Editing Spanish sparrow (section)

== Behaviour and ecology ==
[[File:Passer hispaniolensis nest Lesbos.jpg|thumb|A male in a nest in [[Lesbos]], Greece]]
The Spanish sparrow is strongly gregarious, flocking and breeding in groups. In the winter, it mostly wanders nomadically or makes regular [[bird migration|migrations]].<ref name=bwp/><ref>{{cite journal|title=Organisation spatio-temporelle de la reproduction chez le Moineau espagnol ''Passer hispaniolensis'' en zone semi-aride|journal=[[L'Oiseau et la Revue française d'Ornithologie]]|year=1986|author=Metzmacher, M.|volume=56|pages=229–262|language=fr, en|hdl=2268/162264}}</ref>

Little is known of the Spanish sparrow's survival rate, and the maximum age recorded is 11 years.<ref name="Summers177"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Passer_hispaniolensis|title=AnAge entry for ''Passer hispaniolensis''|work=AnAge: the Animal Ageing and Longevity Database|access-date=25 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cramp|Perrins|1994|p=311}}</ref>

=== Feeding ===
Like other sparrows, it feeds principally on the seeds of grains and other grasses, also eating leaves, fruits, and other plant materials. Young birds are fed mostly on insects, and adults also feed on insects and other animals during and before the breeding season.<ref name="SummersFood">{{harvnb|Summers-Smith|1988| pp=178–179}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Diet of the Spanish sparrow, ''Passer hispaniolensis'' (Temm.), in Morocco; seasonal and geographic variations|journal=Actes de l'Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Morocco|year=1984|author1=El-Sehhar, A. |author2=Fraval, A. |name-list-style=amp |volume=4|issue=1|pages=53–61}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Ali, Sálim|year=1963| title=A Note on the Eastern Spanish Sparrow, ''Passer hispaniolensis transcaspicus'' Tschusi, in India|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=60|issue=2|pages=318–321|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48053485}}</ref> Nestlings are fed almost exclusively on insects for their first few days, and are gradually fed larger amounts of grains.<ref name="GavrilovJBNHS"/> The portion of insects in nestling diets is recorded at a range from 75 to over 90 percent.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Ardeola|volume=50|issue=1|year=2003|pages=71–75|title=Variation of Nestling Diet Across the Breeding Season in Spanish Sparrow ''Passer hispaniolensis'' in Southern Portugal|first1=Paulo M.|last1=Marques|first2=Mário|last2=Boieiro|first3=Filipe|last3=Canário|first4=Luís|last4=Vicente|url=http://www.ardeola.org/files/523.pdf|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930191829/http://www.ardeola.org/files/523.pdf|access-date=2011-08-02|url-status=live}}</ref> In preying on insects, the Spanish sparrow is opportunistic, feeding on whichever insects are most common.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Le menu des jeunes Moineaux domestiques, ''Passer domesticus'' L., et espagnols, ''Passer hispaniolensis'' Temm., en Oranie (Algérie)|author=Metzmacher, M.|year=1983|journal=Cahiers d'Éthologie Appliquée|volume=3|issue=2|pages=191–294|url=http://users.skynet.be/cnp/publications/pdf/n_diet_resume.pdf|format=PDF, French abstract only|language=fr, en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022193936/http://users.skynet.be/cnp/publications/pdf/n_diet_resume.pdf|archive-date=2012-10-22|access-date=2010-07-03|url-status=live}}</ref> In Central Asia, these are caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets.<ref name="SummersFood"/> While migrating through Central Asia in the spring, the Spanish sparrow feeds mostly on crops in cultivated areas, and while breeding it feeds mostly on insects, wild plants, and seeds from the previous year.<ref name="GavrilovJBNHS">{{cite journal|author=Gavrilov, E. I.|title=The Biology of the Eastern Spanish Sparrow, ''Passer hispaniolensis transcaspicus'' in Kazakhstan|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=60|issue=2|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48053464|pages=301–317|year=1963}}</ref>

===Breeding===
[[File:Passer hispaniolensis hispaniolensis MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.208.jpg|thumb|Eggs]]
The Spanish sparrow nests in large colonies of closely spaced or even multiple shared nests. Nests are usually placed in trees or bushes, amongst branches or underneath the nests of larger birds such as [[white stork]]s. Colonies may hold from ten pairs to hundreds of thousands of pairs.<ref>{{harvnb|Summers-Smith|1988|pp=173–177}}</ref> Each pair lays 3–8 eggs, which hatch in 12 days, with the chicks fledging when about 14 days old.<ref name=bwp/><ref name="GavrilovIbis">{{cite journal|author=Gavrilov, E. I.|title=A Contribution to the Biology of the Spanish Sparrow ''Passer hispaniolensis transcaspicus''|journal=The Ibis|volume=104|issue=3|year=1962|pages=416–417|doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1962.tb08669.x}}</ref> Males spend more time constructing nests than females.<ref>{{cite book|last=Metzmacher|first=Maxime|contribution=Climatic factors, activity budgets and breeding success of the Spanish Sparrow [''Passer hispaniolensis'' (Temm.)]|pages=11–29|title=Granivorous birds in the agricultural landscape|editor=Pinowski, J.|editor2=Summers-Smith, J. D.|year=1990|publisher=Pánstwowe Wydawnictom Naukowe|location=Warszawa|isbn=978-83-01-08460-8|url=http://users.skynet.be/cnp/publications/pdf/budget_passer.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022182722/http://users.skynet.be/cnp/publications/pdf/budget_passer.pdf|archive-date=2012-10-22|access-date=2010-05-21|url-status=live}}</ref>