House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Gråspurv er en fugl, som er tæt knyttet til mennesket og dets husdyr og udelukkende findes ved beboede steder. Arten var oprindelig kun udbredt i Europa, Nordafrika og Asien, men blev senere medbragt til andre dele af verden.
Chunky sparrow with a big head and thick bill. Male: grey crown, chestnut nape and neck-sides, white cheeks and a black bib from bill to breast; streaked brown back with a white wingbar. Female: plain grey-brown with no head pattern, a pale stripe behind the eye and a streaked back.
Can be confused with
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow — Tree Sparrow shows, in both sexes, a chocolate-brown crown (not grey), a black cheek-spot on a white cheek and a white nape-band — the male House Sparrow's grey crown and unspotted cheeks separate it.
- Common Chaffinch — Female Chaffinch can recall a female House Sparrow but has two bold white wingbars, white outer tail feathers and a slimmer bill — the sparrow lacks white in wing and tail.
Plumage and variation
Male and female: Marked sexual difference: the male has a patterned head with grey crown, chestnut and a black bib; the female is plainly dull brown-grey without these marks.
Summer and winter: In winter the male's black bib is partly veiled by pale feather fringes that wear away by spring, so the bib is largest and blackest in the breeding season; the bill turns from horn-coloured to black in the breeding male.
Juvenile: Juvenile resembles the female — dull brown-grey and nondescript.
Voice
Monotonous, repeated chirping and cheeping, "chirrup chirrup", often in chorus from a bush or roof edge.
Behaviour
Gregarious and tied to people; hops on the ground, dust-bathes and lives in noisy small colonies in hedges, gutters and ivy. Rarely seen far from buildings.
When and where
A common resident throughout Denmark all year, always close to houses, farms and towns.
Facts
Wingspan
24 cm
Conservation status
ikke truet
Relatives
Family
sparrows
Passeridae
Order
passerines
Passeriformes
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