Peculiarities of behavior of sparrows in the environment. House sparrow description of nutrition, difference from tree sparrow

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 in winter time fly into cities and towns. 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.

Appearance

Body length 14–18 cm, weight 21–37 g. The general color of the plumage is brownish-brown above, rusty in color with black spots, whitish or gray below. The cheeks are white, the ear area is pale gray. Wings with a yellowish-white transverse stripe. The male is distinguished from the female by the presence of a large black spot covering the chin, throat, crop and upper chest, as well as a dark gray (rather than dark brown) top of the head. The female has a gray head and throat and a pale gray-yellow stripe above the eye.

Spreading

Previously, the habitat of the house sparrow was limited to Northern Europe. Subsequently, it spread widely in Europe and Asia (with the exception of the Arctic, northeastern, southeastern and central regions Asia), as well as in North and East Africa, Senegal, Asia Minor, on Arabian Peninsula and the island of Java.

Since the 20th century it was brought to different countries, spread widely there and currently, in addition to the places indicated above, also lives in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Northern and South America and on many islands.

Almost everywhere it is a sedentary bird, only from the northernmost parts of its range it migrates to the south for the winter (up to 1000 km), and from Central Asia it flies to Western Asia and India.

Following the habitation of man, he penetrated far to the north into the unusual zone of forest-tundra and even tundra - up to Murmansk region, mouth of the Pechora, northern Yakutia.

How to distinguish a male sparrow from a female?

On the left is a female, on the right is a male

A male sparrow can be distinguished from a female by a characteristic black spot that covers the chin, throat and upper chest. The male's head also has a dark gray. The female sparrow is smaller in size, the head and throat are gray, and above the eyes there are gray-yellow stripes, very pale, almost invisible.

Features of the lifestyle and behavior of sparrows

The sparrows are leading sedentary image life, having chosen a territory, nests. The raised offspring remain close to their parents, thus the sparrows form large flocks. This is facilitated by the high fertility of the sparrow and the abundance of food due to the proximity of human settlements.

Ornithologists, observing sparrows, found that these birds create a pair for almost their entire lives. The life expectancy of sparrows is on average up to 5 years. But there were specimens of birds whose age was about 11 years. The short life expectancy of sparrows is due to the fact that the young often die in the first winter. Sparrows nest almost anywhere they can place a nest. These include the eaves of balconies, birdhouses, voids in wooden or stone buildings, sometimes pipes and even heaps of garbage. In our area, couples form towards the end of winter. At this time, sparrows (males) are animated, chirping loudly, talking and even sometimes fighting.

Sparrow feeding

Sparrow cannot be called a gourmet. Its menu is varied - from insects to human food waste. Moreover, modesty is also not their strong point; while waiting for a piece, they can jump near a person’s table (outdoor cafes, country terraces), and if the person is sitting motionless, then they can jump onto the table on their own and worry about themselves.

However, at the slightest movement, the birds deftly disappear from the table, trying to grab the tasty crumbs.

And yet, despite their pugnacious and quarrelsome nature, these birds do not create scandals over food. If one sparrow finds a lot of food, it flies off to fetch its fellow tribesmen, and only then starts eating.

They are wary of unfamiliar food. The whole flock will not eat an unknown dish until one of the sparrows tries the food. And only after that everyone flocks.

In the villages in the summer these birds live at ease. They peck at the seeds and grains of planted crops, feast on berries, and all kinds of repellent devices have little effect on them.

However, rural residents are forced to endure such a neighborhood, because sparrows destroy caterpillars and other insects.

In fact, if you watch sparrows, the bird will be much more willing to feed in a rabbit’s cage or from a chicken cup than to look for some kind of larvae. But you shouldn't be offended by this. The sparrow's diet, however, is based on plant foods. Sparrows eat insects only in the spring, and when feeding their chicks. However, without the help of these birds it would be difficult to get rid of insects.

Sparrow breeding

A male and female sparrow build a nest together. As a rule, this is a rough structure made of feathers, straw, dry grass, with a small depression in the center. Construction of the nest begins in March, and in April the birds begin laying eggs. During a season, a female can lay up to 5 clutches. The clutch usually contains up to 7 white eggs with dark specks. The incubation period for hatching eggs lasts about two weeks. The chicks hatch slightly pubescent, almost naked. Feeding the offspring takes approximately 14 to 17 days; both parents feed the chicks mainly with insects.

Around the 10th day, the chicks try to fly. After a couple of days at the end of May - beginning of June, they leave the nests. By the end of autumn, the sparrows become animated again, chirping loudly and courting the females. Nest construction begins. There will be no chicks in these nests until spring, and a place prepared in this way in winter will serve the sparrows as protection from autumn rains and winter frosts.

Is the sparrow enemy or friend?

So the sparrow ended up among the “dubious helpers.” And yet, the benefits of this tiny bird more than harm. It is enough to give a classic example - once the Chinese thought that sparrows were destroying their rice crop, so the bird was declared the main enemy, they were exterminated, knowing that sparrows could not stay in the air for more than 15 minutes.

The Chinese simply did not allow them to land and the birds fell to the ground already dead. But after this came the real enemy - insects.

They multiplied to such an extent that there was no rice left at all, and almost 30 million people died from famine.

So is it worth racking your brains over what has already been passed down by history? The small bird sparrow occupies a worthy place in nature, and man only has to protect it.

Types of sparrows

In nature, there are many birds that look like sparrows, but it is not at all necessary that they belong to one of the species of this bird. Scientists ornithologists have clearly identified the species and subspecies of this bird. There are quite a lot of species of this bird - there are about 22. In our climate you can find 8.

  • field;
  • snowy (snow finch)
  • black-breasted;
  • ginger;
  • stone;
  • Mongolian ground sparrow;
  • short-toed;
  • house sparrow.

Field Sparrow / Passer montanus

The tree sparrow usually nests in light forests and parkland landscapes, where open spaces interspersed with tree plantings, groves and coastal vegetation. It also settles in old parks and gardens. Common in rural settlements and some cities, especially in areas where there is no house sparrow. It nests in dense colonies and individual pairs in hollows and birdhouses, less often in cracks in buildings. It also settles in the voids between the branches of large nests of storks and daytime predators. Sometimes it builds spherical nests on the tops of trees. There are usually 5-6 eggs in a clutch. It lives in almost all of Eurasia, except for the northernmost regions.

Snow Sparrow / Montifringilla nivalis

Snow sparrows have a rather unusual distribution range that extends across mountain ranges Southern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Southwestern Iran, Pamir, Altai and Northeast China. They nest in the alpine zone below the level of eternal snow - in meadows between cliffs and rocky slopes, on the slopes of boulders and lava fields. The nest is placed in rock crevices, as well as in the voids of buildings (in mountain huts, old fortifications, ski lift cabins). They live in small colonies of 2 to 6 pairs.

Black-breasted Sparrow / Passer hispaniolensis

The Black-breasted Sparrow is a small bird, slightly larger than the House Sparrow. The black-breasted sparrow weighs 27–30 g. The male differs from the female by its black back and black chest, as well as large longitudinal streaks on the sides of the body. It is distributed from Southern Europe and North Africa through Asia Minor to Afghanistan and North-West India. In our country it is found in the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a migratory bird and a sedentary bird only in the south of its range. Inhabits cultural landscapes - groves, gardens, tugai thickets, outskirts of populated areas.

Red Sparrow / Passer rutilans

The rufous sparrow is found in South and East Asia, distinguished from other sparrows by the chestnut-red color of the plumage on the top of the head and back. It nests in sparse forests, mostly deciduous, along the edges of forests and in floodplain forests. It usually makes nests in hollows, less often in human settlements or on bushes.

Rock Sparrow / Petronia petronia

The distribution area of ​​the rock sparrow extends from southern Europe and northern Africa to Central and Central Asia, as well as across Eastern China. Inhabits open, illuminated areas of rocky slopes, arid rocky deserts with scattered trees and shrubs, as well as pastures and surrounding cereal fields. The nest is located in deep niches and crevices of rocks, in ruins or on buildings. It also lives in hollows and uninhabited burrows of mammals. It rises to a height of 2040 m in the mountains.

Ground sparrow / Pyrgilauda davidiana

Ground sparrow appearance and the color of the plumage is similar to real sparrows, but differs from them in white spots on the tail and wings. Distributed in the Gobi Desert, and in Russia - in the South-Eastern Altai and South-East Transbaikalia. By way of life, this is a sedentary bird, living in the hilly steppes and desert mountains, in wide valleys, on flat areas with sparse grass. It nests, spends the night and hides in abandoned burrows of pikas and other rodents. The nest is placed at a depth of up to 75 cm from the entrance to the hole, in the former living chamber of the rodent. The nest is a cavity lined with wool, sometimes with feathers, in a heap of hay that the animal has brought in. There are 5–6 eggs in a clutch. Some time after the chicks have fledged, the broods unite into small flocks that remain throughout the winter. It feeds on insects and seeds of steppe grasses. In Northern Afghanistan, another species of ground sparrow is found - the Afghan sparrow (P. theresae), similar to the previous one.

Short-legged Sparrow / Petronia brachydactyla

The short-legged sparrow, a close relative of the rock sparrow, is found in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, as well as in Turkmenistan and Transcaucasia. This migrant. Winters in Arabia and Africa.

House Sparrow / Passer domesticus

The house sparrow is the most common species of the genus of true sparrows in the passerine family. This is one of the most famous birds that live in the vicinity of human habitation (hence its species name “brownie”) and is well recognizable as appearance, and by the characteristic chirping.

Perhaps someone has heard about the strange bird "sparrow-camel". This bird has nothing in common with a sparrow, and is not a passerine species. This is the name of the well-known ostrich, which in translation means “sparrow - camel”. All passerine species have some characteristics, but the main characteristic of this bird is common to all.

House sparrow

Scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animals
Type:

Chordata
Class:
Squad:

Passeriformes
Family:

Passeriformes
Genus:

Real sparrows
View:

House sparrow
International scientific name

Passer domesticus(Linnaeus, 1758)
Species in taxonomic databases
CoL

House sparrow(lat. Passer domesticus) - a widespread bird of the passerine family ( Passeridae), close relative tree sparrow.

Description

Body length of males is 147-180 mm, females - 140-173, wingspan for males is 230-264 mm, for females - 220-255 mm. The wing length of males is 73-83 mm, females - 72-79 mm; the beak of males is 9-11 mm, females - 9-10 mm. The weight of males is 28-37.2 g, females - 29-35.5 g.

The wings are rather short and wide; the tail is almost straight, only slightly notched. In an adult male, the top of the head, loin and rump are dark gray, with small, barely noticeable dark specks on the head. The frenulum and the stripe above the eye are black. The cheeks and adjacent sides of the neck are gray. The stripe above the eye, behind the eye and on the upper side of the neck is rusty chestnut. The back is streaked with longitudinal black and chestnut streaks. The greater wing coverts and secondaries are dark brown with wide chestnut edges. Lesser coverts chestnut with black bases; middle wing coverts with dark brown bases and a white apical half, forming a transverse stripe on the wing. The primaries and tail feathers are dark brown. The chin, throat, crop, and upper chest are black. The belly and undertail are light gray, the sides of the body are gray. The beak is short, strong and conical. The color of the beak changes with the seasons: in winter it is brownish-black, but starting from the end of February it begins to darken, and by the end of March it acquires a black shiny color that lasts throughout the summer. Legs dark brown; hazel iris.

In females, the top of the head and neck, sides of the neck, loin and rump are dark brown. There is a narrow lighter stripe above and behind the eye. Cheeks greyish-brown. The back is covered with black-brown and brown longitudinal streaks. The throat, crop and chest are brownish-gray. The belly is a dirty light gray tone. The undertail is whitish. The white transverse stripe on the wing is narrow and less pronounced. The beak is dark brown, becoming lighter towards the base of the mandible.

The young are similar in color to the females. In winter, the beak of young males of this summer's hatching is brown - significantly lighter than that of winter adult males, but darker than that of females. At the end of March of the first year, the beak of young males acquires black color and it is impossible to distinguish them from adult birds by their beaks.

The flight is rather weak, wavy, usually flies a short distance and low to the ground. It moves along the ground in leaps and bounds, pushing off the ground with both legs at the same time.

Voice

A peculiar loud chirping “jiv-jiv-jiv”, emitted by a bird with different intonations 3-4 times in a row.

Spreading

Area

The original range of the house sparrow belongs to Eurasia, excluding the Far North, northeastern Siberia and Central, Eastern and Southeast Asia. Thanks to their widespread introduction, they can now be found on all continents except Antarctica. The house sparrow easily acclimatizes to the most different conditions. Introduced to different countries around the world, given the conditions necessary for its existence, mainly food, it quickly increases in quantity and spreads over vast territories; in some places it has become a scourge of agriculture. When feeding conditions change in an unfavorable direction, it quickly decreases in quantity and in some places disappears completely.

Habitats

The house sparrow is an inhabitant of the cultural landscape. Inhabits cities and towns, including in the Rtishchevsky district. In Rtishchevo, however, the tree sparrow is found much less frequently. It settles mainly near human settlements or directly near human habitation, but occasionally at a fairly large distance from human habitation.

Lifestyle

A sedentary bird, nomadic on a small scale and even migratory over short distances. Keeps in flocks, excluding the breeding season. Very active and lively birds, only in bad times, rainy weather hide in some kind of shelter. They spend the night in winter in various shelters: in the cracks of buildings, behind windows, under the roof, in their old nests, etc. They love to swim and begin to swim very early - as soon as the first thawed patches form in the spring.

The maximum lifespan of a house sparrow in captivity is 13 years. In both natural and anthropogenic landscapes, most birds live less than one year. Average duration The lifespan of young house sparrows is 9 months, and that of old ones is 21 months. The maximum lifespan of sparrows in nature, according to some authors, is no more than 3.5 years, according to others - about 7 years.

Sparrows are carriers of various pests and diseases. For example, sparrows that stay near elevators carry granary mites on their plumage from an infested elevator to an uninfected one. Each sparrow carrier has up to 100-250 ticks. House sparrows easily become infected with night blindness, smallpox, and diphtheria and can transfer them from an infected poultry farm to a healthy one.

Reproduction

Fight between two males over a female

In the Volga region, mating activity among males, which boils down to collective courtship of females, is noticeable already in late February - early March. In the middle of the first ten days of March, males begin to advertise the shelters they have chosen for nesting. At first, males sing at the nests mainly in the morning, spending no more than a few tens of minutes a day on this. However, in the middle - end of March, the intensity of mating displays by males increases noticeably. By this time, large flocks are broken up into small ones; males begin to regularly “court” females, and fights often occur between them. From the end of March, most sparrows separate into pairs and begin spring nest-building, the height of which usually occurs in the first - second ten days of April. Both male and female take part in the construction of the nest, but usually the male only brings building material.

Nests are most often located in birdhouses, tree hollows or under the slate roofs of houses. Various niches and crevices in buildings are also used - behind window frames, in grooves behind cladding, in stacks of boards, under bridge arches and in hollow concrete pillars. Nests are also known that were located in damaged electric lamps, in the walls of the nests of large birds (raptors, herons, storks and others). Nests are placed freely on tree branches, usually at a height of at least 170 cm from the ground, sometimes up to 10 or more nests on one tree. House sparrows that nest on human buildings usually place their nests on the 2-5 floors of buildings.

The nest is a spherical lump of blades of grass, straws, sponge, scraps of paper, rags, threads, feathers, etc., inside of which is a tray with a soft lining for eggs. IN building material there are a lot of feathers and down, which line not only the inner surface of the nest, but often its outer walls. Nest dimensions: outer diameter - 12-13 cm, inner diameter - about 8 cm, nest height - 8-10 cm, taphole diameter 7-8 cm.

From mid-April the birds begin mating. The clutch contains 5-6 white or grayish-blue eggs with brown spots. Egg dimensions: 21-24 × 15-16 mm. Incubation period is 10-11 days. The chicks are naked, the skin is light yellow; stay in the nest for less than two weeks. Insects play a significant role in the diet of nesting chicks. Among them, the most common are beetles and aphids.

Approximately 2 weeks after leaving the nest, the fledglings begin to live independently. Neighboring broods unite into flocks of 15-40 birds. For a few days they still feed near their birthplaces, but then they begin to wander. In a vacant nest, sparrows usually make a second clutch. Chicks of the second broods most often leave the nests throughout July, sometimes in mid-August. Thus, eggs or chicks can be found in house sparrow nests from the end of April to the second half of August. The entire breeding period lasts about 4 months. During this time, some pairs that start laying eggs in April apparently manage to hatch chicks 3 times.

From July until almost the end of September, groups of young birds are regularly found feeding in wastelands and landfills, as well as in fields located on the outskirts of settlements. The flocks are gradually becoming larger. By autumn they sometimes number hundreds of birds.

Nutrition

Sparrow with prey

The house sparrow's diet includes three main food groups - seeds of cultivated and wild plants, invertebrate animals and food of anthropogenic origin.

Plant seeds are eaten by house sparrows during all seasons of the year. Birds most readily feed on the seeds of cereals, asteraceae, goosefoot, buckwheat and some other plants. A particularly significant role in the house sparrow’s diet is played by: sunflower, the seeds of which the birds pick up in crowded places, knotweed and millet, the seeds of which the birds feed on in wastelands, vegetable gardens and other places. Already from the first days of May, as soon as the first greenery appears, sparrows begin to eat the vegetative parts of plants. They especially readily feed on dandelion seedlings. Later, in July - August, sparrows sometimes damage the harvest of berries and even apples in gardens and feed in flocks in fields sown with oats. However, the harm caused agriculture house sparrow, much smaller than that of the tree sparrow. In midsummer, seeds make up 53% of the house sparrow's food. House sparrows, unlike field sparrows, when feeding, usually clear the seeds from their shells.

The composition of the food of urban sparrows is very different from the usual diet of birds living in rural areas. Sparrows living in rural landscapes sometimes eat seeds of cultivated cereals - wheat, millet, oats, barley - in significant quantities. Seeds of other plant species are eaten in smaller quantities, while cereals are used in to a greater extent in the summer, and goosefoot and aster in the fall and early winter.

Animal food in the diet of the house sparrow is represented mostly by invertebrates, mainly insects. The diet of sparrows contains a very large number of species of different invertebrates, but in each specific place the basis of nutrition is a relatively small group of animals. Most often, sparrows eat insects from the orders Orthoptera, Proboscis Homoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera. During the nesting period, sparrows destroy harmful insects en masse: weevils, leaf beetles, some butterflies, such as reed moths, willow moths, caterpillars of the oak leaf roller and the winter moth, and others. At this time, house sparrows collect insects from tree trunks, walls of buildings, on the ground, and even catch them in flight in the air.

In addition to seeds and invertebrates, house sparrows often feed on a variety of food of anthropogenic origin. More often than others, they use bread, leftover porridge, cottage cheese, and cereals. Less often, sparrows eat other objects of anthropogenic origin: pieces of meat, sausage, cheese, etc. Particularly striking is the ability of sparrows to peck pieces of ice cream from sticks. The role of anthropogenic food sources in the diet of sparrows increases in winter period. At this time, their share in the bird’s diet is 85%. In the spring, after the disappearance of snow cover, the share of anthropogenic food sources in the diet of sparrows decreases and amounts to 56% of food.

House sparrows most often feed on asphalt or on flat, compacted areas of ground. From early morning, flocks of sparrows in search of food scurry around garbage cans in courtyards, feeding birds in parks and squares, in markets, train stations, public transport stops, near grocery stores and other places. Sometimes, in places of constant feeding, individual house sparrows become accustomed to taking food from human hands. This behavior is not typical for tree sparrows.

Shedding

Adult birds have one complete molt per year; it happens at the end of summer - beginning of autumn. Spring wedding attire is formed when the edges of the feathers of the winter plumage are worn in the spring. The feathering becomes noticeable already at the beginning of March and in April the plumage becomes brighter in color.

The time of the beginning of molting varies quite a lot, apparently depending on the end of the nesting period of various individuals and on the presence of a second and even third clutch, as well as, to a lesser extent, on the geographical distribution of sparrows.

The molting of plumage begins with the change of small feathers, then the flight and tail feathers; usually the change of small feathers, flight feathers and tail feathers ends at the same time, or even the small feathers finish the moult last. The flight feathers and tail feathers change from the inner to the outer feathers.

From mid-July, chicks from the first broods begin post-juvenile molting, which, like adults, is always complete. The non-simultaneity and strong prolongation of the timing of reproduction also affects the timing of the start of molting: it is never friendly. In August, most of the birds in flocks moult. Chicks from later broods are the last to molt. They change their plumage until mid-November.

Literature

  • Baranovsky A.V. Mechanisms of ecological segregation of house and tree sparrows. Monograph. - Ryazan, 2010. - 192 p.
  • Dementiev G. P. Passerines (Complete guide to birds of the USSR by S. A. Buturlina and G. P. Dementieva). - T. 4. - M., L.: KOIZ, 1937. - P. 90-91
  • Malchevsky A. S., Pukinsky Yu. B. Birds Leningrad region and adjacent territories. - L.: From Leningrad University, 1983. - P. 521-524
  • Mikheev A.V. Bird's nest guide. Textbook manual for students of biology. specialties ped. Inst. Ed. 3rd, revised - M.: Education, 1975. - P. 161
  • Birds Soviet Union. T. V / Under the general editorship. G. P. Dementieva and N. A. Gladkova. - M.: Soviet science, 1954. - pp. 329-339
  • Rusanov G. M. Birds of the Lower Volga. - Astrakhan: SE JSC IPK "Volga", 2011. - P. 324
  • Felix I. Birds of gardens, parks and fields. - Prague: Artia, 1980. - P. 56
  • Flint V. E., Boehme R. L., Kostin Yu. V., Kuznetsov A. A. Birds of the USSR. - M.: Mysl, 1968. - P. 588-589

In the conditions of Moscow and the Moscow region, house sparrows As a rule, there are three broods of chicks per season. Nesting begins in March, at which time birds actively build nests. The first eggs appear in April. The timing of egg laying depends on climatic conditions year. Thus, the beginning of laying can occur either in the first or third ten days of April, and many, mostly one-year-old females begin nesting in May.

The nesting season ends in early to mid-August, when the birds begin their post-nesting molt, during which they completely change their plumage. A.I. Ilyenko in his book about house sparrows writes that “the female lays eggs (4-5 days), incubates (11-12 days), feeds the chicks in the nest (13-15 days) and raises them after leaving nests (at least 12 days) require only about 41 days." After the chicks fly out of the nest, caring for them mainly falls on the male, while the female adjusts the nest and makes a new clutch. The number of eggs in a clutch varies from 3 to 9. In the tropics it is significantly less than in the temperate climatic zone. And in rural areas there are always more eggs in a clutch than in the city. The number of grown chicks in the village also prevails.

Incubation begins after the third egg is laid. Therefore, chicks from clutches of 5-6 eggs hatch within 2-3 days and at first differ greatly in size. Often, during the first 3-4 days, younger chicks are trampled in the nest by larger brothers. Both parents take part in incubation and feeding. Puberty in young birds middle lane Russia begins at the age of 7-8 months. However, experiments to stimulate sexual activity by increasing the length daylight hours in the fall they showed that sexual maturity can occur at 5-6 months. During warm winters in the British Isles, sparrows were found breeding in November and December. And in Brazil, house sparrows brought here have two distinct breeding peaks - spring and autumn.

House sparrows are interesting to keep in captivity. True, there are rumors among people that “sparrows do not live in cages,” which is an idle fiction. They are often kept in cages and enclosures to conduct all kinds of biological experiments. Fans of keeping birds indoors do not often set aside space in their homes for such lodgers, probably believing that sparrows can be admired almost constantly in the vicinity of any residential building. I think that keeping house sparrows in cages and aviaries can bring great pleasure to bird lovers interested in their behavior. Their extraordinary intelligence and ability to learn make these birds a very interesting object for observation.

Particularly funny are the hatchlings - human-raised chicks. They become not only tame, but also try to actively draw you into their life. Thus, one of the founders of ethology (the science of animal behavior), Konrad Lorenz, in his book “The Ring of King Solomon” describes such a case. His male sparrow was attempting to build a nest in his vest pocket, inviting a human to participate in the event as his mating partner. At the home of the famous ornithologist, Professor R.L. Boehme of Moscow State University, very adult sparrows lived for many years. Although in addition to them, Rurik Lvovich keeps about a hundred of the rarest exotic birds, he finds time to observe these simple pets.

Keeping sparrows in captivity is not difficult. Their food can be a grain mixture of millet, oatmeal with the addition of rice, hemp, flax and sunflower seeds. You need soft food with periodic addition of mealworms, as well as greens and mineral supplements. On such a diet and under appropriate conditions, sparrows will live well and even reproduce. Experiments on breeding house sparrows in enclosures have shown that a year a pair of birds makes 4 clutches of 2-6 eggs each; incubation period 10-13 days. Sparrows can be kept individually in cages measuring 60x30x35 cm. Cages or aviaries are more suitable for breeding. For nesting in the aviary it is necessary to place a medium-sized nesting box or birdhouse 20x20x30 cm with a entrance 5 cm in diameter.

Sparrows can be used as "nanny" or "feeder" birds when breeding some rare or valuable species birds. Sparrows feed their chicks mainly with insects, so they can also feed the offspring of some insectivorous birds.

In conclusion of the essay about house sparrows, I would like to say about relationships with related species. The house sparrow can produce hybrid offspring with the closely related black-breasted or, as it is otherwise called, the Spanish sparrow. Such hybrids exist in nature: in northern Africa, where these two species live together, they have even formed a hybrid population. In captivity in Italy, hybrids were obtained from a mixed pair of House Sparrows and Black-breasted Sparrows. Another close relative of the brownie is the tree sparrow. Their general distribution area is truly enormous, however, there are not so many cases of their hybridization.

Vladimir Ostapenko. "Birds in your home." Moscow, "Ariadia", 1996

There is still no definitive answer to the question: is it beneficial or harmful? How does a sparrow feel in modern world, what are their types, what do they prefer in food and how long is the sparrow's life span?

Origin, species, where they live

Birds from the weaver family, very similar to sparrows, lived in Africa, then entered Europe through the Mediterranean. Another version of the origin of the sparrow is that its ancestors were spotted in northern Europe.

There are many types of sparrows:

  • urban:
  • field;
  • African:
  • stone:
  • white-headed:
  • ginger:
  • Indian.

Moreover, indian and white-headed, contrary to the opinion that sparrows are sedentary, they are migratory.

A companion of human life since ancient times, the sparrow is unique in that several of its species can live in the same territory. These are, for example, urban and field. City dwellers live under roof platbands, in attics, while rural dwellers live nearby, in parks and squares.

During the day, they can gather in common flocks, and only a specialist will distinguish an urban sparrow from a rural one. The urban one is larger, but the males and females of the field one look almost the same. The urban males are brighter.

How do they reproduce?

Sparrows are conditionally monogamous. Some create a family only for a season, while others of the same species can live in pairs all their lives.

Sparrows, remembering their relationship with weaver birds, can build both very neat and messy nests. Or they may even settle in someone else’s nest. For example, they drive out swallows and even climb into abandoned gopher holes.

They settle in wells, in openings between houses, and tree sparrows are so cunning that they can build a nest next to an eagle’s. Sometimes they even stick their home to a large eagle’s nest in a secluded place and live quietly under the protection of a formidable neighbor.

Having laid from 5 to 10 eggs, the female incubates them, the male brings her insects and worms. As soon as the chicks appear, both parents are already looking for food.

At the age of 10 days, the sparrows leave the nest, and immediately the female can begin laying eggs again. Over the summer, 2-3, sometimes 4 offspring are born.

What do they eat?

The adult sparrow initially preferred plant foods: grains, seeds, fruits and berries. Small insects and the males carried worms only to the females, and then both - to feed the chicks.

Due to the fact that sparrows live side by side with humans for many centuries, they become omnivorous. They eat what people feed them when it’s cold. Mainly bread. They live in food dumps and eat any edible waste. You can read more about this in another article.

The more cities become urbanized, the more the diet of the urban sparrow changes, because there are fewer and fewer trees, plants and insects.

The tree sparrow has retained its food preferences; it is the terror of gardens and fields. And if there are no crops nearby, then tree sparrows forage for food in the meadows and along the edges of the forest.

In spring, they can cause great damage to trees by pecking off buds. There are no fat reserves in the sparrow's body at all, so it must constantly feed.

The lack of food for a sparrow in winter is very dangerous. Hypothermia and hunger lead to rapid death. In summer, the sparrow also cannot be hungry for long - constantly wasting energy, it will die if it does not eat for more than a day.

Enemies of the sparrow, its lifespan

The most sworn enemies of the sparrow in the city are cats. All birds of prey hunt him. People also kill sparrows, especially in rural areas to protect crops, and attack their numbers in cities by using chemicals. Many sparrows are poisoned by snow melting mixtures in winter.


The average lifespan of a sparrow is difficult to determine. There are too many enemies in urban and rural areas and negative factors shorten the life of these birds. On average, a sparrow lives next to a person for only about 9 months. But in wildlife Sparrows can live 10 or even 20 years.

Benefit or harm

There is no clear answer to the question whether sparrows are beneficial or harmful. Sparrows primarily destroy pests and save trees. And that’s why in cities they are often protected. But sparrow raids on crops and gardens can completely destroy the crop.

The proximity to sparrows forces people to fight them if there are too many birds. On the other hand, in cities they need to be protected and fed. After all, apart from sparrows, there are almost no insectivorous birds left that eat beetles and caterpillars.
Watch a video about a beautiful sparrow.



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