[4] The male Dead Sea sparrow has a grey crown, rear neck and cheeks, and a small black bib.

The female looks like a small house sparrow, with a streaked brown back, greyish head and buff-white underparts.

She is paler and smaller billed than the house sparrow, and sometimes shows yellow on the neck sides.

Though changes to habitat reduced the size of this population soon after it is thought small numbers still breed in Cyprus.

Winter searches for the species near its western breeding range only find scattered flocks.