House sparrow, female

The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths, throwing soil and dust over its body feathers. It may make a small depression in the ground to do this and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows. Their tendency to displace native birds from nest boxes causes some people to resent them. Their diet is varied, including grains, seeds, ragweed, crabgrass and other grasses, and insects. The oldest recorded House Sparrow was 15 years 9 months old. There have been almost 5,000 scientific papers published with the House Sparrow as the study species.