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SAVE SPARROW

House Sparrow Decline:

Lack of insect food: The lack of insects in their surroundings. Research done in the U.K. by Dr. Kate Vincent pointed out that the lack of insect food was one of the main causes of decline of house sparrows. The young ones of house sparrows feed exclusively on an insect diet for the first 15 days of their life.

Invasion of exotics and the urban green deserts: Today, our gardens, be they public, private, or backyard gardens, are full of exotic plants which make them green deserts in the urban landscape. Not only do these green deserts require more chemical fertilizers and pesticides which pollute the environment, they kill beneficial insects and microorganisms, which results in serious food shortage for birds which depend on the native plants and insects for their survival. These exotic plants also require more water, putting a strain on our scarce resources. Apart from being eye candy, they are of no use to the environment. The menace of the exotic plants introduces carelessly by humans can be called the greatest curse of modern times. The best examples of exotic plants that cause such havoc are lantana.

Lack of food: House sparrows are finding it increasingly difficult to find food as our lifestyle has changed dramatically. Today, we no longer find horse carriages (tanga) which were once the main mode of transport in urban areas; they have been replaced by cars. We also no longer find women sitting outside the house and cleaning grains because today, people get flour and grains in pre-cleaned and packed packets which they buy from malls where our winged friends are not able to go.

Lack of nesting sites: Modern house construction has meant that house sparrows struggle to find adequate nesting sites in today’s matchbox shaped houses. This buildings and houses have glass or Aluminum composite exterior of walls which offer no place for nesting. The growth of cities and the increase in real estate prices have lead to destruction of old house and new modern building are constructed in their places. All these changes have resulted in lack of nesting sites for our winged friends.

Lack of hedges: With the changing times and modernization, we have become lazy, trying to find solutions which require little maintenance. The good old plant hedges which were beautiful but required maintenance are replaced by walls or wire fences. The plant hedge was an ideal place for the sparrows to preen their feathers, rest, and escape from the predators.

Increase in microwave pollution: The advent of cellphones has resulted in the proliferaion of cellphone towers in the urban landscapes; cellphone towers are now as ubiquitous as the house sparrows were. Research in Spain proved that the microwaves released from these towers are harmful to house sparrows and the increase in the concentration of microwaves results leads to decrease in House Sparrow populations. In a recent scientific study to measure the microwave concentration in Mumbai revealed that the microwave pollution in Mumbai in 200 times more than that of the permissible European levels. It mentioned that leaving in such high concentration of Microwave pollution is as good a sitting in an x-ray room. The decline of House Sparrow due to polluted environments is an indicator of the degrading environment in which we all live.
With 3G mobile phone technology coming in which requires three times more cellphone towers, their impact on sparrows' health is beyond imagination.

Intensification of agriculture: With the ever-growing human population, agricultural practices have totally changed. Today, one can find large tracts of lands under monoculture. India is the world’s largest user of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. This intensification in agriculture has led to serious decline in a number of farmland birds and the house sparrow is no exception. The change in cropping patterns and introduction of exotic crops has also led to a decrease in food and large scale habitat destruction.