Passer motitensis
Silhouette: Andrew Butko (modified) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The great sparrow (Passer motitensis), also known as the southern rufous sparrow, is found in southern Africa in dry, wooded savannah and towns. This is a 15–16 cm long sparrow superficially like a large house sparrow. It has a grey crown and rear neck and rufous upperparts.
While in the past some authorities considered this species and several related species of 'rufous sparrow' on the African mainland to be the same as the Iago sparrow of Cape Verde, they do not appear to be so closely related as thought. A few currently recognise only some of the rufous sparrows as separate from the great sparrow, but the Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International recognise the Socotra sparrow, Kenya sparrow, Kordofan sparrow, and Shelley's sparrow as separate species.
Southern Rufous Sparrow at the Internet Bird Collection Great Sparrow species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Etosha National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 2 | Pilanesberg National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luanda | 🇦🇴 Angola |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Great Rufous Sparrow sighting in Luanda on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 39th most-seen of the 45 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Great Rufous Sparrow in Luanda on a given day, against under 5% in January, May, July–August and October–November, the lowest months. That is one of Luanda's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain against almost none in July. February–March, June and December have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great Rufous Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Luanda, in our data
Luanda is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Great Rufous Sparrow sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Passer
The closest relatives of the Great Rufous Sparrow that you can see in Luanda (genus Passer, True Sparrows) are House Sparrow (about 40%) and Northern Grey-headed Sparrow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Rufous Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Luanda (8 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
