By Tunira Bhadauria, on 31 March 2019.
Sparrows was one of the abundant bird species in our households some years back. However, the lack of emotional connect, mechanical urbanization and development of so called planned cities has pushed these small birds to the verge of extinction.
The violent invasion of the concrete jungle into natural environs is resulting in habitat destruction for many organisms, on an average every day somewhere a species of an animal is getting vanished of which we are not aware because of our limited knowledge of their habitat and behavioral patterns, but we know of sparrows and we recognize that their number is dwindling. Similar to any other part of India even I witness their verging on extinction, and this could be an ecological disaster as they form one of the most important part of the food chain. Alike most of the concrete jungles, sparrows had become a rare sight in my vicinity too. So, being an ecologist, I did my bit to save this small bird. Then two years back I did a small experiment, and I began with dispersing small seeds on an elevated platform in my courtyard and put two mud bowls filled with fresh water daily. I planted a few common twiners and small shrubs and trees too. It started with a couple of sparrows frequenting the site. Today I can say that this small experiment has given me very encouraging results because in two years now I have 12 sparrows coming to feed here and along with them a pair of Bulbuls, a couple of doves, Tailorbird and Sunbird are frequent visitors in my microhabitat. I am sharing this experience to say even small efforts can go a long way to conserve species and one need not go for large scale strategies to succeed, we can contribute to manage species by creating microhabitats and niches even at the individual level at less cost. I hope even if a few people follow the example, we can succeed in our efforts for conservation of sparrows. Sparrows make their nests in building crevices shafts and window sills and if we give them microhabitats, I am sure they will not be endangered or become extinct.
Tunira Bhadauria, Ph. D. is member of IUCN CEM 2017–2020. She is Associate Professor at Department of Zoology, Feroze Gandhi College, Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, India