The house sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird.
The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene is a bird of prey. It is about 60–66 centimetres (24–26 in) in length. It breeds in most of Africa south of the Sahara. The only other member of the genus is the allopatric Madagascan harrier-hawk.
The chestnut-backed sparrow-lark is a passerine bird which is a resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
The yellow-fronted canary , also called the yellow-eyed canary, is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is known elsewhere and in aviculture as the green singing finch.
The northern grey-headed sparrow, also known as the grey-headed sparrow, is a species of bird in the sparrow family Passeridae, which is resident in much of tropical Africa. It occurs in a wide range of open habitats, including open woodlands and human habitation, often occupying the same niche as the house sparrow does in Eurasia.
Passer is a genus of sparrows, also known as the true sparrows. The genus includes the house sparrow and the Eurasian tree sparrow, two of the most common birds in the world. They are small birds with thick bills for eating seeds, and are mostly coloured grey or brown. Native to the Old World, some species have been introduced throughout the world.
The Swahili sparrow is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. It lives in the savanna of southern Kenya and Tanzania. Until recently, it was usually treated as a subspecies of the northern grey-headed sparrow, with which it hybridizes in southern Tanzania and possibly elsewhere. It has a more rounded head profile however, a smaller eye and the grey head plumage extends unto the mantle.
Swainson's sparrow is a species of bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. Sometimes considered a subspecies of the grey-headed sparrow, it occurs in northeastern Africa, largely in the Ethiopian Highlands. This sparrow was named after the English naturalist and illustrator William John Swainson.
The Cape sparrow, or mossie, is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae found in southern Africa. A medium-sized sparrow at 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in), it has distinctive plumage, including large pale head stripes in both sexes. Its plumage is mostly grey, brown, and chestnut, and the male has some bold black and white markings on its head and neck. The species inhabits semi-arid savannah, cultivated areas, and towns, and ranges from the central coast of Angola to eastern South Africa and Swaziland. Three subspecies are distinguished in different parts of its range.
The great sparrow, also known as the southern rufous sparrow, is found in southern Africa in dry, wooded savannah and towns.
The Cape canary is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in southern Africa and has been introduced to Mauritius and Réunion.
The orange-winged pytilia, also known as the golden-backed pytilia, is a species of estrildid finch found in Africa. It has a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed it as being of least concern.
The swee waxbill, is a common species of estrildid finch native to Southern Africa.
The white-browed sparrow-weaver is a predominantly brown, sparrow-sized bird found throughout central and north-central southern Africa. It is found in groups of two to eleven individuals consisting of one breeding pair and other non-reproductive individuals.
The black-headed canary is a species of finch found in Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. It is sometimes placed in the genus Alario as Alario alario
The black-eared sparrow-lark or black-eared finch lark is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in southern Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.
The grey-backed sparrow-lark or grey-backed finch-lark is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in southern and south-central Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland. Sometimes, the name 'grey-backed sparrow-lark' is also used to describe the black-eared sparrow-lark.
The karoo korhaan, also known as karoo bustard, is a species of bird in the bustard family, Otididae, from Southern Africa. The species is sometimes placed in the genus Heterotetrax. It is the sister-species to Rüppell's korhaan, and the two species are sometimes considered conspecific. There are two subspecies, the nominate race, from south-eastern South Africa, and E. v. namaqua, from north-eastern South Africa and southern Namibia.
The grey-capped social weaver is a sparrow-like liver-colored bird, with a pale grey crown, a dark grey bill, a whitish eye-ring, horn-colored legs, with some black in the wing and a light terminal band in the tail, that builds roofed nests made of straws, breeds in colonies in thorny Acacia trees, and feeds in groups gathering grass seeds and insects. Male and female have near identical plumage. DNA-analysis confirms it is part of the weaver family. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Passer predomesticus is a fossil passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. First described in 1962, it is known from two premaxillary bones found in a Middle Pleistocene layer of the Oumm-Qatafa cave in Palestine. The premaxillaries resemble those of the house and Spanish sparrows, but differ in having a deep groove instead of a crest on the lower side. Israeli palaeontologist Eitan Tchernov, who described the species, and others have considered it to be close to the ancestor of the house and Spanish sparrows, but molecular data point to an earlier origin of modern sparrow species. Occurring in a climate Tchernov described as similar to but rainier than that in Palestine today, it was considered by Tchernov as a "wild" ancestor of the modern sparrows which have a commensal association with humans, although its presence in Oumm-Qatafa cave may indicate that it was associated with humans.
