The house sparrow is the world's most famous bird. The sparrow belongs to those few species of birds that have become indispensable residents of rural and city streets. It seems that without these nimble neighbors, we would already be bored with life.
House Sparrow: description
Sparrow is a small bird, its body length is about 15-17 cm, weight is 24-35 g, but at the same time it has a strong physique. The head is rounded and quite large. The beak is about one and a half centimeters long, plump, conical in shape. The tail is approximately 5-6 cm, the legs are 1.5-2.5 cm. Males are larger than females in size and weight.
Sparrows-girls and sparrows-boys also differ in color of feathers. They have the same upper part of the body - brown, the lower part is light gray and wings with a white-yellow stripe located across. A noticeable difference between females and males in the color of the head and chest. In boys, the top of the head is dark gray, below the eyes there is a light gray plumage, a clearly distinguishable black spot on the neck and chest. Girls have a light brown head and neck.
Ecology of the house sparrow
Sparrows live next to human habitation, they have scattered at this time almost all over the world, but initially most of Europe and Western Asia are considered the homeland of these birds.
The house sparrow is found in settlements from the west of Europe to the shores of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, in the north of Europe it reaches the Arctic coast, Siberia is also inhabited by these nimble little birds. Sparrow does not inhabit most of East and Central Asia.
Birds are able to perfectly adapt to the conditions in which they find themselves. These are sedentary birds, only from the northern cold places during the frosty winter they migrate to where it is warmer, in a southerly direction.
Lifestyle
As mentioned earlier, the brownie sparrow loves to settle next to people, maybe because of this it got the name "brownie". Gray birds can live in pairs, but it happens that they create entire colonies. For example, when feeding, they always gather in large flocks. When it is not necessary to sit in nests on eggs or with chicks, sparrows settle in bushes or on tree branches for the night.
In the air, the bird develops a flight speed of up to 45 km / h, walking on the ground, like most other birds, the sparrow cannot, it moves by jumping. He won't drown in a pond, because he can swim, and he's also a good diver.
Reproduction
During the mating season, house sparrows are divided into pairs, then the male and female together begin to build a dwelling. Nests are built in the crevices of structures and buildings, in hollows, inburrows, on the slopes of ravines, in bushes and on tree branches. A sparrow house is made from small twigs, dry grass and straw.
During April, the future mother-sparrow lays eggs, in the nest there are from 4 to 10 eggs, white with brown spots. 14 days after the female sat on the eggs, helpless chicks are born. Father and mother take care of the hatched offspring together, feed the babies with insects. After two weeks, the chicks fly out of the nest.
Lifespan
Sparrows in nature live long enough, their life expectancy is about 10-12 years. A case of longevity has been recorded - a sparrow originally from Denmark lived for 23 years, his other relative did not quite live up to his twentieth birthday.
The problem with these birds is that a lot of young birds die before they reach one year of age. The hardest time for young animals is winter. If they manage to survive until their first spring, then they have a chance to meet old age. At this time, about 70% of young sparrows do not live up to a year.
Food
The house sparrow can do without water, it receives the amount of moisture necessary for existence from juicy berries. Birds feed mainly on plant foods. Favorite delicacy - seeds of grain crops. The sparrow is not picky, eats whatever it gets, its diet includes grass seeds, tree buds, and various berries. These birds also do not disdain food waste from garbage cans, experience tells them that in these ironYou can find a lot of goodies in the boxes. Insects rarely enter the sparrow menu, only during the period of feeding the chicks, bugs and worms become daily food, since it is with them that the parent birds feed their cubs. Sparrows also do not forget about sand, it is necessary for the bird's stomach to digest food. If it is impossible to get hold of sand, then small pebbles are used.
Subfamily Sparrows real
The real Sparrow subfamily includes house sparrow, snow finch, tree sparrow. I would like to pay attention to the snow finch, popularly called the snow sparrow. These birds are quite beautiful, they are lighter and larger than the brownie. From above, the snow finch is grayish-brown, and white below, the wings are black and white. If you watch a bird in flight, then the appearance of a white bird with black spots is created. The throat of the male finch is black, the head is gray, the tail is long white with a black strip along the length. This type of sparrow was called "snowy" because of their almost white plumage.
Field, unlike snow, is much smaller than brownie. Field sparrow and house sparrow (males) are similar to each other in the color of the body and wings, they can be easily distinguished by the color of the head. The field relative of the brownie is “dressed” in a chestnut cap, which is separated from the brownish back by a narrow white collar. A black spot is planted on the white cheeks of a field sparrow, a very small spot on the neck. Males and females of this species of birds are “dressed” in the same clothes, their color does not differ in anything.
Both house sparrows and tree sparrows settle next to people. The field ones, this is noticeable by the name, mostly live in rural settlements, and brownies, respectively, to a greater extent are urban residents. Birds try to stay away from flock to flock, mixed colonies of both species are very rare. White, black, gray - the difference between sparrows is not too big, they are firmly united by one thing - proximity to a person. Life without these restless birds is not even imagined, they are not going to leave us, so the feathered neighborhood is provided to us for a very long time.
