Drought and House Sparrows in England

Provide Water for House Sparrows

Those of us who live near London, England, must stop using our hoses to water gardens after 31 March.

This is because our natural water sources have been depleted over a recent series of dry and warm Springs that brought little rain.

Please remember to put water out for House Sparrows especially during the fledgling season.

There are many providers of hanging water bowls and traditional bird baths in the UK such as CJ WildBird and Living with Birds.

Thank you!

Fifty Terracotta Nests for Tagore thanks to Mukesh Jain

ibn live

KOCHI: Aiming to conserve the dwindling population of house sparrows, Jain�� Foundation, led by activist Mukesh Jain, has come forward with a novel��� venture to provide shelter for these little birds. As part of the conservation programme titled ‘Pakshi Samrakshana Bodhavalkarna Abyan’, artificial nests will be put up at different parts of� the city.

The programme, which will begin at Tagore Library this Sunday, will be� implemented with the help of local people.� “Nests will be distributed to members of Tagore Library to be kept on their houses. We will give away 50 nests made of clay in the first�� stage. More nests will be distributed to interested people in the later� stage. We hope participation of schools and other institutions in the project will help turn the programme a huge success,” Mukesh Jain said.

The number of house sparrows is dwindling with the city developing each day.
“The house sparrows live close to human habitat and depend on human beings.� Tiny nests are mostly seen on tiled roofs of old houses. Since, modern� houses are made of concrete roofing, these little scavengers find it hard�� to get shelter. With greenery vanishing from the cityscape, it has become�� our responsibility to conserve these birds. Through providing nests, we can help them find shelter to survive in the city,” Mukesh Jain said.

Mukesh Jain and the Jain Foundation have been active in bird conservation� activities for last few years. Mukesh has saved at least 30 birds trapped in kite strings on different occasions.

He is assisted in his venture by climbers who can scale tall trees and rescue the birds in distress.

Mukesh also provides water for thirsty birds during summer.

“The birds are� the most affected species owing to the rising temperature, especially in areas like West Kochi,” he said.

Concerned over the worsening situation, Mukesh conceived the idea of� involving the public in the programme. Last year, he had taken up the initiative to distribute earthen bowls which could be placed on the roof tops after filling it with water. Mukesh had been able to distribute over 160 such bowls last year.

House Sparrows Thrive in Sonepur, India

ibn live, 21 March 2012

SPARROWS MOVE INTO TERRACOTTA NESTS

ROURKELA: In its sustained effort to save the house sparrows from extinction, the Bonai sub-division in Sundargarh district organised a series of programmes to mark the World Sparrows Day on Tuesday.

�This was aimed at ensuring collective effort to help save the tiny bird. Bonai Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) AK Mishra who has been instrumental in conservation of these sparrows, roped in schoolchildren and traditional drama troupes to raise awareness on the issue.

�A rally taken out through the sub-divisional headquarters was followed by a function at the ITDA hall. Over 300 schoolchildren and drama troupes participated. Nearly 40 specially designed nesting pots were distributed among the children to attract house sparrows. The DFO asserted that more nesting pots would be supplied to people who wish to help protect the birds.

�The programme shed light on conservation measures and the threats that these birds face. Factors like increased use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in gardens and farmlands led to the vanishing of the tiny birds.�

Focus was also laid on loss of natural habitat of house sparrows in human settlements due to concrete jungles.

�Among others, Bonai Sub-collector D Prashant Reddy spoke.
Mishra proudly claims that the number of house sparrows has gone past 40, besides, nearly 20 Munia birds, eight weaver birds, a few Maynas and pigeons are regular visitors to his garden.

SONEPUR: The days when sparrow nests dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus bays and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on foodgrains and tiny worms, may be back soon. The diminutive house sparrows are now be found in large numbers here, an encouraging sign for the bird lovers.

The initiative of conservationist and Sonepur District Collector Gagan Bihar Swain which started a month back is paying dividends. As part of the initiative, administration hung hundreds of artificial nests, made of terracotta, across Sonepur town.

Worried over the decline in sparrows, once found in abundance, Swain took interest in their conservation with the support of the Forest Department and ornithologists and wildlife enthusiasts Lingraj Panda and Rabi Kumar Rout.

Sparrows are helpful in keeping the eco-system in check as they feast on insects such as caterpillars and beetles. These insects can destroy garden crops and fruit trees, while other insects, such as dipteran (double-winged) flies, can spread disease.

�Meanwhile, Swain convened a meeting on Tuesday evening to chalk out future plans to save the sparrows which was attended by Sonepur DFO R K Pradhan and Sonepur Municipal Chairman Prakash Sahu.

Report from USA on Sparrow Decline and How One Man Learned to Love the 'Dirt Bird'

Al Clark, The Daily Reflector

Sparrow Decline

In addition to the pollen, some of us might have noticed during these early spring days small brown birds flittering into scraggly nests stuffed behind the letters of the grocery store sign, or swirling near the ceiling at the large garden center store or grabbing a French fry in the McDonald’s parking lot.

Some of my colleagues here have told me how they find these birds annoying and unsettling: “They freak me out,” is how one put it. Another one is bothered by their dinosaur-like feet. My wife, too, is not exactly a fan, mainly since one landed in her hair once at the St. Louis Zoo.

Now I’m not exactly a “bird nerd,” although some who know me might call me a “near bird nerd,” but I have to say that these creatures are not my favorites. When I see them I have dismissed them with little thought, and certainly without the admiration that follows the sighting of a bluebird or cardinal.

I’m speaking of the common house sparrow — one of that group I once called “dirt birds” because of their seemingly drab brown features. But this week I have learned more about these nearly anonymous creatures — most notably the fact that they are disappearing.

This past Tuesday — the first day of spring — was also World Sparrow Day, so proclaimed by a group known as the Nature Forever Society, an organization with international roots. This is the third year of this endeavor created to call attention to conservation in general and specifically the sparrow’s decline worldwide with the hope that the trend can be reversed.

But if they’re so annoying, why bother? Well, for one thing a closer look at the house sparrow reveals intricate markings and subtle coloration, but also these birds have long been closely associated with humans — living near us, depending upon us for food and nesting sites and in places around the world it is even considered a good omen if one nests in or around your home.

One Nature Forever conservationist suggests if we can’t save the house sparrow, whose lives play out among us and around us, how can we expect to save the world’s other threatened but far more hidden and elusive creatures?

The reasons for the sparrows’ worldwide decline are not totally understood, but include shrinking food sources and fewer nesting sites, changes in agricultural practices and the use of pesticides and fertilizers and the unknown but likely effect of steadily increasing microwave pollution from cellphone towers.

The poor birds have a lot of windmills to tilt against, maybe too many. But my attitude toward them has changed.

Not long ago a single sparrow found my feeder at the end of the day. Finding a seed there, he lingered a moment to eat. As I watched him, silhouetted against the plainness of my backyard, mine was a gift given and accepted. After this week I can more readily accept this bird’s presence as its gift to me in return — apparently now rarer and more precious than I knew.

Al Clark is executive editor of The Daily Reflector. Contact him at aclark@reflector.com or at 252-329-9560.

International Conference: Speaking Up for the Sparrows, 20 March 2012

FROM CITIZEN MATTERS, BANGALORE.


BCIL ZED Foundation conducted an International Sparrow Conference on 20 March, to raise awareness about the fall in the House Sparrow population in Bengaluru. 20 March is celebrated as the International sparrow day. As part of the conference there was a panel discussion on the birds, held at the Xavier Hall of St. Joseph's College, Lalbagh Road.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES

The first to speak was Dr. Abraham Verghese, of the Indian Institute for Research, who touched on how, several decades ago, places like Rajaji Nagar were just open land helping sparrow population. He added that several factors, like loss of habitat, food material, and roosting/nesting spaces contributed to the decline in the numbers of the sparrows. He also mentioned the importance of work done by stalwart birdwatchers like Dr.Joseph George, Dr M B Krishna and Dr S Subrahmanya.

ROLE OF MEDIA

Surekha Aithabathula, from Doordarshan, Hyderabad, talked about reporting on wildlife as a necessary alternative to reporting only on politics, and said that even here, the media had the power to distort reports and facts. She stressed the importance of responsible reporting when reporting any news on birds or wildlife. She mentioned that The Independent, a London newspaper, offered a prize of £5,000 in 1998 for a proper scientific explanation of the house sparrow's widespread disappearance from many of our towns and cities. This prize still remains unclaimed.

CALL TO BUILD UP SCIENTIFIC DATA

Karthik K, who works for Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), talked of the fact that no scientific data has yet been compiled on the efforts to conserve the sparrow, or the results of such efforts. He said that it was not enough to distribute sparrow nests; it was necessary to build up a monitoring system for these birds.

FEWER PUBLIC GARDENS AND MORE HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE

Murali H R, of the Namma Cycle Foundation, said that no large public gardens had been created in the past several decades in Bangalore. He said that fewer glass façadedbuildings should be built, as these result in birds hitting themselves fatally against the glass. They also have no niches for the sparrows to nest, and thus contribute to the decline of the sparrows. He also added that perhaps, four more gardens like Lalbagh should be commissioned.

LACK OF INSECTS

T B Dinesh, of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Servelots, spoke of the "birds and bees" and mentioned how lack of greenery led to lack of bees for pollination and hence to lack of food for birds. He mentioned the great extermination of sparrows in China. This was the campaign against the 'Four Pests', initiated in 1958 as a hygiene campaign by Mao Tzedong, who identified the need to exterminate mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Sparrows were included on the list because they ate grains, robbing the people of the fruits of their labour. This resulted in the near-extinction of the birds in China. He also mentioned the cultural underpinnings of this social bird, in our stories and songs.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

The Deputy Mayor, S Harish, who was also present, said that the Government would certainly support all measures to conserve the sparrow population and augment it.

HELP FROM BIRDWATCHERS

DEEPA MOHAN was also part of this panel discussion as an amateur birdwatcher. "I spoke for the laypersons, who may not be ornithologists, but can do their bit for the sparrow population by both encouraging nesting and feeding, and documenting the presence of the birds."

Dr Chakravarthy, HoD, Department of Etymology, Gandhi Kisan Vikas Kendra (GKVK) , moderated the discussion.

Several members of the audience also contributed with their inputs. There were suggestions for field trips, even a plea to leave the birds alone to make a resurgence by themselves. Hoping that the points raised in the discussion would be translated into action, the audience and the panelists then dispersed. ⊕

Deepa Mohan
28 Mar 2012

Social Media and Saving the Sparrows: Tweet Your Chirps!

CHENNAI: For most people, the only sparrow that probably rings a bell is 'Captain Jack Sparrow'. Movie buffs will remember Johnny Depp for his eccentric role in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. But for World Sparrow Day (March 20), this year themed, 'Chirp for the Sparrow! Tweet for the Sparrow', it seems a massive cyber campaign for public awareness across the globe is underway.

Says Nashik-based 'sparrow man' Mohammed Dilawar, "There are only five species of sparrows in the country, apart from the house sparrows that are on a steady decline." And with large numbers of people required to support conservation efforts, he adds, "Just tagging a poster to create awareness about house sparrows on Facebook or forwarding an SMS encouraging people to place a bowl of water outside their homes can go a long way in spreading the word."

Dilawar, also the founder of the Nature Forever Society, an NGO which works for conservation of� biodiversity and house sparrows in particular, has a following of 1, 292 members on the community's Facebook page. An elderly member, Ramachandran Seeplaputhur uploads a colourful picture of a house sparrow and then posts below, "Spotted them on the neighbouring building.

Their sweet song is something out of this world !" While on another social networking site, Twitter, a barrage of tweets on the reasons for sparrow decline and its prevention pop up one after the other.

Bhavani, an enthused supporter tweets her resolve for the day, "world�sparrow�day: 20th march! mobile towers one of the big causes for the decline... lets all switch off... to ever more chirps!"

And it isn't just the older generation, that grew up with the pleasant chirps of� these once common house sparrows, that is joining the cause.
As one would expect with rampant social media taking over many a household, a large section of youngsters are joining in as well.
KV Sudhakar, president of the Madras Naturalists Society, says, "Our youngest member is only 12 years old and is very serious about bird watching and conservation." He adds, "So, in future, we hope to take this initiative to schools in Chennai and encourage the students to keep nestboxes and feeders on campus to attract these birds back to our urban spaces."

Call for Conclusive Studies on the Reasons for Sparrow Decline

Unlike humans, birds can’t tolerate pollution. A few of them may adapt to certain degrees, but not to extremes.

Thanks to pollution, the house sparrow, which was once abundant in Chennai, has now become rare.

Except for the ubiquitous crow, majority of the indigenous birds have become rare or endangered in Chennai owing to unchecked urbanisation and depleting green cover, admit environmentalists and bird watchers in the city who will be observing the World Sparrow Day on March 20.

“Chennai was once home to sparrows, but today their population has reduced drastically and the same is the case with several other species.

We often blame cell phone towers and radiations as the reason for the disappearance of sparrows, but the problem is that we do not have a concrete study or conclusive report to prove that radiation affects bird life”, said Mr Sudhakar, president, Madras Naturalists Society.

MNS has been observing resident and migratory birds and plans to release a map indicating the sparrow habitats in Chennai, he added.

Professor D. Narasimhan, department of Botany, Madras Christian College, said, “The house sparrow is strongly associated with human habitations, and can live in urban or rural settings, but the city’s housing pattern has become unfriendly for nesting sparrows”.

Also, sparrows are low flying birds and cannot build nests in high-rises and flats, explained the botanist. Once sparrows used to nest above switch boards or in electrical fittings, but today even wirings are sealed leaving the tiny birds without space for nesting, he added.

The house sparrow feeds mostly on seeds of grains and weeds, and insects; it can perform complex and unusual tasks to obtain food. Details into its food availability can also help trace the reason behind their disappearance, said Mr Sudhakar.