Sparrows, one of man’s oldest living commensals. Oh! Are they
alive?
No, I cannot see them anymore. Today, most Indians would
perhaps know this bird only through photographs. The bird is listed as ‘least
concern’ in the IUCN Red list.
As an avid bird watcher I am shocked to learn that the
sparrow is difficult to locate in urban India. Earlier I used to see sparrows
daily by the side of my apartment. It flies in and out of terrace holes
unmindful of bumper to bumper traffic. And I remember sparrows building their
nests in the roof rafters, carrying pieces of straw, feathers and twigs. Now,
gone are the days when little birdie was flying through my balcony.
Believed in Nokia’s tagline ‘Connecting People’ as the bird
lives only among humans, now seems that connection got faded between the human
and birdie.
Pollution may be a factor or pest controlling around us, from
communication towers to use of steel and glass in our buildings that has
reduced the availability of nesting sites and food. Similarly, the vulture
population in India collapsed not due to any lack of food, but due to the use
of certain medicines for cattle, consumption of whose meat led to kidney
failure in vultures.
The simple act of providing millets strew in the terraces,
garden hedge or a nesting box are all that it will take to protect a bird that
lives alongside humans but is fast disappearing. C’mon do your bit.
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