OOSTERHUIS R (2013) Dispersion of House Sparrows in a suburban and a rural population. LIMOSA 86 (2): 80-87.

House Sparrows Passer domesticus were studied in a suburban (village of Leek) and a rural (hamlet of Lettelbert) House Sparrow population near Groningen, Netherlands, in 2007- 2011. Birds were individually colour-ringed, and areas up to 20 km from the ringing sites were checked for re-sightings. In addition to visual observations, camera traps at feeding locations were used to increase resighting probabilities (Fig. 1). The majority of adults was resighted within 500 m of the ringing site, whereas the majority of juveniles was resighted within 1000 m (Figs. 2-4). Only few individuals were observed further away (up to 13.4 km), and in almost all cases these were juveniles. No difference was apparent in dispersal patterns between the suburban (Leek) and rural (Lettelbert) site. Most adults were seen year-round at the ringing site, although a few individuals were only seen during summer or during winter. The latter occurred more frequently at Leek, the more urban site (Fig. 5). Dispersal of a cohort of birds captured in June/July was studied at another location in Leek. Adults generally remained at the ringing site whereas juveniles dispersed (Tab 3). The average number of individuals observed per day strongly underestimates the number of House Sparrows using a site (Tab 2). Resightings of colourringed birds might not provide good survival estimates for juvenile House Sparrows as juveniles disperse from the ringing site, in contrast to adult birds which most likely have a very high annual resighting probability

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