In the first ever nation-wide survey “Citizen Sparrow” on house sparrows, the residents of the Tricity, including Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula had reported spotting a small group of house sparrows at only 17 different locations.
According to the survey conducted by Bombay Natural History Society, the house sparrows were sighted at only six locations in Chandigarh in the recent years.
The denizens of Chandigarh had reported sighting the house sparrows at Sector 18, Sector 22, Sector 47, Sector 31, Industrial Area Phase I and Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.
As per the survey records, a group of less than five sparrows were sighted in these Sectors here while no nests were observed. In 26 sq km Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary, a group of five to 30 sparrows was spotted between the years 2010-2012.
The population of house sparrows is also fast disappearing from the satellite townships of Panchkula and Mohali.
According to the survey, the sparrows were reported as absent from more locations after the year 2005, compared with the past. larger numbers of sparrows were reported at more places in the past than in the present. Also, the survey suggested that few sightings of nests here might mean that the population of sparrows continued to decline in the region. In the survey, the residents of the tricity have reported spotting a large number of sparrows from the year 2000-2004.
The online survey “Citizen Sparrow” was a public participatory project conducted by Bombay Natural History Society in the year 2012 with the assistance of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, and in association with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, the Nature Conservation Foundation and dozens of other partner organisations. The online survey saw the participation of 5,655 people in 8,425 locations across the country.