Stone sparrow
| Stone sparrow | ||||||||||||
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Stone Sparrow ( Petronia petronia ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Petronia | ||||||||||||
| Kaup , 1829 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Petronia petronia | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The stone sparrow ( Petronia petronia ) is a species of bird in the sparrow family . It occurs in the south of Eurasia as well as in the north of Africa.
It is a compact sparrow with a large head in relation to its body and a powerful beak. It differs from the females of the house sparrow and the willow sparrow in its striped head and tail, which ends in a short, white tip. The chest and the flanks are also streaked, but this feature is often not clearly visible, especially when observing the field. The stone sparrow also usually has a yellow spot on the lower throat. However, shortly before moulting, this can no longer be detected in some individuals and is absent in not yet sexually mature birds.
The IUCN classifies the stone sparrow as not endangered ( least concern ). According to the current system (2019) it is the only representative of the genus Petronia .
Appearance
The stone sparrow reaches a body length of 14.0 to 15.5 centimeters. There is no noticeable sexual dimorphism , although the yellow throat spot in females is usually somewhat smaller and somewhat paler.
Stone sparrows have a gray-brown stripe in the middle of the top of the head, which begins at the end of the beak, runs over the forehead, widens slightly at the top of the head and ends in the neck. A dark brown stripe runs above the eye on each side of the head, which also ends in the neck. The cheeks, the ear covers and the sides of the neck are light gray-brown. The neck is gray-brown, the coat is striped gray-brown and dark brown. The back, the rump and the upper tail-coverts are gray-brown. The control springs are also gray-brown and each have a small white spot at the end of the inner vane, which is largest with the central control springs.
The chin and the area to the middle of the upper throat are pale gray-brown. There is a lemon-yellow spot in the middle of the lower throat area. The rest of the upper side of the body is pale gray-brown, the chest and the flanks show fuzzy gray-brown stripes. The beak is brown on the top, the beak underside is yellowish with a dark brown tip. The eyes are pale gray-brown. The legs are light flesh-colored to light horn-colored.
In the past, the species of the genus Gymnoris were also classified in the genus of stone sparrows ( Petronia ), as this also has a yellow throat spot. Molecular genetic studies indicate that there is a purely external similarity.
distribution
Stone sparrows are found in Madeira, the Canary Islands, southern Europe and from northwest Africa in an easterly direction across the Middle East and the Aral Sea to northwest India, west Mongolia, west Manchuria and north of Sechuan. As a stray visitor, they occasionally reach Great Britain, Poland, the Azores, Malta, Cyprus and Israel.
The stone sparrow has meanwhile become extinct in Central Europe and its current European distribution is restricted to southern Europe. The last Central European breeding occurrences became extinct in the first half of the 20th century, an attempt at reintroduction in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1959 and 1960 failed. However, random visitors still occasionally reach Poland. In addition to human stalking and increasing nesting competition with starlings and house sparrows, cooler, more humid summers are also the cause of the disappearance of the stone sparrow. The predicted global warming has not yet led to a repopulation of the former Central European breeding areas. It is expected that the stone sparrow will breed again on the Dutch and Belgian coast by the end of the 21st century.
habitat
The stone sparrows live mainly in treeless hilly landscapes with sparse grass cover and rocks and eruptions as well as rocky cliffs. They also settle villages with old buildings, ruins, no longer inhabited buildings, fountains and stone walls, alpine mats, bushy riverside regions and open forest edges, provided these have trees with tree hollows.
Way of life
Stone sparrows are socially living birds outside of the breeding season that form small flocks of 30 to 50 individuals. Swarms with up to 100 or 200 individuals are also rarely observed. In the winter months they are often also kept with house sparrows and blackbucks.
Stone sparrows feed on seeds all year round, also on invertebrates in spring and berries in autumn. They find their food almost exclusively on the ground.
Reproduction
This species of sparrow belongs to the cave breeders and prefers wall holes, house martin nests , holes in the ground and sometimes hollow trees. The stone sparrow usually breeds in small, loose colonies, more rarely solitary. He enters into both monogamous and polygynous relationships. In the latter two to three females nest in close proximity to each other. The nests of different pairs are usually 10 to 15 meters apart. The male behaves territorially and defends the immediate nesting environment. Stone sparrows usually raise two broods a year.
The clutch comprises between four and eight eggs. These have a smooth, shiny surface. The eggshells are dirty white with dark gray, reddish brown and blackish brown spots and blotches. It probably only breeds the female. The nestlings are cared for by both parent birds. The nestling period is a maximum of 21 days, most nestlings fledge on their 18th or 19th day of life.
literature
- Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.) (Volume 2): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 2: Passeriformes - Sperlingsvögel Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-648-0 .
- Einhard Bezzel: birds. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-405-14736-0
- C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (Eds.): The Birds of Africa - Volume VII. Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 .
- Brian Huntley, Rhys E. Green, Yvonne C. Collingham, Stephen G. Willis: A Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds , Durham University, The RSPB and Lynx Editions, Barcelona 2007, ISBN 978-84-96553-14-9 .
Web links
- Petronia petronia in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Petronia petronia in the Internet Bird Collection
- Age and gender characteristics (PDF; 1.2 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta and Gerd-Michael Heinze (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Fry, p. 47
- ↑ TD Price, DM Hooper, CD Buchanan, US Johansson, DT Tietze, P. Alström, U. Olsson, M. Ghosh-Harihar, F. Ishtiaq, SK Gupta, J. Martens, B. Harr, P. Singh and D Mohan: Niche filling slows the diversification of Himalayan songbirds . In: Nature . tape 509 , 2014, p. 222-225 .
- ↑ JM Fjeldså, M. Irestedt, PGP Ericson and D. Zuccon: The Cinnamon Ibon Hypocryptadius cinnamomeus is a forest canopy sparrow . In: Ibis . tape 152 , 2010, p. 747-760 .
- ↑ Bezzel, p. 40
- ↑ Bauer et al., Volume 2, p. 461
- ^ C. Hilary Fry and Stuart Keith (eds.): The Birds of Africa - Volume VII. , Christopher Helm, London 2004, ISBN 0-7136-6531-9 , p. 47.
- ^ Huntley et al., P. 427
- ↑ a b c Fry et al., P. 48