Desert Sparrow (Passer simplex) [XC360567]
by Jacob Lotz from Oued Jenna, Aousserd road, Morocco (call)
Desert Sparrow (Passer simplex) [XC360568]
by Morvan Corentin from Aousserd, Morocco (call)
Subspecies
Passer simplex (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Desert Sparrow (Passer simplex) and Asian Desert Sparrow (Passer zarudnyi) following Kirwan et al. (2009): this treatment is under review by the BirdLife International.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
saharae Erlanger, 1899 - North-western Sahara Desert east to western Libya, southern at least to southern Algeria (Ahaggar) and Chad.
simplex (Lichtenstein, 1823) - Southern Sahara from Mauritania and Mali east to southern Egypt and Sudan.
zarudnyi Pleske, 1896 - Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Asian Desert Sparrow (Passer zarudnyi).