Life of sparrow birds. Sparrow bird. Sparrow lifestyle and habitat. Appearance of birds

Sparrows are the most common birds in large and small cities, villages and towns. People are so used to them that they don’t even know where these crumbs originate, which, by the way, are on the other side of the planet. The homeland of house sparrows is considered to be Asia, as well as the Mediterranean and the Middle East. To learn other interesting facts about these birds, you need to find out everything about their appearance, behavior, nutrition and habits.

Description of sparrows

In populated areas you can find two types of these tiny birds - brownie and field. The house sparrow always lives close to humans. Representatives of this bird species have remarkably adapted to living conditions near people. They are not afraid even of the harsh climate that prevails in most Russian cities. Sparrows are sedentary birds. They can migrate closer to the south only from the coldest cities with severe winters.

Appearance of birds

The house sparrow is very small in size. Its body length ranges from 14 to 18 cm. The weight of this small bird can be from 25 to 39 g. The head is quite large in relation to the body, and has a round shape. The sparrow's beak is wide and conical. Its length can reach 1.5 cm. The bird looks strong and quite large for its weight. The tail is usually 5-6 cm in size. The length of the limbs is about 2-2.5 cm.

Female sparrows are significantly smaller than males. The color of their plumage also differs according to gender. The upper part of the bird's body is always brown. In this case, the lower one has a light gray color. The wings of sparrows are framed with white and yellow transverse stripes. The differences between the female and the male are the color of the head and neck. In males, the crown is always dark gray, and the area under the eyes is light gray. The throat and chest are framed by a black spot. In females, the crown and neck are always light brown. During the mating season, the color of the birds' feathers darkens significantly. The description of house sparrows at this time may slightly differ from the above characteristics.

Sparrow breeding

The house species of these birds always settles near human habitation. They can nest in separate pairs, and sometimes join in groups. Sparrows make nests in trees, in cracks and crevices of old buildings, under the roofs of houses, and also in thickets of bushes. Both representatives of the couple are always involved in the construction of housing. To do this, they use dry grass, straw, and small branches. A depression is always built in the center of the nest to prevent eggs or chicks from falling out.

Most often, the female begins laying eggs in April. The nest can then contain up to 10 eggs. They are white with brown spots. The incubation period lasts approximately 2 weeks. When the chicks hatch, the female and male begin to feed them insects together. Babies acquire the ability to fly within two weeks of birth. Their lifespan can reach 10 years. However, only a small part of birds survive even to 4 years.

What do sparrows eat?

Their diet mostly consists of plant products. House sparrows love various seeds, grains of cereals and herbs. However, most often they have to make do with what is available in populated areas. That's why sparrows eat human food waste, insects, berries and even buds on trees.

Not everyone knows what the house sparrow eats in winter. Indeed, at this time, the main part of the diet of these birds, which consists of vegetation, disappears from access. Fortunately, birds are often fed by people. All kinds of feeders with seeds and crackers can save the lives of hundreds of birds that cannot withstand a hungry winter and die from the cold. Like many other birds, sparrows need sand to digest their food well. Sometimes birds eat small pebbles and dried hard grains instead.

Tree sparrows

They are not so attached to human habitats. Therefore, they often settle in steppe and field areas. The name of the bird species comes from this feature. The house sparrow lives in cities and residential areas. But the field ones can be found on the outskirts of villages, which is why they are often called village ones. These birds have no external differences in gender. Females and males have the same feather color and size.

Tree sparrows prefer warm and dry climates. They never live together with the house species of birds. If they have to cross paths, it is always accompanied by fights and competition for territory. Each species has high social activity. These birds are not afraid of people or pets. Therefore, you can very often see how a sparrow brazenly eats food from a bowl of a street dog, which is sleeping peacefully, not noticing that it is being eaten by a small bird.

During the spring and summer, tree sparrows eat insects, and after the crops ripen, they switch to food from fields, gardens and vineyards. Plant food during this period is quite enough for them. When cold weather sets in, birds have to make do with grains and weed seeds. Sometimes they fly into the courtyards of residential buildings to find some food for themselves.

Differences between field and house sparrows

Not everyone knows how to distinguish a tree sparrow from a house sparrow. The field variety of birds is a bit similar to male house birds. But at the same time they have a more elegant shape and less weight. An adult has a body length of 12 to 14 cm. The main difference between these species is the color of the crown and back of the head. These parts of their body are bright chestnut in color. Tree sparrows also have small black spots in the ear area and under the beak. The birds' necks are framed by a collar of snow-white feathers, and their wings have not one, but two light stripes.

Both sparrow species have high mortality rates. Despite the fact that these birds can live up to 10 years, few of them survive even their first winter. Like all birds living in harsh climates and wild environments, they are exposed to various dangers every day. Lack of food in winter is the main one. That is why, with the onset of cold weather, people make feeders from scrap materials, and then fill them with sunflower seeds or other plants. Such kindness and care on the part of humans annually saves hundreds of sparrows from starvation.

I remember from school that we have at least two types of sparrows: the house sparrow and the field sparrow. But I completely forgot what their difference is. And then one day I was walking with a camera, and a flock of sparrows was swarming on the bushes at the feeder. After photographing their portraits, I decided to look into the issue of sparrow taxonomy in more detail.

field sparrow(Passer montanus) is slightly smaller in size and somewhat slender compared to the brownie, has clearly visible black “earrings” on white cheeks, and a brown “cap” on its head.

House sparrow(Passer domesticus) is a little larger, more pugnacious, so the tree sparrow prefers not to mess with it. The house sparrow has pronounced sexual dimorphism - males and females have very different colors (the field sparrow has the same color). Males have more brown spots and are brighter, while females are grey.

The black “tie” of the tree sparrow is weakly expressed, with a small black spot below the beak.

The male house sparrow has a large black patch covering the chin, throat, crop and upper chest.

It is believed that the house sparrow came to us from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, while the field sparrow came from Near Asia. The brownie, living up to its name, constantly lives next to a person, and has already managed to master all latitudes, while the field prefers to live in nature in the satisfying summer time, and spend the winter in unfavorable conditions in the city.

On the same day, I photographed a pair of white wagtails (Motacilla alba), also quite common birds for the city, on a tree. A long swinging tail (which is how she got her name), gray top, white bottom, white head with a black throat and cap.

Despite the fact that it willingly lives next to humans, the wagtail is still a migratory bird, but it arrives in our region very early, at the very beginning of spring.

Sparrow- a well-known bird that neighbors a person and nests near his home, which is why it is called the brownie.

Appearance

The sparrow weighs 23-35 grams, and the body can be up to 16 centimeters long. Its plumage is brownish-brown above and whitish below. The male, unlike the female, has a large black spot on the chin, throat, crop and upper chest and the top of the head is dark gray. The female has a gray head and throat and a pale gray-yellow stripe above the eye.

Habitat areas

The sparrow is common in Russia, Asia, Europe, and also Asia Minor and Arabia. In the last century, it was brought to different countries and to many islands, where the bird has settled to this day. It can be found both in villages and in cities. And its wide distribution is explained by the high fertility of birds.

Lifestyle

The sparrow is a constant neighbor of a person, settles near a person’s home or near settlements, and adapts perfectly to life next to people. Here it finds good conditions for nesting and plenty of food; it nests in separate pairs, sometimes in colonies. Sparrow nests can be found in crevices of buildings, in burrows in clay ravines, and in tree hollows. The bird may also occupy the birdhouse and swallow's hole.

Reproduction

In March in Russia, birds begin their pre-mating season with screams and fights, and in April they build nests and lay eggs. They incubate them for about 13 days. The chicks feed on insects, and after hatching they fly out of the nest after 10 days, that is, somewhere in late May - early June. Two or three broods appear over the summer. Chicks sometimes flock in thousands and feed in the fields.

Nutrition

The food is mainly plant matter, and in the spring partly insects. In populated areas, the sparrow picks up agricultural seeds, food waste, cereals, and finds currants, cherries, grapes, and flower buds.

Character

The sparrow or little sparrow is brave, cunning, sometimes annoying, and sometimes even thieving. The Russian people have always associated many funny games, nursery rhymes, proverbs, sayings and jokes with his image.

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The sparrow is a bird from the finch family. This species includes more than 30 species of birds. All sparrows have a strong cone-shaped, slightly curved beak. They have short legs with rather weak claws. The wings of these birds are short, rounded, and the tail is truncated.

The most common sparrow, the brownie. It has a body length of up to 16 cm. The plumage on its back is rust-colored with black spots. The belly of this bird is gray, the cheeks are white. The wings have a yellowish-white stripe, the throat is black. These sparrows are brave, cunning and annoying. They are found from Portugal to Siberia and even brought to America and Australia.

Sparrows of this species eat grain and raid orchards, pecking at cherries and grapes. But they still provide benefits by destroying many harmful insects.

Tree sparrows are smaller than house sparrows. Their length reaches 14 cm. They are distinguished by a red-gray nape and crown, a black spot on the cheeks and a pair of transverse stripes on the wings. These sparrows usually live in fields and only fly into cities and towns in winter. Such sparrows live in Europe and Central Asia. They can be found as often as brownies. House and city sparrows often use house roofs or other structures for their nests. The field birds make the nest themselves, filling it with feathers, soft grass and wool.

The third type of sparrow, stone. They live in Southern Europe, in rocky areas. These birds are gray-brown in color, have a yellow-white stripe above their eyes, and a yellow spot on their throat.

Sparrows feed on insects, berries and grains, and in cities they eat waste. Sparrows feed their chicks with insects, which is of great benefit to people. Where sparrows were destroyed, an invasion of insects was subsequently noticed.

We associate the cheerful chirping of these small, cheerful birds with spring and sunny weather. They are our permanent neighbors and interesting to watch. Sparrows have long been an integral part of the urban landscape.

Watch a video about the feathered soloist, the sparrow: Sparrow. Concert for a person with a camera.

Sparrows are a bird to which we are so accustomed that we don’t even see how different these sparrows are. Most sparrows live in groups or form colonies.

Behavior and lifestyle

Sparrows are very smart birds. A. Bram wrote about them like this: “Although the sparrow at first glance seems stupid, in reality it is richly gifted. Being very intelligent, he little by little becomes so familiar with a person and his way of life that he surprises every observant person.” “They are also gifted with excellent memories.” The sparrows (field sparrows), which constantly feed on the feeder installed on our site, recognize me (their main “feeder”) very well. More likely, even my jacket and snow shovel. And if our dog leaves the house, then all the sparrows instantly flock to the feeder. They have developed a strong conditioned reflex to a combination of three factors: a purple jacket, a shovel and a dog. Birds sit on bushes and trees near the feeder and calmly wait for a new portion of food to appear in the feeder.

Bram writes: “The characteristic feature of the sparrow is that wherever it is found, it lives in the closest communication with man. It inhabits both noisy, crowded cities and secluded villages surrounded by fields. Ships bring him to islands where he was never known before; he remains to live on the ruins of devastated areas, as a living witness to the happy past. Being in the full sense of the word a sedentary bird, he almost never flies beyond the boundaries of the city or beyond the borders of the fields where he was born; only occasionally does he undertake travel to explore the region beyond the areas where he lives.” Everything is exactly like that. In recent years, we have formed a huge, close-knit flock of sparrows. It's funny to see thin first-year birds who cautiously give way to older birds.

Bram continues: “... just like with a person, he enters into more or less close relationships with other creatures: he is trusting or distrustful of a dog, he is very annoying to horses, he warns his own kind and other birds about the presence of a cat, he steals food from chickens, not paying attention to their threatening movements.” I once observed the interesting behavior of sparrows hiding from a neighbor’s cat in a wide bush next to a feeder. The whole flock found itself inside a huge green ball, but at the very top one of the sparrows was on duty all the time. This “watchman” cautiously watched the cat and from time to time dived into the bush to tell the other birds something. I drove the cat away, and the sparrows immediately returned to eating.

The benefits that sparrows bring and the harm attributed to them are eloquently evidenced by the experience of China during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960). It all ended with the sparrows being completely exterminated. Then hordes of pests attacked the ripening grain. The state had to urgently import sparrows from other countries.

Bram very accurately noted that sparrows crowd out other useful birds “and with their pugnacity, their restless disposition, they discourage songbirds from visiting the gardens that they have taken possession of.” This is unfortunately true. It’s been two years now that tits are almost invisible on our site. Neighbors list to me the birds that come to their feeders. But our “bandits” drive away all small birds (especially tits) that find themselves within the sparrow’s territory. And what kind of fights they staged last year with swifts, not wanting to give up their nests to the birds that arrived.

And another interesting observation by Bram: “Sparrows are difficult to tame. But in some cases it is possible to bind this smart bird to yourself. Roveler reports that one of his acquaintances managed to tame a female sparrow in complete freedom; he flew to his name, sat on the lap and hand of his owner and recognized him from afar.”

Types of sparrows

The sparrow is a small bird that some ornithologists classify as a member of the family Weavers (Ploceidae), subfamily Sparrows. Another part of scientists identifies a separate family Passeriformes (Passeridae). There are 22 species in this family, with about 8 species found in Russia.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 14 - 18 cm long. The male has a dark gray or gray top of the head. The back is brown, with numerous black spots. The chin, throat, crop and upper chest are also black. There is a very dark stripe “beak - eye - ear”. The back of the head is brown. Whitish-gray belly and undertail. A narrow white transverse stripe on the wings is clearly visible. The beak is black. The female sparrow has a grayish-brown upperparts with red streaks. Young birds look like the female. The main distinguishing features: a gray cap (when compared with a tree sparrow) and a brown back (when compared with a black-breasted sparrow).

The house sparrow is found in both Eurasia and North America. In Russia it is not found only in the Far Northeast. These birds are often called “city sparrows”, as they can be seen more often in large populated areas; they ignore the countryside. The sparrow is mobile, does not walk on the ground, but jumps with both legs at once. More often he has to fly low from place to place. He loves to swim in sand and dust. Keeps in packs. Ornithologists describe the chirping of a sparrow as “chiv-chiv-chiv.”

The sparrow nests in a variety of places, under any little shelter. Sometimes in trees and bushes. The nest is a ball made of plant fluff and dried grass. There are 4 - 6 eggs in a clutch. They are grayish-white with brown spots.

(Passer montanus) slightly smaller than the house sparrow. Its length is 14 - 17 cm. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck and the wings are chestnut brown. The back is brownish-red with black spots. The cheeks and sides of the neck are white. There is a black spot on the cheek. Black throat and beak-ear stripe. Whitish belly and undertail. There is a narrow white stripe (transverse) on the wings. The beak is black. Legs dark brown. The female looks like the male. Young birds are colored like adults. A distinctive feature is black spots on light cheeks, which are clearly visible from a distance.

The tree sparrow is found in Eurasia, in Russia - except in the extreme northeast and the Arctic tundra. This bird settles near villages, small villages and places that people visit (parks, gardens, cemeteries, etc.). The tree sparrow avoids noisy, crowded cities and other overly busy places. Therefore, this species is more often called the “country sparrow”. Ornithologists define the chirping of the tree sparrow as “zev-zev-zev”, “tiv-tiv” or as “tek-tek” and call it gentle.

The tree sparrow makes its nests in tree hollows, crevices, empty nests of migratory birds, and even in burrows. The clutch consists of 5 - 6 whitish-gray eggs with brown spots.

Black-breasted Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) 14 - 18 cm long. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck, and the wings are chestnut brown. There are light streaks on the black back. The cheeks and sides of the head are white. Black throat, crop, upper chest and stripe from beak to ear. White belly and rump with black spots. The wings have a narrow white transverse stripe. The beak is black. Legs dark brown. Females and young birds are not so contrastingly and brightly colored. Their general tone is brownish.

The black-breasted sparrow is a migratory, often nomadic species. It is distributed in Eurasia and North Africa. In Russia - in the North Caucasus, where it inhabits gardens, groves, and the outskirts of populated areas. This sparrow flies beautifully. His voice is rough and harsher than other sparrows. Breeds in colonies. Builds large, sloppy, ball-shaped nests or occupies empty nests of large birds. There are 4 - 8 eggs in a clutch. They are bluish-white with spots of gray.

Snow sparrow, or snow finch (Montifringilla nivalis) very beautiful. Colonies of birds are found in the mountains of South-Eastern Altai and the Caucasus. When in flight, the snow sparrow can be identified by its long black and white wings and gray tail, edged with white feathers. There is also a characteristic black spot on the throat. The color of the lower body is light. Ornithologists describe its trill not as a chirp, but as a monotonous “sittiger-sittiger” sound. Call: sharp “uee”, “pchiu”. An alarmed snow sparrow makes a "pchurrt" sound.

Red sparrow (Passer rutilans) in Russia is found in the south of Sakhalin and the South Kuril Islands. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck, the back and the wings of this sparrow are chestnut-red. The female has a brownish-gray upper part of the head and back, and a light gray breast. This sparrow is a forest dweller. It nests in pairs. Does not gather in large flocks.

Stone sparrow (Petronia petronia) is a relatively large bird, which is distinguished by a wide light stripe on the crown and a light brown beak. The throat and chest are light brown with speckles, and a lemon-yellow spot stands out on the crop. In Russia, the stone sparrow is found in Altai, Transbaikalia, Tuva, the Lower Volga region, and Ciscaucasia. There, the rock sparrow nests near the water, as it loves to swim. It builds nests between stones, in rock cracks and in empty holes. This is a noisy bird, flocks of which fly from place to place. According to ornithologists, the rock sparrow makes ringing “geeooo”, “wee-weep”, “pee-oo-ee” and “dpiu-weep”.

Mongolian ground sparrow (Pyrgilauda davidiana) lives in Altai, Western Transbaikalia and Tuva. It has sandy-brown plumage on its back with faint spots. This sparrow is silent (chirps quietly) and trusting. Found in the mountains, among rocks and in the steppes.

Short-fingered Sparrow (Carpospiza brachydactyla) is a smaller sandy-brown bird with characteristic white stripes along the edges of the throat and at the top of the tail. Breeds in Dagestan in rocky mountainous areas. His song is a drawn-out “tss-tss-tsseeeeeeee” and “tee-zee-zeeeeeeee”, which is compared to the sounds made by cicadas.

When describing these species of sparrow, the books helped me a lot: “Birds of Russia. Identifier of all species of birds of the Russian Federation" (authors N. Arlott and V. Brave) and "School Atlas - identification of birds" (author V. Brave).

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