# Rock sparrow (*Petronia petronia*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-sparrow  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

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. 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.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 30.2 g – 33.7 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 7 years |
| Diet | Granivore |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | rocky |
| Egg incubation | 13 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 5.3 – 5.5 |
| Litters or clutches a year | 2 |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Sedentary |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Passeridae
- genus: Petronia
- species: *Petronia petronia* (Linnaeus, 1766)

Synonyms: *Fringilla petronia*, *Passer petronia*, *Petronia petronia hellmayri*, *Petronia petronia jyekundensis*, *Petronia petronia tibetana*, *Petronia petronia urgensis*, *Petronia rupestris*, *Petronia sylvestris*

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Rock sparrow (Petronia petronia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-sparrow