The House Sparrow

Photographed by me at Munnar - May 16, 2010

The House Sparrow (commonly known as kuruvi and also known as chittu kuruvi in Tamil Nadu) was indeed one of the commonest urban birds in India when I was a little boy. The recent years have witnessed a perplexing decline in the number of the House Sparrow in many parts of the country.

March 20, 2010 was observed as World House Sparrow Day (WHSD) to focus on raising awareness about the decline of the common House Sparrow. Many reasons are attributed for their apparent “disappearance”: The introduction of unleaded petrol is one, as the combustion of which produces compounds methyl nitrite, which is highly toxic for small insects that forms a part of a chick's diet.

Old houses had eaves and tiles that were comfortable perches to build nests on. External wirings and framed pictures too were “habitats”. But sleek modern concrete structures no longer have these and so “feathered neighbors” lost their habitats.Mushrooming supermarket culture in urban areas, replaced the old fashioned grain shops which offered their spills as feeds.

Urbanization has done away with home gardens, which had worms and insects for the young sparrows. Besides extensive use of pesticides have proved lethal for their survival. The most recent reason for their disappearance is the mobile phone towers, the waves from the tower, it is said, are capable of destroying the life in the eggs.Attempting to bring back the House Sparrow to our cities may prove futile. It is wiser to conserve the sparrow in suburban, agricultural and hill landscapes, where it is still common.

Save the House Sparrow at least in the suburban areas for our next generation!