Male House Sparrows are brightly colored birds with gray heads, white cheeks, a black bib, and rufous neck – although in cities you may see some that are dull and grubby. Females are a plain buffy-brown overall with dingy gray-brown underparts. Their backs are noticeably striped with buff, black, and brown. Sparrows have beautiful voices and their chirping and singing can be heard all over. Other unique characteristics are their smooth, round heads and rounded wings. Males have reddish feathers on their backs and females are brown and striped. Females have brown backs with stripes while males have reddish backs with black bib. * Sparrows usually fly at the speed of 24 miles per hour, however, when needed they can increase their speed to 31 miles per hour. * When in danger, these small feathered birds can swim fast to escape predators. The male is dark brown, with a black bib, grey chest and white cheeks, whereas the female is light brown throughout its body, with no black bib, crown or white cheeks. It is a social species, found in groups of eight to 10, chirping and chattering to communicate with each other. The name sparrow is most firmly attached to birds of the Old World family Passeridae (order Passeriformes), particularly to the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) that is so common in temperate North America and Europe, but also to many New World members of the Emberizidae. They are social, feeding in crowded flocks and squabbling over crumbs or seeds on the ground. House Sparrows are a common sight at bird feeders; you may also see them bathing in street-side puddles or dustbathing on open ground, ruffling their feathers and flicking water or dust over themselves with similar motions. The sparrows play an important role as insect controllers as they eat a phenomenal numbers of insects. They depend exclusively on an insect diet to feed their young ones. Also as sparrows are abundant they act a food for birds of prey.