Horus Sparrow

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Horus Sparrow, Melospiza horus  L 13-17 cm, WS 20-24 cm, Family: Passerellidae

IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)

 

Description:    

Medium-sized sparrow with a rounded head, long legs, and a stout bill. Red-brown above, cream to white below, with pale head and characteristic dark facial stripes. Heavily streaked on back and underparts, with large dark spot on breast. Males and females indistinguishable, juveniles browner overall, with heavier streaking. Geographic variation exists: birds are darker and heavier spotted farther north, with Kosatka Island birds the darkest overall, and southern populations around Cape George and the Francis Islands lightest. Best differentiated from other endemic sparrows by facial pattern and breast spot.

Voice:

Perhaps the most musical endemic sparrow, song is a complex, wren-like series of buzzes, trills, and gargled notes, often lasting around two seconds. The song usually begins with a single bell-like note, followed by trills and gargles, ending with short buzzing. Frequent singers. Calls include a sharp chip and a buzzier zeet.

Range and Habitat:    

Common, its range covers the entirety of Novasola. They are found in a variety of open ecosystems like grassland, meadows, scrubland and chaparral, savannah, forest edges, juniper and pine forests, and agricultural areas and suburbs, but they are most common in and prefer wetland ecosystems like coastal and inland marshes, bogs, stream sides, aspen and willow meadows, and floodplains. Will also occasionally be found in alpine meadows and forest interiors, especially rainforest.

Discussion:      

Bold and ubiquitous, the Horus Sparrow is one of the most familiar Novasolan sparrows, and is the second most common, behind only the Sand-eared Sparrow. Conspicuous for sparrows, the Horus sings loudly, frequently, and from exposed perches, making them easy to spot.

They are, however, more secretive during foraging. Horus Sparrows stay low or near the ground, preferring dense cover, hopping along the leaf litter or in between grasses, branches, and thickets in search of food. Their diets include berries, seeds, and many invertebrates like beetles, caterpillars, flies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and worms. Generally solitary, most sparrows will forage alone or in pairs, but small flocks will form, of mostly younger birds, in the winter around reliable sources of food and water, including bird feeders.

In mating, Horus Sparrows are generally monogamous, but studies have shown that close to one fifth of all Horus Sparrow copulations are extra-pair breeding. Once males establish a territory, they will begin singing from taller and open perches like exposed tree branches or stumps. Their songs help to defend territories and attract females, and sparrows may sing throughout the year, though mostly during the breeding season. Once paired, the female will build a nest under dense cover, usually on or near the ground, often within marsh reeds or thickets. In suburban areas, nests can often be found in gardens and flowerbeds.

The Horus Sparrow is closely related to the Song Sparrow and Lincoln’s Sparrow of mainland North America and fills a similar niche. Though common, it was not described scientifically until 1902 by Richard Reichwald. Until then, the bird had many common names, but Reichwald, who had a passing interest in archeology, thought the bird’s facial stripe pattern resembled the Egyptian Eye of Horus symbol and named it thus.

Typical and commonplace, the Horus Sparrow is often the first suspect whenever someone spies a flash of brown or a small bird in open, shrubby, or wet areas. Sparrows can pose a challenge for beginner birders, as they can be difficult to tell apart, and the best way to distinguish a Horus Sparrow is by song. Without that clue, a combination of habitat and color helps, as well as shape. A medium-sized sparrow with a long tail, heavy spotting, and a pale and striped head in a wet ecosystem with little canopy rules out most other species.

“The country here is perhaps a bit monotonous, but nice, and the wildlife here abounds. It seems the riverbanks are never empty of animals and game. I have seen countless magpies, as well as starlings, blackbirds, cranes, and warblers. On many occasions this morning alone I spotted Horus Sparrows, totaling at least fifteen individuals in this past stretch of river. The weather has been favorable, and the morning was filled by the chorus of sparrows competing with the sounds of the river and oarsmen for a trophy of constancy.” – Expedition log, July 19, 1902

“Already on this journey I have observed numerous birds which I have had not the time to identify. Perhaps my most frequent adversary in this regard is the vast number of small, brown birds I spook from the brush which alight and flee before I have time to study. No doubt many of these are the same bird, a sparrow or wren of some kind I have heard from some distance singing. This was of course until this morning, when I found the bird sitting atop a snag, a long-dead larch or spruce, jutting from the swamp. The bird was unquestionably a sparrow, much like the Song Sparrow of Oregon, and I was able to spend the entire morning observing what I could of it and its surroundings. I believe this bird to be the ‘Red-backed Finch’ referenced in preparatory writings, as well as the ‘white headed sparrow’ alluded to by some of the inhabitants of Cape George.” – Expedition log, May 4, 1902

Eye of Horus, or Wadjet, hieroglyph (right) compared to a Horus Sparrow (left) profile. Other names were common prior to the NRC Expeditions, including Red-backed Sparrow, but Reichwald felt the Horus name would encompass all morphologic differences within the species.