Most house sparrows live only a few years. Only about a quarter of chicks survive to breed, and even adults have roughly a 45 to 65% chance of surviving each year. A lucky few live much longer: the oldest known wild house sparrow was found 19 years and 9 months after it was ringed in Denmark. In captivity, one lived to 23.
Sparrow lifespan quick facts
- Most house sparrows live only a few years.
- Only about 20 to 25 in every 100 chicks survive to their first breeding season.
- The oldest known wild house sparrow reached 19 years and 9 months.
- The oldest captive house sparrow lived to 23.
- The UK’s house sparrow population fell by about 71% between 1977 and 2008.
The oldest known wild house sparrow lived for almost 20 years. Yet most sparrows live for only a few. The difference comes down to a dangerous first year.
How long sparrows live
Life is hardest at the very start. Only about 20 to 25 out of every 100 house sparrow chicks survive to their first breeding season.
Adults do better, but not by much. Each year, a grown house sparrow has roughly a 45 to 65% chance of making it to the next. So most sparrows live only a few years.
| Record | Age |
|---|---|
| Chicks that reach their first breeding season | About 20 to 25 in every 100 |
| Adults surviving each year | About 45 to 65 in every 100 |
| Oldest known wild house sparrow | 19 years and 9 months |
| Oldest known captive house sparrow | 23 years |
The wild record-holder was found 19 years and 9 months after it was ringed in Denmark. In captivity, safe from predators, one house sparrow lived for 23 years.
In Britain, the British Trust for Ornithology, or BTO, keeps records of birds that scientists have ringed. Its figures show that a house sparrow that survives to breeding age can expect to live about three years. The oldest ringed house sparrow in Britain lived for 12 years and 12 days, a record set in 1978.
How scientists know a sparrow’s age
You cannot tell a wild bird’s age just by looking at it. Instead, scientists catch birds carefully, fit a tiny, light metal ring with its own number around one leg, and let them go. This is called ringing in Britain and banding in North America.
If the same bird is caught again, or found years later, its ring number shows exactly when it was first ringed. That is how the Danish record-holder was found to be 19 years and 9 months old.
Records from thousands of ringed birds also show how many sparrows survive from one year to the next. That is where the survival figures in the table above come from.
Where house sparrows live
House sparrows first came from the Middle East. They spread across Europe, Asia and North Africa alongside farming, living wherever people grew grain.
Later, people carried them further. In 1851, a group of 100 sparrows from England was let go in Brooklyn, New York. Today the house sparrow is the most widely spread wild bird on the planet.
What sparrows eat
House sparrows eat mostly seeds and grain, with a few insects. When scientists in the United States checked what was in sparrows’ stomachs, they found this:
- about 60% grain from animal feed, such as corn, wheat and oats
- about 18% grain from fields and stores
- about 17% weed seeds
- about 4% insects
In gardens, the RSPB says sparrows especially love fat balls and sunflower hearts.
What hunts sparrows
A small bird has a lot of enemies. Sparrows are hunted by hawks, falcons, owls and shrikes. On the ground, cats, dogs, raccoons and snakes all take them.
Nests and chicks
House sparrows like to nest in holes and gaps in buildings. They also use hedges and nest boxes.
A female lays one to eight eggs at a time, and a pair can raise up to four families in one season. Laying so many eggs helps make up for how many chicks are lost.
BTO records show that a typical house sparrow nest holds four or five eggs. The female keeps them warm for 12 to 15 days until they hatch. The chicks are born naked and helpless, and they leave the nest 14 to 17 days later. Most pairs raise two or three families a year, and sparrows usually start breeding when they are one year old.
How to tell male and female house sparrows apart
A male house sparrow has a grey cap, grey cheeks and a black bib under his beak. His back is chestnut brown with black markings, and his front is pale grey.
The female is plainer. She has a brown back with black markings, a pale chest with no bib, and a pale yellowish stripe behind each eye. Young sparrows look like the females.
A disease mystery in London
London’s house sparrows have fallen by 71% since 1995. For years, nobody could say why.
In 2019, scientists from the Zoological Society of London, the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and the University of Liverpool published a clue. On average, 74% of the London sparrows they tested carried avian malaria, a form of malaria that only affects birds. Colonies that were shrinking had more of the parasite in each bird.
Why sparrows are in trouble in the UK
House sparrows used to be one of the commonest birds in Britain. Between 1977 and 2008, the UK population dropped by an estimated 71%.
Since 2002, the house sparrow has been on the UK’s Red List, the list of birds of highest conservation concern. There is some hope: numbers have recently risen in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, even while they fall in England.
The BTO estimates that about 5 million pairs of house sparrows breed in the UK today. Between 1995 and 2024, their numbers fell by 18%.
Tree sparrows: the house sparrow’s country cousin
Britain has a second kind of sparrow, the tree sparrow. It is a bird of farmland edges rather than towns and cities.
You can tell the two apart by their heads. A tree sparrow has a chestnut-brown cap and white cheeks with a black spot on each one. A male house sparrow has a grey cap and no cheek spot. Male and female tree sparrows look the same, while male and female house sparrows look different.
| House sparrow | Tree sparrow | |
|---|---|---|
| Usual life, once old enough to breed | About 3 years | About 2 years |
| Oldest ringed bird in Britain | 12 years, 12 days | 10 years, 10 months, 20 days |
| Eggs in a typical nest | 4 to 5 | 5 to 6 |
| Families a year | 2 to 3, sometimes 4 | 1 to 2 |
| Cap | Grey on males, brown on females | Chestnut brown on both |
Tree sparrows live a little less long. The BTO says a tree sparrow that reaches breeding age can expect to live about two years. The oldest ringed tree sparrow in Britain reached 10 years, 10 months and 20 days, and the oldest known anywhere reached about 13 years.
They have had a hard time in Britain. Their numbers fell by 93% between 1970 and 2008, and they have been on the UK’s Red List since 1996. Recent surveys suggest numbers may have started to rise again, and East Yorkshire is one of their strongholds.
Tree sparrows made it to America too. In late April 1870, birds brought from Germany were let go in St. Louis. Today about 15,000 live around St. Louis and nearby parts of Illinois and south-eastern Iowa.
The year China tried to get rid of sparrows
In 1958, China’s government began a campaign against four pests: flies, mosquitoes, rats and sparrows. Sparrows eat grain, so they were blamed for taking food from farms.
Within two years, sparrows had been wiped out in many areas. But sparrows do not only eat grain. They also eat insects, and without them, crop-eating insects such as locusts had fewer enemies.
A team of economists led by Eyal Frank later studied what happened. In the areas affected, rice harvests fell by 5.3% and wheat by 8.7%. They estimated that getting rid of the sparrows led to nearly 2 million more deaths during the Great Famine of 1959 to 1961.
In 1960, the government took sparrows off the list and put bedbugs there instead. It is a lesson scientists still point to: even a small, common bird can do an important job.
Three things people get wrong
Most sparrows do not live for ten or twenty years. Those are rare record-breakers. Most live only a few years.
Being common does not mean being safe. The UK has lost around seven in every ten house sparrows since the 1970s.
Sparrows do not only eat seeds. They are omnivores. Seeds and grain are most of their diet, but they eat insects too.
Did you know? The house sparrow is the most widely spread wild bird on the planet. It spread from the Middle East alongside farming, and people later carried it to almost every part of the world.
Try it
Start with 100 imaginary sparrow chicks. About 22 survive to their first breeding season. If just over half of those survive each year after that, how many are left after two more years? You should end up with only six or seven.
Knowledge check
Roughly how many sparrow chicks in every 100 survive to their first breeding season?
Show answer
About 20 to 25. The first year is the most dangerous part of a house sparrow’s life, which is why most sparrows live only a few years.
Where was the oldest known wild house sparrow ringed?
Show answer
In Denmark. It was found 19 years and 9 months after it had been ringed.
Frequently asked questions
How long do sparrows live?
Most house sparrows live only a few years. About 20 to 25% of chicks survive to their first breeding season, and adults have roughly a 45 to 65% chance of surviving each year.
What is the oldest sparrow ever recorded?
The oldest known wild house sparrow was found 19 years and 9 months after it was ringed in Denmark. The oldest known captive house sparrow lived for 23 years.
What do sparrows eat?
House sparrows eat mostly seeds and grain, with some insects. A study of sparrows in the United States found about 60% livestock feed grain, 18% field grain, 17% weed seeds and 4% insects in their stomachs.
What animals eat sparrows?
Sparrows are hunted by hawks, falcons, owls and shrikes, and on the ground by cats, dogs, raccoons and snakes.
Why are house sparrows declining?
House sparrows have declined sharply in the UK, by about 71% between 1977 and 2008. In London, a 2019 study found avian malaria in 74% of the sparrows tested, with more parasites in colonies that were shrinking.
Where do house sparrows come from?
House sparrows originated in the Middle East and spread across Europe, Asia and North Africa alongside farming. People later introduced them around the world, including 100 birds released in Brooklyn, New York, in 1851.
How long do tree sparrows live?
A tree sparrow that reaches breeding age can expect to live about two years, according to the British Trust for Ornithology. The oldest ringed tree sparrow in Britain lived 10 years, 10 months and 20 days.
How can you tell a male house sparrow from a female?
A male house sparrow has a grey cap, grey cheeks and a black bib. A female is plainer, with a brown back, a pale chest with no bib and a pale yellowish stripe behind each eye.
How do scientists know how old a sparrow is?
Scientists fit wild birds with a tiny numbered metal ring on one leg, called ringing or banding. If the bird is caught again or found later, the ring number shows when it was first ringed, so its age can be worked out.
What happened when China killed its sparrows?
In 1958 China began a campaign to wipe out sparrows as pests. Without sparrows eating insects, pests such as locusts had fewer enemies, rice and wheat harvests fell, and economists estimate it led to nearly 2 million more deaths in the Great Famine of 1959 to 1961.
Sources
- Wikipedia: house sparrow — survival rates, the oldest wild and captive birds, and where the species came from
- Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan: house sparrow — diet, predators, clutch size and the 1851 introduction to New York
- RSPB: house sparrow — the UK decline, the Red List, garden food and telling males from females
- ScienceDaily (2019): avian malaria and London’s sparrows — the malaria study and the 71% fall in London since 1995
- British Trust for Ornithology: house sparrow — typical lifespan, the British age record, nesting figures and UK numbers
- British Trust for Ornithology: tree sparrow — typical lifespan, the British age record, nesting figures and the Red List
- RSPB: tree sparrow — telling a tree sparrow from a house sparrow, and its decline
- Wikipedia: Eurasian tree sparrow — the oldest known tree sparrow and the birds released in St. Louis in 1870
- University of Chicago Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth: sparrows and the Great Famine — the Four Pests campaign and its effect on harvests
