Diet. They are opportunistic feeders that primarily feed on seeds, but they can digest a wide variety of things. A very general rule of thumb is that birds that are specialized feeders of flying insects, nectar or green vegetation migrate. Birds that feed on under bark grubs, seeds or nuts or are generalized feeders don’t.
You’re probably thinking of the House Sparrow, which mostly doesn’t migrate - though high-altitude birds may move lower in winter. Migration isn’t an abstract instinct with birds, but rather a way to exploit food and nesting resources that may be widely separated in different seasons.
I saw this thread this morning, when there were no replies yet. I so badly wanted to reply with “what do you mean, African swallows or European swallows?” But, GQ…
Actually they literally are one of the “true” sparrows, it is the American sparrows that are the red-haired stepchildren in the naming game ;). That’s because all of those names were doled out in Europe first.
House Sparrows are an introduced non-migratory species from the Middle East, and they can survive very cold temperatures even though they’re a desert bird in their original range. Most native sparrows that breed in Canada and the northern US are migratory.
Bird migrate for one reason basically and that is food.
Even birds which are not carnivores, will feed their babies protein, in the form of insects and such.
Thus adults fly north and eat and feed their babies.
We tend to think of birds as fragile because they are small and we could snap them like a wishbone. But being small they can get into small places, fluff up their feathers and they are comfortable.
As long as a bird has access to food, they don’t have much trouble fighting off the cold. So if they can find food, they tend not to migrate. I have a lot of year round robins where I live up north.
That’s not exactly true. Most exclusively insect-eating birds can’t survive cold even if they have food, which is why many of them winter in the tropics.