Sparrows From Different Worlds

I photographed these 2 commonly-seen sparrows about 13 minutes apart, but their lineages are "worlds" apart. The 1st is a House Sparrow, more commonly seen near human dwellings. They are Old World sparrows, and perhaps because they evolved longer around humans, they're fairly tolerant of humans. 

And the 2nd is (another) Song Sparrow, which is a New World sparrow that seems willing to sing for us but generally won't nest especially close to us.

Although we have a lot of Old World sparrows here in the US, almost all of them are House Sparrows, and here in NJ you're unlikely to find any other Old World sparrows.

As you might suspect, all the Old World sparrows and all the New World sparrows are more closely related to the other sparrows of their "world" than they are to sparrows of the other "world". 

And while Song Sparrows are considered skilled and prolific singers, the House Sparrow vocalization mostly sounds like they're calling you "Cheap!" [1].

June 3, 2023 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve
Photo 300858441, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

June 3, 2023 at John Clyde Native Grassland Preserve
Photo 300858346, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] Don't feel insulted by this. That's just the way they sound. They're not critiquing the quality of the food at the bird feeder.

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