By Udumula Sudhakar ReddyWanted Sparrow Alive! The campaign to save the house sparrow has picked up in the city with several apartment associations coming forward to create artificial nests.
The initiative taken up by Environmental Cell of AP Forest Department and Centre for Environment Education officials is to spot to the sparrows and create facilities to allow them to breed naturally.
Additional Chief Conservator of Forest(environment cell) Mr C S Ramalakshmi said ,"The sparrow population is declining drastically and it has become a rare occurrence in the city. Sparrows are good for nature as they help in biological control of pests. In residential areas in balconies sparrows can be attracted by placing plastic bowl filled with water and spilling the grains. Later we can enable them to create nests. Several organisations including bird watchers society, biodiversity board and AP Environment Connect are involved,"
A sparrow population survey was conducted recently near Rajbhavan in the city.
Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could also be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources.
Mr U S Ushodayan programme officer of Centre for Environment Education said ,"In urban and semi urban areas sparrows are rarely found. There is no documentation also. Earlier in construction of building ceramic water and sewerage pipes are used. There use to be big gap at the joints which are useful for the sparrows to form the nest. Now only plastic pipes are used and there is no possibility of house sparrow to have a nest,"
"If any one spots the sparrow they can SMSto 9949297898 or send an email to savesparrows.apec@gmail.com or call on our mobile. We will note down the address and location. Then we will conduct survey in the area and create further facilities to improve the sparrow nesting," said Mr Ushodayan.
Decline of house sparrow( scientifically known as Passer domesticus ) is also due to introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects.
The other possibility could be increased predation by crows and cats, while crows have grown in number as a result of garbage accumulation in the city.
Noted biologist Mr Mrutyenjaya Rao said ,"we have been doing artificial nesting facility in apartments in Kakinada. We could successfully make sparrows breed in the cardboard boxes set up in the parking area of the apartment,"
The initiative taken up by Environmental Cell of AP Forest Department and Centre for Environment Education officials is to spot to the sparrows and create facilities to allow them to breed naturally.
Additional Chief Conservator of Forest(environment cell) Mr C S Ramalakshmi said ,"The sparrow population is declining drastically and it has become a rare occurrence in the city. Sparrows are good for nature as they help in biological control of pests. In residential areas in balconies sparrows can be attracted by placing plastic bowl filled with water and spilling the grains. Later we can enable them to create nests. Several organisations including bird watchers society, biodiversity board and AP Environment Connect are involved,"
A sparrow population survey was conducted recently near Rajbhavan in the city.
Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could also be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources.
Mr U S Ushodayan programme officer of Centre for Environment Education said ,"In urban and semi urban areas sparrows are rarely found. There is no documentation also. Earlier in construction of building ceramic water and sewerage pipes are used. There use to be big gap at the joints which are useful for the sparrows to form the nest. Now only plastic pipes are used and there is no possibility of house sparrow to have a nest,"
"If any one spots the sparrow they can SMS
Decline of house sparrow( scientifically known as Passer domesticus ) is also due to introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects.
The other possibility could be increased predation by crows and cats, while crows have grown in number as a result of garbage accumulation in the city.
Noted biologist Mr Mrutyenjaya Rao said ,"we have been doing artificial nesting facility in apartments in Kakinada. We could successfully make sparrows breed in the cardboard boxes set up in the parking area of the apartment,"
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