House Sparrow Dust Bath

Dust bath may sound like an oxymoron, but it is something that many birds do to clean themselves and to get rid of parasites. House sparrows (Passer domesticus) are pretty social, and often take dust baths together, which is what you can see in the photos below. Originally from the Middle East, house sparrows have been following humans around for thousands of years and now live practically everywhere. In the Caribbean their range is still expanding. On St. Martin there are groups scattered around the island, mostly in urban areas.

House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath
House Sparrow (<em>Passer domesticus</em>) Dust Bath

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Les Fruits sur la Terre, Pour les Sciences. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “House Sparrow Dust Bath”

  1. Valérie Ménoret Says:
    January 30th, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    Mark,

    I prefer the 4/7 photos… Very cute.

    KisS
    Valérie