Swainson's Sparrow (Passer swainsonii)
About the Swainson's Sparrow
The Swainson's sparrow (Passer swainsonii) is a species of bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. Sometimes considered a subspecies of the grey-headed sparrow, it occurs in northeastern Africa, largely in the Ethiopian Highlands. This sparrow was named after the English naturalist and illustrator William Swainson. The Swainson's sparrow reaches a body length of 16 centimetres (6.3 in). There is no conspicuous sexual dimorphism. It is often considered a race of grey-headed sparrow, but it tends to be darker, especially on the head and shoulders. There is a white bar on the shoulder, but this is not always visible. Similarly, the pale chestnut tail and rump is not always visible.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 23 recordings for this species: 12 CC BY-NC-ND · 11 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Ethiopia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Eurasian Tree SparrowPasser montanusrecording
- House SparrowPasser domesticusrecording
- Italian SparrowPasser italiaerecording
- Kenya SparrowPasser rufocinctusrecording
- Northern Grey-headed SparrowPasser griseusrecording
- Spanish SparrowPasser hispaniolensisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.