Eurasian Tree Sparrow

How to recognise it

• Chestnut crown and nape, with a black spot on the white cheek
• Black chin and throat, and black between the bill and the throat
• Brown wings with two clear, narrow white wing bars
• Male and female look alike, juveniles are paler with sooty grey cheek and throat spots

Call and song

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow has no real song, but unpaired or courting males give an excited series of tschip calls. Typical calls are a wooden tek tek tek and high zwit calls, and the flight call is a harsh teck. The calls resemble the House Sparrow's but are weaker and often softer.

Where and when

It is common in southern and central Sweden, with density decreasing further north. It has expanded its range in Fennoscandia and is reported from all 21 counties. It is reported most in December and January. Where it occurs alongside the House Sparrow, it breeds in the countryside, preferably near wetlands. It is not red-listed in the Swedish Red List 2025.

Food and behaviour

It feeds mainly on seeds and grain, foraging on the ground in flocks and moving about by hopping. The young are fed largely on insects and spiders. It visits bird tables and is especially fond of peanuts. It is more peaceable than the House Sparrow, does not chase other birds away and often takes long dust baths. It often nests in holes in old trees and readily uses nest boxes.