House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Image: Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA, wikipedia

The house sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of 28 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 15,962,546 times across 211 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 15°C (typically 5 to 28°C, from 48 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

RegionFirst arrivalLast arrivalTypical peakAreas
Europe17 November 202521 September 202629 June 202615
North America29 December 20255 October 202615 June 202615
Oceania2 March 202631 August 202611 May 20267
Africa29 December 202524 August 202618 May 20265
Asia19 January 202615 June 202616 March 20264
South America30 March 20261 June 202627 July 20262

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.