Atacama Desert is commonly known as the driest nonpolar place in the world, especially the surroundings of the abandoned Yungay town (in Antofagasta Region, Chile). The average rainfall is about per year, although some locations, such as Arica and Iquique, receive in a year. Moreover, some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. Periods up to four years have been registered with no rainfall in the central sector, delimited by the cities of Antofagasta, Calama, and Copiapó, in Chile. Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. The Atacama Desert may be
Desert sparrow Desert sparrow The desert sparrow ("Passer simplex") is a species of bird in the sparrow family Passeridae, found in the Sahara Desert of northern Africa. A similar bird, Zarudny's sparrow, is found in Central Asia and was historically recognised as a subspecies of the desert sparrow, but varies in a number of ways and is now recognised as a separate species by BirdLife International, the IOC World Bird List, and the "Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive". The desert sparrow has two subspecies which occur in some of driest parts of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. This