World Environment Day: They provide nests for house sparrows

KANNUR: Come every Environment Day, there will be the ritualistic performance of planting trees and taking the pledge to preserve it, only to be forgotten within days. But, Kannur-based NGO, Malabar Awareness and Rescue Centre for Wildlife (MARC), which focuses on rescuing wildlife in urban areas, has a different focus and it is on a mission to provide nest boxes in different urban localities in the district to help improve the population of house sparrow (Passer domesticus), a small tweeting bird that was quite common, especially in the market areas in Kerala.

“Though the house sparrows were quite common in the market places, and they used to hop around the grocery shops and pick up fallen grains and clearing out insect pests, nowadays their sighting has come down, mainly because of they have no place to make their nest,” said Roshnath Ramesh, who leads the NGO.

These birds used to make their nests on the sides of the tiled roofs and tiny holes on the walls but in the modern times, when most of the buildings have concrete roofs, it has affected their nesting habitat, and this has probably affected their population as well, he said.

“The lack of nesting place also affects their breeding and hence the decision to provide nest boxes free of cost in the market places,” said Roshnath, adding that this is the only way to address the habitat alteration and lack of nesting place.

When they placed 100 nest boxes last year, it attracted the sparrows and built their nests inside it and hence the decision to go ahead with it, he added, adding that this year also 100 such nests would be provided in different places.

MARC did a survey of house sparrows in 37 sites in the district in 2015 and 581 were recorded. This specimen data is an indication that the population of this common urban bird is declining. But there is no comparative data of past available to establish this, according to MARC. However, when they interacted with people as part of the survey, they said there was a decrease in number of sparrow sighting in Kannur, said Roshnath.

But providing nest alone may not help increase the population of house sparrows. In order to ensure nestling survival, they should get insects to eat during the breeding season. But due to the use of insecticides the number of insects has come down, which could also be one of the possibilities for the decrease in the population of the house sparrows. This is an indication that the changes in our urban environment, which may not be noticeable at present, will slowly affect our lives as well, said the researcher, underscoring the importance of preserving all species of birds and animals to ensure the equilibrium of nature.