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Somali Sparrow
Passer castanopterus Blyth, 1855
Passeridae — Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches
Somali Sparrow, Passer castanopterus, is a bird of arid and semiarid natural and human-made habitats in Djibouti, north-east Ethiopia and Somalia, with separate populations in south-west Ethiopia and north-west Kenya. It belongs to the family Passeridae and was described by Blyth in 1855. It is linked with the russet sparrow as a superspecies, and has sometimes been treated as the same species, although the resemblance between them is taken to reflect convergent evolution rather than close ancestry. Two subspecies are recognised: castanopterus and fulgens.
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Passeridae — Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches
- Breeding range
- Africa: ne Africa in arid and semiarid natural and anthropogenic habitats: Djibouti, ne Ethiopia and Somalia (except s); disjunctly in sw Ethiopia and nw Kenya
