For Western Palearctic birders the news that
Italian Sparrow (
Passer italiae) has been split as a seperate species by the IOC will doubtless prove a nice late Christmas present. The reason given is that this species is 'increasingly recognized as an example of hybrid speciation' having previously been regarded as a hybrid between House Sparrow and Spanish Sparrow.
It remains to be seen who else will follow their lead and for WP listers this obviously includes Netfugl!
Personally I'm lucky enough to have seen Italian Sparrow at Milan airport in northern Italy and also on Corsica where the photograph below was taken.
See the trip reports
here and
here
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