Fun Golden Sparrow Facts For Kids
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Are you looking for some attractive and low-maintenance pets to keep at home? And do you want those pets to welcome you home after a stressful day at work? Then, how about some sweet singing colorful birds? If you think they are a perfect option, read on about golden sparrows.
Sudan golden sparrows are small sparrows of sub-Saharan Africa, of the order Passeriformes, family Passeridae. The breeding Sudan golden sparrow range map is south of Sahara, between Senegal east and Sudan and Ethiopia.
They also live to the northwest of Aousserd, Morocco. These bird species and Arabian golden sparrows are often considered similar and are called golden sparrows. The chestnut sparrow is also considered as same species by British ornithologist Richard Meinertzhagen.
Another bird species, the golden-crowned sparrows of New world sparrows of nearly the same length, of the family Passerellidae is often confused with the name of Sudan golden sparrow. Although both the bird species belong to the order Passeriformes, the family is different and varies in appearance and distribution range.
You can learn how to care for this bird in our article. To explore more bird species from our articles from our magpie fun facts and Cooper's hawk facts.
Golden Sparrow Interesting Facts
What type of animal is a golden sparrow?
A Sudan golden sparrow is a small bird species of order Passeriformes, family Passeridae of Old World sparrows.
What class of animal does a golden sparrow belong to?
Sudan golden sparrows belong to the class of Aves.
How many golden sparrows are there in the world?
The exact number of these bird species is unknown. However, they are abundant and common throughout their breeding range.
Where does a golden sparrow live?
A Sudan golden sparrow lives in dry open regions like savannas, shrubby or cereal cultivations, and semi-desert areas.
What is a golden sparrow's habitat?
A Sudan golden sparrow's preferred habitat is seasonal ground cover cultivations, arid shrubby or savannas with fewer trees and grass.
Who does the golden sparrow live with?
They are highly social and nomadic birds that live in flocks. They often form mixed flocks with other seed-eating bird sparrow species like red-billed quelea. In cities like Khartoum, a vast number of birds often form evening roosts.
How long does a golden sparrow live?
Sudan golden sparrows live nearly ten years in captivity. Some song sparrows are known to live nearly 11 years.
How do they reproduce?
Breeding season is related to rains. Males display courtship by quivering their wings above their bodies.
They build a large nest in vast colonies of nearly 65,000 nests with a density of nearly 25-570 nests/ha. Both sexes work together to build a domed nest using dry twigs woven into tree branches and have a feather-lined nest chamber.
They breed once or twice a year and lay a clutch of three to four eggs which are white with dark spots.
The egg is incubated by both females and males for nearly 10 - 12 days, and both parents feed chicks. The young bird remains in the nest for nearly 13 - 14 days before it flies.
What is their conservation status?
As per IUCN red list, the conservation status of these bird species is of Least Concern.
Golden Sparrow Fun Facts
What does the golden sparrow look like?
Sudan golden sparrows are small sparrows and are highly sexual dimorphic bird species as far as their color is concerned. Males are different from females with bright yellow underparts and heads. Their back and wings are in deep chestnut with two white wing bars.
During the breeding season, the males' plumage turns brighter, and their bill's color changes to shiny black. Females are pale with yellowish faces and pale-yellow to whitish underparts.
Their wings are light brown with streaks of chestnut on their back. These young birds are more like females but are greyer. Young male birds get their yellow wash around their shoulders at about ten weeks.
How cute are they?
They are attractive and eye-catching birds, especially about their dazzling yellow color and contrasted chestnut wings. They look even cuter because of their small size.
How do they communicate?
They are highly vocal in their communication. Like other sparrows, their primary call is chirp or tchrriup. Males sing a high pitched song that contains nearly 20 notes of chitta chitta chitta, and this is the reason behind the name, golden song sparrow.
Females make soft dee sound to invite copulation. The chicks make a low dip sound while begging. They are loud but are pleasant to hear.
How big is a golden sparrow?
Sudan golden sparrows are small birds of length 4.5 - 5 in (12-13 cm) and have a wingspan of 2.2 - 2.8 in (5.7- 7 cm), and are nearly three times smaller than a turquoise jay.
How fast can a golden sparrow run?
They are small birds with fast and rapid flights, but their exact flight speed is unknown. Other Old World sparrows can fly at a speed of nearly 23.6 mph (38 kph) and attain a maximum speed of 31.0 mph (50 kph). Some sparrows can fly high and attain an altitude of 61,000 m.
How much does a golden sparrow weigh?
The weight of these birds is nearly 0.4 - 0.6 oz (11-16 g).
What are the male and female names of the species?
The male and female birds of these species have no specific name.
What would you call a baby golden sparrow?
A hatchling of these species does not have any specific name but is called a chick in general.
What do they eat?
Their diet primarily consists of seeds and insects. They choose grass seeds, preferably tiny cereal seeds like millets. Nestling is mainly fed with insects like caterpillars and locust larvae. Their diet, in captivity, is a mixture of grains like foxtail millets with mealworms and vegetables.
Are they poisonous?
They are neither poisonous nor dangerous birds. They are often considered as a pest species in cultivated crops, but they are not. They do not spoil crops and eat seeds that fall to the ground. Moreover, they help us as their diet consists of crop pests like caterpillars that cause crop damage.
Would they make a good pet?
They make good pets and are popular cage birds in aviculture due to their bright color and pleasant songs. Despite being famous, they are not common and are pretty difficult to source.
Though they are small, a good-sized outdoor aviary or a bird room is better than a cage to keep these birds as they will always be on the move, probing the surroundings and keep foraging for food. They can be captivated in single pairs or groups.
They can also be a part of a miscellaneous collection of birds if the aviary mates are chosen carefully.
They make good housemates with small doves and parrots and should never be kept along with smaller finches since they can be aggressive and kill smaller finches. A large aviary with plenty of hiding places and a minimal number of mates is the best way to control aggression among these birds.
They must be given a nutritious diet of finch seed mix that contains millets and canary seeds and can also be fed with leafy greens like spinach, kale, silverbeet, choy. In addition, they appreciate and enjoy eating small pieces of fruits like apples, pears, peaches, etc.
During the breeding season, they must be given live food like crickets, mealworms, and larvae.
Did you know...
Golden-crowned sparrows are found to the west of North America and are used for migration.
Golden-crowned sparrows breeding range is from southern Central Yukon and north-central Alaska to the northwestern corner of Washington. During the winter, the golden-crowned sparrows' geographical range lies between southern coastal Alaska and northern Baja California.
During the winter, golden-crowned sparrow bird preferred habitat is bushy areas, particularly dense shrubs.
Golden-crowned sparrows are also wanderers of Japan and Russia.
A golden-crowned sparrow often deviates very far to the extreme of the eastern coast of North America between Novis Scotia and Florida. Each year, they maintain two weights, a lighter one in mid-winter and heavier before starting the migration to the north.
What is special about sparrows?
Sparrows are small chirpy birds seen in various colors and are among the most familiar species of all wild birds. They are available in different species, colors, and sizes in various parts of the world.
They inhibit open dry areas, also nest on houses and buildings in cities and agricultural lands. Their relationship with humans is so close, and they are often seen in ancient literature and religious works in Europe and Asia to the west.
Are they predators?
Yes, as they eat small invertebrates. But they can also survive by eating seeds.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Western bluebird facts and Kea parrot surprising facts pages.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Golden sparrow coloring pages.
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