Dead Sea Sparrow

Overview

The Dead Sea sparrow (Passer moabiticus) is a small passerine bird in the Old World sparrow family, classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It comprises two subspecies, with the eastern variant sometimes considered a separate species known as Yate's sparrow.

Identification

• Males feature a grey crown and cheeks, a small black bib, and yellow neck sides, while upperparts are dark-streaked reddish brown and underparts are grey-white.
• Females resemble a small house sparrow with a streaked brown back, greyish head, and buff-white underparts, though they possess a smaller bill and paler plumage.
• At 12–13 cm long, the bird is one of the smaller species in its family, notably 4 cm shorter than the house sparrow.
• The chirping song is softer than that of house or Spanish sparrows, and the species is often silent, though it emits a high-pitched chi-wit flight call.

Habitat

This species is found in a spotty range across the Middle East, largely in corridors along the Jordan and Euphrates Rivers from southern Turkey and Cyprus to southwestern Iran. The eastern subspecies breeds exclusively in the Sistan region of southwestern Afghanistan and eastern Iran, while the western subspecies is migratory or dispersive outside the breeding season, with wintering grounds largely unknown.

Did you know?

The bird constructs a large, prominent nest within thick scrub that possesses unique thermoregulating properties to cope with hot climates.