Sind Sparrow

The Sind sparrow is a sparrow found around the Indus valley region in South Asia, 13 cm long, against 15 cm for the common South Asian house sparrow, to which it is very similar but smaller, with distinguishing plumage features. As in the house sparrow, the male has brighter plumage than the female and young, including black markings and a grey crown; the breeding male has a short, narrow black bib and a broad chestnut eye stripe that does not meet the mantle. Within its Indus valley range in Pakistan and western India it is patchily distributed in riverine and wetland habitats with thorny scrub and tall grass, extending east into India as far as the Delhi area (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its main vocalisations are soft chirping calls that breeding males extend into longer songs. Both sexes build the nest and care for the young, usually raising two clutches of three to five young each breeding season. It feeds mostly on seeds and less often on insects, foraging close to the ground, and in the non-breeding season some birds move into drier habitats, dispersing short distances, or migrate into western Pakistan and the extreme east of Iran. SoIB 2023 treats it as an Indus Plains endemic and rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident of open habitat with a Moderate range of about 102,000 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).