Cape Sparrow
| Cape Sparrow | ||||||||||||
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Cape Sparrows, males |
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| Passer melanurus | ||||||||||||
| ( Statius Müller , 1776) |
The Cape Sparrow ( Passer melanurus ) is a species of bird in the sparrow family . The species occurs exclusively in southern Africa . In South Africa , the species has changed its eating habits in recent decades and is causing damage to vineyards and plantations. There are three subspecies.
The IUCN classifies the Cape Sparrow as not endangered ( least concern ).
Appearance
The cap sparrow reaches a body length of 14 to 16 centimeters. There is a noticeable sexual dimorphism , the males are clearly more contrasting in color than the females. In both sexes, the beak is black, the eyes are dark brown, and the legs are black.
The males of the nominate form Passer melanurus melanurus have a black skull, the upper coat is brown-gray and the lower coat is chestnut brown. The feathers of the coat each end with a gray tip. The upper tail-coverts are dark gray-brown. The control feathers are black-brown with a gray-brown edge and a cinnamon-colored tip. A wide white band runs from the end of the eye in a crescent shape to the neck. The region from the base of the beak to the eye, the cheeks, the chin and the middle of the throat are black, there is a wide black bib on the chest. The rest of the underside of the body is whitish, on the sides and flanks this white is overlaid with olive gray.
The females have a dull gray-brown head, the lower coat is red-brown, the rest of the upper body is colored like the male. There is a brownish-white stripe above the eye. The region from the base of the beak to the eye, the ear covers and the upper sides of the neck are dull gray-brown. A brownish-white band runs in the front of the neck. The underside of the body is whitish, the sides and the flanks are washed out brown-gray. Fledglings resemble the adult females, but are a little more brownish on the upper side of the body, the face, throat and chest are paler.
In the former Transvaal province , the full moult of the adult cap sparrows begins during the breeding season and continues for a period of at least 150 days. In the case of birds observed in the province of Free State , however, the moult was much faster and was completed after two months.
Possible confusion with other bird species
The crescent-shaped white spot on the head makes the Cape Sparrow male unmistakable. However, there is a possibility of confusion between the females of Cape Sparrow, House Sparrow and Damara Sparrow . The female cap sparrow differs from the female of the house sparrow by the chestnut brown rump, the over-eye stripe, which is characteristic of the female cap sparrow, is missing in the damara sparrow.
Distribution area
The Cape Sparrow is endemic to southern Africa. It occurs in Namibia , Botswana , Angola , Zimbabwe , Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa. The range of the Cape Sparrows covers 1,770,000 square kilometers. The distribution area has expanded in recent years, as the Cape Sparrow as a cultural successor benefits from the increasing expansion of settlements and agricultural areas. In the northern suburbs of Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg , population density has increased in recent years, while in the suburbs of Cape Town it has decreased. In the vicinity of the South African city of Bloemfontein the population density is 152 breeding pairs per 100 hectares.
The Cape Sparrow is a resident bird , but there are some short migrations outside of the breeding season. In the Free State, the Cape Sparrows that live in the interior of cities move about 300 to 500 meters further after the breeding season. The populations that live in the suburbs and villages come together to form large, sometimes nomadic, migrating troops.
habitat
The habitat of the Cape Sparrow are semi- arid regions with an annual rainfall of less than 750 millimeters. He prefers open grassland savannas, which are sparsely populated with thorn bushes and light groups of trees. It is particularly common along river beds. It also colonizes agricultural areas, farms, settlements and is also found in the interior of large cities. In the mid-1950s, the Cape Sparrow began to colonize the vineyards in the southwest of the Cape Province. There it first fed on seeds, but then increasingly began to eat grapes and cause considerable damage there. The birds are now invading orchards and eating buds there. They prefer pear buds. In the south of their area of distribution, in particular, they occur more frequently in landscape types that have been strongly reshaped by humans than in open grassland savannahs.
Way of life
The Cape Sparrow is a sociable species of bird. Outside the breeding season, the birds live in large flocks and are often associated with cape weavers and fire weavers . Overall, the Cape Sparrow is a little shy bird that searches for food in the manner typical of a sparrow. He almost always moves with both legs hopping. House and Damara sparrows can often be seen in its vicinity.
The Cape Sparrow occasionally tries its hand at airhunters. He starts a short flight after flying past insects from a seat attendant. Although this seems tedious and not as elegant as, for example, with the gray flycatcher , it is still not infrequently successful. He is dependent on regular drinking and is therefore never found very far from water points.
Reproduction
Cape sparrows nest either individually or in loose colonies consisting of 50 to 100 breeding pairs. About ten percent of the birds in the populations are single breeders, the rest breed in colonies. There are sometimes up to 30 nests in a single tree. The breeding colonies are about ten to twenty kilometers apart. The breeding pairs are distinctly territorial and vigorously defend the immediate nest environment. Cape sparrows are monogamous, the breeding pairs stay together all year round and presumably have a pair relationship that lasts until the death of a partner bird. The pairs are found in the flocks that form outside of the breeding season. Couples that are ready to breed leave the flock and look for suitable nesting locations. This behavior can initially only be observed in the morning hours, when they have found a suitable location, they spend most of the day near this location. Other pairs then join them, resulting in the formation of a breeding colony.
Courtship and mating
The courtship of the cap sparrow is similar to the courtship of other Passer species: the courting male hops around the female with drooping wings and ruffled back plumage. At the beginning of the courtship season, there is also group courtship. Two or more males court the female, chirping excitedly and pecking at the female. If the female is blown up, the males follow her. Both the female and the male mated with him repel the other courting males by pecking at them. Occasionally the fighting birds grab each other by the beaks. Mating usually only occurs within the couple relationship. The female crouches down and is then mounted by the male.
nest
The nest is a ball nest with a side entrance. It is not built very carefully, the nesting material that has not been worked on on the outside usually hangs loosely. Cape sparrows obstruct dry blades of grass, small twigs, cords, rags, cress flowers and fibers from bed herbs . The actual nesting trough is covered with feathers, hair, wool and other soft material. The nest is usually made in thorn-reinforced trees such as umbrella acacias . Cape sparrows also use the nests of swallows and weaver birds. They breed in hollows in trees and earth walls, between climbing plants and protected cavities on or near buildings, be it under loose roof tiles or in wall holes or niches under the canopy. Solitary nests are usually found in low bushes and on telegraph poles. The nest is built by both parent birds.
Clutch
In large parts of the range, Cape Sparrows can breed all year round, but 95 percent of their offspring in the former Transvaal and 90 percent in the former Cape Province between August and December raise their offspring .
The clutch usually consists of three to four eggs. Up to twelve eggs have already been found in a nest, but it is almost certainly a clutch of more than one female. The eggs are greenish or bluish-white and have gray-brown and dark-brown spots and scribbles. In arid regions, Cape Sparrows usually raise two broods per year. Cape sparrows that breed in regions that have been severely shaped by humans can raise up to six broods a year.
Cape sparrows begin hatching with the first egg-laying. During the day, both parent birds are equally involved in the incubation of the clutch. During the night the female breeds alone while the male rests nearby.
Fledglings
The nestlings hatch over a period of two to three days. They are initially naked and blind, only on the fifth day of life do they open their eyes and the first feathers appear. Both parent birds hover and feed the young birds. The nestlings are hovered for only about 10 to 15 minutes. The parent birds bring food around 10 to 12 times an hour. You can find this either in the nesting tree or within a radius of 500 meters. The nestlings receive almost exclusively insects as food.
Fledglings fledged after an average of 17 days. They stay near the parent birds for a further one to two weeks and are still being fed by the parent birds during this time. Occasionally, they use the same resting nest as their parent birds for two to five months after they have fled.
Breeding success and life expectancy
In the southwest of the former Cape Province, young birds hatch from every second egg and survive until the time they leave. In contrast, this reproduction rate in the Free State is 69 percent. For the south-west of the former Transvaal it is estimated that in semi-arid regions each pair raises three to five young birds per breeding season.
In the Free State, a ringed bird reached an age of 7 years and 10 months. In the former Transvaal, the golden cuckoo ( Chrysococcyx caprius ) lays eggs in 10 to 20 percent of the nests.
Subspecies
The following three subspecies are distinguished:
- Passer melanurus melanurus ( Statius Müller , 1776) - Occurs from the southwest of South Africa eastward to the southwest of the province of Free State. The nominate form is described above.
- Passer melanurus damarensis Reichenow , 1902 - Found in Angola, Namibia, the north of the former Cape Province, in Zimbabwe and in the west and north of the former Transvaal. The black of the plumage is more pronounced in the males. The female is lighter than that of the nominate form.
- Passer melanurus vicinus Clancey , 1958 - Found in the middle and south of the former Transvaal, in Swaziland , KwaZulu-Natal , Lesotho and the east of the former Cape Province. In the males, the black parts of the plumage are shinier, the underside of the body is lighter. The females have a darker upper body than that of the nominate form.
literature
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa. Volume VII. Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
Web links
- BirdLife factsheet on Cape Sparrow
- Passer melanurus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2013.