Wednesday, February 8, 2012

HOUSE SPARROW– DECLINING POPULATION

Universally familiar in appearance, the widespread and once abundant house sparrow has become a mystery bird and is becoming increasingly rare all over the world.
They are vanishing from many big cities, but are still not uncommon in small towns and villages. India has seen a massive decline of sparrows in recent years
March 20 was declared the World House Sparrow Day.
Food
The house sparrow is an intelligent bird that has proven to be adaptable to most situation, i.e. nest sites, food and shelter, so it has become the most abundant songbird in the world.
Sparrows are very social birds and tend to flock together through most of the year. A flock’s range covers 1.5-2 miles, but it will cover a larger territory if necessary when searching for food. The sparrow’s main diet consists of grain seeds, especially waste grain and live stock feed. If grain is not available, its diet is very broad and adaptable. It also eats weeds and insects, especially during the breeding season. The parasitic nature of the house sparrow is quite evident as they are avid seekers of garbage tossed out by humans. In spring, flowers (especially those with yellow colours) are often eaten crocuses, primroses and aconites seem to attract the house sparrow most. The birds also hunt butterflies.
Housing
House sparrows are generally attracted to buildings for roosting, nesting, and cover. They look for any man-made nook or cranny to build their nests. Other nesting sites are clothes line poles with the end caps open, lofts, kitchen garden etc. The sparrow makes its home in areas closely associated with human habitation.
Causes of Decline
There are various causes for dramatic decrease in their population, one of the more surprising being the introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects, which forms a major part of a young sparrow’s diet. Other being areas of free growing weeds, or reduction in number of badly maintained buildings, which are important nesting opportunities for sparrows. Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could also be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources.
Help Bird
Sparrows are in trouble all over the country, and they need our help! We should do everything we can to make sure they get the right food and the proper nesting places.
1. Ban the Catapult Campaign
We all love Mother Nature and its bountiful gift of birds, animals and plants, which in the recent past has come under threat from all quarters. We should try to convince people to lobby for a ban on the use of catapults.
2. Feed the birds
Ideally, food should be provided all year round for birds, but in winter and summer, birds need us more as their natural food and water sources decrease.
During the rainy season, keep the feeders in places where they will not come in contact with water. Installing feeders near bushes reduces predation by birds but provides a hiding place for cats.
3. Birds and water
Water is important to birds, both for drinking and for bathing. so it should be changed every day.
4. Hygiene
Hygiene is important. Clean up spilt grain and uneaten food; this will reduce the spread of disease.
5. Birds and salt
Most garden birds are poor at coping with salty food, it is important not to offer them anything with appreciable amount of salt in it. As such, salty fats, salty rice, salted peanuts, most cured foodstuffs, chips, etc. should not be offered to birds.
6. Native gardening
Avoid planting exotic varieties of plants in your garden use only native species of plants as they help in attracting birds and also attract native insects and pests which are an important source of food for birds and other native wildlife. Use native plants for hedges as they constitute an important part of the urban ecosystem.

IT IS NOW OR NEVER.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

House Sparrows Nesting Habits
The nesting habits of House Sparrows plays a significate role in the birds life and activities. Since these birds use the nest nearly year around.

In spring and summer the birds use the nest for raising young, up to four broods a season will be raised. In fall and winter it is used for resting in the day and roosting at night.

The nest can be located in any available place in buildings, trees, and birdhouses near human habitation. The adaptability and the number of broods raised is what causes this birds numbers to multiply.

The nest building is done almost year around. You are likely to notice most nest building activity in spring and fall. The main one is in spring just before breeding. Both the male and female build the nest.

The nest is spherical in shape, 8 to 10 inches in outside diameter and is made of coarse material on the outside such as, straw, twigs, paper, leaves, grasses, and any other available material. The inside is lined with feathers or fine grasses.

The female begins laying eggs about a week after nest building begins. Typically 4 eggs are laid but some nest can have up to 7 eggs.

The eggs are white to dull brown and speckled with brown. For the most part, incubation of the eggs is done by the female. Incubation last for about 12 days and the young leave the nest in 15 to 17 days after hatching.

Both the male and female feed the young. After the young birds have fledged, the male continues feeding the fledglings while the female begins the next brood.

Anonymous said...

World Sparrow Day

The World Sparrow Day (WSD) is being celebrated on 20th March across the globe to raise public awareness about the decline of the house sparrow and throw light on the problems faced by the species in its daily fight for survival.

The World Sparrow Day also celebrates the common biodiversity around us.

The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated on March 20, 2010 across the globe to celebrate the beauty of the house sparrow. National and international organisations, NGOs, clubs and societies, universities, schools and individuals across the world celebrated the event by organizing awareness programs.