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Platte River Status: Abundant permanent resident in areas associated with human habitation; scarce or absent in natural habitats such as the Sandhills region except near ranch houses and cattle feedlots.

Breeding Range: Locally abundant in residential areas within all topographic regions, especially in the Platte River Valley and the Eastern Plain. Locally common to scarce in the Sandhills region.

Breeding Population: This species ranked fourth in abundance throughout the study area, with a mean population estimate of 214,000 breeding pairs. House sparrows made up 7.3% of the total breeding bird population.

Habitat: Highest mean breeding densities were in shelterbelt (126.2 pairs/km²) followed by residential (102.3 pairs/km²) river channel island (12.6 pairs/km²), lowland forest (6.9 pairs/km²), corn (2.6 pairs/km²), wheat (1.1 pairs/km²), and alfalfa (0.9 pairs/km²). Occurrence of the house sparrow in habitats separate from human-occupied areas apparently indicate use of areas for foraging with limited nesting. Nest site locations among house sparrows include buildings, crevices, abandoned bird nests and tree cavities (Johnsgard 1979). Graber and Graber (1963) reported 932.5 birds per km² from Illinois residential habitats in 1957-58.

Effect of Habitat Alteration: House sparrow population have benefited from the extensive alteration of native habitats in the Platte River Valley. We found breeding densities of house sparrows in human influenced areas were nearly 12 times greater than in natural habitats.

Nesting Data: We found one recently fledged house sparrow on 4 August 1983. Because this species is multiple-brooded, the August fledgling was probably the product of a second or third nesting attempt that year. The principal nesting period in North Dakota extends from April to mid September (Stewart 1975). Egg dates in Kansas range from 20 March to 7 August (Johnsgard 1979).