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Winter Birds: Rare Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie
Old World Sparrow, Exotic. Photo by Dave Pierce, Naturalist, St. Louis, MO
Brought from Germany in 1870 and released in St. Louis, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) established itself in this locale almost exclusively in North America. Found only in nearby Missouri and Illinois and a bit of Iowa on farms and in suburbs. The Eurasian Tree Sparrows have been limited by the more ubiquitous and aggressive House Sparrow, also imported, in 1851.*
Note the distinctive black cheek patches and chin.
* Sources:
Kevin Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds, Boston, Houghton Miflin, 1996, 650.
Kevin Mulroy, editor-in-chief; Mel M. Baughman, editor, National Geographic References Atlas of the Birds of North America, National Geographic Society, Washington D.C., 419.