House Sparrow vs Tree Sparrow vs Dunnock: Tell Them Apart
Updated 6 October 2026
Side by side
| Feature | House Sparrow | Tree Sparrow | Dunnock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | About 14 to 15 cm. Stocky. | About 14 cm. Slightly smaller and neater. | About 14.5 cm. Slimmer. |
| Key plumage | Male: grey crown, chestnut sides to the head, black bib, grey cheeks. Female: plain buff-brown with a pale stripe behind the eye. | Chestnut cap, white cheek with a black spot, small black bib, white collar. Sexes alike. | Blue-grey head and chest. Brown, streaked crown and cheeks. Rich brown back with black streaks. |
| Bill and legs | Thick, cone-shaped seed bill. Pale brown legs. | The same shape, a little smaller. | Thin, dark, pointed bill. Orange-pink legs. |
| Structure | Big headed and chunky. | Rounder head, trimmer body. | Slender, with a horizontal, low stance. |
| Flight | Direct and whirring, usually in a group. | Similar, a touch quicker. | Low and short, from one bit of cover to the next. |
| Song | A run of plain chirps. | Chirps like a House Sparrow, but higher and sharper. | A fast, thin, sweet warble lasting two or three seconds, from the top of a hedge. |
| Call | "Chirp" and "cheep". | A hard "tek, tek" in flight. | A loud, piping "tseep". |
| Habitat | Houses, gardens, farmyards. Always near people. | Farmland with hedges and old trees, farm buildings, nest boxes. Rare in towns. | Gardens, hedges, scrub and woodland edge. |
| When in the UK | All year. | All year. Some move in autumn and winter. | All year. |
| UK status | Red list. About 5.3 million pairs (2016). | Red list. About 245,000 territories (2016). Far below 1970s levels. | Amber list. About 2.5 million territories (2016). |
Swipe the table sideways on a small screen.
The quickest way to tell them apart
First check the bill. A fat, seed-cracking bill means a sparrow. A fine, pointed bill means Dunnock. That one look rules a bird in or out.
For the two sparrows, look at the cap and cheek. Grey crown: House Sparrow. Chestnut cap right across the head, with a neat black spot on a clean white cheek: Tree Sparrow. Male and female Tree Sparrows look the same, so a plain brown female in the group means House Sparrows are present.
By sight
- Male House Sparrow. Grey crown, chestnut from the eye round the back of the head, black bib that grows larger in spring, one white wing bar.
- Female House Sparrow. No black or grey on the head. Sandy brown, with a pale buff stripe running back from the eye and a plain grey-buff front. This is the one most often confused with a Dunnock.
- Tree Sparrow. Smaller and tidier. The white collar nearly circles the neck and makes the cap look like a separate chestnut beret. Two thin white wing bars. Juveniles are duller but still show the cheek spot.
- Dunnock. Lead-grey head and chest, streaked brown flanks, no wing bar worth the name. It shuffles along the ground with quick flicks of the wings.
By sound
House Sparrows chirp all day from gutters and hedges, and a colony is easy to find by ear. Tree Sparrow chirps are higher and more clipped, and the flight call is a hard, dry "tek, tek" that House Sparrows do not give.
The Dunnock has a real song: a quick, squeaky, jingling warble, about the same length each time, sung from an open perch at the top of a bush. It starts in midwinter on mild days. The call is a thin, insistent "tseep". Use Sound ID to check a clip.
By season and habitat
All three are resident. House Sparrows barely move: most stay close to where they hatched. Dunnocks stay put too, but turn shy in late summer when they moult.
Tree Sparrows are the ones with a limited range. They are commonest in the Midlands, northern and eastern England and eastern Scotland, and scarce or absent in the far south-west, most of Wales and the uplands. Outside the breeding season, flocks can turn up on stubble and at farm feeding stations.
Common mistakes
- Calling a female House Sparrow a Dunnock, or the reverse. Check the bill: thick or thin.
- Claiming a Tree Sparrow from a chestnut head alone. Male House Sparrows have chestnut on the sides of the head. You need the full cap and the cheek spot.
- Thinking the Dunnock is a sparrow because of its old name, hedge sparrow. It is an accentor.
Where to see both
House Sparrows and Dunnocks are in gardens and villages across the country. For Tree Sparrows, RSPB Bempton Cliffs is a well-known spot: check the feeders and nest boxes around the visitor centre, where House Sparrows and Dunnocks are close by for comparison.
FAQ
Is a Dunnock a type of sparrow?
No. It used to be called the hedge sparrow, but it belongs to the accentor family. The thin, pointed bill is the giveaway: sparrows have thick, cone-shaped bills for cracking seed.
How do I tell a House Sparrow from a Tree Sparrow?
Look at the head. A Tree Sparrow has an all chestnut cap, a white cheek with a black spot and a white collar. A male House Sparrow has a grey crown and plain grey cheeks. Female House Sparrows are plain brown, while both sexes of Tree Sparrow look the same.
Are Tree Sparrows rare in the UK?
They are much scarcer than they were. The BTO estimates about 245,000 territories (2016), and for every Tree Sparrow today there were perhaps 20 in the 1970s. Numbers have risen a little since the mid 1990s. They are Red listed.
Log all three
House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow and Dunnock are all in the Birdedex. Two are probably in your street. The Tree Sparrow is the one to go looking for.
Open the Birdedex →