House Sparrow - What led to the decline of the little brown bird?

New Delhi: For years, the house sparrow has peacefully co-existed with us, nesting in our houses and gardens chirping sweetly at our windows. However, that little friendly neighbourhood bird is nowhere to be seen today. Their population has been decreasing in almost every city.

Here are some reasons why the population of the little brown birds are declining:

• Loss of habitat – The new and modern designs of infrastructure does not provide any room for the sparrow to nest
• Loss of tree and green cover – Lots of trees have been cut or destroyed mercilessly in cities to pave way for more concrete constructions, leading to lesser tree cover and hence the house sparrow loses its foraging grounds.
• Electromagnetic radiation – It is said that the radiations released from our mobile phones are also a major cause of decline in the number of birds.
• Modern agriculture – The wide use of insecticides and pesticides adversely affects the birds.
• Pollution – All birds are affected by pollution, which causes a variety of health problems in humans.

WWF-India has been involved in raising awareness about the declining population of house sparrows.

World Sparrow Day is celebrated on 20 March every year to raise awareness about the importance of house sparrow and other common bird species dwelling in urban areas.

It is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organisations across the world.