SPARROWS

ONE DAY WHICH WE CELEBRATE AS

                  WORLD SPARROW DAY

Sparrow day:

Every year on 20^th of March we celebrate WORLD SPARROW DAY. The first World sparrows Day was celebrated in 2010 globally. This day is celebrated to create awareness among people about the extinction of these birds. Since these birds are always closely bonded with human settlements, they still cope up with the change in Habitations.  The need for marking this day was felt due to the decrease in its population in urban areas. On a research, it is found that the house sparrows is on the verge of extinction.

        This initiative was first started by Nature Forever Society (NFS) of India, founded by an Indian conservationist Mohammed Dilawar. He started his journey by helping to save birds of Nashik of Maharashtra. He was also named one of the Heroes of the Environment for 2008 by Time magazine.Mohammed Dilawar is an ornithologist and sparrow conservation activist of India. He is also called as The Sparrow Man of India. He is the president and founder of Nature Forever Society since 2009. With great effort, he restored more than 350 species of native plants with his organization.  

  DIFFICULTIES OF SPARROWS:

     Drastic change in human settlements, Chemical fertilizers used in plants and deforestation have become the main factors for the reduction in number of sparrows. On a research done in Spain, it states that “The radiation from the mobile and the TV towers has also been a cause of death of sparrows”. But some people say that this is a secondary factor, because they say that they could see house sparrows even in the mobile towers. 

 A clear statement is provided that, Birds generally migrate or fly by sensing the magnetic field of earth including bats. The radiations rising from these towers may disturb their path and collapse. Many Ornithologists across the world are trying to save sparrows whose beautiful and tiny appearance bring peace of mind. Rural people of India states that sparrows are dependent on human life and food. They could survive in human settlements. One disturbing factor may be the NOISE POLLUTION which makes them threatened. Since rural areas and villages do not face this problem, many Sparrows reside here much.  Instead, village people ask government to take much care about the Bengal tigers which are in Extinction.

House sparrows:

House Sparrows are about 8 to 24 centimetres long. They weigh about 27 to 39 grams. We could differentiate Male and Female House sparrows easily by their colours. Male Sparrows are dark brown in colour. Female sparrows are faded brown in colour. Male sparrows’ throat region is black in colour. But there are about 26 species of sparrows across the world. It includes Sachel sparrow, Pale rock finch Sparrow, Dead sea sparrow, Yellow throated sparrow, True sparrow, House Sparrow, Shelley’s sparrow, Lago sparrow and many.

Even though it is a wild bird which is accustomed to hilly and forest regions, it is found so common everywhere. Only some species are found only in forest areas. Sparrows are Intelligent and Persistent. Their brain only weighs about 1 to 3 grams. The Sparrows always love to reside in scrubs, fields, bushes and holes. In India, most commonly the build their nests in Prosopis juliflora which is called as Seema Karuvelam in Tamil and Mesquite Tree gum in English. This tree is not environment friendly. Because they suck groundwater. Also, this is the major place where mosquitoes reside and its eggs emerge.

The life span of Sparrows are relatively 7 to 8 years and some may be up to 15 years. The sparrow is a nesting bird. The nesting periods continue to be noisy, that is the sparrow chirps. After nesting, it lays three to six eggs. They usually incubate for twelve to fourteen days. On fifteenth to seventeenth day the chicks emerge.

THE LIFE OF SPARROWS:

Sparrows inhabit on all human habitations except aquaculture areas. Sparrows can be found all over India and world, this means that it is very common. They live up to 1000 meters in the Himalayan range. Grain, worms, flower buds, crickets, caterpillars, young shoots, honey are the favourite food of sparrows. They also eat seeds they find on the ground. Its bill helps it to pick up its food. When a bird eats its food its bill or beak is more helpful. For some birds they also work as driller. Woodpecker is an example. But sparrows often follow a varied diet. Sparrow chicks often feed on insects like worms because they are easily digested. Therefore, the mother sparrow catches worms and insects and feeds on her chicks.

The sparrow is small in size as we know its dimensions are in centimetres. People call the fast-moving one as the fast-flying sparrow. Modern buildings are not suitable for birds to build nests. Nowadays artificial fences are being set up as an alternative to plant fences. So the fence plants suitable for sparrows to live in have been reduced and the sparrows have no resting shrubs. Other big birds compete with sparrows for food and habitat.

FARMER’S FRIEND:

To commemorate these beautiful species and its help to nature and its importance to life cycle this day is celebrated all over the world. All birds play some helpful role in nature cycle. But still sparrows are most loved ones which is pretty and said to be in extinction due to change in our lifestyle and urbanisation. We call Earthworms as Farmers’ Friend.

But sparrows are also said to be farmers’ friend. People in villages say that they separately take care of Sparrows by keeping boxes and holes at top of their houses to make them reside there. The sparrows help them by eating worms and insects in the cultivation field. The chirping of sparrows is still unbeaten by any of the best music of the world.

In One nest, only one pair of sparrows reside and they make their nest only in holes. The female sparrow only chooses its pair male sparrow. In villages sparrows prefer living in hut tops and tree branches. If birds are not there, then there would be increase in number of worms which might be destructive. But some people have superstitious believes that the bird nests in homes are not of good sign. Social workers say that if we fail to preserve these birds then they will become extinct species like Dinosaurs.

SAVING SPARROWS:

In Tamilnadu district of India, for saving house sparrows a separate organisation is working. Its name is Srinivasa Sevai Kattalai (SSK) for the past 10 years from 2011.

In a book named ON A TRAIL WITH ANTS written by Ajay Narendra on the year 2006 an important note is given. The total weight of ants in the world will be greater than the total weight of mammals all over the world. This comes as a shock that if such sparrows and other birds are not there, then there would be no existence of human lives and agriculture.

The Nature Forever Society is associated with the Burhani Foundation of India. They started ‘SOS’- Save Our Sparrow initiative in which they distributed 52,000 bird feeders across the world. More notable fact is this organization works on non-profit basis. Hawks and owls usually eat sparrows and they are the major predators. These include Cooper’s hawks, snowy owls, eastern screech owls, House Sparrows and Sparrow Hawks. Predators such as cats, dogs and snakes eat young sparrows and eggs of sparrows.

Birds including Sparrows can judge Ultra Violet Rays which humans cannot do. They find this with a smoky smell and they avoid places like this. Also, sparrows hate the smell of Pepper and Mint which feels smoky.

China’s Act:

In 1958, the Chinese government ordered to destroy all the sparrows across the country because they thought sparrows destroy much grain. This was followed by increase in population of poisonous insects, a great famine and environmental disaster in china. Then they realised the importance of these birds. They forgot that even though the sparrows eat grains, they also eat pests and insects.

TYPES OF SPARROWS:

           Generally, we see only House Sparrows daily. Italian Sparrow is the national bird of Italy. Its scientific name is Passer italiae. There is a group of species called New World sparrows (Western Hemisphere) of New World passerine birds, belonging to the family Passerellidae. These birds eat seeds and have conical beaks, brown or in colour and have distinctive head patterns. Old World Sparrows (Eastern Hemisphere) are called true sparrows. They belong to the family Passeridae.

              Fox Sparrow is a new world sparrow. It is the large American sparrow. It is the only species that belongs to Passerella Family. Sahel bush sparrow is one of the important species of sparrow family which is found in Savanah region and dry shrublands. Dead sea sparrow is another Old World sparrow. They usually breed in the middle east region and western hemisphere.

Shelley’s sparrow is another sparrow found in North America. They belong to the family of Kenya sparrow which is found in Kenya and Tanzannia.  Kordofan sparrow is a type of Kenya sparrow which is widely found in South Sudan. Chirping Sparrow is also a new world sparrow that has the origin in North America. Sexual Sparrow belongs to Family Passeridae, Old World Sparrow. It is one of the largest sparrows found in Central Asia.

Harris’s sparrow is the largest sparrow in the world. In winter, they usually migrate to United states. The common name for this bird is given in honour of American Ornithologist Edward Harris.

POOR SPARROWS:

A poem named as EDHILI KURUVIGAL (Poor small birds) written by a Tamil poet, Azhagiya Periyavan. In this poem the poet says that, small birds like sparrows are most affected by urbanisation of human beings.

World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated on Second Week of May all over the world. Also, national bird day in India is celebrated on January 5 every year. Every Year on 10^th of May, World Bird and Trees Day is celebrated. All these days are celebrated to create awareness among people. So that they to take care of birds around them. But still as mentioned urbanisation is an unignorable factor for extinction of birds. Salim Ali is a notable Indian ornithologist and also naturalist who headed new revolution in protection of birds and preventing extinction of birds.

Book of Sparrows:

The Fall Of A Sparrow, is an autobiography of Salim Ali. Here he shows how a bird hunter turns into a naturalist. Here the author, in 1906 hunts a sparrow at the age of 10 in the Indian Subcontinent. Later evolved as an ornithologist. Salim Ali wrote a book named THE BOOK OF INDIAN BIRDS which is one of the very famous writings of him.

The sparrows are also called as Little Brown Job or Little Brown Birds by naturalists and bird lovers. They call because they are notorious to identify and due to their brown plumage. Notably Female sparrows are widely called like this. This is said to be a nick name and an informal name given to them.

LeConte’s sparrow’s scientific name is Ammospiza leconteii. It is the smallest sparrow species. This is widely found in North America. Le Conte’s always prefers to walk rather than flying. It flies only up to a height of 1 to 3 metres.

Deforestation, Unexpected change in monsoons, Urbanization, Missing Cavities for them, Missing of bushes and Native Plants, Radiations, Pesticides in Grains are being the one and only enemies of sparrows. Also, this tiny and pretty looking bird is missing. Though they could survive in any of the human settlements, they are not able to manage urbanized area. For saving this tiny beautiful species and to create awareness among people to not to destroy them, WORLD SPARROW DAY must be made populous. This would be the wish of many naturalists who see their loving ones dying day by day. At least on this day, naturalists request people to make one residency for these species and protect them.

1. For more Reference: https://www.allaboutbirds.org
2. https://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/sparrows/sparrows/

Most Beautiful Birds of Indian Subcontinent