White Nile Sparrow (Passer shelleyi)

Other Names (World)
White Nile Sparrow, Shelley's Rufous-Sparrow, White Nile Rufous-Sparrow, Shelley's Sparrow, Shelley's Rufous Sparrow

Family
Passeridae (Old World Sparrows)

Size
14 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
Sharpe, 1891

Habitat
Dry savanna. Also, subtropical and tropical lowland dry grassland and shrubland, urban areas, rural gardens.

Range (Guide)

Ethiopia (B) (NB), Kenya (B) (NB), Somalia (B) (NB), Sudan (B) (NB), Uganda (B) (NB).

South-eastern Sudan, north-eastern Uganda, western Kenya, southern and eastern Ethiopia and north-western Somalia.

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

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2011).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Variuos chirps and chips. Similar to that of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) but more metallic and with harsher contact calls.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (13)...)

Shelley's Sparrow (Passer shelleyi) [XC269118]
by Peter Boesman from Soda Plain, Ethiopia (call)

Shelley's Sparrow (Passer shelleyi) [XC269115]
by Andrew Spencer from Liben Plain, Ethiopia (call)

Subspecies
No 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), Socotra Sparrow (Passer insularis), Kenya Sparrow (Passer rufocinctus) and Great Sparrow (Passer motitensis). All sometimes considered conspecific.

References
See References.

Files:

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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