Tico-Tico

Tico-Tico is the name of the Brazilian sparrow that for a long time inhabited both countryside and urban areas of Minas Gerais, my home state. I remember stories my mother tells about her childhood when her siblings and she go out to seek for birds' nests, and most of the nests they find were Tico-Tico's ones. Tico-Ticos were such commonplace birds that not much attention was paid to them; they could literally be found everywhere. Over time, however, Tico-Ticos became increasingly rare as the number of European sparrows – an invasive species – rapidly increased. The European sparrows were introduced to Brazil at the beginning of the 20th century during the Rio de Janeiro's urban reform, and since then they've dominated most of the Brazilian territory, leaving no room for the Tico-Ticos. During my childhood, the most common sparrow in my region was already the European, and in fact, I've never found a Tico-Tico's nest; nowadays, I can only find Tico-Ticos in countryside regions, and they seem to be almost gone.