Where have all the sparrows gone?
The friendly chirp of sparrows is less heard today. The birds are in decline in India and in many other parts of the world they are considered pests. Sparrows feed on leftovers from cleaning grains. "But in urban areas as people get pre-cleaned grains, there is not much for sparrows,' says B C Choudhury of the Wildlife Institute of India. That is why sparrows can be found in more numbers in rural areas where they are still fed leftover grains.
Choudhury also attributes the decline in the bird's numbers to changes in architecture. "Earlier, sparrows would build nests in tiled houses under rafters, and in holes. Now they do not find suitable nesting places,' he says. But he does note that in rural areas there are still tiled houses with bamboo rafters and people still have niches in walls for nesting sparrows.
There is another reason for the decline in the bird's numbers. House sparrows feed their young mainly on insects. But the use of pesticides and insecticides in gardens reduces food for them.