Passer montanus montanus
Status: Rare casual winter visitor.
Documentation: Photograph: 3 Feb 2007 Madison Co (Brogie 2008).
Taxonomy: Nine subspecies are recognized throughout Eurasia (Gill et al 2022).
The introduced North American population is derived from some 20 birds released in St. Louis, Missouri in 1870; these birds were thought to be from Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany and thus subspecies montanus (Barlow et al 2020). As of 2023, the range has expanded north and west, with several reports on the Great Plains northwestward to Saskatchewan and northeastward to Ontario and New York (eBird.org, accessed Nov 2023). There are numerous records for eastern Iowa, and these closest to Nebraska: first record for South Dakota was in 2005 (Thompson and Tallman 2005) and there are additional records for South Dakota Apr and May 2018 and Apr 2019, and in western Iowa three records, Jan 2021, Feb 2023, and Mar 2022 (eBird.org, accessed Nov 2023). The nearest record of this normally sedentary species prior to the 2007 Nebraska record was from Greene Co in west-central Iowa.
As might be expected, there are several reports of hybrids with House Sparrow P. domesticus within the above-described range of Eurasian Tree Sparrow, by far most from Iowa, where there are at least 15 records of hybrids (eBird.org, accessed Jul 2023). As far northwest as the Pigeon Lake area, Manitoba, first records of hybrids were in 1991 (Lang 1992), but most eBird reports of hybrids range wide are since 2018 (eBird.org, accessed Jul 2023).
Winter: There are two records:
24 Jan-15 Feb 2007 Madison, Madison Co (Brogie 2008)
12 Apr 2024 Nuckolls Co (Dave Ely, eBird.org).
The Madison Co bird had been frequenting a feeder at the Raasch residence in rural Madison Co with House Sparrows since about 24 Jan and was seen by several observers through 15 Feb (Brogie 2007). The Nuckolls Co bird was seen only once, at a feeder (Ely, eBird.org).
Images
Literature Cited
Barlow, J.C., S.N. Leckie, P. Pyle, and M.A. Patten. 2020. Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.eutspa.01.
Brogie, M.A. 2007. Eurasian Tree Sparrow- a first record for Nebraska. NBR 75: 118-120.
Brogie, M.A. 2008. 2007 (19th) Report of the NOU Records Committee. NBR 76: 111-119.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Lang, A.L. 1992. The Eurasian Tree Sparrow population in North America: evolving and expanding. Birder’s Journal 1: 298-307.
Thompson, R., and D.A. Tallman. 2005. Eurasian Tree Sparrow- a new species for South Dakota. South Dakota Bird Notes 57: 83.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2024. Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 13 Nov 2024