Great Tit vs House Sparrow
Parus major comparé à Passer domesticus
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribut | Great Tit | House Sparrow |
|---|---|---|
| Nom scientifique | Parus major | Passer domesticus |
| Ordre | Passeriformes | Passeriformes |
| Famille | Paridae | Passeridae |
| Statut de conservation | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Longueur | 14,0 cm (5.5 in) | 16,0 cm (6.3 in) |
| Envergure | 24,0 cm (9.4 in) | 25,0 cm (9.8 in) |
| Poids | 18,0 g (0.63 oz) | 30,0 g (1.06 oz) |
| Régime alimentaire | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … | Primarily seeds and grains, supplemented with insects during breeding season. Readily exploits human food scraps … |
| Taille de la couvée | 3-18 | 1-8 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
House Sparrow
Closely associated with human habitation. Found in cities, towns, farms, and any built environment. Rarely found far from people.
Song & Call Comparison
Great Tit
A repetitive, teacher-teacher 'tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher'. Also gives ringing 'pink-pink' alarm. Highly versatile singer; over 40 song variants recorded from a single male.
House Sparrow
Monotonous series of chirping 'cheep' and 'chirrup' notes. Male gives 'chilp' song repeatedly. Flocks produce constant chirping chatter. No melodic song; purely functional calls.
Geographic Range & Migration
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
House Sparrow
Native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Introduced to every continent except Antarctica, making it the most widely distributed wild bird.
Statut de conservation
Great Tit
House Sparrow
How to Tell Them Apart
Great Tit
Blue-black head with white cheeks. Olive-green back, yellow underparts with a broad black central stripe. White wing bar and blue-grey tail.
Short, stout, dark bill
House Sparrow
Males have grey crowns, chestnut napes, black bibs, and streaked brown backs. Females and juveniles are plain buffy-brown with a pale eyebrow stripe.
Short, stout, conical bill — black in breeding males, yellowish in non-breeding
About These Birds
Great Tit
The great tit is the largest European tit and one of the most studied wild birds in the world. Research at Wytham Woods in Oxford has monitored great tit populations since the 1940s, contributing enormously to ecology and evolution. These innovative birds famously learned to open milk bottle tops in 20th-century Britain.
House Sparrow
The house sparrow is perhaps the most successful bird in the world at living alongside humans. Introduced to New York in 1851, it spread across North America within decades. Despite its global abundance, house sparrow populations have declined significantly in parts of western Europe.