Of the feathered kinds…

To all of us city dwellers….remember the time when on a quiet lazy afternoon, all you heard was chirping of sparrows? When was the last time you heard those sounds? When did you last wake up at the sound of chirps? Not in the recent times for sure. Sparrows are fast moving out of Indian cities as we cut down more and more trees to make more space for our kind, says Mint.

I remember, as a child, spotting the odd peahen or a peacock occasionally and running to announce its sighting to an ever eager group of friends. Doing that somewhere in a city today is a far fetched thought. Where are our birds going? Where have the greens, the trees, the bushes, the lakes gone? Will we soon see only concrete and steel in our cities?

What it means for you and me…

• Hearing birds chirp in the greens is natural therapy – a great stress buster. And don’t we all need to beat stress today? No chirping, no tweeting implies we are cutting ourselves off from nature.
• Birds eat insects and harmful weeds. And therefore naturally control pests and protect crops.
• They are natural pollinators. 
• Predatory birds help control the population of rodents.
• Since birds are higher up in the food chain, they are good indicators of the general health of our ecosystems. 

What can we do?

• Quite simply, give them their home back!

1. Plant trees
2. If you have a balcony or a terrace, put up bird shelters. Mr. Mohammed Dilawar, one of the Heroes of the Environment 2008 (Time magazine), vends shelters and feeders for sparrows on a no-profit-no-loss basis and can be contacted at 09890087988.

• Keep a bowl of maize or bajra in your balcony/ on your terrace and just enjoy the sight of happy chirping birds.

Interested in finding out more? Check out these sites:

Bird Freak – Bird conservation blog

Delhibird.net – organize Sunday walks for bird watching (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delhibird/). Check out the Recent Sightings section on the site. Pretty interesting…

Birding.in – All about bird watching in India

Kolkata Birds has Images and illustrations of 1,077 Indian bird species and has tips to get you started on bird watching to explore the beautiful world of these birds.

Finally, if you have taken any measures to increase the bird population in your area, please share your experiences.

Tags: bird conservation, bird watching, save birds, sparrows in delhi