Key information
Noisy and gregarious, these cheerful exploiters of man's rubbish and wastefulness have managed to colonise most of the world. The ultimate avian opportunist perhaps. Monitoring suggests a severe decline in the UK house sparrow population, recently estimated as dropping by 71 per cent between 1977 and 2008 with substantial declines in both rural and urban populations. While the decline in England continues, Breeding Bird Survey data indicate recent population increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
What they eat:
Seeds and scraps.
Measurements:
- Length:
- 14-15cm
- Wingspan:
- 21-25.5cm
- Weight:
- 24-38g
Population:
- UK breeding:
- 5,300,000 pairs
Identifying features:
This bird species has different identifying features depending on sex/age/season.
House sparrow (adult male)
House sparrow (adult female)
