Rock sparrow
Petronia petronia (Linnaeus, 1766)
The rock sparrow (Petronia petronia) is a bird in the family Passeridae, part of the songbirds and other perching birds. It is a small bird with a representative adult body mass of 30.2 g, and up to 33.7 g.
Quick facts about the rock sparrow
It is a granivore and a terrestrial, sedentary bird of rocky habitats, with a geographic range of 7,801,000 km². It lays 5.5 eggs per clutch, has 2 clutches per year, incubates its eggs for 13 days, and is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
- Weight
- 30.2 g – 33.7 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Granivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- rockysrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 13 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.3 – 5.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the rock sparrow
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the rock sparrow live?
Not recorded
What is the rock sparrow?
The rock sparrow or rock petronia (Petronia petronia) is a small passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae. It is the only species in the genus Petronia. It breeds on barren rocky hills from Madeira and the Canary Islands east through the Iberian Peninsula and western north Africa, across southern Europe and through southwestern and central Asia to Mongolia and the north and west of China. It is resident in the west of its range, but some Asian birds may migrate to more southerly areas, or move to lower altitudes in mountains, in winter.
From the Wikipedia article “Rock sparrow” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rock_sparrow&oldid=1349775311), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the rock sparrow endangered?
The rock sparrow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the rock sparrow classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyPasseridae
- genusPetronia
- SpeciesPetronia petronia (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Fringilla petronia, Passer petronia, Petronia petronia hellmayri, Petronia petronia jyekundensis, Petronia petronia tibetana, Petronia petronia urgensis, Petronia rupestris, Petronia sylvestris
Other names and names in other languages (57)
- Rock petroniaEnglish
- Streaked rock sparrowEnglish
- دوري الصخرArabic
- trigaleruAsturian
- Qaya sərçəsiAzerbaijani
- Скално врабчеBulgarian
- Golvan-karregBreton
- pardal roquerCatalan
- vrabec skalníCzech
- golfan y graigWelsh
- StenspurvDanish
- SteinsperlingGerman
- ΠετροσπουργίτηςGreek
- (Κοινός) ΠετροσπουργίτηςGreek
- RokpaseroEsperanto
- roka paseroEsperanto
- Gorrión chillónSpanish
- kaljuvarblaneEstonian
- Harkaitz-txolarreaBasque
- گنجشک صخرهPersian
- گنجشک کوهیPersian
- kalliovarpunenFinnish
- Moineau soulcieFrench
- Soulcie des rochersFrench
- Gealbhan creigeIrish
- Gealbhan petroniaIrish
- Sparroo creggeyScottish Gaelic
- Pardal das rochasGalician
- בארית הריםHebrew
- בארית ההריםHebrew
- vrabac kamenjarCroatian
- köviverébHungarian
- Ժայռային ճնճղուկArmenian
- SteinspörIcelandic
- Passera lagiaItalian
- イワスズメJapanese
- КъуршбзуKabardian
- Тас торғайыKazakh
- paprastasis uolažvirblisLithuanian
- akmeņzvirbulisLatvian
- врапче камењарчеMacedonian
- Хадны боршууMongolian
- RotsmusDutch
- steinspurvNorwegian
- wróbel skalnyPolish
- پڑی چڑیWestern Panjabi
- pardal-francêsPortuguese
- Vrabie de stâncăRomanian
- Каменный воробейRussian
- BáktecihciNorthern Sami
- skalník žltohrdlýSlovak
- skalni vrabecSlovenian
- Vrabac kamenjaracSerbian
- stensparvSwedish
- Kaya SerçesiTurkish
- горобець скельнийUkrainian
- 石雀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the rock sparrow
Other species in the same genus Petronia.
CompareRock sparrow vs Petronia albigularisRock sparrow vs Petronia macrorhynchosRock sparrow vs Petronia saxorum
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the rock sparrow?
The rock sparrow is a bird in the family Passeridae, within the order Passeriformes. It belongs to the songbirds and other perching birds.
How heavy is the rock sparrow?
The rock sparrow has a representative adult body mass of 30.2 g, with values up to 33.7 g reported.
What does the rock sparrow eat?
The rock sparrow is a granivore, placing it at the herbivore trophic level.
What habitat does the rock sparrow live in?
The rock sparrow lives in rocky habitats. It is terrestrial and sedentary.
Is the rock sparrow endangered?
No. The rock sparrow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the rock sparrow live?
The lifespan given for the rock sparrow is 7 years.
How many eggs does the rock sparrow lay?
The rock sparrow lays 5.5 eggs per clutch and has 2 clutches per year. Incubation lasts 13 days.
Who named the rock sparrow?
The rock sparrow, Petronia petronia, was named by (Linnaeus, 1766).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Rock sparrow (Petronia petronia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-sparrow
“Rock sparrow (Petronia petronia).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-sparrow.
@misc{rock_sparrow_2026,
title = {Rock sparrow (Petronia petronia)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-sparrow},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}