Also called the house sparrow, domestic sparrow, etc. But 1 would personally term it as the nostalgic bird. It takes me back to when I was a kid. We (In India) would see these little fliers feed, nest, and play around everywhere. Sparrows were a common sight in the courtyard of almost every house in India, but now it is hardly visible. The number of sparrows decreases day by day, or id rather say they are not to be found anywhere now!
The sparrow's scientific name is Passer domesticus, weighing about 25-40 grams, standing 16 cm tall! And has a wingspan of about 21cm.
It is a small brown-colored bird, which isn't more significant than a tennis ball, having black-colored streaks on its back. The male sparrow is easily distinguishable from the female; this difference is not in size but its coloration. The male sparrow is dark brown, hosting a black bib, with a grey chest, and of course, the white cheeks, on the other hand, the female sparrow is light brown, throughout its body, without a black bib, no crown, or white cheeks.
It is a playful social species, found in groups of 8 to 10; they keep chirping and chattering to communicate with the other. Being honest to its love for urbanscapes, the house sparrow nests in buildings, finding crevices and holes in walls, or at best, using the birdhouses and nest boxes put out by humans in their gardens. It feeds primarily on seeds, but in the breeding season, adults feed their young with insects.
The house sparrow has evolved alongside humans, known only to have lived in close contact with humans instead of forests. It has peacefully coexisted with us in our buildings and gardens for years, but their population is on the decline in almost every city in the last two decades.
The reasons attributed to the decrease in the population are:
- Rapidly changing cities are no longer a suitable habitat for the house sparrow, as the new and modern designs of infrastructure do not give any room for the sparrow to nest.
- pollution caused by microwave towers and pesticides;
- the house sparrow loses its foraging grounds (natural grasslands) as the green spaces in our cities give way to more concrete constructions.
According to the 2018 report from the Royal Society of London, the bond between humans and the sparrows is 11,000 years old. This study said that similar adaptation started through agriculture in three different species - dogs, domestic sparrows, and humans.
According to a recent survey done by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the number of other significant birds has increased in the last 40 years, but it's utterly opposite with the sparrow; their numbers have decreased by 60% in India. There are about 26 species of sparrow worldwide, out of which five can be seen in India.
The 2015 bird census showed only 5692 sparrows in Lucknow and 775 sparrows in Punjab. Whereas In 2017, only 29 sparrows were observed in Thiruvananthapuram.
- Sparrow plays an essential role in balancing the environment.
- Sparrows feed their little ones with insects such as alpha and catworm.
- These insects are hazardous for crops. They destroy the leaves of crops and destroy the crops as well.
- Besides, sparrow eats insects that appear during monsoon season.
WWF-India has been involved in raising awareness about the declining population of house sparrows. Custommade nest boxes for sparrows are distributed in various states to encourage sparrow breeding. A special study was commissioned in 2007 on the status of sparrow population in Delhi.
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