Amazing House Facts The most widespread commonly seen wild bird in the world is probably the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) which has been transported all over the world by European settlers and can now be found on 2/3 of the land masses of the world including New Zealand, Australia, North America, India, and of course Europe. House sparrows reportedly lived and bred in the Frickley Colliery, Yorkshire, England coal mine shaft 640 m (2100 ft.) below ground level, where two, and later three birds were fed by the miners and lived for three years. In November 1977, a pair nested in the mine and raised three young which did not survive. Originally native to Eurasia and North Africa, house sparrows have successfully followed man to all of the world’s continents except Antarctica. House sparrows rarely appear very far from humans and our structures. To move around on the ground, house sparrows usually hop instead of walk. Walking is rarely observed and then only by older individuals. The house sparrow can swim when it needs to for survival. They have even been observed swimming underwater when threatened. While the longevity record for a house sparrow is over 13 years old, the survival rate for the young of each year is less than 25%. Over 40% of all adult house sparrows die each year. Only 200 years ago, there were no house sparrows in the entire continent of North America. Today, it is estimated that there are over 150 million.

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