This bird can sing! Let’s hear it in another episode by the Environment Department team of Porto City Hall

With this lovely weather for ducks, why not find that nice spot in your couch, or anywhere else indoors and learn a bit more about sparrows? This week’s episode of “De binóculos no sofá” (aka, “with your binoculars in the sofa”), a programme by the Environment Team at Porto City Hall that explains the origin of some popular proverbs about this little bird, the sparrow - Passer domesticus, from the Latin passer of sparrow – which can easily be spotted in the eaves of houses and in the edges of roofs, or even in the city’s gardens.

This is another fine example of the rich biodiversity that surrounds us; the sparrow, aka house sparrow or tree sparrow, is among the most common birds in the world. They are known for building untidy nests, in trees, in thatches or even in the nest fabric of birds such as the white stork.

The most common sparrows are plump little brown or greyish birds, many with black, yellow or white markings; theirs is the chirrup or tschilp call. Although carnivores, they do eat seeds and bread crumbs.

This time of year, food is scarce for smaller birds; watch the video and see how you can help them get food during the winter.

Let this sparrow alight in your couch, will you?