World Sparrow Day: House Sparrows Are Vanishing, Yet Tokenism Continues

Thursday, March 20, is observed as World Sparrow Day. But is this just tokenism, and for whom?

For these little avian species whom we failed to conserve, for the ones whom we made homeless and shockingly whose meat is devoured on some dining tables?

While there is no precise count of the number of sparrows remaining in India, studies indicate a significant decline in their population, with some areas showing a decrease of up to 80%. 

In Odisha, which had a thick concentration of villages with an abundance of thatched roof houses, there was once a huge population of house sparrows, although there was never any concrete assessment of their population in the state.

Anyway, disappearing sparrows can be attributed to climate change or whatever, but the environment is at the crossroads, and has started consuming so many precious elements, including species.

One misses the live pools of these chirping angels - the sparrows – who have vanished into the gloom of a polluted and toxic environment.

House Sparrows

These lovely birds are among many species that are virtually unseen these days. Either they have lost their way to survival or are not there anymore, or may be just thriving somewhere and somehow. A sad spectacle!

These little birds, who once used to break the dawn’s quietness with their lovely twitter, are no longer audible. From thatched village houses, inside the wells or on any space carved on trees, or on street light poles, they used to nest.

"They lost their shelters due to human activities such as deforestation, hunting and poaching" Rabi Dakua, a house sparrow conservationist in Ganjam district, told this writer. 

Dakua has built a number of thatched houses on the spaces along the coast of Bay of Bengal, especially to create shelters for house sparrows.  

The birds, with their tiny beaks, used to peck insects and other hazardous stuff from crops in the fields, which has become a rare sight now.      

Vanishing Beauties

"Humans have become their worst enemy, as is evident from factors like urbanisation, replacement of ventilators with air- conditioners in houses, radiation from mobile towers, pollution, use of insecticides and pesticides in farms and emission of harmful gases, which are considered the main reasons for the drastic decline in the population of sparrows" rued Dakua. 

The house sparrow has always grown with humans, known to live in close contact with them, instead of in forests.

It has been a wonderful coexistence, as they need small spaces in buildings and backyard gardens.  However, in the past two decades or more their decline has become perplexing even in villages let alone cities.

It is difficult to recall when one had spotted the sparrow last.

"They have been listed in the Red List (of species) for the rapid decline in their population by the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, triggering concern over the need for immediate conservation all over the world" said Harekrushna Satpathy, an environmental activist.  

It is also shocking that besides sparrows, many other bird species, such as passenger pigeons have become extinct.

From a good population of 5-10 billion in the 19th century, the passenger pigeons have vanished, not because of any habitat destruction or ailments but merciless poaching for their meat.  

 Pathetic State of Sparrows in India

Sparrows are another fast disappearing 'common' bird. They can still be spotted in over two-thirds of the world's land surface, according to some reports.

But fresh reports pouring in from across India and around the world show a rapid decline in the populations of these once abundant birds.

Odisha, which had plenty of land surface and an abundance of greenery, is today converting itself to a concrete jungle. Not a single house can be found raising even a small hut within its premises with thatched roof to provide habitat to house sparrows. It appears that people only care about self- comfort. History may never forgive us.  

The writer is a freelancer based in Odisha.