Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)

OTHER NAMES: Tree Sparrow

Latin Etymology: Passer ("sparrow") montanus ("of the mountains")

Adult Eurasian Tree Sparrow (subspecies P. m. saturatus) at Kyoto Imperial Palace Gardens, Kyoto, Japan - June 2013

Featured Subspecies: Passer montaus saturatus
Weight: 24g  /  Length: 12-14cm  /  Wingspan: 21cm

UK RED LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The Tree Sparrow is the rarer cousin of the near omnipresent house sparrow with a patchy distribution and generally quite rare. It is apparently just as widely spread as the house sparrow outside of Britain, but elsewhere it is far more localized in occurrence. I've seen them at Rutland Water and in hedgerows in Geddington. Since I originally photographed this one, interestingly they seem to be increasing their numbers near me.  In East Asia, including Japan and Malaysia, it replaces the house sparrow as the common urban sparrow species, and is found widely in inner city environments.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passidae
Genus: Passer
Subspecies: P. m. montanus, P. m. transcaucasicus, P. m. dilutus, P. m. dybowskii, P. m. kansuensis, P. m. iubilaeus, P. m. obscuratus, P. m. saturatus, P. m. malaccensis

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - An localised resident breeding species (200,000 territories) - subspecies P. m. montanus

 - Seen at Rutland Water, Pitsford Reservoir and in some years, Geddington.

CAMBODIA - Khmer Name:  ចាបផ្ទះ ("House Sparrow")

A common urban resident.

 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: seen around  Siem Reap,

JAPAN - Japanese - スズメ / Suzume ("Sparrow")

Abundant resident - one of the most common urban birds.

 - KYOTO 2013 TRIP: Commonly throughout, seen in Kyoto and at Arashiyama. 

 - TOKYO/HOKKAIDO 2014 TRIP: Seen in Central Tokyo.

ITALY - Italian - Passero Mattugio ("Morning Sparrow")

A widespread resident

 - SICILY 2018 TRIP - Seen on Capo Murro di Porco 

MALAYSIA - Malay - Ciak Rumah ("House Cheep")

A locally common resident.

 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: A common resident of Kuala Lumpur and Malacca

SINGAPORE - A  common resident.

 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: Seen in a number of locations throughout. 

SPAIN - Spanish - Gorrión molinero ("Miller Sparrow")

A reasonably common resident,

 - MADRID 2016 TRIP: Seen near Laguna Campillo.
       
Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto