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Northern Grey-Headed Sparrow | Passer griseus
Grijskopmus | Gorrión gris
The Northern Grey-headed Sparrow is the common village and town sparrow of the Sahel and West Africa, with a plain grey head and a rusty back. In this region it is a vagrant, seen only in the far south of the Algerian Sahara, at the edge of its Sahelian range.
Voice
A simple, repeated cheep or chirrup, less noisy than House Sparrow, and a soft rolling chatter in flocks.
Recording: András Schmidt — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
15 cm. A sturdy sparrow with a plain grey head, nape and underparts, a white throat and a warm rufous back, rump and wings. A narrow white shoulder patch shows on the lesser coverts. There is no black on head or throat and no streaking on the back. The bill is black in the breeding season, horn-coloured otherwise. Sexes alike; juveniles browner on the head with a pale bill.
Confusion species
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) have streaked backs and the males a black bib; their females have a pale supercilium. Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) is streaked and has a crown stripe. No other sparrow in the region combines a plain grey head with a plain rufous back.
Habitat
In the Sahel villages, towns, gardens and fields with trees, and open acacia savanna; often near houses and watering points. In the region to be expected in oasis villages and settlements with trees on the southern edge of the Sahara.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
In the region recorded only in the far south of Algeria: at Timiaouine (wilaya of Bordj Badji Mokhtar), in October 2022 the first record for the country and for the region. Given its presence in the Sahel zone just south of the border, further records are to be expected in southern Algeria, Libya and Morocco (Western Sahara). Beyond the region it is resident in the Sahel and savannas from Mauritania and Senegal to Sudan and Ethiopia, south to Cameroon.
How and when to look
When checking sparrows in the border area of southern Algeria or in the oasis villages of the far south, look in every flock for a bird with a plain grey head and no black bib; it is usually hidden among House Sparrows.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened and common in the Sahel. A vagrant to the region: first recorded in October 2022 at Timiaouine in the far south of Algeria; no other certain records elsewhere in the region.
Scientific name
Passer griseus | (Vieillot, 1817)
Vieillot described the species in 1817 as Fringilla grisea; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Passer was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Passer is the Latin word for 'sparrow'. griseus is Medieval Latin for 'grey' — for the grey head. The specimen the first description was based on came from Senegal (originally given in error as 'United States').