House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Old World Sparrows (Passeridae) · Passeriformes (Passeriformes)
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Often mixed up with
In quizzes, players most often confuse House Sparrow with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.
| Species | Mix-ups |
|---|---|
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus | 75 |
| Italian Sparrow Passer italiae | 52 |
| Dunnock Prunella modularis | 28 |
| Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis | 22 |
| Western House Martin Delichon urbicum | 3 |
Family
Old World sparrows are groups of small passerine birds forming the family Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, a name which is also used for a particular genus of the family Passer. They are distinct from both the New World sparrows of the family Passerellidae and from a few other birds such as the Java sparrow of the family Estrildidae sharing their name.
Order
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of …