CHENNAI: Not long ago, chirps of house sparrows were the first thing that you woke up to. Considered a good omen, their sightings have been few nowadays, causing alarm among conservationists.On World Sparrow Day on Tuesday, observed with the theme ‘I Love Sparrows’, the city conservationists resolved to protect this tiny bird. The Madras Naturalists’ Society, a 40-year-old city-based conservation group, will launch a citizen initiative on Sunday to study the declining population of house sparrows and prepare a sparrow atlas.
Madras Naturalists’ Society secretary G Vijaya Kumar told Express that it would be a four-month online survey aimed at documenting the presence or absence of sparrows in Greater Chennai. While there are still some sparse populations, they have completely vanished in certain parts of the city. Where are house sparrows still found in Chennai? Where were they found before? Where have they declined the most? The answers to these questions are crucial, if plans are to be devised on how to bring them back.
“Seeking these answers with the help of the citizens of Chennai, creating a sparrow atlas for Greater Chennai and continuing to engage with the participating citizens for conserving house sparrows and their habitats are the objectives of the sparrow census,” Kumar said.
The census will be launched on March 25 on ‘car-free’ Sunday at the Elliot’s Beach and will conclude on July 31. “All citizens are requested to participate by spotting house sparrows during the census period and report the sightings to the society using their specially created Google form. Citizens’ participation is vital to bringing back house sparrows. The form seeks information such as location, date, time of sighting, number of sparrows, activity (feeding, flying, nesting) and condition of nests along with observer details. The team from the naturalists’ society will carry out the ground verification where it is required,” Kumar said.
Some areas in old Madras such as Royapuram, Mylapore and Triplicane and areas in North Chennai such as Perambur, Tondiarpet and Old Washermanpet still house sparrows in good numbers. However, conservationists said there was no scientific data mapping the bird’s habitats and its concentration and hence, conservation efforts have fallen short of objective. This year’s World Sparrow Day theme celebrates a relationship — between people and sparrows — spanning thousands of years.
Mohammed Dilawar, founder of Nasik-based Nature Forever Society and known as India’s sparrow man, said the main reason for declining numbers was the lack of nesting places, places to roost and lack of food. Also, people saw no conservation value in sparrows, not realising the fact that house sparrows are good indicators of health of ecosystem. “If sparrow flies out of a certain place, it indicates the area is not healthy for human beings either. But now, there is greater awareness about the need for sparrow conservation,” he said and appreciated the efforts of the Madras Naturalists’ Society.
Importance of the bird
• Every animal and plant in this world has its significance and the sparrow is an important member of the food chain
• Sparrows help in pollination of many plants
• They play a key role in controlling diseases. They eat larvae of many insects and mosquitoes which cause diseases like malaria, dengue etc
• They are a good indicator of a healthy environment. If sparrows leave an area, it is perhaps also not healthy for humans. Reasons cited for their disappearance, such as loss of tree cover and electro magnetic radiation, could affect humans too