Urbanisation killing sparrows, notes Dikshit
March 20th, 2010 - 7:07 pm ICT by IANS ( 2 comments )New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) Rapid urbanisation and dwindling nesting space has led to a sharp decline in the number of house sparrows in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has said.
“It’s time to focus on survival of house sparrows as there has been a sharp decline in their numbers over the last decade. Four years ago, the dominant species of birds here were the house sparrow, crow, rock pigeon and common myna,” Dikshit said at an event organised by wildlife organisations at her official residence on the occasion of World House Sparrow Day Saturday.
“But by 2008, all these (birds) have been sidelined by the rock pigeon. The sparrows and pigeons were in competition for nesting space and the smaller bird was obviously beaten. Rapid urbanization has created obstacles in habitat of the bird,” she added.
The World House Sparrow Day aims to specifically address the problem of declining bird population and look for possible solutions.
“The house sparrow is an important bio-indicator and its decline is a grim reminder of degradation of the urban environment and the danger from it to the human welfare in the long run,” Dikshit said.
“There is a need to start house sparrow habitat conservation drive by providing water and food regularly to the birds, switching back to organic gardening and putting up nesting boxes dedicated to house sparrows,” she added.
She said that the nature trail at her official residence, which is open to school children twice a week, has been a big hit in creating awareness on nature conservation.
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Tags: bird population, city delhi, common myna, crow rock, dominant species, grim reminder, habitat conservation, house sparrow, house sparrows, human welfare, last decade, nature trail, nesting boxes, organic gardening, rapid urbanisation, rapid urbanization, rock pigeon, sheila dikshit, species of birds, wildlife organisations
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
sirs,
urbanisation is killing sparrows
is a very correct and clear statement of facts.They
were the subject matter of a very interesting(also dragging)
story told to children by grandmothers long time ago while
pushing Dal-rice through their small mouths.The narrative
runs like this,”A lady was having a bowl of rice in the hall.
Through a window in the hall a cute sparrow came in,took one
rice and flew off.Another sparrow came through the same route,
picked one piece of rice and went through the same window.One
more sparrow just watching from outside made’a Kuruvi line’
to that place stole another rice and disappeared in the same
way….and so on.” By the time the child got bored ,the food
would be over and the grandmother would reserve the sparrow
sequence to the next meals.All these charms have gone along
with the tiny sparrow and has given place to TV mega serials
during the lunch break of the children.
seshachalam gopalakrishnan
chennai
23rd march
April 20th, 2011 at 1:51 am
sirs,
recently I am camping in my son’s
residency at Newjersy,USA.Due to
the weather I have to confine to
a room most of the time.Luckily
I had a window in that room which
aided me to look at the life around
sitting in a chair.My grandson
Vashist (18 months old)kept me
company sitting on my LAP.The window could be called “Window 2011′ and the child(Laptop)saw
things around.Most important visual is the arrival of Sparrows every day most of the
time.I did not tell him any story about it but the child swallowed food looking at those
tiny sweets.Newjersy has saved
the Sparrows from extinction.
seshachalam gopaslakrishnan
newjersy(camp)
19 th april