The house sparrow: at home among humans
(WorldNews Environment)

The house sparrow is one of the most common birds in the world with an estimated population of over 500 million, but you may be hard pressed to find one at Adkins Arboretum. It is a bird that is found in cities, suburbs and farms but almost never in the wilderness. It is remarkably adapted to live amongst us. The house sparrow is considered an Old World sparrow and not related to “our” sparrows. It is a stocky bird (6” long) with a bull neck and a short, strong bill. Most people may consider them as looking dirty, perhaps because of their association with cities and burger parking lots, but the male is brightly colored and quite handsome. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older...