"I would like to go birding in the Holy Lands.
For sparrows alone, there is a great biblical tradition
with 40 instances of tzippor, Hebraic chirping or twittering
in the Old Testament, and two strouthion sparrows in the New.
According to my Bible dictionary,
the birds above mentioned are found
in great numbers in Palestine and are
of very little value, selling for the merest trifle
and are thus strikingly used by our Savior,
Matthew 10:29, as an illustration of our Father's
care for his children.
Unfortunately, the authorized version
renders the Hebrew indifferently as bird or fowl,
ignoring the great variety such as the yellow-vented bulbul,
clamorous reed warbler, crested honey
buzzard, lappet-faced vulture."