Visits by our chirpy little friends, the sparrows, have come down over the past few years.
Rapid urbanisation, depleting greenery, and radiation from mobile towers are believed to be the causes for the decline of sparrows across the country. A study of this small, plump, brownish-grey winged visitor shows its number is dwindling going by the number of visits coming down.
A decade ago, there possibly wouldn’t have been a day without one sighting a few of them at homes seeking grains and water.
According to a study, sparrows are seen in fewer places now than they were before 2005. Where they are still found, the numbers are lesser than earlier.
The sparrow population varies from region to region and parts of the country and even in cities and in areas within them.
Large flocks of sparrow come from north-western areas such as Gujarat. And they seem to be doing comparatively better in north-eastern areas such as Assam and central India, including Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
While these regions have good number of sparrows, among cities, Mumbai surprisingly came on top with many people reporting sparrow presence compared to other cities, where a larger percentage of population said the bird is hard to find lately.
The study conducted by BNHS India, with the support of Ministry of Environment and Forests, and in association with National centre for Biological Sciences and Nature Conservation Foundation, shows in rural and semi-urban areas their population seems to be much better.
The rural areas seem to help them breathe easy and find right places to nest without being disturbed or getting dislocated from their natural habitat.
These seed-eating tiny birds normally prefer agricultural areas. But they do stray into busy concrete jungles where there are patches of greenery and water bodies.