Where all the sparrows have gone?

If I remember correctly, during my childhood days (late 60s), sparrows used to make nests in our home. By the first decade of this century, sparrows virtually became extinct. But now, the scenario is changing since I can see many sparrows where I live, I really don't know if it's a local effect. But the situation is worsening for sparrows. A couple of days back we celebrated International Sparrow Day on 20th March and suddenly I realised that with the high rise tower culture in our cities we don't see any sparrow around now a days. Unlike in the childhood we used to wake up listening to the "chiv chiv" noise of the sparrows in our ceiling where they had made a nest and early morning was their feeding time for the kids.

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is perhaps the most widespread, commonly seen wild bird in the world. It has been transported all over the world by European settlers and can now be found on two-thirds of the landmasses of the world including New Zealand, Australia, North America, India and Europe. It is only absent from areas like China, Indochina, Japan and areas of Siberia and Australia to east and tropical Africa and northern areas of South America to the west (Summers-Smith, 1988).

World Sparrow Day 2022 theme:-?The theme for this year is “Monitor the Sparrows & other common birds" and the World Sparrow Day secretariat is urging people to monitor sparrows and other common birds this year using the Common Bird Monitoring of India, a citizen science initiative of Nature Forever Society. The secretariat urges citizens and organisations to register their events on www.worldsparrowday.org helping citizens at a local level to get associated with it.?

The Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards were instituted in 2011 with an aim to identify citizens who are an inspiration for the citizens to get involved in conservation. Since last year, a cash prize of ?50,000/-are given to each of the three Sparrow Awardees to support them financially in their endeavours. The funding will help the winners carry out vital conservation and environmental work undertaken by them. It will also help inspire citizens to get involved in the conservation movement of India.?

In South India, people even considered it a good omen if the House Sparrow built a nest inside their houses under the rafters or in a niche in the wall. Such was the bond between man and House Sparrow that it came to be classified as a domestic species with the scientific name Passer domesticus. Characteristics of House Sparrow: -? The House Sparrow is a very social bird and is gregarious at all seasons when feeding, often forming flocks with other types of bird. It roosts communally, its nests are usually grouped together in clumps, and it engages in a number of social activities, such as dust and water bathing, and “social singing“, in which birds call together.

I am talking about the situation in India where the house sparrow population has indeed declined drastically. The reason is as below: As its name suggests it is a ‘house’ sparrow. It feels comfortable in living in and immediately around human habitations. It is not a forest bird. It is a cavity nester. However, it generally does not nest in cavities in trees. It prefers cavities/space within human habitations which deters its nest predators. Unfortunately for this species, its nesting habitat, which used to be plentiful in buildings with thatched or tiled roofs, is vanishing very fast.

Considering mobile tower radiation as a factor for its population decline, is unfounded. If you wish to increase the population of sparrows where they already exist, though in small numbers, you may install nest boxes for them in sheltered (from rain) sites at your home or business premises. I have seen house sparrow thriving at a tea-stall cum store on the way to Ooty from Mettuppalayam. Here the shop owner has provided several nest boxes. The same story repeats at Apta Market near Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district.

I have also found sparrows in some villages in this district. Interestingly, I once saw the house sparrow in conspicuous numbers right inside the passenger waiting area near the check-in counters inside Bangalore airport. The sparrows were nesting inside the false ceiling (entering through small holes in the false ceiling) and feeding off tidbits from the food stalls. For the House sparrow in India, the major limiting factor, which affects their numbers, is nesting habitat.

There are many reasons for the alarming decline in bird populations all over the world. Some of them are obvious, like over-logging of forested areas, increase in the building of skyscrapers that birds accidentally fly into, and the proliferation of climate disasters like hurricanes, cyclones, and tornadoes. Due to the warming of the Earth, water sources are drying up and once fertile areas are turning into deserts. I can’t say specifically why it might be affecting crows and sparrows more than any other birds, or if that is just what you are noticing in your particular home area. However, the West Nile Virus has hit crows particularly hard.

Due to continuous pesticide use like DDT the insect population is also declining, so birds that depend on them for sustenance can’t get enough food to stay alive. I have also read that colorful, tropical song birds are being captured and sold illegally, and brought to hostile environments or caged in places where they can’t survive. Sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have until we notice it is missing.

Last year I put my two birdhouses into the garden and the only things that made their home in them were wasps! I was very disappointed because I was expecting to have some little bird families singing nearby. Perhaps one day we will figure out how to give our planet a more healthy environment for the birds than it has at the moment. I’m sure scientists and engineers will be able to figure it all out; we just have to have the will to actually do something about it. Cheers!