Passer domesticus
Passer domesticus
It is the passerine species with the widest distribution worldwide. It naturally occupies almost the entire Palearctic except for the boreal latitudes and the Far East, in addition to the territories where it has been introduced in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia (BirdLife International, 2024). In Europe it is absent only from Italy, where it is replaced by its congener —formerly considered conspecific— Passer italiae (Keller et al., 2020).
In Spain it has a very broad distribution, both on the peninsula and in the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla. In the Canary Islands, where it is an introduced exotic species, it appears only on Gran Canaria (Murgui in SEO/BirdLife, 2022). It is more frequent along the coastal strip than in the interior, and more common in the southern part of the peninsula than in the north (Díaz et al., 1994).
In the national park it has only been detected at the Navacerrada mountain pass. This is a species associated with human constructions and agricultural environments, and this is the only point with a significant number of buildings, which it uses to occupy the area.
It is a species typical of urban areas and agricultural environments, provided these also contain human constructions. It is ubiquitous in anthropic habitats, whether in urban centres or in isolated farmhouses, hamlets, farms, and stables, as long as there are suitable nesting sites and the places are continuously inhabited by humans and their livestock. After the breeding season, the species spreads —although with low abundance— across a somewhat wider variety of habitats (Bernis, 1989; Murgui, 2016).
In the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park it is found in the most urbanised area, associated with the constructions that form the priority habitat for the species.
At a global scale it is considered in the category of Least Concern (LC; 2017). In Europe it would also be classified in the same category (LC; 2021). In Spain it is considered in the category of Least Concern in the 2021 Red List.
The Catalogue of Threatened Species of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not assign the species to any threat category.
Bernis, F. 1989. Los gorriones. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Madrid.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
Murgui, E. 2011. How many common breeding birds are there in Spain? A comparison of census methods and national population size estimates. Ardeola, 58: 343-364.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.