SoS - Save our Sparrows
It was beautiful with those tiny golden wings. Soaring so high, relishing the freedom of the sky. I sat on my porch step watching the flowers in my garden sway. Slowly it came down to the ground hopping around. It perched on a plant's branch, turning its head in different directions, looking for food probably. I went inside my kitchen and came back with a handful of rice grains. It flew away seeing me getting close to it. Strewing the grains carefully over the land I sat inside my home closely observing the little bird. After a while it returned to my garden and picked up all the grains clean in a minute. It chirped happily, could be 'thank you' in its language. Such a cheerful creature. :-D
Remember this bird? It is this bird which made friends with humans easily than any other of its kind. Possibly you might have seen this bird a long time ago or read about it in your school books or heard your grand parents talk about how their avian buddies played with them when they were kids. Back then these birds were too common to spot in the neighborhood. Hence the name, House Sparrow. So when is the last time you saw a sparrow or heard it sing? It actually took me a while to get an answer for this question. It wasn't until a couple of months ago I noticed a sparrow at my grand parents' place in a village. I almost forgot that these birds still exist. That is only because, cities and towns don't really have any favorable living conditions to accommodate these little ones. Directly or indirectly we, humans are the sole reason for the devastating decline in the sparrow population. What did we do? Read on.....
Pesticides: Any sparrow's main diet is the various grain seeds that are available in and around the fields. If the bird does not find any grains to feed on, alternatively it eats the weeds, insects and even wild flowers. All thanks to the chemical pesticides and insecticides that resulted in a threat to these birds. Consuming chemically treated food grains and insects chokes the sparrows to death. Also, this is one of the reasons why the sparrows are now rare in the villages where once they were abundant in number.
Concrete Jungles: Housing/shelter is every man's basic necessity. This, we all know. Let me correct it a bit. Housing/shelter is every living being's necessity. Look around you. Your street has at least 10 tall apartments with almost 5-6 floors, all cramped together in a lane obstructing warm sunlight and fresh air. Now what if, no, just imagine, your cozy flat/house is filled with garbage leaving you with no space even to stand properly. Disgusting? Depressing? It is the same with sparrows. Only thing is we have big mouths to complain and whine over our petty problems, whereas the sparrow can only hum a sad tune. Tall buildings, cuttings the trees off, and we conveniently call it our concrete jungle. Where else do the birds build their nests when their habitat is taken over by the humans. Poor ones, with no other option left they quietly nest in the ventilators of our house. As a token of our love we try to shoo them away and dispose of their nests. Why, because all day long these birds do nothing but chirp out loud and litter the place. Again, this is why we can't see these birds in urban areas.
Pollution: Sound and Air pollution is hazardous and could lead to the growth of cancerous cells in humans. Let alone sparrows, even us, the super humans aren't any immune to the pollution on this planet. Cellphone towers, polluted air and water, loud noise, all of these affect the very living of the birds. Hardly a sparrow is of the size of your fist, how do you expect it tolerate all of this.
Sad part is that we are accustomed to the way we live now to that extent, what I mentioned above might not make any difference to us anymore. Are we that indifferent? Really? Then be prepared to see these birds only in museums in the next decades. And your kids will listen in wonder if you ever tell them that you saw a sparrow. In real. Futuristic development.
This summer try to understand what it takes for a tiny bird like a sparrow to survive in this world. Change your habits. Tell others how they can contribute. Or best, make 'bird watching' your hobby. Here is something you can do to save the sparrows......
Bring out the architect side of yours. Build bird houses, bird feeders outside your houses. Ask Google for help.
Put your blue thumbs to use. Grow plants. Watch them as they grow. In a few days you will have winged visitors at your house.
Place bird-baths. Take a bowl and fill it with water daily. Earthen bowls are preferable. Remember, replace the water everyday and wash the bowl, not with chemicals, please.
Lets say you are that kind of a person who is too lazy for all of this (like me), do one simple thing.
- If your house/apartment has a wide terrace, every morning/evening just go up there and scatter some
food grains. Do take a bowl of water along.
Disclaimer: Do not wait until the birds come and eat the grains, please leave the premises. Birds have learnt not to trust human beings that easily. You have to gain their trust. Wait for a week, after that they will come flying to you the next time they see you. It works. Ek try toh banta hai! :-)
Don't let the common bird be labelled 'uncommon'. They are dying, don't shrug it off. Make some new friends. We don't have wings, fine, lets not break others'.
World Sparrow Day, March 20. :-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq2uweVz9pM
Soumya Inavilli
Remember this bird? It is this bird which made friends with humans easily than any other of its kind. Possibly you might have seen this bird a long time ago or read about it in your school books or heard your grand parents talk about how their avian buddies played with them when they were kids. Back then these birds were too common to spot in the neighborhood. Hence the name, House Sparrow. So when is the last time you saw a sparrow or heard it sing? It actually took me a while to get an answer for this question. It wasn't until a couple of months ago I noticed a sparrow at my grand parents' place in a village. I almost forgot that these birds still exist. That is only because, cities and towns don't really have any favorable living conditions to accommodate these little ones. Directly or indirectly we, humans are the sole reason for the devastating decline in the sparrow population. What did we do? Read on.....Pesticides: Any sparrow's main diet is the various grain seeds that are available in and around the fields. If the bird does not find any grains to feed on, alternatively it eats the weeds, insects and even wild flowers. All thanks to the chemical pesticides and insecticides that resulted in a threat to these birds. Consuming chemically treated food grains and insects chokes the sparrows to death. Also, this is one of the reasons why the sparrows are now rare in the villages where once they were abundant in number.
Concrete Jungles: Housing/shelter is every man's basic necessity. This, we all know. Let me correct it a bit. Housing/shelter is every living being's necessity. Look around you. Your street has at least 10 tall apartments with almost 5-6 floors, all cramped together in a lane obstructing warm sunlight and fresh air. Now what if, no, just imagine, your cozy flat/house is filled with garbage leaving you with no space even to stand properly. Disgusting? Depressing? It is the same with sparrows. Only thing is we have big mouths to complain and whine over our petty problems, whereas the sparrow can only hum a sad tune. Tall buildings, cuttings the trees off, and we conveniently call it our concrete jungle. Where else do the birds build their nests when their habitat is taken over by the humans. Poor ones, with no other option left they quietly nest in the ventilators of our house. As a token of our love we try to shoo them away and dispose of their nests. Why, because all day long these birds do nothing but chirp out loud and litter the place. Again, this is why we can't see these birds in urban areas.
Pollution: Sound and Air pollution is hazardous and could lead to the growth of cancerous cells in humans. Let alone sparrows, even us, the super humans aren't any immune to the pollution on this planet. Cellphone towers, polluted air and water, loud noise, all of these affect the very living of the birds. Hardly a sparrow is of the size of your fist, how do you expect it tolerate all of this.
Sad part is that we are accustomed to the way we live now to that extent, what I mentioned above might not make any difference to us anymore. Are we that indifferent? Really? Then be prepared to see these birds only in museums in the next decades. And your kids will listen in wonder if you ever tell them that you saw a sparrow. In real. Futuristic development.
This summer try to understand what it takes for a tiny bird like a sparrow to survive in this world. Change your habits. Tell others how they can contribute. Or best, make 'bird watching' your hobby. Here is something you can do to save the sparrows......
Bring out the architect side of yours. Build bird houses, bird feeders outside your houses. Ask Google for help.
Put your blue thumbs to use. Grow plants. Watch them as they grow. In a few days you will have winged visitors at your house.
Place bird-baths. Take a bowl and fill it with water daily. Earthen bowls are preferable. Remember, replace the water everyday and wash the bowl, not with chemicals, please.
Lets say you are that kind of a person who is too lazy for all of this (like me), do one simple thing.
- If your house/apartment has a wide terrace, every morning/evening just go up there and scatter some
food grains. Do take a bowl of water along.
Disclaimer: Do not wait until the birds come and eat the grains, please leave the premises. Birds have learnt not to trust human beings that easily. You have to gain their trust. Wait for a week, after that they will come flying to you the next time they see you. It works. Ek try toh banta hai! :-)
Don't let the common bird be labelled 'uncommon'. They are dying, don't shrug it off. Make some new friends. We don't have wings, fine, lets not break others'.
World Sparrow Day, March 20. :-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq2uweVz9pM
Soumya Inavilli
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