House sparrow
Passer domesticus
Identification Tips:
- Length: 4.25 inches
- Small, seed-eating bird
- Thick, conical bill
- Pink legs
- Extremely common in urban and agricultural areas
Adult male:
- Gray crown
- Black throat, upper breast, and small mask; less black on throat in
winter
- Grayish side of neck and underparts
- Rusty-brown nape and upperparts
- Black streaks on back
- White patch in wing
- Gray rump
- Black bill in summer; yellowish in winter
Female and immature:
- Gray-brown crown
- Buffy line extends rearward from eye bordered below by gray-brown line
- Grayish-white underparts
- Black and tawny streaks on back
- Black wing feathers with wide tawny edges
- White patch on wing
- Yellow bill
- Immature males lack full throat patch of adults
Similar species:
The adult male House Sparrow is quite distinctive but might be confused
with the very local Eurasian Tree Sparrow (St. Louis, Missouri). The Eurasian
Tree Sparrow has a black spot on the ear coverts and an entirely brown crown.
The female House Sparrow looks somewhat similar to a number of species of
sparrows but has unstreaked underparts, tawny streaks on the back, and a
large yellowish bill. The female Dickcissel also has a large bill but it is
gray, not yellow, and usually has some yellow in the face and a rusty patch in
the wing.
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.