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In India the race indicus occurs throughout
the lowlands and foothills wherever there
are people. I have seen nesting pairs in
the isolated makeshift homes of salt workers
isolated in the burning wastes of the Little
Rann of Kutch. The larger brighter race
parkini occurs up to 4500m from Kashmir
east to Sikkim and the paler race bactrianus
breeds in west central Asia and winters
south to Rajasthan. This is unusual as the
species is normally rather sedentary, only
making altitudinal movements in cold weather.
House Sparrows typically nest in and
near buildings and the adults feed to
a large extent on grain and other food
produced by man. The young are fed on
insects. In the villages they frequently
move out into the nearby cultivation to
feed on ripening and spilt grain, often
in flocks with weavers. Breeding is mainly
from February to June in the north but
nests can be found throughout the year.
When breeding the males have a jaunty
and noisy courtship display when they
hop round with drooping wings and raised
tail. The loud chirruping of both sexes
is persistent and pervasive, particularly
when they first wake and when they go
to roost.
The male in breeding plumage is mainly
bright, dark streaked chestnut brown above
with pale grey cheeks and under parts,
a grey crown and extensive black on face
and breast. The nape up to the rear of
the eyes is unstreaked chestnut. In non-breeding
plumage they are duller with a less extensive
black bib. The females are mainly buff
and brown with pale supercilia and no
streaking below.
Spanish
Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis
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Spanish
Sparrow (Male) Passer hispaniolensis;
copyright Sujan Chatterjee;
2004 |
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Spanish
Sparrow (Male) Passer hispaniolensis;
copyright Sujan Chatterjee;
2004 |
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Spanish
Sparrow (Female) Passer hispaniolensis;
copyright Mike Prince; 2004 |
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Spanish
Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis;
copyright Mike Prince |
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The Spanish Sparrow extends across the Mediterranean
Basin east to central Asia. The easterly
population is migratory and occurs in variable
numbers in winter in northwest India south
to Rajasthan. Only one race occurs in India.
It is very much a rural species occurring
in dry thorn scrub and cultivation. Parties
often occur on the edges of villages where
it mixes with House Sparrows but it seems
to be much more wary. The best way to find
them is to search winter sparrow flocks
resting in small bare trees. They seem to
be most numerous in the drier areas in the
west of Haryana and Rajasthan and are by
no means predictable close to Delhi. They
are marginally bulkier than House Sparrows
and the call is a more metallic chirruping.
The male acquires his striking breeding
plumage from February onwards. Then he
has a plain chestnut crown and nape contrasting
with white cheeks. Heavy black streaking
extends from the black breast down the
flanks and the upper parts are heavily
black streaked. The bill becomes black.
For most of the winter however the chestnut
and black are heavily tipped with whitish
and the bill is yellowish. It is then
easily overlooked as a House Sparrow.
The female is very difficult to distinguish
but has longer pale supercilia and back
braces and slight streaking on the under
parts.
Sind Sparrow
Passer pyrrhonotus
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Sind
Sparrow (Male) Passer pyrrhonotus;
copyright Mike Prince;
February 2003; Harike, Punjab
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Sind
Sparrow (Male) Passer pyrrhonotus;
copyright Mike Prince;
February 2003; Harike, Punjab
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The Sind Sparrow is a very local species
almost entirely restricted to the Indus
valley in Pakistan where it is resident.
For many years it was only known in India
from babuls in the Sutlej Valley in the
Punjab (most famously at Harike). Then in
January 2001 it was found by Haryana‘s
leading birder and a founding member of
our group, Suresh C. Sharma, again in babuls,
along canals in the Sonipat area. Over the
next three years it has been discovered
further south as far as Bhindawas (where
there is now a thriving breeding colony),
Sultanpur and parts of north Delhi. It is
always near water with babuls and is assumed
to have spread along the canal systems.
Given how long most of these canals have
been in existence it is a real puzzle why
they should have started spreading only
in the twenty-first century. But they remain
very local, never numerous and easily overlooked.
There is only one race recognised in the
world.
Sind Sparrows nest from March to June in
babuls, often building under the used nests
of other birds such as egrets and Pied Starlings.
They are best located in the breeding season
when their distinctive high and rocking
“cheepa cheepa” call and periodic
“tsweep” note attract attention.
They feed in the leaves and flowers of babuls
and are sometimes heavily stained with the
pollen thereof. They are also very partial
to the seeding heads of grasses and reeds,
especially elephant grass, but it is not
known to what extent they feed on cultivated
cereals. Indeed much remains to be learnt
about their ecology and behaviour. Unlike
other sparrow species, they are rarely seen
on the ground except below grass clumps
or when drinking. Although it is not
always obvious in the field, Sind Sparrows
are smaller and slimmer than House and
this is striking in the hand. The male
has a grey crown and nape with striking
broad chestnut borders to the upper and
rear cheek. The median coverts are contrasting
chestnut. Most noticeable is the small,
neat, black, rectangular-shaped throat
patch (but beware immature male House
Sparrows). The female is like a small
female House Sparrow but with obvious
supercilia and greyer cheeks. They often
show chestnut lesser wing coverts.
Russet Sparrow
Passer rutilans
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Russet
Sparrows Passer rutilans
copyright Mike Kilburn of
the Hong Kong
Bird Watching Society; 2004
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Russet
Sparrows Passer rutilans
copyright Mike Kilburn of
the Hong Kong
Bird Watching Society; 2004
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The Russet Sparrow (formerly known as
the Cinnamon Tree Sparrow) is a locally
common breeding resident above around
1400m from Kashmir east to Arunachal Pradesh.
It is however rather patchily distributed
in much of the east of its range. It moves
lower down in winter and in many areas
occurs alongside House Sparrows. This
race is cinnamomeus which is the one described
below. In the hills east of the Bramaputra
the dark, less yellow race intensior occurs.
It is a bird of open forest, clearings,
pasture and the edges of cultivation often
entering and breeding in upland villages.
It is usually seen in pairs or small parties
feeding on seeds on the ground.
Russet Sparrows most closely resemble
Sind Sparrows but the adult males have
completely chestnut crowns and napes and
a distinct yellow suffusion to the cheeks
and under parts. The bib is similarly
small but splays out, often to form a
partial border to the lower cheeks. The
female is a bright bird compared with
female Sind and House Sparrows with chestnut
wing coverts and rump and yellowish under
parts.
Eurasian
Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
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Eurasian
Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
copyright Sujan Chatterjee;
2004 |
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The Eurasian Tree Sparrow
occurs across Eurasia to the east
of Siberia and China. In the west
it is a rural species but in northeastern
Indian east into south East Asia it
replaces the House Sparrow as the
bird of towns and villages. Three
races occur in India. The most widespread
is the race malaccensis, which occurs
in the Himalayan foothills from Uttaranchal
east to Arunachal Pradesh and in the
hills of the northeast. The larger
darker Tibetan race tibetanus also
occurs from Sikkim east to Arunachal
while the even darker race hepaticus
occurs in the Arunachal plains south
to Manipur. Tree Sparrows are mainly
birds of cultivation, orchards and
villages. They feed mainly in flocks
on seeds on the ground. Where they
occur near human beings they become
as approachable as House Sparrows.
They are slightly smaller and neater
with a distinctly harder “chip”
or “tet” note which is
immediately separable. Unusually for
a Passer sparrow the sexes are identical.
The characteristically rounded head
has a bright chestnut crown and nape
in the race malacccensis (liver-brown
in hepaticus) This contrasts with
the whitish cheeks and noticeable,
black cheek spots. The bib is small,
oval and black. The rest of the plumage
is similar to a male House Sparrow. |
Chestnut-shouldered
Petronia Petronia xanthocollis
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Eurasian
Tree Sparrow Passer montanus
copyright Sujan Chatterjee;
2004 |
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The Chestnut-shouldered
Petronia, previously known as the
Yellow-throated Sparrow, is embedded
in the history of Indian ornithology
as the bird that introduced Dr Salim
Ali to the science. The title of his
autobiography, quoting from the Bible,
refers to this species (Fall of a
Sparrow). It is not a true sparrow
however but similar enough and sufficiently
widespread in India to be included
in this account.
Chestnut-shouldered Petronias occur
throughout the wooded parts of India,
preferring open woodland and thorn
scrub. Where it occurs near villages
and cultivation it will mix with flocks
of House Sparrows. It is not uncommon
but rather patchy in distribution.
It is a slim, long tailed bird and
rather secretive when keeping to the
treetops. In particular the male,
with his monotonous, repeated “cheep”
note which passes for a song, is delivered
from a stationary position hidden
in the foliage and can be the very
devil to spot.
Both sexes are rather pale, unstreaked
brownish grey with obvious white wing
bars. The male has prominent chestnut
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shoulder patches and its bill turns from
yellow to black in the breeding season.
The ill-defined tiny yellow throat patch,
which is invisible on many females, is not
a good identification feature and is best
seen on the pulsating throat of a singing
male. They are rather flighty birds, reminiscent
in flight of the two tree pipits when they
are flushed in woodland.
Rock Sparrow
Petronia petronia
A single record from Ladakh by Martin Kelsey
in 2003. This appears to be the first record
from India.
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Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia
copyright Igor Karyakin; 2003
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Acknowledgements:
delhibird would like to thanks Sumit Sen,
Sujan Chatterjee, Mike Prince, Mike Kilburn,
Igor Karyakin and Ron Saldino for providing
the photographs to illustrate this article
Further reading:
The Sparrows by J D Summers Smith (Calton
1988)
Finches and Sparrows by Peter Clement,
Alan Harris and John Davis
(Christopher Helm 1993)
Text: Sujan Chatterjee
and Bill Harvey
General Editors: Bikram
Grewal and Bill Harvey
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