The Tree Sparrow
If only I had a pound for every time I have seen a group of house sparrows and rushed to photograph them, just in case one was not a house sparrow, but the RSPB's red status tree sparrow. They are always house sparrows, male and female, summer and winter plumage, juvenile and adult, but simple house sparrows. Having negatively identified so many tree sparrows, I know exactly what to look for when you do see one; two large black spots on either cheek. They are also slightly smaller and faster moving that the house sparrow.
So I was delighted today, when having breakfast, I saw what was undoubtedly a tree sparrow fly down out of the trees and start pecking on the ground. I rushed for the camera and just managed to get one shot, before he flew off again.
Tree sparrow numbers fell by over 90 % in the UK from the 1970s, so they are now on the RSPB's Red Status list of birds. In Ireland they are made even more rare by the fact that they have only ever inhabited a strip of land running along the Eastern seaboard of the island (from Coleraine to Waterford).
For your reference, there are only two types of sparrow in the UK, house sparrows and tree sparrows. Wider in Europe there are two more (Spanish Sparrows and Rock Sparrows).
(RSPB Illustration)
So I was delighted today, when having breakfast, I saw what was undoubtedly a tree sparrow fly down out of the trees and start pecking on the ground. I rushed for the camera and just managed to get one shot, before he flew off again.
Tree sparrow numbers fell by over 90 % in the UK from the 1970s, so they are now on the RSPB's Red Status list of birds. In Ireland they are made even more rare by the fact that they have only ever inhabited a strip of land running along the Eastern seaboard of the island (from Coleraine to Waterford).
For your reference, there are only two types of sparrow in the UK, house sparrows and tree sparrows. Wider in Europe there are two more (Spanish Sparrows and Rock Sparrows).
(RSPB Illustration)
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