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  • House sparrow

House sparrow

House sparrow (adult male)
House sparrow (adult male)
House sparrow (juvenile)
House sparrow (juvenile)
House sparrow (adult female)
House sparrow (adult female)
  • Scientific name: Passer domesticus
  • Bird family: Old World sparrows
  • UK conservation status: Red
  • Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

House sparrow call audio

Your browser does not support this audio feature.

Jarek Matusiak, Xeno-canto

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 is the number of pairs breeding annually. UK wintering is the number of individuals present from October to March. UK passage is the number of individuals passing through on migration in spring and/or autumn.
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 male
Feather colour: Black Brown Cream/buff Grey White
Leg colour: Brown Pink
Beak: Black Brown Short Chunky
Natural habitats: Farmland Urban and suburban

House sparrow (adult female)

House sparrow adult female
Feather colour: Brown Cream/buff Grey
Leg colour: Brown Pink
Beak: Black Brown Short Chunky
Natural habitats: Farmland Urban and suburban

Similar birds:

Tree sparrow
Tree sparrow
Dunnock illustration
Dunnock

Where and when to see them

House sparrows can be found from the centre of cities to the farmland of the countryside, they feed and breed near to people. It is a species vanishing from the centre of many cities, but is not uncommon in most towns and villages. It is absent from parts of the Scottish Highlands and is thinly distributed in most upland areas.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  • Resident
  • Passage
  • Summer
  • Winter
House sparrow distribution map

You can see house sparrows all year-round.

  • jan
  • feb
  • mar
  • apr
  • may
  • jun
  • jul
  • aug
  • sep
  • oct
  • nov
  • dec

RSPB reserves

  • RSPB South Essex Wildlife Garden
  • RSPB Darts Farm

Video

See footage of a female house sparrow.

See footage of a female house sparrow.

Female house sparrow
 Mute swan Cygnus olor, cygnet on adult's back seeking shelter, Langford

Save nature, donate now

  • More than 40 million birds have vanished from the UK in 50 years
  • One in ten of our wildlife is critically endangered

Within your lifetime, species such as song thrushes, cuckoos and even hedgehogs could die out altogether. As the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, the RSPB use your donations to restore habitats, protect species and save nature. Give a little today and make a big difference tomorrow. Thank you.

DONATE NOW

In more depth

House Sparrow nesting

House Sparrow nesting

House sparrow population trends

House sparrow population trends

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