Where once people welcomed sparrows and other birds on to their window sills, these days modern life has all but killed them off.
Sparrows that used to make nests in people’s lofts and were regularly fed with grain and clean water, struggle to find spaces in Mumbai to nest in today.
With a view to drawing the attention of government agencies and the scientific community for more conservation measures and research on common bird species and urban biodiversity, World House Sparrow Day has been organised on March 20.
The day is an international initiative by Nature Forever Society, in collaboration with Bombay Natural History Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (USA), Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) Avon Wildlife Trust (UK) and numerous other national and international organisations across the world.
Mohammed Dilawar, an award-winning, Nashik-based former lecturer of environmental studies, said, “Heroes of the Environment’’ by Time magazine in 2008 said the advent of man-made threats like mobile phone towers and microwave pollution has almost killed the house sparrow.
“Modern architecture and shrinking gardens and parklands have rendered sparrows homeless, as they like to nest in nooks and crannies. Meanwhile, use of pesticides has killed off the bugs the bird feeds its young with,” said Dilawar, who after experimenting at home, has designed and is selling wooden nesting boxes on a non-profit basis. In three years he’s sold more than 1,000 of these nests and bird feeders.
Last year, concerned about the dwindling number of sparrows, the BMC had decided to put up special sparrow shelters in its gardens across the city.
“We have at least 300 gardens across the city. We can start by putting up at least four such shelters in each garden. These will allow the sparrows to breed,” said a BMC official
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