House sparrow: description. What is the difference between a house sparrow and a field sparrow?

The house sparrow is the most famous bird in the whole world. The sparrow belongs to those few species of birds that have become indispensable inhabitants of rural and urban streets. It seems that without these nimble neighbors, it would be boring for us to live.

House Sparrow: description

Vorobushek is a small bird, its body length is about 15-17 cm, weight is 24-35 g, but it has a strong physique. The head is round and fairly large. The clavicle is about one and a half centimeters long, plump, conical in shape. The tail is about 5-6 cm, the paws are 1.5-2.5 cm. Males are larger in size and weight than females.

Color of feathers, sparrows-girls and sparrows-boys, too, are different. They have the same upper body - brown, the lower part - light gray and wings with a white and yellow stripe, located across. Noticeable difference between females and males in the color of the head and breast. In boys, the top of the head is dark gray, below the eyes there is a light gray plumage, on the neck and chest is a distinct black spot. Girls have a light brown head and neck.

Ecology of the house sparrow

Sparrows live next to human habitation, they flew for a time almost all over the world, but originally the homeland of these birds is a large part of Europe and the Near East.

A house sparrow occurs in populated areas, from the west of Europe to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, reaches the Arctic coast in the north of Europe, Siberia is also inhabited by these nimble little birds. In most of East and Central Asia, the sparrow does not live.

Birds are able to perfectly adapt in the conditions in which they find themselves. This sedentary birds, only from the northern cold places for the time of the frosty winter migrate to where it is warmer, in a southerly direction.

Lifestyle

As mentioned earlier, the house sparrow likes to settle near people, maybe because of this, it was called "house". Gray birds can live in pairs, but it happens that they create whole colonies. For example, when feeding, they always gather in large schools. When you do not need to sit in nests on eggs or with nestlings, sparrows settle for night in bushes or on tree branches.

In the air, a bird develops a flight speed of up to 45 km / h, walking on the ground, like most other birds, a sparrow can not, moves with jumps. In the pond will not sink, because he knows how to swim, besides, the diver is also quite good.

Reproduction

During the mating season, house sparrows are divided into pairs, then the male and female together begin the construction of the dwelling. Nests are built in the crevices of structures and buildings, in hollows, in burrows, on the slopes of ravines, in bushes and on branches of trees. The passerine house is made of small twigs, dry grass and straw.

Throughout April, the future mother sparrow lays eggs, in the nest is from 4 to 10 eggs, white with brown spots. In 14 days after the female has sat down on eggs, helpless chicks appear on light. For hatching offspring, father and mother are courted together, they feed the babies with insects. Within two weeks the chicks fly out of the nest.

Lifespan

Sparrows in nature live long enough, their life span is about 10-12 years. A case of longevity was recorded - a sparrel from Denmark lived for 23 years, another of its relatives did not survive until his twentieth birthday.

The problem of these birds is that a lot of young birds die that have not survived to one year. The hardest time for the young is winter. If they manage to live up to their first spring, then they have a chance to meet old age. At this time, about 70% of passerine youth do not live to be a year old.

Food

A house sparrow can do without water, the amount of moisture it takes to get it out of juicy berries. Birds feed on mostly vegetable food. Favorite delicacy is the seeds of cereals. The sparrow is not picky, eats what it gets, its diet includes seeds of herbs, kidney trees, various berries. Waste products from garbage cans, these birds also do not disdain, the experience tells them that in these iron boxes you can find a lot of that delicious. Insects in the sparrow's menu are rare, only during the feeding of chicks, bugs and worms become daily food, because it is them that the parents feed their young. Do not forget the sparrows also about sand, it is necessary for the bird's ventricle to digest food. If sand does not get loose, then small pebbles are used.

Subfamily Sparrows present

To the subfamily, the real sparrows are a house sparrow, a snow finch, a field sparrow. I want to pay attention to the snow finch, popularly called the snow sparrow. These birds are pretty beautiful, they are lighter and larger than a brownie. From above the snow finch is grayish-brown, and from below white, wings are black and white. If you observe the bird in flight, it creates the appearance of a white bird with black specks. The throat of a male fin is black, the head is gray, the tail is long and white with a black stripe along it. This species of sparrows was called "snow" because of their almost white plumage.

Field, unlike snow, much less brownie. The sparrow of field and house (males) are similar to each other by the color of the body and wings, it is possible to distinguish them easily by the color of the head. A field relative of the house-dress is dressed in a chestnut cap, which is separated from the brownish back by a narrow white collar. On the white cheeks of the field sparrow is planted on a black spot, on the neck the spot is very small. Males and females of this species of birds are "dressed" in the same clothes, their color is not different.

Both house and field sparrows live next to people. Field, it is noticeable by name, most live in rural settlements, and house, respectively, to a greater extent - urban residents. Birds try to stay away from the pack from the pack, mixed colonies of both species are very rare. White, black, gray - the difference between sparrows is not too big, firmly unites them one - the neighborhood with a man. Life without these restless birds does not even seem to be, they do not intend to leave us, so the feathered neighborhood is provided for a very long time.