Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) breeding in the Po Delta, NE Italy.

Introduction

The species of the genus Passer breeding so far in both the Po river Valley and the Delta were two: the Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) and the Controversial Italian Sparrow (Passer domesticus italie), presently accepted by the Italian Ornithological Commission as a subspecies of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), while the Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis)  were know to breed in Sardinia and with a small population in Apulia (Meschini and Frugis, 1993). Throughout mainland Italy and Sicily, population gradually show more Passer hispaniolensis characters toward south, where Passer domesticus brutius e Passer domesticus maltae are present, the latter, particularly those of western Sicily and Malta, beeing very similar to Spanish Sparrow (COI 2004). A male Spanish Sparrow was photographed on 19 July 2001 at the Cassella pinewood, in the Po Delta, first for the Veneto region (L. Sattin in Sighele 2001, Stival 2003.

Since the breeding was not confirmed, this datum was rejected by the editors of the local breeding atlas (Fracasso et a.l, 2003).

Confirmed breeding of the Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) in the Po Delta, NE Italy

A male Spanish Sparrow was observed on 27 April 2004 while singing on a Stone Pine in the village of Gorino, while the nest was found there on a Boxelder tree close to the pine.

Birders while twitching the first Spanish Sparrow of ever breeding in the Po Delta	Spanish Sparrow, male with flower’s stems. Po Delta 2001 (courtesy of Luca Sattin)

In the following days the singing male was relocated a few times for the disappear. Contemporarily other potential breeding site were visited in the surroundings, such as groves or gardens. So, a total of 9 breeding sites were located in the Po Delta, also confirming the breeding in the site were the species was observed for the first time in 2001.The typologies of the nest, built at height of 4-20 m above ground on Pines

Breeding site of Spanish Sparrow in the Po Delta. Stone Pines near waterbodies are often used to build the nest among their branches.	Nest of Spanish Sparrow, Po Delta

or other trees are of two kinds: some nests built into foundations of nests of corvids (Magpie), Collared Dove and Long-eared Owl; otherwise nests free-standig, large, untidy, roughly spherical, domed structure with entrance-hole in side, made of dry grass or straw with some flower panicles incorporated. A total of 60-100 breeding pairs were found, confirming the presence of the females of the species, with their characteristic dusky furrows from breast along flanks, while females of Italian Sparrow are slightly smaller, with a less greyish, more uniform breast and belly.

Chick of a Long-eared Owl on its nest and Spanish Sparrow female, Po Delta	Long-eared Owl by its nest and the one of the Spanish Sparrow built using flower's stems, Po Delta. Courtesy of Luca Sattin

Final reflection

Following the new breeding in the Po Delta, the Italian range of the species is now constituted by three searated sub-ranges: the whole Sardinia, the northern Apulia and the Po Delta,

the colonization of which was preceded by the nesting in the not so far Istra and other Croatian coastal areas since the late eighties (Lissak 1992, Lukač 1988 e Tout 2001). So Italy confirm to be among the European countries most interesting for observing the various forms of Sparrows.

Spanish Sparrow male. Po Delta		Italian Sparrow male. Po Delta
Crete Sparrow male. Crete, Greece (courtesy of Luca Sattin)		Malta Sparrow male. Ustica, S Italy (courtesy of Luca Sattin)
Back of Malta Sparrow male. Ustica, S Italy (courtesy of Luca Sattin)		Back of Spanish Sparrow male.  Po Delta
Italian and Spanish Sparrows males, Po Delta. Note the latter is slightly larger than the former.		Spanish Sparrow, probable intermediate between P.h. hispaniolensis and P.h. transcaspicus, Soke, W Turkey, 1993 Courtesy of Akif Aykurt
Spanish Sparrow, probable intermediate between P.h. hispaniolensis and P.h. transcaspicus, Soke, W Turkey, 1993 Courtesy of Akif Aykurt		Spanish Sparrow, probable intermediate between P.h. hispaniolensis and P.h. transcaspicus, Soke, W Turkey, 1993 Courtesy of Akif Aykurt

Thanks

...to Luca Sattin and Akif Aykurt (Turkey) for permitting to use some photos appeared in this note, and to Giuseppe Nuovo, Tommy Capodiferro and Maurizio Marrese for breeding data in the Apulia region

References

COI 2004. Check list degli uccelli italiani, 13-02-2004:

http://www.ciso-coi.org/Lista%20CISO-COI.pdf

Fracasso G., Verza E. & Boschetti E. (a cura di) 2003. Atlante degli Uccelli
nidificanti in provincia di Rovigo. Provincia di Rovigo: 152 pp.

Lissak, W., 1992. Zum Vorkomen des Weidensperlings (Passer hispaniolensis) in Norddalmatien/Kroatien, Kartierung mediterr. aner 8, 31-33

Lukač, G.,1988. Neue Brutstatten des Weidensperlings (Passer hispaniolensis) im nordlichen Dalmatien, Jugoslawien, Orn. Mitt. No 11, 287-291

Meschini E. e S. Frugis, 1993. Atlante degli uccelli nidificanti in Italia. Suppl. Ric. Biol. Selvaggina, 20:1-344.

Stival E., 2003. Check-list degli uccelli veneti (aggiornata a luglio 2003):

http://digilander.libero.it/emstival/check_v/check_v.htm

Sighele M., 2001 – Fotonotizie. Quaderni di Birdwatching, Anno III, vol. 6.

 http://www.ebnitalia.it/QB/QB006/sightings.htm

Tout P., 2001. Insel Unije 15-27 June 2001:

http://www.birdnet.de/travel/travel-e06.htm