North American Eurasian Tree Sparrows Can Only be Found Near St. Louis

One of the most prevalent bird species in the world is the sparrow. Currently, widespread on every continent, house sparrows are native to Europe and some regions of Africa and Asia. It makes no difference where they live—in forests, meadows, deserts, or cities. And that's only one type of sparrow.

Despite how robust and common these small birds are, not all of their relatives do. One location is home to the North American Eurasian Tree Sparrow, for example. St. Louis is where it is. They do have a slightly larger range than that, to be fair. They can also be found in southeast Iowa and sections of Illinois, yet not far from St. Louis.

They are descendants of the first 12 European tree sparrows who were released in Lafayette Park in 1870. European immigrants wanted their native species to be present in their new home. None of the other bird species established themselves, but the tree sparrow did, and it has since remained in the area.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passeridae
Genus: Passer
Species: P. montanus