Humankind has been unkind to several creatures, sparrows being one among many others. But on World Sparrow Day, perhaps we can atone ourselves. Continuing its work in the area of conserving sparrows, Nature Forever Society (NFS) is spreading its campaign to garner more support for this humble bird. And one of its most prominent efforts is the World Sparrow Day (WSD), which is celebrated globally through various initiatives. In the city, the organisation has been holding events for the past two weeks. Today, they will be announcing the The Sparrow Awards at the Mahim Nature Park.
Speaking about the initiative, Mohammed Dilawar, Founder of Nature Forever Society (NFS) says, “In 2010, we started a campaign called World House Sparrow Day. But then people from across the globe started mailing why we hadn’t included the other species of sparrows such as Kape sparrows, Kenyan sparrows, Arabian sparrows etc. So from the next year we made it a campaign for sparrows worldwide.”
NFS has been primarily concentrating on educating the masses and creating habitats for the disappearing species, which they believe are extremely important to maintain the ecosystem. Elucidating his argument, Mohammed says, “We are of the opinion that every single species on the planet is important, even if they are not from a human centric point-of-view. From an ant to an elephant, each one of them is important. In the case of sparrows, not many realise that their breeding season coincides with most of the insects’ breeding season. Therefore with fewer sparrows there will be more insects on the planet, which even has the potential to cause famines.” Explaining how the lack of sparrows caused the Great Chinese Famine (1958-1961), he adds, “Under Mao’s order, sparrows were thought to be a menace to the society. He thought that fewer sparrows will save the grains, but the insects damaged the crops more, which eventually led to the famine.”
According to Mohammed, some of the major reasons for the depletion of sparrows are lack of proper habitat, food and of course the much talked about telephone towers. “There is a serious lack of nesting sites. Most of their natural habitats are in native plants, which people have stopped growing. Earlier, people would have hedge plants around their houses, where they would nest. But these days, cities are filled with matchbox-like houses made of glass. Elements of people’s lifestyle — air conditioners for example, have also affected the birds.” Among other factors, the change in agricultural system and telephone towers are also adding to the damage.
“Sparrows have stayed with us for thousands of years. But not much has been happening for the conservation of these birds. It’s also very strange that Indian authorities are not much concerned about the common flora and fauna. So the monitoring of the common birds, sparrows being one of them, is very rare. Whereas in Europe or UK, you will find robust data, which they have been collecting for the past 100 years. Such is the state,” he laments. On the occasion of World Sparrow Day, Mohammed appeals to the citizens to take note of the situation and start helping in whatever ways they can. “First we need to build awareness that this is a genuine problem and then we can start with building more habitats and feeders. Even at NFS most of the conservation work is done by non-professionals, whose involvement is crucial.”
Pointing to an age-old tradition, Mohammed, who is also an ornithologist, highlights the role of sparrows as bio-indicators. He explains, “Earlier, they used to fly canaries into the mines first, to check whether there are poisonous gases inside, which subtly indicates that the problems affecting the birds today will inevitably affect humans tomorrow.”
