Hi Nick
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is the bird that most people are familiar
with in our urban environments. When an Australian says 'sparrow' without
qualification, this will be the bird he means. The Acclimatisation Societies
brought them in numbers in the latter half of the 19th century. This is the
common sparrow over most of eastern Australia.
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is another Eurasian import, but is much less
common in Australia being restricted mostly to Melbourne and some other
locations in Victoria and southern NSW. Its natural distribution is across
Europe and Asia, including China (where the House Sparrow does not occur).
Java Sparrow (Lonchura oryzivora) is a colourful heavy-billed finch, quite
unlike the sparrows referred to above. Its original home was in eastern
Indonesia, but it has long been popular with aviculturalists and has escaped or
been released into many parts of Asia as well as Hawaii and Florida. I'm not
aware of any populations of Java Sparrow in mainland Australia.
Hedge Sparrow (Prunella modularis) refers to a European bird also know as Hedge
Accentor or Dunnock. It isn't a sparrow, or a finch, though it could be said to
superficially resemble House or Tree Sparrows. I don't believe it has ever been
present in Australia, but it has been succesfully introduced to New Zealand.
English Sparrow is a widely used name for the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
above.
Chinese Sparrow most likely refers to Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) of
Chinese origin, which were introduced to Melbourne and Tasmania in small
numbers in the 19th century, but have long since disappeared.
House and Tree Sparrows are accordingly the only sparrows which are to be found
on the Australian mainland. The physical differences between them are mostly
about the head, and there are a number of field guides to Australian birds that
set out those differences clearly, with accompanying illustrations.
I hope that is useful. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I can assist
further.
All the best
Bill Jolly
> To: > From: > Date: Thu, 13 Nov
> 2008 10:53:28 +1100> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Sparrows> > Dear Sir/Madam,> I
> have been trying to do some research on the origins of sparrows > in
> Australia and their other names such as "spoggies" "sproggies" > "spridge"
> and so on. I have been making some progress through annual > reports from the
> 1860s of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. > However, I am having
> difficulty distinguishing between the different > sparrows that have been
> mentioned. So far I have come across six: > House, Hedge, Tree, Java, Chinese
> and English. I'd like to get some > expert advice on the distinctions between
> them, if indeed there are > differences and to what extent they are related.
> Also if anyone has > any ideas about the origins of alternative names for
> sparrows then > I'd be gratefull to hear them.> > Yours sincerely> > Nick
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