On 15 April 2022 Marco Bettink did post some photographs of a sparrow visiting his garden in Garderen (Gld). The bird was identified by the ObsIdentify (an AI programma that automatically identifies birds, plants, insects etc) as an Italian Sparrow Passer italiae. The record drew attention to local birders immediately and especially Jaap Denee's. He warned some birders in his app groups, but with the request not to put it on the Dutch Birding Alerts, because he wanted to discuss things with Marco Bettink first. It was good Friday, followed by Easter, so it was agreed to keep a low profile on the bird till Easter had finished. The bird was indeed an Italian Sparrow, well at least it looked ok indeed, but due to the unknown status and taxonomic issues, the bird did not attract a large crown simultaneously.
I could see the bird quite well on 15 April 2022 and all plumage features point towards Italian Sparrow, but further research must find out its true identity. The bird seemed to be present since March and was seen building a nest and feeding young at time of writing in May.
On 11 May 2022 it was trapped and ringed and a blood sample was taken. "The goal of this work is to confirm/clarify the identity of this bird using modern genetic approaches" and "This leaves us wondering whether this little bird is indeed a stray Italian Sparrow (perhaps he hitched a ride to the Netherlands somehow) or actually a House Sparrow that managed to hit the genetic lottery and thus has the right combination of genes that make him look like an Italian Sparrow. He could even be a first-generation hybrid between a House and Spanish Sparrow mating. These samples will enable us to determine which of these scenarios is correct." (Melissah Rowe 2022).
The bird was last seen on 17 June 2022. If accepted, it will be the first record for the Netherlands.
In January 2023, there was still no verdict on the ID of the bird.
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