Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 39
House Sparrow
John Gerrard Keulemans, 1876
Bird

House Sparrow

Passer domesticus
Old World Sparrows (Passeridae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A chunky brown sparrow; the male has a grey crown, black bib and chestnut nape, the female is plain buff-brown with a pale eyebrow.
Male & female
Strongly different: only the male has the black bib and grey cap.
Voice
Monotonous 'cheep' and 'chirrup' from ledges and hedges.
Diet
Seeds, grain, scraps, dropped fries, and insects for the chicks.
Habitat
Towns, farms and buildings; rarely far from people and almost never in deep forest.
Nesting
In any cavity: eaves, vents, signs, nest boxes; several broods a year.
Size
6 in long, about 1 oz: six quarters, found wherever people drop fries.

Brought from Europe in the 1850s and now on every continent except Antarctica, which it is presumably considering. Still unlikely at a forested creek, so the few calls here are worth a second listen.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 4 calls on 2 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

0100:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 0 calls08:00 — 0 calls09:00 — 0 calls910:00 — 0 calls11:00 — 0 calls12:00 — 1 calls1213:00 — 0 calls14:00 — 1 calls15:00 — 0 calls1516:00 — 0 calls17:00 — 1 calls18:00 — 1 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
23Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 1 callsOct 30 — 0 callsOct 31 — 3 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

From the encyclopedia

The house sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of 28 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird.
From Wikipedia, "House sparrow", CC BY-SA 4.0.