World Sparrow Day: Delhiites, meet thy nest man

Delhi-based environmentalist and sparrow conservationist Rakesh Khatri has built about 2.5 lakh bird nests till date. He uses eco-friendly materials to make these nests, and informs that “Sparrow is the best barometer of an environment as it eats insects that are the most harmful for an ecosystem”.

Growing up in a three-storeyed house in Old Delhi, without mobiles, it was natural for Rakesh Khatri to become friends with the birds. Today, the Mayur Vihar-based environmentalist — popularly known as the ‘Nest Man of India’ — recalls, “I remember my grandfather had pulled out some bricks from the walls, usmein chidiya ghonsla banati thi. The birds also used to make nests above the fans, and it used to be a total ban for us to switch on the fans if a bird was perched there! Uss time tak mujhe ghonslon see pyar ho gaya tha.”

Rakesh Khatri, Delhi-based sparrow conservationist conducts workshops to teach how to make handmade nests.

The 60-year-old sparrow conservationist has his name in Limca Book of Records now, for conducting the highest number of workshops to teach participants on making handmade nests, throughout the country. He takes workshops with children, among groups and even organisations, which included webinars during the Covid-19 lockdowns, on how to make artificial nests for small birds such as sparrows, bulbul, and sunbird. “In my youth, my friends and I once experimented with making bird nests using green coconut hollows. We planted around 40 of those, and found chicks of bulbul in one of them. That was a sign. My wife and I tried to make bamboo nests, and began installing them at various places.”

Since then, Khatri has been urging children and youngsters to step up for the cause of saving birds. Planting houses for the avian friends, which get uprooted in the process of urbanisation, is a passion that this Delhiite wants to instil in young minds. Khatri says these nests, for which “an adult takes 20 minutes to build, and a child can take about 40”, can be placed anywhere at a height of 10 to 12 feet. But the idea is to “let the bird take over procurement of grain and feeding after they settle in”.

A documentary filmmaker by profession, he was also enlisted in the London World Book of Records when he hit the milestone of creating 1,25,000 nests using jute and tetra packs! Having taught and made around 2.5 lakh bird nests to date, from bamboo, jute and recycled tetra packs, Khatri rues that birds have nowhere to go. “I often face this mocking question that why would a bird inhabit an artificial nest, and that a bird makes their own nest. I ask them, apne jagah hi kahan chhodi hai unke ghoslon ke liye? There used to be roshandans (small windows near the ceiling) in houses. Households used to put grain out to dry, which was all part of the food chain of these birds. Ab sara packaged food hai,” says Khatri, who heads Eco Roots Foundation.

“Ab kum se kum chidiya dikhayi dene lagi hai. Sparrow is the best barometer of an environment as it eats insects that are the most harmful for an ecosystem... Put some twigs, cotton wool or old cotton scrapes, so they can pick them up and carry them to their nests. Unke liye pani aur dana rakhein, and most importantly, make some space for them in your homes and hearts,” he concludes.

Author tweets @siddhijainn

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter