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Summary

Passer is a genus of sparrows, also known as the true sparrows. The genus contains 28 species and includes the house sparrow and the Eurasian tree sparrow – two of the most common birds in the world. They are small birds with thick bills for eating seeds and are mostly coloured grey or brown. Native to the Old World, some species have been introduced throughout the world.

Taxonomy

The genus Passer was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The type species was subsequently designated as the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). The name Passer is the Latin word for "sparrow."

A mixed group of Passer sparrows containing a Eurasian tree sparrow, a male house sparrow, and female house or Spanish sparrows, feeding on grain in the town of Baikonur, Kazakhstan

The genus contains 28 species:

Image Common name Scientific name Distribution Cape sparrow Passer melanurus central coast of Angola to eastern South Africa and Swaziland Chestnut sparrow Passer eminibey Darfur in Sudan to Tanzania Kordofan sparrow Passer cordofanicus South Sudan and Chad Shelley's sparrow Passer shelleyi eastern Africa from South Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and north-western Somalia to northern Uganda and north-western Kenya Kenya sparrow Passer rufocinctus Kenya and Tanzania Great sparrow Passer motitensis southern Africa Northern grey-headed sparrow Passer griseus tropical Africa Swainson's sparrow Passer swainsonii northeastern Africa Swahili sparrow Passer suahelicus southern Kenya and Tanzania Parrot-billed sparrow Passer gongonensis eastern Africa Southern grey-headed sparrow Passer diffusus Angola and Zambia southwards into South Africa Sind sparrow Passer pyrrhonotus Indus valley region in South Asia Russet sparrow Passer cinnamomeus southeastern Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh to Kashmir and Nuristan in Afghanistan, as well as China, Korea, and...