World sparrow day: Pune sparrow headquarters draws in the humans

That there were more people than sparrows was encouragement for the save-the-sparrow movement, with Roseland Residency society, coordinator for Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for conservation and raising awareness about the sparrow, being the epicentre of activity.

Keeping the bird alive

House sparrow, once a regular feature of the city landscape, is now being driven out of town by hyper-urbanisation. Here’s what you need to know about the bird

Were you aware about these basic sparrows facts?
Common name: House sparrow
Scientific name: Passer domesticus
Height: 16 cm
Wingspan: 21 cm
Weight: 25-40 gms
Status: ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List

Some things we can do:
◼ Place bird feeders in balconies and on the terrace
◼ Plant trees, bushes in residential spaces
◼ Place box nests around buildings
◼ Avoid using pesticides

Where are they found across the world?
They are found in every continent except Antarctica, China and Japan. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa but is an introduced species in South Africa, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, India and Central Asia.

Where In India are they found?
Across our country.
(Source: WWF India)

A SPARROW BY ANY OTHER NAME
◼ Ghara Chatia: Odisha ◼ Kuruvi: Tamil Nadu and Kerala ◼ Chiri: Punjab ◼ Charai Pakhi: West Bengal ◼ Goraiya: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Uttarakhand ◼ Pichhuka: Andhra Pradesh ◼ Chaer: Jammu and Kashmir ◼ Chirya: Urdu ◼ Chakli: Gujarat ◼ Chimani: Maharashtra ◼ Gubbachachi: Karnataka
(Source: Delhi government)

Sparrow awards
The Nature Forever Society (NFS),a non-profit NGO,instituted the first Sparrow Awards on March 20,2011. NFS founder Mohammed Dilawar was instrumental in instituting these awards. The Sustenance magazine began collaborating with NFS in 2013 to support these awards.

STATUS UPDATE
◼ Ecologists fear the number of sparrows is declining largely due to the loss of habitat, widespread concretisation, the lack of food and use of pesticides
◼ No official census of birds has been conducted yet
◼ No fund has been earmarked yet to save the state bird
◼ No official study done to understand the disappearance

Illustration: Animesh Debnath | Graphics: Hitesh Mathur

The Roseland Residency garden was the nest for the day for adults, youth and children to understand the why of conservation to help save the sparrow. The society held a special event entitled ‘Sparrow conservation drive in our city’.

Residents of 27 residential societies from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad visited Roseland Residency in Pimple Saudagar on Tuesday, on the occasion of World Sparrows Day, celebrated across the world on March 20.

Roseland Society won the 2016 Wipro nature forever sparrow award for sparrow conservation efforts, thanks to the 60 water pots, 100 bird feeders and 300 nest boxes within the society. It is a sparrow movement they are hoping to spread far and wide.

“It was overwhelming to see such a response from other societies,” said Chandan Chaurasia, Roseland residency management team. “It is indeed great to see such support for world sparrow day 2018 to create habitat and awareness with regard to the house sparrow.”

“It was a unique event and it really showed us that sparrows have become scarce and that we can save them. We were briefed about importance of conservation of sparrows as well as we were distributed kits - five feeders, three nesting homes and a placard saying ‘I love sparrows’ - for each society at no cost,” said Henry Pinto, a member of Gita society, Camp.