squares and the outskirts of cities, looking for food. In autumn and winter, they feed on weed seeds and food waste, which they collect near human habitation.

In areas where humans live, the house sparrow finds better conditions for survival in winter. During this period of time, house sparrows spend the night and feed in the same places, ceasing to roam.

Let's watch a short video of how our little sparrows are fooling around:

Description. Length 14-18 (usually 15) cm, weight 21-37 g, wingspan 22-27 cm. The female looks brownish-gray, the back is brownish with longitudinal dark streaks, there is a dull light eyebrow above the eye, the beak is yellowish-brown. The male's underbody is lighter, pure gray, the upperparts are brighter, almost chestnut brown, and the white stripe on the folded wing stands out more clearly. On the head there is an ash-gray cap, bordered on the side of the neck with a chocolate “bracket”, the cheek is light gray, a black stripe goes through the eye, a developed black throat spot goes down to the chest. The beak is black, the legs are brownish. In fresh autumn feathers, this coloring looks more faded due to the masking brownish edges on the outer feathers; the beak lightens to yellowish. The bird in the nesting feather looks like a female.

In addition to seeds and insects, various food wastes occupy a significant place in nutrition. In the middle zone, pairs are formed by the end of winter (each time anew), at this time there is excitement among the sparrows, the males chirp loudly, chatter, and fight among themselves. They nest in shelters of various kinds, usually in the voids of wooden and stone buildings, behind platbands and cornices, sometimes in heaps of garbage, birdhouses, nest boxes, burrows, pipes, and swallow nests. They form nesting colonies ranging from sparse to fairly dense, rarely settling in separate pairs. The cavity in which the nest is placed is clogged with rags, straw, and tow. The eggs have very variable color (even within the same clutch). Reproduction begins in April and ends in August; during the season, a couple manages to raise 2-3 broods, even in the Arctic - 2 broods. It is mainly the female who incubates. The chicks are fed invertebrates. The young ones who have grown up make migrations. Along with the sedentary part of the population, there are nomadic individuals, due to which the rapid settlement of emerging settlements and other suitable nesting stations occurs. Sometimes in the villages of Siberia, sparrows completely “freeze out” during the frosty winter, but colonization occurs again and again. In nature, some sparrows live up to 13 years. Numerous species, in many areas the number is growing rapidly, in others it is stable. In the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Transcaucasia (and in Russia - in Dagestan), the house sparrow lives together with a similar species - the black-breasted, or Spanish sparrow ( P. hispaniolensis ). The male of the latter differs from the house sparrow by a chocolate cap, a white cheek, and frequent black streaks on the mantle and chest; the females are practically indistinguishable. In areas of sympatry, hybridization between these species occurs from random to widespread, introgressive, with the formation of stable and unstable hybrid populations. Common in Italy, Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian sparrow ( P. "italiae" ), which differs from the brownie in its chocolate cap and larger area of ​​the black throat spot, is considered a stable form of hybridogenic origin.

The house sparrow (lat. Passer domesticus) is a familiar inhabitant of cities and villages from the Sparrow family (Passeridae). He is able to easily adapt to different living conditions. Once on other continents, sparrows were able to adapt and quickly settle in new lands.

Their ancestral home is the arid regions of Asia. Then they spread throughout Eurasia and became neighbors of humans. In the 19th century, they were brought to Australia and South America, where they acclimatized well. Now these birds can be seen in New Zealand, South Africa and on many oceanic islands.

Behavior

The house sparrow tolerates a wide variety of weather conditions, from sudden temperature changes to scorching heat, without consequences to its health. He always settles where people live.

Sparrows that have migrated to other continents are actively displacing their food competitors. Because of this, many species of local birds have disappeared on some islands of Oceania.

In villages, they are located in haystacks, piles of brushwood, barns, or simply in dense bushes, in crevices between stones and burrows dug in a steep ravine. If there is not enough space, then the nest is built from grasses and twigs wherever possible. Nests built in trees resemble a ball and have thick walls and a side entrance. Inside they are lined with all sorts of rubbish in the form of scraps of paper or scraps of fabric.

Sometimes particularly impudent individuals attack other birds and drive them out of the nest. A couple of gray bullies can terrorize swifts or swallows until they leave their home. After this, the dodgers immediately move into the abandoned apartment.

Reproduction

The house sparrow has a sociable disposition, but fiercely defends its own nest even from members of its own flock. In one season, a pair of birds can produce up to 3 broods. The first laying is done at the end of April. The female lays no more than 6 light-colored eggs with dark speckles. The incubation period lasts 2 weeks.

The female incubates the clutch on her own, the male can only occasionally and briefly replace her. Parents diligently feed their offspring with insects, so the chicks grow very quickly.

While feeding their offspring, sparrows bring great benefits by exterminating aphids and other pests.

After 15 days, the chicks begin to fly. With the arrival of autumn, they gather in huge flocks and fly away from their parents in search of new nesting sites. In winter, a large number of young sparrows die from the cold and become victims of predators.

House sparrows lead an active lifestyle during the daytime. They devote the entire daylight hours to searching for food, and for the night they go to dense thickets of bushes. Sitting on the branches, they happily peck young buds and fresh herbs. Walking along the lawn, they look for seeds of various herbs.

Sparrows know well how to use feeders and willingly eat food offered by people.

With the arrival of autumn, their diet is replenished with ripe berries. Despite their innate curiosity, the birds are very careful. As soon as one bird flies up in fear, the whole flock rushes after it.

In the days of horse-drawn transport, birds attacked piles of horse manure from which undigested oat seeds were extracted. Now they often look at the stables for food. In cities there is enough food for birds to survive, so there is no need for migrations.

Following the example, the sparrows learned to make holes in the caps of milk bottles with their beaks and feast on the cream. At the end of the nesting season, a flock of sparrows wanders from place to place in search of food and water, without moving far from the nesting site.

Description

The body length of adult individuals reaches 15 cm. A strong short beak is adapted for eating insects and seeds. The female's plumage is almost all gray. Only on the back and upper side of the wings there are dark stripes.

The male's plumage is slightly different. Its back is brown with dark spots, and its ventral side is light. The upper part of the wing is crossed by a light stripe. There is a darkish spot under the throat that resembles a tie.

Small body of dense build. Thin paws are colored pink or gray. Four fingers, three of which are directed forward and one back, ending in sharp claws.

The lifespan of a house sparrow reaches 10 years.

Verabey damava

The entire territory of Belarus

Passerine family - Passeridae.

In Belarus - P. d. domesticus.

Common breeding, sedentary and nomadic species.

Well known bird. It has pronounced sexual dimorphism in plumage color. An adult male has a gray top of the head, cheeks, chest, belly and rump, and the sides of the head are chestnut-brown. There is a black spot on the throat, widening downwards. The back and wings are brown with dark spots, the tail is grayish-brown. The beak is gray, the legs are light brown. The color of the female and young birds is more uniform, grayish-brown, with dark gray streaks on the wings, there is no black spot on the neck; the beak is grayish-brown. Male weight 24-37 g, female 21-33 g. Body length (both sexes) 14-16 cm, wingspan 21-25.5 cm. Male wing length 7-9 cm, tail 5.5-7 cm, tarsus 1.8-2.3 cm, beak 1-1.4 cm. Female wing length 7-8 cm, tail 5.5-6.5 cm, tarsus 1.6-2.1 cm, beak 1-1, 3 cm.

A typical inhabitant of a cultural landscape - settles in villages and towns, suburbs and cities, as well as in their immediate surroundings (no further than 500 m from human habitation). In those biotopes where house sparrows and tree sparrows nest together, there is partial overlap of nesting niches (15%), despite the fact that each species has specific requirements for the location of nests.

The spring revival of sparrows is observed already in the February thaws, and in March the loud chirping of these birds is one of the signals of the coming spring. The chirping sounds made by this bird are well known; they are the same, but merging into a short trill, and represent the song of the male.

In the period preceding the laying and during the laying, sparrows spend 50–60% of the time near the nest between 6 and 23 hours, and at this stage in 42% of cases the partners leave their territory and return to it together. From the beginning of incubation, females spend more and more time in the nest and the coordinated movement of partners decreases.

In different years, the timing of the start of reproduction in house sparrows varies within 15 days. Pairs form in mid-March. It nests in separate pairs, which often (especially when nesting openly in trees) can place nests close to each other and form a small colony.

It builds nests in cracks, voids and niches of buildings, under tin, slate and tiled roofs, behind drainpipes, various moldings, under window blinds, very often in birdhouses and empty nests of swallows. In rural areas, nests are made under the rafters of buildings, in ventilation pipes of barnyards, behind window frames, in white stork nests, in hollows, and sometimes in the branches of dense tree crowns. The height of the nests is 1.5-15 m.

The nest building is loose, round, semicircular or ellipsoidal, with a side entrance hole, a dome covering it from above, a short entrance corridor and a separate tray. It is constructed from heterogeneous building materials, both natural and artificial. The most commonly used are hay, straw, dry leaves, herb inflorescences, feathers, and threads. The outer part of the nest is built from dry grass stems, straw mixed with feathers, which usually stick out in different directions. The middle part (layer) includes dry stems of herbs, pieces of paper, etc. The lining of the tray is very abundant and consists of feathers of poultry. Among this basic material there may be pieces of adhesive plaster, insulating tape, aluminum wire, rope, shavings, glass wool, cellophane, etc. Socket height (lit.) 14-31 cm, diameter 17-23 cm; tray depth 5-8 cm, diameter 6-12 cm.

In a full clutch there are 4-7 (usually 4-5), in exceptional cases 8 eggs. The shell is matte or slightly shiny. The color of its main background varies from whitish to bluish-white. Sometimes it can be grayish, brownish, white-greenish and even slightly reddish. Superficial spotting in the form of dark ash, olive or brownish lines, dots, strokes, densely and evenly distributed. Deep spots are light ash. Egg weight 2.9 g, length 19-26 mm, diameter 14-17 mm.

The bird begins laying eggs at the end of the first ten days of April; fresh clutches are observed until mid-July. There are usually two, less often three, broods per year. The female lays one egg per day and incubates it for 11-12 days. The male replaces the female on the nest 4–6 times during the day (up to 25 minutes each time); at night only the female incubates. The chicks stay in the nest for 10–14 days. In the first 9 days of feeding the chicks, males and females bring food approximately an equal number of times. In subsequent days, males feed the chicks less and less, especially in anticipation of the second reproductive cycle. In chicks, beetles dominate their food. Plant foods are found sporadically in the diet. Food waste occurs irregularly; most often, adult birds bring pasta, boiled potatoes, and pearl barley to the nests. In June, parents begin to carry food to the nest at about 4 o'clock and finish at about 22 o'clock 30 minutes. The number of visits of parents to two nests, in which there were 5 one-day-old chicks each, was 160–180 times per day. Adult birds brought food to three other nests 170–240 times a day. Males feed the chicks 8–9 times in 1 hour, females – 11–12 times, male participation is 45.7%.

The young from the first clutches appear in late May - early June, from the second - at the end of July, from the third - presumably at the end of August. The young that fly out of their nests gather in flocks (up to 40-50 birds) and fly to fields, vegetable gardens, and city dumps to feed.

The sparrow is an omnivorous bird. Although the basis of its diet is the seeds of various herbs (including cereals), it also willingly pecks insects and their larvae, spiders, eats fruit pulp, berries, and various food waste.

The number of house sparrows in summer reaches its maximum in urbanized ecosystems. In rural settlements it is somewhat lower. The minimum values ​​of house sparrow abundance are typical for open ecosystems (fields of agricultural crops, floodplain meadows). During the cold season, the number of this species decreases in cities, as well as in fields and meadows. In rural settlements, the number of this species, on the contrary, increases slightly. During the year, the number of house sparrows is greatest in summer and autumn, and lowest in winter and spring.