Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis)

Other Names (World)
Great Sparrow, Southern Rufous-Sparrow, Rufous Sparrow, Namibia Sparrow (benguellensis), Namibia Rufous-Sparrow (benguellensis), Great Rufous Sparrow

Family
Passeridae (Old World Sparrows)

Size
15 cm

First Described (Guide)
Smith, 1836

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland dry shrubland and grassland, dry savanna, arable land, urban areas, rural gardens.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda, Yemen (B) (NB), Zimbabwe.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Status LC
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
A 'cheereep, cheereeu', similar to that of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (8)...)

Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis) [XC346940]
by Lynette Rudman from Namibgrens guest farm, Namibia (call)

Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis) [XC283347]
by Peter Boesman from Koster, Bojanala, North West, South Africa (song)

Subspecies
Passer motitensis (Dowsett and Forbes-Watson 1993) has been split into six species: Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis), Kenya Sparrow (Passer rufocinctus), and Socotra Sparrow (Passer insularis) following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Urban (2004) and Kirwan (2008), and White Nile Sparrow (Passer shelleyi), Kordofan Sparrow (Passer cordofanicus) and Abd al Kuri Sparrow (Passer hemileucus) following Urban (2004) and Kirwan (2008).

Forms a superspecies with Cape Verde Sparrow (Passer iagoensis), Kordofan Sparrow (Passer cordofanicus), White Nile Sparrow (Passer shelleyi), Kenya Sparrow (Passer rufocinctus) and Socotra Sparrow (Passer insularis). All sometimes considered conspecific.

The following 3 subspecies are recognised:

benguellensis Lynes, 1926 - Coastal south-western Angola and Namibia.
motitensis Smith, 1836 - Botswana and northern South Africa (northern northern Cape and North West Province).
subsolanus Clancey, 1964 - South-western Zimbabwe and northern and central South Africa (Limpopo Province south to northern and western Free State).

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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