After flying away from the cities, the house sparrows appear to be making a comeback in the urban areas.
In the past few months, the bird enthusiasts in the region have spotted these little brown winged birds at places where they have been missing since almost a decade. While the sound of sweet chirping of sparrows is now heard in urban areas of Punjab and Haryana after a long time, the ornithologists are not sure about the quantum of rise of their population in cities.
“In Punjab, the house sparrows have been spotted in Patiala, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Jalandhar in good numbers in the last few months. Interestingly, the bird species have been spotted after almost a decade in some urban parts of Punjab indicating that their population may be reviving in these areas,” said Dr Onkar Singh Brraich, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, Punjabi University at Patiala, while talking to The Pioneer.
Dr Onkar said, “Not only rural areas of these cities in Punjab, but the house sparrows have been spotted in urban areas as well, which is a positive development.”
This little passerine (grain-eating) avian species has traditionally been associated with human habitation and was also believed to be one of those species that adapted to urbanization. However, their population started declining in the cities in the past one decade due to multiple factors.
Dr Onkar said, “House sparrows usually eat grains, seeds, and insects. Now as they are accommodating in the rapid urbanization, we have observed their diet switching to insects, primarily in cities. The vanishing of nesting spaces for sparrows in modern houses has also resulted in their nesting in trees, mostly.”
Earlier, the house sparrows used to find perfect habitat in the old-world architecture of houses under the rafters, ventilators, behind wall-hung photo-frames, or even holes in the walls.
Rima Dhillon, general secretary of Chandigarh Bird Club said, “Of late, we have seen sparrows in droves in southern sectors of the city. This little bird is also seen in villages in the periphery which have old structured houses. Sparrows were once ubiquitous in the entire city, but they are still seen in southern sectors, villages and forest areas here.”
Recently, the bird species was spotted in Panjab University campus here after almost ten years.
Notably, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) among its list of “endangered” species due to its declining population.
According to the environmentalists, there are multiple reasons for the decline in sparrows’ population in the cities including concrete structures with no space for nesting, non-availability of worms for feeding chicks, radiation from mobile towers, use of insecticides and pesticides, air and noise pollution.
TK Roy, ecologist and Asia Waterbird Census (AWC) Delhi state-coordinator said, “The sighting and recording of a significant number of house sparrows in the cities across the region is certainly a positive sign. People have become more aware and sensitive towards the needs of avian species. After the decline in number of house sparrows in the cities, people have installed nest boxes, keeping grains in the open, keeping small bowls of water for birds. In the recent past, we have seen house sparrows in the Delhi-NCR also.”
“While the cities have seen a dramatic decline of house sparrow population in the last ten years, their population is still stable in the remote villages with old structured houses having space for nesting and availability of food grains on the ground, in the field as well micro-habitats with plenty of smaller insects, flies as food for the offspring and no air and noise pollution,” Roy added.
