Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) [XC714921]
by Alexander Schlatmann from Sila National Park, Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy (song)
Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) [XC791109]
by Manceau Lionel from Arrondissement de Rochefort (near Marsais), Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France (call)
Subspecies
Somewhat smaller birds from Caspian region east to Kyrgyzstan sometimes treated as additional subspecies kirhizica, but differences from intermedia appear insufficient to justify separation.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
petronia (Linnaeus, 1766) - Madeira, Canary Is, and southern Europe (including Mediterranean islands) east to Bulgaria and western Asia Minor.
barbara Erlanger, 1899 - Morocco east to north-western Libya (south to 21° north).
exigua (Hellmayr, 1902) - Central Turkey east to Caucasus, northern Iraq and northern Iran (east to Gorgan).
puteicola Festa, 1894 - Southern Turkey south to central Israel, Syria and western Jordan.
intermedia Hartert, 1901 - Lower Volga valley east to Aral Sea and eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, south to south-western and north-eastern Iran, northern Afghanistan and extreme north-western China (western Xinjiang).
brevirostris Taczanowski, 1874 - Southern foothills of Altai, northern and eastern Mongolia and south-eastern Transbaikalia south to northern and central China (Inner Mongolia south to northern Sichuan).
kirhizica Sushkin, 1925 - Lower Volga River Valley to Turgay depression and Aral Sea.