Spanish Sparrow
Encyclopedia
The Spanish Sparrow or Willow Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) is a passerine
bird of the sparrow
family
Passeridae. It is found in the Mediterranean region and southwest and central Asia
. It is very similar to the closely related House Sparrow
, and the two species show their close relation in a "biological mix-up" of hybridisation in the Mediterranean region, which complicates the taxonomy of this species.
rather than grey crown, and white rather than grey cheeks. The female is effectively inseparable from House Sparrow in its plumage, which is grey-brown overall but more boldly marked. The female has light streaking on its sides, a pale cream supercilium
, and broad cream streaks on its back.
The two subspecies differ little in worn breeding plumage, but both sexes are quite distinct in fresh winter plumage, with the eastern subspecies P. h. transcaspicus paler with less chestnut.
The Spanish Sparrow's vocalisations are similar to those of the House Sparrow. The male gives a call somewhat different from that of the House Sparrow when displaying at its nest. This call is a pair of strident, disyllabic chirps, similar to those of the House Sparrow, but louder and high-pitched, transcribed as chweeng-chweeng, cheela-cheeli. A similar call, softer and more like the House Sparrow's tschilp, is used by birds arriving or departing at roosting sites. The Spanish Sparrow's other calls are almost the same as those of the House Sparrow. A soft quer quer quer is given at the nest by mated pairs, a quer-it flight call is given by flocking birds, and a chur-chur-it call is given as a threat.
and the sparrow family Passeridae. Its taxonomy is greatly complicated by the "biological mix-up" it forms with the House Sparrow in the Mediterranean. In most of the Mediterranean, one or both of the two species occurs, with only a limited degree of hybridisation. On the Italian Peninsula
and Corsica
, the two species are replaced by the Italian Sparrow
, a puzzling type of sparrow apparently intermediate between the Spanish Sparrow and the House Sparrow. The Italian Sparrow has been classified as a hybrid with the House Sparrow, the same species as the Spanish Sparrow, the same species as the House Sparrow, and as a separate species. The Spanish Sparrow also hybridises freely with House Sparrow in parts of northern Africa (northeastern Algeria
, Tunisia
, and northwestern Libya
), forming highly variable mixed populations with a full range of characters from pure House Sparrow to pure Spanish Sparrow. On the Mediterranean islands of Malta
, Gozo
, Crete
, Rhodes
, and Karpathos
, there are more apparently intermediate birds of unknown status.
The Spanish Sparrow was first described by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck
as Fringilla hispaniolensis, from a specimen collected at Algeciras
, in southern Spain. The usual English name refers to the description of the species from Spain. The name "Willow Sparrow", referring to the moist habitat of this bird, is sometimes used, especially when the Italian Sparrow is considered the same species.
Two subspecies
of Spanish Sparrow are usually recognised, the western nominate subspecies hispaniolensis, and the eastern transcaspicus, described by Austrian ornithologist Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen
in 1902 from Ýolöten
, Turkmenistan. Birds in Anatolia
and Cyprus
are usually considered to belong to P. h. transcaspicus, but birds as far east as Ceylanpınar
have been noted as intermediates, and the difference between the two subspecies may be clinal.
The phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al.
, and southwest to central Asia
. It breeds mostly in a band of latitude
about fifteen degrees wide, from the Danube
valley and the Aral Sea
in the north to Libya
and central Iran
in the south. Its range has expanded greatly by natural colonisation over the last two centuries, in the Balkans
, where it reached Romania
, Serbia
, and Moldova
from 1950 onwards; and in Macaronesia, where its range expansion has been attributed to introductions and travel by ship, but was more likely natural colonisation by migrating birds. Vagrants
occur widely, as far north as Scotland
and Norway
.
In most of its range, the Spanish Sparrow occurs alongside the House Sparrow. In such areas, both species breed in farmland and open woodland
, with the Spanish Sparrow preferring moister habitats. In areas where House Sparrows are absent, the Spanish Sparrow may live in urban habitats, as in the Canary Islands
, Madeira
, and some Mediterranean islands. In a few urban areas, such as those in eastern Sardinia
, the primary sparrow species is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Before the Spanish Sparrow arrived in the Canary Islands and Madeira, the Rock Sparrow
was the sole native sparrow. In the Canaries, the Spanish Sparrow occurs in most habitats, having ousted the Rock Sparrow from all but the driest localities. In Madeira the Spanish Sparrow is common in cultivated areas, but it has not fully adapted to nesting in buildings or breeding in the drier north of the island. The Spanish Sparrow is not common on most of the Cape Verde
islands, due to the presence of the endemic Iago Sparrow
, and the House Sparrow on São Vicente
. On Fogo
, where it is the sole species of sparrow, it is common in all habitats, breeding both in the houses of São Filipe
and on the cliff walls of the volcano Pico do Fogo.
The European population comprises between 2,800,000 and 6,200,000 breeding pairs or 8,400,000–18,600,000 individuals, and the global population is estimated from the population in Europe to be between 17 and 74 million individuals. There have been population decreases in some parts of Europe, but in other areas the population has increased and the species is not seriously threatened, so it is assessed as Least Concern
on the IUCN Red List
.
The western subspecies hispaniolensis breeds in parts of Iberia
and North Africa
, some islands, and the Balkans. In Iberia it is uncommon, occurring in the Tagus
valley and sporadically in the northern meseta, the eastern coast, and in the Guadalquivir
and Guadiana
valleys. While the House Sparrow and the Spanish Sparrow form a "hybrid swarm" in the eastern half of the Maghreb
, they coexist with little hybridisation in the western half. In northern Italy and Corsica the Spanish Sparrow is replaced by the Italian Sparrow, and the two intergrade
in southern Italy, as well as Malta
, Crete
, and nearby islands such as Rhodes. The Spanish Sparrow is not known to breed in the Balearic Islands
, the Aegean Islands
, Corfu
, or the Peloponnese
, but it occurs on Sardinia, Pantelleria
, and smaller islands near the coast. In the Balkans, it occurs patchily from Montenegro
across into the Danube valley of Romania and northern Serbia. It is found in mainland Greece
and Bulgaria
, where it is also uncommon. The Spanish Sparrow is likely to have been established on the western Canary Islands for some time, as it was found on Lanzarote
when a naturalist first visited the island in 1828. In the 1830s, it was recorded on Fuerteventura
, Gran Canaria
, and Tenerife
and since the 1940s it has reached all the other islands. It reached Madeira in May 1935, when numbers of sparrows were found across the island after nine days of strong, continuous easterly winds. It seems to have reached Cape Verde around the same time it reached the Canaries, and it was first recorded there on Santiago
by Charles Darwin
in 1832. From then onwards it reached all the other larger islands, in a poorly recorded extension of its range.
The eastern subspecies transcaspicus breeds from Anatolia
and Cyprus
through the Middle East and Central Asia to far western China. In the Middle East it breeds through Syria
and Lebanon
to about as far south as Jerusalem. It breeds in eastern Turkey
, but is a very rare breeder in Iraq
and Kuwait
. It breeds sporadically in Azerbaijan
and Dagestan
, north to the Terek River valley. In Iran, it breeds in most of the country except the Persian Gulf region, also breeding in central and northern Afghanistan. In Central Asia, it breeds from the regions of the Turkmenistan
-Iran and Tajikistan
-Afghanistan borders north to parts of the Syr Darya
basin in Kazakhstan, and westwards to Lake Alakol
, the Karatal River, and a corner of China. Here it has also expanded its range, in the area around Lake Alakol in Kazakhstan
, where agriculture was not developed until the 1950s. It winters in the plains of the Indian subcontinent and the Persian Gulf.
. Like other sparrows, it feeds principally on the seeds of grains and other grasses, also eating leaves, fruits, and other plant materials. Young birds are fed mostly on insects, and adults also feed on insects and other animals during and before the breeding season. Nestlings are fed almost exclusively on insects for their first few days, and are gradually fed larger amounts of grains. The portion of insects in nestling diets is recorded at a range from 75 to over 90 percent. In preying on insects, the Spanish Sparrow is opportunistic, feeding on whichever insects are most common. In Central Asia, these are caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets. While migrating through Central Asia in the spring, the Spanish Sparrow feeds mostly on crops in cultivated areas, and while breeding it feeds mostly on insects, wild plants, and seeds from the previous year.
The Spanish Sparrow nests in large colonies of closely spaced or even multiple shared nests. Nests are usually placed in trees or bushes, amongst branches or underneath the nests of larger birds such as White Stork
s. Colonies may hold from ten pairs to hundreds of thousands of pairs. Each pair lays 3–8 eggs, which hatch in 12 days, with the chicks fledging when about 14 days old. Males spend more time constructing nests than females.
Little is known of the Spanish Sparrow's survival, and the maximum age recorded is eleven years.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird of the sparrow
Sparrow
The sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Passeridae. It is found in the Mediterranean region and southwest and central Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It is very similar to the closely related House Sparrow
House Sparrow
The House Sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the House Sparrow occurs naturally in most of Europe, the Mediterranean region, and much of Asia...
, and the two species show their close relation in a "biological mix-up" of hybridisation in the Mediterranean region, which complicates the taxonomy of this species.
Description
The Spanish Sparrow is a rather large sparrow, at 15–16 cm (5.9–6.3 in) in length, and 22–36 g (0.8–1.3 oz) in weight. It is slightly larger and heavier than House Sparrows, and also has a slightly longer and stouter bill. The male is similar to the House Sparrow in plumage, but differs in its underparts heavily streaked with black, a chestnutChestnut (color)
Chestnut, also known as Indian red, is a color, a medium brownish shade of red, and is named after the nut of the chestnut tree.As Indian red, it is named after the red laterite soil found in India. It is thus an earth tone as well as a red. It is composed of naturally occurring iron oxides. Other...
rather than grey crown, and white rather than grey cheeks. The female is effectively inseparable from House Sparrow in its plumage, which is grey-brown overall but more boldly marked. The female has light streaking on its sides, a pale cream supercilium
Supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head. Also known as an "eyebrow", it is distinct from the eyestripe, which is a line which runs...
, and broad cream streaks on its back.
The two subspecies differ little in worn breeding plumage, but both sexes are quite distinct in fresh winter plumage, with the eastern subspecies P. h. transcaspicus paler with less chestnut.
The Spanish Sparrow's vocalisations are similar to those of the House Sparrow. The male gives a call somewhat different from that of the House Sparrow when displaying at its nest. This call is a pair of strident, disyllabic chirps, similar to those of the House Sparrow, but louder and high-pitched, transcribed as chweeng-chweeng, cheela-cheeli. A similar call, softer and more like the House Sparrow's tschilp, is used by birds arriving or departing at roosting sites. The Spanish Sparrow's other calls are almost the same as those of the House Sparrow. A soft quer quer quer is given at the nest by mated pairs, a quer-it flight call is given by flocking birds, and a chur-chur-it call is given as a threat.
Taxonomy
The Spanish Sparrow is a close relative of the House Sparrow in the genus PasserPasser
Passer is a genus of Old World sparrows. These sparrows are plump little brown or greyish birds often with black, yellow or white markings. Typically 10–20 cm long, they have short tails and stubby conical beaks...
and the sparrow family Passeridae. Its taxonomy is greatly complicated by the "biological mix-up" it forms with the House Sparrow in the Mediterranean. In most of the Mediterranean, one or both of the two species occurs, with only a limited degree of hybridisation. On the Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
and Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, the two species are replaced by the Italian Sparrow
Italian Sparrow
The Italian Sparrow is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean region. In appearance, it is intermediate between the House Sparrow, and the Spanish Sparrow, a species of the Mediterranean and Central Asia closely related to the House...
, a puzzling type of sparrow apparently intermediate between the Spanish Sparrow and the House Sparrow. The Italian Sparrow has been classified as a hybrid with the House Sparrow, the same species as the Spanish Sparrow, the same species as the House Sparrow, and as a separate species. The Spanish Sparrow also hybridises freely with House Sparrow in parts of northern Africa (northeastern Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, and northwestern Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
), forming highly variable mixed populations with a full range of characters from pure House Sparrow to pure Spanish Sparrow. On the Mediterranean islands of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Gozo
Gozo
Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...
, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, and Karpathos
Karpathos
Karpathos is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality Karpathos, which is part of the Karpathos peripheral unit. From its remote position Karpathos has preserved many...
, there are more apparently intermediate birds of unknown status.
The Spanish Sparrow was first described by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death. His Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe was the standard work on European birds...
as Fringilla hispaniolensis, from a specimen collected at Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
, in southern Spain. The usual English name refers to the description of the species from Spain. The name "Willow Sparrow", referring to the moist habitat of this bird, is sometimes used, especially when the Italian Sparrow is considered the same species.
Two subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of Spanish Sparrow are usually recognised, the western nominate subspecies hispaniolensis, and the eastern transcaspicus, described by Austrian ornithologist Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen
Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen
Viktor von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen was an Austrian ornithologist.Tschusi was born on 28 December 1847 in the Smíchov district of Prague. His father was a former officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army from a noble family of Tyrol, and Tschusi held the title of Reichsritter. Tschusi's father, and his...
in 1902 from Ýolöten
Ýolöten
Ýolöten or Iolatan is a town and capital of Ýolöten District in the Mary Province of Turkmenistan. The city is located in the delta of the Murgab River, 55 kilometers southeast of the Mary, Turkmenistan. Ýolöten lies on the railway line of Mary - Serhetabat...
, Turkmenistan. Birds in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
are usually considered to belong to P. h. transcaspicus, but birds as far east as Ceylanpınar
Ceylanpinar
Ceylanpınar is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey. On the border with Syria, it is reached by a long straight road across the plain south from Viranşehir...
have been noted as intermediates, and the difference between the two subspecies may be clinal.
The phylogeny has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al.
Distribution and habitat
The Spanish Sparrow has a highly complex distribution in the Mediterranean region, MacaronesiaMacaronesia
Macaronesia is a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde...
, and southwest to central Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. It breeds mostly in a band of latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
about fifteen degrees wide, from the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
valley and the Aral Sea
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south...
in the north to Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and central Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
in the south. Its range has expanded greatly by natural colonisation over the last two centuries, in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, where it reached Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
from 1950 onwards; and in Macaronesia, where its range expansion has been attributed to introductions and travel by ship, but was more likely natural colonisation by migrating birds. Vagrants
Vagrancy (biology)
Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used...
occur widely, as far north as Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
In most of its range, the Spanish Sparrow occurs alongside the House Sparrow. In such areas, both species breed in farmland and open woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
, with the Spanish Sparrow preferring moister habitats. In areas where House Sparrows are absent, the Spanish Sparrow may live in urban habitats, as in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
, and some Mediterranean islands. In a few urban areas, such as those in eastern Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, the primary sparrow species is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Before the Spanish Sparrow arrived in the Canary Islands and Madeira, the Rock Sparrow
Rock Sparrow
The Rock Sparrow, Petronia petronia, is a small passerine bird. This sparrow breeds on barren rocky hills from the Iberian peninsula and western north Africa across southern Europe and through central Asia. It is largely resident in the west of its range, but Asian birds migrate to more southerly...
was the sole native sparrow. In the Canaries, the Spanish Sparrow occurs in most habitats, having ousted the Rock Sparrow from all but the driest localities. In Madeira the Spanish Sparrow is common in cultivated areas, but it has not fully adapted to nesting in buildings or breeding in the drier north of the island. The Spanish Sparrow is not common on most of the Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
islands, due to the presence of the endemic Iago Sparrow
Iago Sparrow
The Iago Sparrow , is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. It is also known as the Cape Verde Sparrow and the Rufous-backed Sparrow. It is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean....
, and the House Sparrow on São Vicente
São Vicente, Cape Verde
São Vicente , also Son Visent or Son Sent in Cape Verdean Creole, is one of the Barlavento islands of Cape Verde. It is located between the islands of Santo Antão and Santa Luzia, with the Canal de São Vicente separating it from Santo Antão.- Geography :The island is roughly rectangular in shape...
. On Fogo
Fogo, Cape Verde
Fogo is an island in the Sotavento group of Cape Verde. It is the most prominent of the group, rising to nearly 3,000 m above sea level at Pico do Fogo.-Geography:...
, where it is the sole species of sparrow, it is common in all habitats, breeding both in the houses of São Filipe
São Filipe, Cape Verde
São Filipe , or San Filipi in Cape Verdean Creole, is the city that constitutes the seat of the São Filipe Municipality, in Cape Verde.It is located SW of the island and in the southwestern part of the island...
and on the cliff walls of the volcano Pico do Fogo.
The European population comprises between 2,800,000 and 6,200,000 breeding pairs or 8,400,000–18,600,000 individuals, and the global population is estimated from the population in Europe to be between 17 and 74 million individuals. There have been population decreases in some parts of Europe, but in other areas the population has increased and the species is not seriously threatened, so it is assessed as Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
.
The western subspecies hispaniolensis breeds in parts of Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, some islands, and the Balkans. In Iberia it is uncommon, occurring in the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
valley and sporadically in the northern meseta, the eastern coast, and in the Guadalquivir
Guadalquivir
The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river to be its whole length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 kilometers long and drains an area of about 58,000 square kilometers...
and Guadiana
Guadiana
The Guadiana , or Odiana, is an international river located on the Portuguese–Spanish border, separating Extremadura and Andalucia from Alentejo and Algarve...
valleys. While the House Sparrow and the Spanish Sparrow form a "hybrid swarm" in the eastern half of the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
, they coexist with little hybridisation in the western half. In northern Italy and Corsica the Spanish Sparrow is replaced by the Italian Sparrow, and the two intergrade
Intergradation
In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both...
in southern Italy, as well as Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, and nearby islands such as Rhodes. The Spanish Sparrow is not known to breed in the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, the Aegean Islands
Aegean Islands
The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast...
, Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, or the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
, but it occurs on Sardinia, Pantelleria
Pantelleria
Pantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
, and smaller islands near the coast. In the Balkans, it occurs patchily from Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
across into the Danube valley of Romania and northern Serbia. It is found in mainland Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, where it is also uncommon. The Spanish Sparrow is likely to have been established on the western Canary Islands for some time, as it was found on Lanzarote
Lanzarote
Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...
when a naturalist first visited the island in 1828. In the 1830s, it was recorded on Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura , a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west. At 1,660 km² it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife...
, Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, with a population of 838,397 which constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago...
, and Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
and since the 1940s it has reached all the other islands. It reached Madeira in May 1935, when numbers of sparrows were found across the island after nine days of strong, continuous easterly winds. It seems to have reached Cape Verde around the same time it reached the Canaries, and it was first recorded there on Santiago
Santiago, Cape Verde
Santiago , or Santiagu in Cape Verdean Creole, is the largest island of Cape Verde, its most important agricultural centre and home to half the nation’s population. At the time of Darwin's voyage it was called St. Jago....
by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
in 1832. From then onwards it reached all the other larger islands, in a poorly recorded extension of its range.
The eastern subspecies transcaspicus breeds from Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
through the Middle East and Central Asia to far western China. In the Middle East it breeds through Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
to about as far south as Jerusalem. It breeds in eastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, but is a very rare breeder in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
. It breeds sporadically in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, north to the Terek River valley. In Iran, it breeds in most of the country except the Persian Gulf region, also breeding in central and northern Afghanistan. In Central Asia, it breeds from the regions of the Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
-Iran and Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
-Afghanistan borders north to parts of the Syr Darya
Syr Darya
The Syr Darya , also transliterated Syrdarya or Sirdaryo, is a river in Central Asia, sometimes known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name . The Greek name is derived from Old Persian, Yakhsha Arta , a reference to the color of the river's water...
basin in Kazakhstan, and westwards to Lake Alakol
Lake Alakol
Alakol Lake is a lake located in the Almaty and Shyghyz provinces, east central Kazakhstan. Its elevation is 347 m above sea levelThe lake is the northwest extension of the region known as the Dzhungarian Gate , a narrow valley connects the southern uplands of Kazakhstan with arid northwest...
, the Karatal River, and a corner of China. Here it has also expanded its range, in the area around Lake Alakol in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, where agriculture was not developed until the 1950s. It winters in the plains of the Indian subcontinent and the Persian Gulf.
Behaviour
The Spanish Sparrow is strongly gregarious, flocking and breeding in groups. In the winter, it mostly wanders nomadically or makes regular migrationsBird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
. Like other sparrows, it feeds principally on the seeds of grains and other grasses, also eating leaves, fruits, and other plant materials. Young birds are fed mostly on insects, and adults also feed on insects and other animals during and before the breeding season. Nestlings are fed almost exclusively on insects for their first few days, and are gradually fed larger amounts of grains. The portion of insects in nestling diets is recorded at a range from 75 to over 90 percent. In preying on insects, the Spanish Sparrow is opportunistic, feeding on whichever insects are most common. In Central Asia, these are caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets. While migrating through Central Asia in the spring, the Spanish Sparrow feeds mostly on crops in cultivated areas, and while breeding it feeds mostly on insects, wild plants, and seeds from the previous year.
The Spanish Sparrow nests in large colonies of closely spaced or even multiple shared nests. Nests are usually placed in trees or bushes, amongst branches or underneath the nests of larger birds such as White Stork
White Stork
The White Stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan...
s. Colonies may hold from ten pairs to hundreds of thousands of pairs. Each pair lays 3–8 eggs, which hatch in 12 days, with the chicks fledging when about 14 days old. Males spend more time constructing nests than females.
Little is known of the Spanish Sparrow's survival, and the maximum age recorded is eleven years.
External links
- Media related to the Spanish Sparrow at the Internet Bird Collection
- Spanish Sparrow at ARKiveARKiveARKive is a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it does by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's species into a centralised digital archive. Its...