Nests made of dried empty gourd, coconut shells, earthen pots and plywood have been sprouting across Odisha’s Ganjam district. Thanks to a group of enthusiastic youngsters, conservation of the house sparrow through artificial nests is expected to reach all the 22 blocks of this district by the end of this year.
According to Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ashis Behera, the plan is to make Ganjam Odisha’s first ‘house sparrow friendly’ district. The conservation efforts began on September 9 this year. Locals were brought on board in at least one village in all the revenue blocks of the district. As sparrows nest and lay eggs almost four times in a year, the increase in sparrow population in a particular village is expected to motivate the residents of nearby villages to take up similar measures.
The sparrow conservation effort is being spearheaded by activists of the Anchalika Vikash Parishad (AVP), a youth organisation of Gunthabandha village on the outskirts of Berhampur, with support from the forest department. Till date, the project has reached out to 12 blocks and areas of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) in Ganjam district.
After the Phailin cyclone of 2013, AVP activists became concerned by the sudden disappearance of sparrows from their area. They started experimenting with sparrow conservation at Gunthabandha and adjoining villages. Subsequently, they extended its efforts to villages near Berhampur. They played an important role in getting village youth in different blocks of Ganjam district to take up sparrow conservation.
Sagar Kumar Patro, president of AVP, said that by the end of December, sparrows will have protectors and new homes at selected villages in the remaining 10 blocks of Ganjam. In the past three months, more than 100 young volunteers have signed up for sparrow conservation in different parts of the district.
Volunteers of the Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC) have also become involved in the effort, establishing artificial nests at Purunabandha village. According to Rabindranath Sahu of RSTPC, their successful experiments in the use of artificial nests for sparrows have been replicated in several Odisha districts and also in other States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.