Why the house sparrow has almost disappeared

The little sparrow can hardly be seen in the city , now (Pic: Sanjay Hadkar)

The little sparrow can hardly be seen in the city , now (Pic: Sanjay Hadkar)

‘Nest boxes are not human candy’

Create simple wooden nest boxes and not painted ones

Create simple wooden nest boxes and not painted ones

Greater citizen involvement needed

What you can do

In Mumbai’s concrete jungle, here’s a furry denizen that’s disappearing from its neighbourhoods. When do you last remember a sparrow perched on your window sill, chirping away? You may not recall this easily. Rampant urbanisation has robbed the birds of their nesting and food nooks. On World Sparrow Day today, experts make appeal to Mumbaikars to bring the sparrow back under their wings.Mohammed Dilawar, who has been spearheading sparrow conservation efforts for several years now, outlines a few reasons for their decline. He says, “One of the key threats to the sparrow population is the lack of food. In Mumbai, 50 per cent of the trees are non-native in origin and do not support biodiversity, so sparrows are unable to feed on insects. Earlier, women used to sit outside and clean grains, but now people opt for packaged foods so there is no spillage of grains for them. Other reasons are modern architecture, which does not allow cavity nesting, excessive use of insecticides and pesticides, a lack of native plants in urban landscapes and electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers, which has been observed to cause their disappearance. We did a count of the birds in 2017. It was heartening to see that wherever people had undertaken feeding of birds and nesting the population has gone up. That said, more needs to be done,” he says.Sparrows are rendered homeless due to Mumbai’s modern concrete architecture that makes it difficult for them to build nests. They look for little crevices and holes in walls, terraces and other small spaces. In the Western suburbs, which are greener, there is a higher population than in South Mumbai . Conservationist Oan Dilawar, adds, “A place like Mumbai is home to so much flora and fauna. All people need to do is open is their hearts and windows. Any home, which is an area where there is not too much construction, people should put a nest box made from recycled wood, as well as a bird feeder . By doing this, the sparrow habitat increases. Young birds need a secure and safe nesting. People may not know this but cardboard, metal boxes, coir and metal boxes are actually harmful for them. Nest boxes are not human candy, they are meant for birds. Using paint and other materials is toxic for them and and may also attract predators. People even increase the size of the nest box holes for sparrows inside, but another predator may attack the bird if this happens. Also, don’t have a perching stick outside the box as this invites other birds like the crow, shikra and mynah to attack sparrows.” He adds that the right style of a nest box would be a simple one made of recycled wood, with no colour (or an eco-friendly colour) and with the right dimensions.Mohammed says people from different walks of life can take up sparrow conservation efforts. “The bird is one of the most basic links between man and nature. We don’t need activists, everyone has a role to play.”Adds Sunish Subramanian of a plants and animals’ welfare society, “Go ahead and adopt nest boxes and bird bowls. Architects could create a few bird holes in modern buildings for sparrows. Students can also be made aware of the need for sparrow conservation. With efforts, these chirping beauties can come back into our city.”- Place artificial bird nests in balconies and on terraces.- Keep water bowls, bird baths and food grains out for them.- Do not destroy their nests on housing society premises.