Here mornings begin with chirping of house sparrows

Rajkot: House sparrows may have almost vanished from city homes, but Jasdan and near-by villages in Rajkot district begin with the sweet these little birds daily. Thanks to a dedicated campaign of a forest official in Hingolgadh, sparrows have started nesting in huge numbers near human habitats in Jasdan, Gondal and in the district. V.D. Bala, range forest officer, Hingolgadh Nature Education Sanctuary Launched Chakli no Malo (Sparrow’s nest) campaign in 2010 by distributing nests specially designed for these birds to maximum people possible. Over the last three years, Bala has distributed over 1.50 lakh artificial nests across the state, mainly in Saurashtra Region. He exhorted people to keep these nests at suitable places at their home and report to him whenever sparrows nest in it. Bala said once commonly seen flitting around the neighborhood; sparrows are in a real trouble and vanishing from the centre of many cities and rural areas. “Due to various disturbances, the population of this friendly bird has witnessed a free fall. Primary reasons behind this are non-availability of food (due to changing lifestyles), lack of nesting places in urban areas among others,” he added. Hitesh Patel, a resident of Gondal town, said, “I brought 2,000 such nests and distributed them in the town two years ago. Out 2,000 nests, sparrows nested in all most all the nests. Now, our morning begins with their chirping.” “The sparrows used to build their nests below tiled roofs of houses. With contemporary architecture making a clean sweep in cities, tiled roofs have become a thing of the past, and sparrows have lost their prospective nesting spots. But artificial nests are good options and we are hopeful that House Sparrow will be brought in urban areas too,” Bala said.
Courtesy:- Times Of India