‘Put out water bowls, grains to save sparrows from extinction’

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Phagwara, March 20

World Sparrow Day was celebrated with great zeal at MLU DAV College, Phagwara. Principal Kiranjeet Randhawa chose to celebrate the day as a step towards awareness of nature and said everyone has some kind of special bond with nature since childhood and it should be cherished in today’s materialistic life.

A webinar was organised to appreciate the beauty of nature and to raise awareness about sparrows and other common birds affected by the environment, which are on the verge of extinction. The resource person was Janmeja Singh Johl, a writer on flora and fauna. He discussed how due to our materialistic life we forget nature, adding that in our childhood we used to wake up by melodious chirping of sparrows, but these things were memories now. Because of huge and large towering buildings, birds and animals get disturbed. All faculty members interacted about the protection of the house sparrow and other such birds so that people admire the beauty of biodiversity and nature.

Janmeja Singh Johl discussed about the ways with which we can save sparrows.

“Befriend them. Keep a bowl of water and some grains for sparrows to feed on. Plant trees in and around your homes to create shelters for them or keep bird feeders outside your house. Do not use chemical insecticides and pesticides in your garden as it is harmful. The only way to bring the sparrow back is by people’s participation. We need sparrow feeders, photographers, bloggers, poets and volunteers and people from all walks of life to do their bit to create a harmonious space for the house sparrow to co-exist with human beings,” he said.

He said sparrows are special as they have a beautiful voice and their chirping and singing can be heard all over. Johl concluded that we all should enjoy the beauty of nature and make our lives stress-free.

Save sparrows to save humanity: Sparrow Man

KAPURTHALA: Pushpa Gujral Science City celebrated World Sparrow Day by organising a webinar on Saturday. Mohammed Dilawar (in pic), the sparrow conservation crusader, was the key speaker. He said five different species of sparrows are found in India. “Out of the five, only one species is migratory, while the rest are native to the Indian subcontinent. The most abundant and widespread is Passer domesticus. It is important to save sparrows by installing nest boxes, bird feeders, planting native plants and reducing use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers,” he emphasised. Gitanjali Kanwar, coordinator, WWF-India, said there were about 50 species of birds that live closest to human dwellings. These birds include bulbul, sparrows’ pigeons, warblers, parakeets, etc. Such birds find birdhouses safer, protective and habitable. It is the survival instinct that urges the endangered sparrows to shift their natural habitats from houses and buildings to the artificially built bird houses. Neelima Jerath, director general, Science City, said humble house sparrow or Passer domesticus (gharaan di chidi) is a bird most of us grew up with. The chorus of chirping that greeted us at sunrise and sunset was as good as clockwork, but slowly and surely these little delightful and hyperactive birds have bid adieu to our homes and cities. This has been an ongoing process since the 1990s. Further, each year March 20 is observed as the World Sparrow Day and rightly so, as these birds deserve our sincere conservation efforts to restore these birds to their genuine habitats. Delivering the vote of thanks, Dr Rajesh Grover, director, Science City, said: “It is very important to raise awareness about the decreasing population of sparrows or else we may have to tell stories starting once upon a time there was a little bird called a sparrow.