Animalia Life

Passer montanus
TAXONOMY
Fringilla montana Linnaeus, 1758, Southern Italy. Seven subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Eurasian tree sparrow; French: Moineau friquet; German: Feldsperling; Spanish: Gorriуn Molinero.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.5–6 in (14–15 cm); 0.6–1.0 oz (17–28 g). Small sparrow with particularly neat appearance. Sexes alike. Head chocolate, cheeks white with a prominent black patch, and small black bib. Juvenile paler.
DISTRIBUTION
Widely distributed in Europe and Asia; small introduced populations in North America and Australia.
HABITAT
Built-up areas in the east, more in open country with trees in the west.
BEHAVIOR
A gregarious, familiar bird in the east, becoming shyer and more unobtrusive in the west.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Seeds and a wide range of invertebrates during the breeding season.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Preferred nest site is a hole in building or tree, though also builds free-standing domed nest in trees. Up to five clutches of two to five eggs. Incubation 11–14 days; fledging 14–16 days. Both sexes take part in breeding activities.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Widely distributed and numerous.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Can be a pest in rice paddies.

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