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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Passer domesticus
House Sparrow

 
Scientific Name: Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
English Name: House Sparrow
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-HOSP
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Passeridae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: SNA (Apr 2024)
BC List: Exotic
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 7 - Exotic (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act:
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: In North America, breeding begins earlier in the south than in the north. Clutch size generally averages near 4 in the southern U.S., near 5 in the northern U.S. and southern Canada. In the northern U.S., most females produce 2-3 broods per year; generally clutch initiation occurs about 4-7 days after fledging of a brood, though quicker renesting sometimes occurs. Incubation averages 12 days, mostly by female. Young are tended by both parents, leave nest at an average age of 14-17 days. In various areas of North America, hatching success was 50-83%, fledging success was 53-78%, and nesting success was 31-71% (see Anderson 1994).
Global Ecology Comments: See Bennett (1990) for information on the ecological relationship between the house sparrow and house finch in North America.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: North America: cities, villages, farms, parks. Nests in cavities and in crevices of structures.
Food Habits: Frugivore: Adult, Immature
Granivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Eats seeds, grain, and (in summer) insects and other invertebrates and small fruits (Terres 1980).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 16/ / 28
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Native to Old World (northern Scandinavia and northern Siberia south to northern Africa, Arabia, India, and southeast Asia). Introduced and established as a resident from the north coast of British Columbia and southern Yukon to Newfoundland, south to South America, West Indies (including Puerto Rico, where the species is uncommon and local on the south coast and a flock of 60 was found on Isla Mona in 1987), Hawaii (all main islands), south and east Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and many other areas of world (AOU 1998). Expansion continues in South America unaided by humans (Ridgely and Tudor 1989). Accidental (3 records) in Alaska; two vagrants in southeastern Alaska probably came from the North American exotic population, but one from St. Lawrence Island undoubtedly came from an introduced population on the Chukotsk Peninsula (Kessel and D. Gibson, University of Alaska Museum, unpublished records).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: HAMMERSON, G.
Last Updated: Jan 18, 1995
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
Aguero, D. A., R. J. Johnson, and K. M. Eskridge. 1991. Monofilament lines repel house sparrows from feeding sites. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 19:416-422.
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Anderson, T. R. 1994. Breeding biology of house sparrows in northern lower Michigan. Wilson Bull. 106:537-548.
Barlow, J.C. 1973. Status of the North American population of the European tree sparrow. In a symposium on the house sparrow (PASSER DOMESTICUS) in North America. Amer. Ornith. Union, Monog. No. 14.
Barrows, W. B. 1889. The English sparrow (PASSER DOMESTICUS) in North America. USDA, Div. of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, Bull. 1. 405 pp.
Bennett, W. A. 1990. Scale of investigation and the detection of competition: an example from the house sparrow and house finch introductions in North America. Am. Nat. 135:725-747.
Bent, A.C., et al. 1968. Life histories of North American cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, towhees, finches, sparrows, and allies. Part Two. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 237. (reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY).
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I.McT.-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G. Kaiser, A.C. Stewart, and M.C.E. McNall. 2001. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 4, Passerines: Wood-Warblers through Old World Sparrows. UBC Press, in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv., and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch and Resour. Inventory Branch, and Royal B.C. Mus. 744pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp.
Kendeigh, S.C. 1973. Symposium on house sparrow and European tree sparrow. Lawrence. 127 pp.
Pochop, P. A., R. J. Johnson, and K. M. Eskridge. 1993. House sparrow response to monofilament lines at nest boxes and adjacent feeding sites. Wilson Bull. 105:504-513.
Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 409 pp. + 45 plates.
Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
Raffaele, H. A. 1989a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Revised edition. Princeton Univ. Press. 220 pp.
Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
Summers-Smith, D. 1963. The house sparrow. London. xvi + 269 pp.
Summers-Smith, J. D. 1988. The sparrows. Poyser. 352 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1995. Species Summary: Passer domesticus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Dec 4, 2025).