Where have the Sparrows gone?
While growing up in Pune, I have spent many lazy afternoons reading, and watching sparrows hop around right inside our house and in the balcony. Sparrows and Mynas. Nowadays there are only see crows in that area. Crows, I think, are ugly, and very aggressive as well. Ravens I think are far more beautiful.
Imagine my joy when I saw sparrows again, in the place where we live presently. This is the sparrow I spotted outside my kitchen window. We see quite a few of them as they have made a nest here.
Over the years, as we moved from one city in India to another, I always wondered where the sparrows had gone. I assumed that the ever growing population of stray dogs, crows, rats and cockroaches were somehow depriving the sparrows of their food. This is not the only reason, but I’ll get to that a little later…
Sparrows are disappearing in urban centres all over the world
Here’s a 2001 article in the Independent which gives some idea of what is happening to sparrows in the rest of the world:
The sparrow, once the exemplar of a commonplace bird, is becoming increasingly rare in France and other European countries…. French ornithologists have now charted a steep decline in Paris and other French cities. There has been an even sharper fall in urban populations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Finland… As in Britain, where sparrow numbers are believed to have fallen by 90 per cent in the past 15 years, continental ornithologists can find no coherent explanation for the sudden decline…The mystery is especially deep in Paris, which is believed to have lost 200,000 sparrows – maybe one in 10 of the population – in the past 17 years. At the same time, the presence of somewhat more exotic “country” birds in the capital – from blackbirds to jays, kestrels and swifts – has increased.
India didn’t have this problem earlier, but now it’s becoming acute because of rapid industrialisation. China has an even more acute problem…I did not see a single bird in all the four cities of China that we visited last year. In India we do see birds in the cities, but they are mostly the sturdy crows and pigeons. Smaller birds like Mynas and sparrows are rarely seen.
A recent article in the Times of India discussed the disappearing sparrow in Mumbai:
Rapid urbanisation and increasing pollution is spelling doom for the small ubiquitous sparrow, which was earlier found in large numbers in the city… the root cause of the disappearance of these birds is massive development work which leads to cutting of trees and mangroves, besides pollution that is troubling many other species also…
The reasons
While the lack of nesting places and feeding opportunities are cited as possible reasons, by the article in The Independent, other reasons are given as well, like the possibility of some disease that affects sparrows. In fact the newspaper had carried out a campaign to create awareness of the disappearing sparrow and offered a £5,000 prize for the first convincing scientific explanation! As far as I know, this prize was never given out.
A lot of research seems to be on though, to find out the reasons for the disappearing sparrow. One thing is clear – sparrows are susceptible to effects of pollution. In fact all birds are affected by industrial pollution. There have been studies using birds as a biomonitor to detect urban metal pollution. Humans may get diseases because of pollution, but birds seem to dying off. Cockroaches and rats proliferate though! Probably because they are not that severely affected by atmospheric pollution (as birds).
In Mumbai, bird lovers are providing shelters like wooden boxes on trees, which can be used as nests by sparrows. They have put up more than 1,000 boxes across the city so far. Hopefully this has some beneficial effect. But just today I saw a horde of crows hounding the sparrows outside my window, trying to drive them away from their nest.
Tigers in India dwindling
Pesticides creating havoc in India
A wide angle view of India 
I saw lot of sparrows near my table at an open restaurant today. I was kind of happy to see sparrows instead of rats or stray dogs after a long time.
and coincidentally I see this post.. Sad. We have have also come to the stage when even sparrows might soon become extinct.
This is a tip to attract birds to your area. Every day, preferably during sunrise, make it a point to feed a handful of whole grains like rice in the garden or balcony or any other place where birds can comfortably come and eat. As far as possible stick to the timings. Slowly you will find more birds are coming to your place. lam doing this at my home.
he is right i’ve been doing this too and now abt 10 to 12 sparrows can be seen in my window during the morning and evening
i live in my farm house near delhi ,for the last 25 years i didnt see house sparrows, but for the last 2 years many about 300-400 have arrived, i placed wooden boxes,they make nests in them but do not lay eggs, ratio of male-female is 1:25, secondly- two years back small bees made a hive, thirdly- ihave a farm in m.p. near gwalior,last week i saw 8 vultures narender singh ,nsbhati007@yahoo.com
You Are doing a Nice Job Sir Keep it up from today I will also tray to do the same thing
Good photos, Nita, and a useful post. I think animal life factors in so minimally into our daily lives, for those of us who live in urban settings. The animals that do best in cities are those which scavenge. Dogs unfortunately don’t do as well at this. The sparrows here in the cities live off crumbs largely, as the ideas for beautification supress the presence of weeds whose seeds can give sustenance to small birds. If trees are removed, small birds are deprived of seeds from that source, let alone shelter for nesting. There is so much hard surfacing in cities and not a great variety of animal life. If birds can survive in our cities less and less, what does this say for the “city” being healthful habitation for other living things, humans included? G
Nita,
Thanks for writing about the plight of the poor sparrow.When I was young,I was always fascinated by these little birds.Sadly,I am not able to find even a single sparrow within the city limits these days 😦
About other birds,there used to be a huge tree whose branches used to grow right up to my window.And different kinds of birds made their nests on this tree.So every morning I used to wake up to the songs of those birds.They used to brighten my day with their songs.But sadly,one night during the monsoon,the tree was uprooted with a huge crashing noise.All the birds went away as there are no other trees of comparable size nearby.I miss them very badly 😦
But yes,the main cause of all this mass extinction of different species that has already begun is pollution ! Shame on us humans for allowing so much diversity to be destroyed.There is no other planet (as far as I know) like ours in the universe.Mother Nature will have Her revenge ! Someday or the other,destroyers of so much wonderful diversity will be punished ! There can be no escape from that !
soorajrox, so glad that someone shares my love for sparrows!
Old Sailor, I have tried these things and find that crows get attracted! I know I shouldn’t differentiate, but I don’t like crows.
Suburban, if birds are dying or moving away it means that the area is not safe for humans either. No wonder we are getting all sorts diseases nowadays. Respiratory diseases are on the rise in cities.
Raj, glad to know you share my love for birds. People are so obsessed with saving dogs (which we have in plenty!) that I hardly come across bird lovers.
I love birds and am lucky enough to live in a green area. I try to take pictures but they mostly don’t come out well. there are some unique birds in our area. If I manage to get some good pics, I will post them.
Thank u soo much guys .. u r all shown much interest to write bout these tiny bird .. alsa!! human development czd these birds death n pollution , n industrial wastages .. cz thy could nt live wid polution .. n also we had nt taken care f those birds
one o otr day these birds can be seen through only googly nt nywhr else ..
plz lets join hands n save these poor creatures ..
Hi Nita,
I have also noticed the disappearance of sparrows from cities in india.
Actually, there is another quite significant change as far as life of birds are concerned in india. Now, they are not the cutest birds, :-), but nevertheless, like all creatures in nature, they play a very vital part.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0128_040128_indiavultures.html
http://www.the-south-asian.com/Feb2004/india_vulture__dying_species.htm
It has been estimated that the population of these birds has dropped by a whopping 97% in the last 7-8 years.
It’s ironic that what we think of as development is the very antithesis of what is good for mother nature and mother earth.
Thanks for those links Sekhar. I had also read about the disappearing vulture. Looks like vultures are so large that they cannot survive, and sparrows are too tiny to survive! – Nita.
Every year the songbirds get less and less in America. We have plenty of birds, but many species are in decline. Doesn’t seem to bother anyone though, most feel that humans no longer need the environment.
The common man isn’t worried, but the scientists are. Hopefully they will do something to stop this decline. – Nita.
I too used to love looking at the sparrows in my childhood. I used to think that they were the cutest little birds. It is sad to hear that their numbers are declining. What we need in Indian cities are protected parks or areas where the trees are not allowed to be cut which can be sanctuaries for the diminishing wild life. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.
Every little effort counts! Even a box in one’s balcony. If everyone did it, it’s huge! – Nita.
On my recent trip to India I was surprised to see so few birds, given the country’s temperate climate. I have always enjoyed bird watching. One winter/spring my son and I identified over a dozen different species in our backyard. Over the last three years, though, much of the forested area in our part of the city has been cleared, and now we have fewer birds and fewer species. True, we don’t have to have birds to survive, but as someone already mentioned, the quality of life for humans is directly related to the quality of our surrounding natural environment. The good thing is that negative trends can be reversed. Growing up near the Chesapeake Bay (state of Virginia, USA) I never saw cormorants or pelicans. Now they flourish. Let’s hope that either corporate conscience or federal legislation can preserve our natural habitats!
Birds are reducing rapidly in Indian cities. More important than the climate, it’s the urbanisation which is destroying them. However even in Mumbai and Pune, heavily industrialised cities, one sees pigeons and crows. – Nita.
I had read about the proposal to introduce 25000 wooden boxes in Mumbai for sparrows to nest in Yaay!
Growing up, we used to throw rice in our living room and seen hordes of sparrows flock in! nowadays you have to strain hard to find a sparrow.
Is there a better way to shoo away only the crows? 🙂
I think crows are aggressive creatures because they don’t seem to be afraid even if I try to shoo them away. Today they ate up one of my new plants. 😦 – Nita.
Even the number of crows seem to have gone down rapidly in bangalore.
I think Delhi is in a bad shape too, where pollution is concerned. The only thing that Indian cities will soon have are stray dogs! – Nita.
Nita:
It may interest you to know that a recent scientific study in the UK finds that bird populations in urban areas of Britain are directly affected by the wealth of residents. It was found that there are more birds in affluent urban areas than in poorer ones because wealthier people are more interested in birds and more inclined to feed them.
The link to a news article:
telegraph.co.uk
Perhaps worth thinking about this for India in a more granular way?
By the way, some birds are less preferable than others! In Edinburgh, urban seagulls were a nightmare esp on rubbish collection day. They are aggressive and greedy and used to rip up all the rubbish bags. In London, near my house, I hear birds all day but what is more interesting is to see foxes in my garden on several occasions.
You see foxes! Now you are making me jealous! 🙂 That bit about wealthier residents feeding birds is interesting and I think that should apply here too. However where dogs are concerned, poor people also feed them, mongrels and the like (in the slums) while wealthier people keep 1-2 pets. Thanks for the links. – Nita.
I also have vivid memories of the sparrows during my childhood and early adolescence in the 90’s in southern rural China. I even made ink paintings of them.
About 8 years ago, a famed Chinese writer took a “Millenium Journey” sponsored by a TV station in attempt to understan China’s stand in the world and among ancient civilizations as to gain vision into China’s possible futures. The writer visited Greece, Egypt, civilizations of the two rivers, India etc. (He had already been to the western world). Before returning to his homeland, he stopped in Nepal and made the following comment out of observation on tourism in that country:
“When people have the freedom to choose between nature and civilization, it does not matter if they are from young and wealthy civilizations in the west or from old but now poor ones like China and India, they choose nature. Therefore at the end, people are not very happy with their own creations.”
Human society is initially a guest in nature, a garden amid the forest, a ship in the ocean. Out of arrogance, the guest attemps to conquire the master, thus turn vicious. Out of greed, the whole forrest is made into a garden, thus kill life. Out of ambition and stupidity, the ship desires to change the ocean, thus sink.
Need not say, the origin of this birdlessness phenonmenon in cities is modern western industrial culture. By copying it, China and India are on the destructive path. (Intersting enough, when criticizing China, westerners seem totally unembarassed).
All sort of Green movements and “scientific” solutions won’t help in long run if people’s world view doesn’t change. Those movements and solutions restore nature partially to the extent that people think it is OK to consume it again, then when the damage is again visualized, here comes the next movement. Nature still dies bit by bit, only slower.
Karma to human greed, if one does not believe in the east – west divide. ( I do. But China and India still have a choice between to-be and not-to-be. When we make the wrong choice, we are still responsible.)
By the way, I PROFOUNDLY DISTRUST the scientists (I was about to become a physist/mathematician myself) in saving birds. They are at the center of the creation of this birdless culture. A scientist is like a military doctor. He saves life in war, but he does not save life from war.
This one brings back fond memories of my childhood, where I used to visit my Dad’s office, situated next to a grocery store, the grocery store would be filled with Sparrows feeding on the rice grains! Sadly this sight now is just a part of my memory now, nothing else.
hi Satya,
This article takes me back to my nostalgic memoirs of my childhood.Even though i was born in Chennai i was fortunate enough to live in a bungalow with a big garden.Every mornings it was the chirping of the birds in the garden to cheer you up.In a gloomy day nothing like a pipping cup of coffee by the French windows looking out the garden and having the birds for company.The sparrows were aplenty.Making my room and every other its home.We wait eagerly for them to lay their eggs which we count,the eggs to hatch,keeping track if the chicks are fed to switch off the fan when the mother comes so she is not hurt.They were part of our life before you know it.But now with the urbanization where are the birds except on you tube and googles picture search.I would want to leave a lessor carbon footprint for generations to come.Use less paper,no plastics as every little helps .
Gugin, Sathya, thanks.
To All,
I was pleasantly surprised by people’s reactions here! I had no idea that people felt like this, that people felt so much like me! I thought I was being too sentimental. Now I realise that sparrows are connected to one’s childhood memories, for many Indians at least! They are to mine, and to that of a lot of people….I am left in a kind of wonderment.
This is all so true! We used to have 2 to 3 sparrow nests in my home.. but now they don’t come at all. I have seen crows eating their kids just on their first flight. There are so few sparrows at the grocery shops. It is so sad and unfair that they have to pay the price for the wrong things that human do. The box-nest idea is really good! Thanks for your post
There is a thesis on the decline in sparrow population in england:
http://www.katevincent.org/
Hi!
I agree completely with you.
Personally,I feel that the sparrows aren’t able to get immune to the pollution which we,humans are able to do pretty well…
I live in the outskirts of Pune and am very lucky because I get to watch sparrows have a “bath” in the lotus pond with other birds like the white throated munias every morning!
Actually,it is not just the sparrows that are slowly disappearing…even birds like the white backed vulture are becoming very rare…it is a pity because they are very important in the environment.
I recently read an article in The Times of India about there being 0% oxygen dissolved in the water of the Mula Mutha rivers…that is very saddening..the number of black winged stilts increase with an increase in polluted water..! The bird kingdom is becoming weird because of uncensored human activities..!
I think it is time we woke up now…..we are already facing the consequences in the form of the disappearance of the sparrows!
Thanks Mridula for sharing your experience! At least today 70 percent of India is rural, but in another 20 years, this will change and I dread to think what is going to happen. We need to learn from the west, where they have already gone through this crises. – Nita.
Where do we get these box nests in Mumbai
I am glad to be the bearer of good news. Where I live in Madras, there has been a resurgence of sparrows over the last couple of years, and I think it is to do with the fact that trees planted some years ago have all grown and provide a good canopy across the street.
its not just about sparrows. Its about the way we have adapted to our so called modern lifestyle. Its difficult to say what has resulted in the declining bird population. but its obviously us who are responsible for it. If you live in and around gurgaon you would realize that the conditions are so bad that its difficult for humans to go out in a non air conditioned car. How do we expect such gentle birds to live in an enviorment which is worse than chernobyl.
God bless the sparrows; we all need to pray for their survival and ability to multiply and return from the brink of extinction. As for the blackbirds and crows, I’ve also noticed that these ugly birds are still around in big numbers. They are harbingers of ill fate and chase them away usually….”The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Santayana
Sparrow is a wide term Nita. For example in America, the English Sparrow which is a vermin is quite a pest in being filthy, consuming food and being aggressive to native species.
Our song birds in America have declined since West Nile was introduced, but this spring our variety of birds from the chipping sparrow to the massive harris sparrow has been a wide variety.
I would suggest you do the things I do. I provide nesting, shelter as in evergreen trees, food and water at all times. Food is the essential thing. Most sparrows like Niger Thistle or an oil sunflower and will supplement with insects.
I was moved by watching Prince Charles on his estate in the manager putting up numbers of nesting boxes. Birds are quite adaptable to human presence, but they do require their own quiet spots. It is not so much the rapid housing projects, but the not replacing landscape and nesting venues.
Sometimes leaving a few weeds is exactly what a sparrow needs as I stated before sparrows are a wide group of birds. Some of mine like bull thistles to nest in and some need cavities.
We do not have as many birds now, but they do seem more numerous in coming back.
I do concur though that the sweet notes of a song sparrow are the most lovely of all in nature. I love our native sparrows and I do hope your sparrows flourish too.
PS: Mao of China decades ago had this grand plan of killing all the sparrows as they ate grain. So he sent people to bang on pots and pans and literally flew them to death.
The end result was Mao got his grain, but without the sparrows a pestilence swept through China for bugs.
So much for communism and nature.
While I would not want legislation, it would be nice if homeowners groups could get together and see about providing food, shelter and nesting areas with water for song birds for all to enjoy.
GB~
I take issue with your opinion about crows being, “quite ugly,” but that can be a discussion for another time. Now that you mention it though, it seems there have been fewer sparrows around for the past couple of years. I’ll make sure to be more aware of them.
It may be related to wireless…
This article and many of the comments in it remind me of a less insightful aspect of some humans nature. In many places on earth crows are on the decline and in some places various species of them have gone totally extinct.
Yes , worry for the sparrows and others but worry as well for those that have so far fought the good fight to survive against the odds of pollution and human – avian racism.
Smile when you see a crow and know that they to have a song worth hearing , worth singing and a life worth living , worth sharing.
JR.
JR.Inghram,
It’s been four years,I know,but I couldn’t help appreciating your words.Crows,often identified as a bad omen,are perhaps one of the most caring creatures.And believe me,a friendship with a crow is an everlasting one.I have heard their song and it’s definitely a song that tells you that life is worth living after all-SHIVAM.
I recently moved from a place where there were just crows to a place that has sparrows and I don’t see many crows.
The critters as well as the Blue Jays and Mockingbirds are very hungry. Please people feed them!!!
Here is what I feed them: stale old bread, old tortillas, bird seed, and dried cat food. They love dried cat food. I have cats and found this out by accident so if you can’t afford bird seed feed them cat food. Try to buy the kind that is small no bigger then a pea in size and they will love you for it. Another thing to do is gently wet the cat food with water to moisten it and they love it even more. If you don’t believe me, give it a try.
They are hungry and need food to survive. Please feed them.
I love birds……Thanks for your attention.
I can tell you that I’m in Oregon and I have a backyard FULL of sparrows. We also have a few canaries and doves.
It’s strange, here in the US (North East) there are plenty of sparrows but no crows at all. They started disappearing years ago- weather you like the birds or not, it’s disturbing.
We here in the sticks have been seeing the decline in migrating birds for decades. My assumption was that they shifted patterns to cities, rather than run the gauntlet of us rural folk (animals really aren’t stupid, if you don’t know).
A sparrow can live for days on the harvest of just one windshield, so I guess I’m just more used to seeing the birds in urban areas.
Crows aren’t ugly. They’re beautiful, intelligent birds!
Pesticides, geneticly manipulated plants that have pesticides built in,,, are far more harmful than anyone is willing to admit here. Is the change in the type of grease the french fry is cooked in, bad for the birds that eat them?
I noticed a decline in the sparrow back in the early 1980s in southern california, house finches filled in that hole left behind.
The problem: You don’t want roaches running around, and instead of cleaning up your area, you reach for a killer chemical.
Mans laziness should not be the cause for others to suffer, but it is.
Small birds and reptiles are the best insecticides ever known, but in the lazy manner in which we attack the crop pests and the house pests, small birds get in the way and are dying off as the result of simple laziness.
Those weakened bugs rolling on the ground in pain before they die, look good to a hungry little bird.
In 1978 I took one about to be thrown away shelf plank, a 5/8″x10″‘x7’, I used a carpenters saw and made six pieces out of it, one long enough to act as a short over-hanging roof and two sidsomes with a slanted cut on one side so the roof would be at an angle. Slapped a thick coat of paint all over each piece and screwed it together e with cheap screws I also painted over to protect from the elements. The inside I partitioned so there are actually four ‘condos’ available. I had a small diameter pole and with a little ingenuity, I made an artificial treehouse for any small bird that wanted to move in. You can add a small stick as a perch below the hole, but think, an attacker can also sit there relaxed and try to get whats inside. The hole size must be just large enough for sparrows (or finches etc), but not big enough for, lets say Jays, to stick thier heads in and get to the young or the eggs.
That little junk-board house is still there used year after year by mostly finches, but I’m happy to say, there are sparrows returning.
Do NOT use pesticides, a hammer is better.
The beautiful sparrow has taken a leave of absence as they have been called to higher service. The competition for sparrows has led them to a different destination. The planet has many delightful habitat zones. India needs to diversify its ornithary attraction component if it is to salvage irs bird populations.
Look to the sky ,all the spraying . google -chemtrails
YOU ARE SO CORECT,I REMEMBER HUNDREDS OD WILD CANARIES,YELLOW GROWING UP IN MICHIGAN,GONE,PHEASENTS GONE,SOON ALL BIRDS WILL BE A MEMORY,,VERY SAD..GL
Dam ! I was counting on shooting them with my BB gun when the starving time comes. I guess I will have to go to the fallback plan of: EATING HIUMAN FLESH !!!
Here in Kansas in the USA we have not seen this problem, but I live in a very rural area. I have lived here all my life and the one thing I can say about sparrows is that they will build a nest ANYWHERE!! True story. I saw a sparrow nest built in an air cleaner on a car that was driven DAILY!! The customers complaint was poor performance and losy MPG. The nest had been sucked in to the air filter as well as 6 eggs!!
It seems that you would see alot of their bodies laying around if they were dying off. I don’t know if the nesting boxes would help. Very strange. Out here the sparrow is considered very hardy. If something is killing them off that would be a concern indeed.
Take Care All
I just realised I cannot remember the last time I saw a sparrow. I tend to notice all life around me as a rule too, since I love nature.
No sparrows… 😦
R I C E !? who posted that!? rice is harmful to birds!
Real Man: indeed if they were dying off we would see evidence as in the corpses; is it a new migration due to polar shift/changes? global temperature change? etc.
The increase of cell phone towers have driven the sparrows away from big cities. Just get rid of the cell phone towers and the wireless internet and they will come back. I see lots of sparrows in the country away from the cell towers.
I dare anyone to climb a cell phone tower and stand in its beam for 5 minutes…. You are guaranteed to die within 2 months if you do that …and this is proven.
If a cell tower can kill a human in 2 months what do you think it does to the birds who are hundreds of times more sensitive ? it’s a no brainer. They would rather let the birds die than get rid of the cell phone towers. You are not being told the truth and you will never be told the truth because it seems that big profits for big corporations are more important than the lives of people and animals.
To the person or persons who think that you should be seeing lots of dead sparrows if they are dying off, I have to point out this is a very narrow view. Firstly the carcass is very small and degenerates completely within a couple of days as a rule. Ants can clean up a sparrow in a few hours at most.
Secondly the most likely cause of a decline of such magnitude is more likely to be a low birth rate. More likely fewer viable eggs and or more eggs being destroyed before hatching, or the chicks destroyed before leaving the nest. There probably are very few carcasses to find beyond the usual rate.
I am not an expert but I am an observer. Pollution cannot be blamed for everything and it is actually decreasing in many places where certain bird populations are reportedy diminishing. The article itself has the best clue in “The Independent” quote:
“At the same time, the presence of somewhat more exotic “country” birds in the capital – from blackbirds to jays…” Crows, ravens, jays, and starlings are only a few of species which have been spread by Man – 60 starling pairs in NYC’s Central Park have proliferated to millions in the USA in less than a century is an example – they are all smart scavengers who will perch nearby studying the nests of swallows, robins, thrushes, and other smaller birds and then steal their eggs and newborn hatchlings – the person who advocates attracting birds with artificial food sources is setting those birds up for a sorry ending – Nature provides a food chain and living elements respond in proportion – many hummingbird feeders and prefabricated sugar-water products warn of the importance of keeping such artificial sources replenished once they are introduced… Take care of the “exotic” carnivorous birds introduced from other places and your indigenous birds will recover if they are not already wiped out by these voracious predators. If pollution were the reason, predatory birds would decline as well, but not nearly so fast since they survive on many nutritional food types and sources. Crows and starlings evolve to feed on whatever they find in the environment – live animal and vegetable species below tidelines in saltwater environs are an example in early Spring – until the nesting migratory birds’ eggs and young become available … By wanting and creating a “little piece of home” or of some place we’ve visited by establishing a non-indigenous life form, Man has diminished the richness of the original environment and diminished the richness of the destination environment. Simple. Sad.
The Darling Sparrow, wherever man was, one found the sparrow, and especially in the cities with their little sky blue eggs that signaled spring.
They survived the harsh northern winters .. a famine time for them .. everybody fed the sparrows, a saved crust or crumb.
Thank you for stirring boyhood memories and the timely reminder of just who we really are and just what our technology and economic system is doing to the Planet. This savage rocking of the ecological cradle may lead Nature to consign us to the failed experiment basket.
Coal Mines were large employers in neighboring counties so all of us children knew of the Canary in the cage that each shift to on duty with them .. in the event of toxic gas the Canary was the first to die, thus giving the miners warning and time to escape a tomb.
The humble Sparrow is our canary down the mine. The chemical soup within which we live and grace with the name atmosphere is reaching saturation point ..
I also fed some sparrows a few weeks ago at an outdoor restaurant at Hong Kong Disneyland. Typically bold little fellows, they flew right up to feet under the table. Liked the rice, they did.
I noted mentally that I saw wild birds in the fake river, and along the fake riverside and jungle, and wondered if they were seeking refuge from development encroachment there. Goodness knows, Hong Kong constantly expands.
Surely, the world can “spare the sparrows” a green belt here and there in our expanding developments.
From 2 acres of top storey only trees, two decades ago,to 70% under- storey brush as well now, we have gone from a few magpies and parrots to swarms of wrens, finches, tree creepers and now sparrows, nesting up to the house, even in an old gardening hat next to the front door, and the young being taught to fly on the verandah as we sit there. They feed with the chickens behind 1″ netting as well as seed from weeds and grasses.
We haven’t cell phone coverage, there may be something in that too, and no cats or dogs either.
Give sparrows a daily ration of cooked rice. Also leave out clean fresh water to drink and for bathing.
I love sparrows.
GAIA
Urban populations need to become more environmentally friendly. One easy way is to implement roof top, window, and empty lot gardens as well as capture rainfall to water the plants.
When Cuba suffered embargos leaving the country with food shortages, the Cubans planted vegetable gardens in every available empty lot in Havana. Within a year they no longer had food shortages. Plant a tree, save a life.
Please don”t feed the birds raw rice,here in America we found out that raw rice will kill the sparrows,other birds also.They love,cat food,breads,even left overs from your kitchen table.Plant Thuja Trees,they love them to live in.We have rows of them in our yard,we have many sparrows here.Not only do they need food,they could use certain bushes they love to live in.Even if you have a small yard,try to plant just one Thuja tree,one day you may see your sparrows come back.
Interesting reading from all the sparrow lovers. I was also aware of the dwindling sparrow population and remember them fondly during my childhood days, when i saw them hoppng around.
Then one day whilst i was doing my field work, i happened to observe a group of crows or ravens (which are quite carniverous) attacking a sparrow and eating it while it was struggling for it’s life. If you remember the “Big fish eat smaller fish” pun, it would seem that in the bird kingdom the same thing applies.
So if you want to see an increase in the sparrow population, then you will have to reduce the population of the “carniverous” ravens (which are quite big in size), because these carniverous ravens will attack the sparrows nesting the trees as well.
Those creatures who ate up the sparrow was the housecrow. Ravens are not like that. – Nita.
I’ve always loved birds. Sparrows are the most common bird where I’m from. I live right across the
river from N.Y.C. The first 45 years of my life, I do not recall having seen a dead adult sparrow. I had a dicussion about that once with loved ones and we thought it was because they would disintergrate so
fast, there’d be nothing left to see.
In the last 5 years, I’ve seen more dead adult sparrows
that I’ve lost count. I assumed it could be numerous
things; chemtrails, cell phone towers, migratory
changes, etc… It just hurts to see this happen.
What can be done?
Presently I live in an outer western suburb of Sydney. Sparrows are plentyful, sometimes 10 to 15 in a group. I spent 2 years in the Philippines on the Island of Negros near Dumaguete City. We had quite a few sparrows in our garden but interestingly they weren’t the common house sparrow but very similar to the European tree sparrow. I never saw a house sparrow. Tom, May 21st 10:43, how can you call blackbirds ugly? The beautiful black males with their yellow beak and their superb song give us joy throughout spring and summer.
When we had our house built 20 yrs ago, the lot used to be a almond orchard. When we found this out, we started researching what animals we had displaced.
Then we built homes for them in the backyard.
We have about 50 Sparrows at any given time living with us. During hard times of the year, I provide seed.
We have had a Humming Bird family for the last 10 yrs. The young ones stay and raise their family when the older ones die.
The Stellar Jays are frequent visitors too.
We joke that when we sell the house, the buyer has to agree to take care of the ones who were here before us.
Here in south texas I noticed the crows going after the various song birds we have down here. I decided to create a black bird/crow free fire zone in my back yard. Any crow within fifty yards from my back door was fair game. I modified .22 target short ammo as it sounds like a pellet gun but has three time the energy as a pellet. The first year I was active, many crows went down, I rarely missed. Crows are very smart birds, they recognize a rifle from a distance, and they fly away, you have to be stealthy. Three years after I started my campaign against the crows my backyard as well as the adjoining neigbors yards are a sanctuary for song birds. There must be a dozen nests and even red jays are nesting here. The crows just fly over, they no longer harrass my wonderful playful songbirds. Sadly, this year I have not been as vigilent and the crows are coming back slowly. Very tenacious birds. I am currenlty working on another batch of ammunition for this year. My work continues
good article. smaller birds have extremely high metabolism, like sparrows, possibly resulting in greater susceptability to pollution. However, sparrow populations have traditionally been high in areas of high photo-chemical smog and usual heavy industrial emissions in the past in many major US cities, for example. It is recently that we see heavy decline in smaller bird species , often in semi rural and rural areas where they were once abundant. Are there new conditions other than those mentioned that could be affecting bird populations?
A controversial candidate in some circles would be the so called phenomenon of “chem trails”. In the western US (and most of the northern hemisphere), this phenom is ubiquitous and wide spread. On very bad days of spraying, where the gassing planes are easily observed blanketing hundreds if not thousands of square miles with fast spreading and unusual vapor clouds (causing, by the way , respiratory ailments among humans), the writer, who has studied wildlife and birds for decades in California and elswhere, observed an obvious pattern of “no fly” behaviour by many local birds.
Some of the observed declines are probably due to a host of insults listed on these blogs reaching a saturation point relative to survival of even the hardy sparrow, . Eventually, the larger oppurtunistic predatory birds, such as crows, will suffer too as carrion bonanzas recede and the environment continually degrades.
I would respectfully suggest that people in India start taking a strong interest in meteorology and cloud formations and monitor the sky , especially in coastal areas. Much “spraying” as we are used to is done offshore, drifting in with prevailing onshore coastal breezes and winds. This is no joke or conspiracy theory and is of extreme concern to people of USA and western Europe especially.
One other candidate of mention is established landscape maintenance practices of using chemical herbicides and pesticides in management of outdoor urban environments, which has grown radically over the years (insectiverous birds especially prone – most birds are opportunistically predatory from time to time, indluding seed eating sparrows). In pursuit of profit relative to labor costs, most landscape maintenance companies have become “poison spreadors” primarily. Home gardeners are especially prone to over use and dangerous mixing habits that are also of grave concern. The food chain is negatively affected in a complex urban widlife ecology and one of the first things that will be noticed is absence of butterflies as trees are routinely sprayed to prevent the unsightliness of catipillar infestations, which are seldom fatal to trees.
I think especially in India, birds are considered among our most important inspirational beings on this planet… thank you for your article. Don’t be too hard on the crow, they are probably feasting on local garbage dumps.
i am not a religious zealot, but i do remember jewish folklore which stated that sparrows were sent by god to deliver the souls for a new born child. could that mean the well of souls is almost depleted ?
Hi Nita, great blog.
Just bumped into it and perhaps it might need several visits on account of its awesome content.
I had heard from a well-placed academician some time ago that sparrows are hardly seen these days because of the rampant circulation of microwave network of cellphones. The cellphone waves irritate them, he had said. Though I thought it was a plausible explanation, I could not get any scientific evidence in support.
Now I have read Mike’s post and it makes alarming reading.
I really miss the sparrows that used to visit the balcony of my apartment all part of the day and their sweet chirps.
ps: I too am a freelance journalist
Thanks to all who have been commenting here. I have been quite overwhelmed actually as the comments are absolutely wonderful and educative! Thank you all!
Lasardo, do come again and others too. 🙂
“Where have all the sparrows gone”?
I don’t exactly know , but , I do believe it is one of many signs, that the second coming of our Lord Jesus is just that much closer , alot closer than we realize , watch and pray….!
Another link to sparrows that I saw today… looks like a recent article, though there is uncanny similarity in title.
http://www.indiwo.com/india/features/harmony-in-life-life/where-are-all-the-sparrows-gone/40681/0
The heading is the same and the article was published on June 9th. Maybe the writer saw my heading, maybe she didn’t. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt because my heading isn’t unique and her content is different. Thanks Karyayani for bringing this to my notice! – Nita.
…same thing happened to the vultures in India. As you all probably know, since late 90s, their numbers have decreased almost 98%.
I live in mid USA, here too some backyard birds- sparrows, finches– are becoming scarce, supposedly due to west nile virus infection….I hope it is not a permanent loss.
in some countries like Madagascar, Indonesia, you will not find any birds in the city gardens,parks, even countryside rice paddies and flowering bushes are strangely bird-less. In the capital city of Madagascar, I did not see a single sparrow, crow even a pigeon.
Ditto in Jakarta, Yogjakarta, and surrounding country. Lots of flowers fruits, trash, insects but no birds. The entire country of Indonesia with thousands of islands and million miles of shoreline have not a single sea gull!
Sadly, the local people do not even miss the birds. They think birds are something exotic like tigers and lemurs, and should be in the jungles, national parks etc, not in the cities. They will not even believe that cities of other countries, even non tropical countries has hundreds of species of birds in all seasons. it is all very sad.
I remember reading about the vulture. What you say about those other places is quite heart-breaking. I think it’s clear that birds have been eliminated. I think we are heading for a bird-less earth. Sad, yes. No, I think it’s tragic. – Nita.
I would like to breed sparrows at my home/farm. Could someone help me tell how could I do that? Is there a place where I could buy sparrow eggs in Bangalore?
What is the reason behind it?
Food or tree
I will wait for your feedback.
MAC
Dear Author,
I want to know the possible reasons for the decrease in the polulation of common house sparrows and what can be done to stop this rapid decrease in the polulation of common sparrows. Please guide me to stop this decline in the population of sparrows. After studying i got some reasons from various peoples:
1. it is due to the use of mobile phones
2. it is due to construction of RCC buildings and houses.
3. it is due to cutting of trees/forest.
Please let me know the exact reason and what can we do to save these common birds.
Thanking you
sk_faheem(at)rediffmail.com
Shaikh, I am but just a reporter and have reported what I know. No one knows the exact reason in any case but it is probably mainly due to your point no. 1 and no.3. You will find common birds in areas which are forested.
nita…
now that you point out i too notice that there is definitely a decrease in the numbers of sparrows visiting my neighborhood. in contrast there is a marked increase in the numbers of mynahs and crows. pigeons too have gone up in numbers. sparrows are supposed to be domesticated birds (sort of) and i remember as a kid their favourite nesting locations used to be all of our room ventilation holes high up in the cieling. is it because of the disappearance of these nesting holes or is it because the outside spaces are all booked by the heftier and more ferocious pigeons and tree spaces by the crows that the sparrows have moved away (sort of) from metros? but i have seen their disappearance from my village home as well (which abounds in trees of all kinds). again the mynah & crow population has increased there too.
The disappearance of sparrows has been quite obvious. As for crows there is a drastic increase because they are scavengers anyways.
But recently I was pleasantly surprised at the number of sparrows in the newly built Bangalore International airport. These birds seem to have built nests very high near the roof and seem to be feeding from the restaurants below. But its still a mystery why they chose Bangalore airport as a habitat…literally hundreds of sparrows live there and seem to get food from somewhere.
On thing about Bangalore airport is the poor mobile signals you recieve there…may be thats the cause plus the unique architecture we have there is helpful for sparrows. So for those bird enthusiasts do check it out..its very heartening to see so many sparrows finally.
Dear Nita,
Where I live, by the ocean, all the seagulls have disappeared, and many other wild-lifes also.
I have been researching this on the web, and believe the Microwave signals (such as TETRA
Testing) are interfering in many organisms natural
nuerological functions, most importantly the sensitive nerve pathways and connections essential
to comfortable limits of stress causing interference.
This being bad enough, a (approx.) 5000 yr.
cyclical event of electromagnetic pole reversals
of the Sun and Earth is comming up in late 2012
(a world-wide universal apocalyptical predicted
time-frame event). Just imagine: countless
microwave signals inundating our brains constantly, for enough years that these organs
become adapted to, and compensate for; then
all-of-a sudden, the earths friendly-kind-gentle-
natural magnet rhythms -reverse- (turning all our
brains compensatory mechanisms going the
wrong way?) Sort of like having our bio-electrical
systems and structures turned inside-out! Ouch!!!
Maybe as a cautionary measure we should run
some simulating lab tests to see what “might”
happen to us?
I hope I just have an over-active imagination,
(but I don’t Know…)
Steven, your last four words have described the situation as it is. No one knows for sure. And there are many people who don’t want to know. Finally evolution will decide who survives and who doesn’t. – Nita
well……….i used olsailor trick & i’m happy with it man!!!
i was bored 2 see dat boring rats,crows&stray dogs……..i hardly see any birds
last time when i went 2 d national park……….espcially 2 a look at d birds………wot d shit i cud see was only 2 to3 birds…………i piced man………………..
well i have made the effort, planted trees, put up feeding stations, boxes, but in my area of the last west london town it seems people just let cats breed then kick them out to run wild, we have a fair range of birds feeding now but the cats create a war zone here, coupled up with the young thugs running round with thier macho image dogs, the poor birdie is harrassed to hell, no wonder they want to get away.
guys i have a rather severe problem the crows near my home seem to kill the sparrows what can i do to end this or atleast slow the process down
sparrows were users of ventilation space (old building had ventilations). sparrows were safe there. now that they are in the open the crows have a field day. i too am seeing such a problem. apart from shooing away crows chasing sparrow kids there is nothing else i can do. crows seem to attack the sparrow juniors who aren’t yet qualified pilots.
HELLO EVERYONE, IAM FROM A REMOTE VILLAGE IN ANDHRAPRADESH WHERE I HAVE SEEN MANY BIRDS EARLY IN THE MORNING [(DURING SUMMER SEASON (MAINLY)] WHEN WE USED TO SLEEP ON TERRACE, BIRDS USED TO QWEEK,, AND USED TO WAKE US ALL……HAHAA…
BUT NOW NO SUCH SWEET SOUNDS ANYMORE, WE RARELY SEE SPARROWS AND OTHER BIRDS LIKE PARROTS, ……
IAM AFRAID AND PRAY TO GOD THAT THEY WONT GET EXTINT AND LEAVE US ONLY WITH MEMORIES OF THEM….
If my observation is not wrong as the mobile phone service increased in india
I I would urge people to consider the Mobile service radiation as major factor//i may be wrong …i still strong believe that its only after mobile services sparaows are running away or found where mobile service is not available or less
I am really wondering , where have all the sparrows gone !
We spent our childhood seeing them at our home , even inside.
they used to be the part of our life /family.
Three years since you wrote this,I read this now and nothing has changed:(….today is the World House Sparrow Day..hope we city dwellers wake up!
Have u seen any newly constructed mobile phone towers. If a mobile phone tower is erected in a new area you can find dead sparrows every day. I can not prove this in city because all sparrows are either dead or ran away. This truth is not proved because nobody cares about sparrows. If u want to do some thing about it get a pure landline. And try to avoid the use of cell phones when u visit villages where u can see sparrows. Once in 1999 I heard that one sparrow is dead for every phone call made. But today we need not worry because we have already killed all sparrows. But please kick any one who is using cell phone in bird canchury. I feel ashamed because I did not believe in 1999 that one sparrow is dying for every mobile phone call.
i live in riverside,ca this year. our apartment complex, had a large pigeon population. then suddenly they were gone. months have past and still no birds. any idea why?
sparrow are need to be saved..it takes a large or millions of years to evolve from one species to another..so let us join hands in saving its life..sparrow – she is a beatuy
hello::As for my answer the sparrows are disappearing due to the cause rapid increasing of usage of mobile phones the signals which are used for data transformatin is main effert for the cause of decreasing of sparrowsthak u.
hey thanks for infomation………….
I am a teacher and I was planning to ask my students to design a stamp for the sparrow day. Your post and others’ comments explained a lot. I will share the info and the feelings of others to motivate my kids before they design the stamp.
i am also thinking that what is this happening………………..The disappearance of sparrows has been widely reported in India ……………………sparrow population is an alarming danger I think Nita…….
Hi Nita and others,
Maybe you like to note your sparrow sightings in the following project?
CITIZEN SPARROW
Location: http://www.citizensparrow.in
Hi all,
Here’s a link to a post on sparrows in an urban neighbourhood, by a youngster I know:
She must have been in her early teens when she wrote and illustrated the piece.
Aww! Poor creatures… 😦 hope i could save ’em. But im trying to conserve them as far as possible! Please guys save these little spicies! 🙂
i love sparrow’s chirp….i wanna save them. but how….?
sparrows
what a bird!
i love sparrows & i want to save them but i m not getting solution to save them
I think cell phone towers are the main cause of their becoming extinct. I was appalled last time 3 years ago, when I visited my rural India to find them completely gone. Whoever think s they exist in rural India is completely false. I heard from our villagers that after cell phone towers came they started declining. though i cannot verify the villagers claim may be truth lies somewhere. the village does grow lot of grains like channa and other commodities. So I do not believe food shortage is an issue. I used to see plenty of sparrows in my childhood coming inside my home and sitting outside on electricity wires.. It saddens me to find an integral part of you childhood is no longer there anymore. Whom should we blame?
Cause for Sparrow disappearance in metros are…..
1. Mobile phone towers which emits high frequency radio waves which made the species to disappear.
2. Pollution may be cause that can be considered as secondary reason.
How ever, the environment observers shall reveal the fact so that we will be in a position to preserve the natural environment than OVER modernisation.
The reason for keeping preservation the nature is – when a bird is becoming instinct, then definitely it will spoil human being by getting modern advanced gadgets….!!!!!!
Anybody, having an idea in depth about the above, please give comments.
Cyrill John.M
yeah right i am remmembering my childhood days when i was small lot of sparrows would came on our terrace i used to feed them water ans grains nut now only three to four sparrowS come I AM JUST MISSING THEM VERY MUCH…….. PLZ COME YARRR….
I think one major reason that affects sparrow population is cellphone towers and signals, and being in such a vast populated country with cell phone crazy people, what can we expect? Thats why we see such a major decline in sparrow population last decade ever since cell phones made advent.
As a kid, I used to catch a lot of sparrows and even saved lot of sparrow chicks from the beaks of crows, who were about to eat it and the last time when I caught sparrows were in the year 2012, when a female sparrow with her your chick, who could fly a bit entered my kitchen by mistakenly. Some how I managed to catch both of them and then let them go.
I believe from last 7 to 8 years or so, the sparrows have disappeared drastically and even the mynas are no where to be seen. At one point of time, these birds were so common and now it’s no where to be seen. I don’t know the reason but just like the Indian vultures, I guess it will get into the verge of extinction unless we do something.
Rare birds of Mumbai these days – Sparrows, mynas, coucals, herons
These days I only see crows, pigeons, black kites, oriental magpie robins, bulbuls, small humming birds.
3 years ago, many sparrow families come to my house’s roof to make their nests, In the morning, i can hear clearly their “chirp”. They often bring straw into my house to build their home but now i start to fear because when there was a blackout in daytime, without computer, TV and electronic devices i heard no sound, nothing at all. Every time i walk to the highest floor where usually cover with sparrow nest’s material, there was nothing beside dust. It was like they all gone, going to a big migration out of this world and i wonder if there will be one day, when i notice, many other animals had just disappeared from the world without our acknowledge.
I too miss the beautiful, playful sparrows & the Mynas. Mynas visit ground that has grass & cow dung which means good soil with worms. The sparrows used to eat broken rice, dry chapati, etc. but certainly am at a loss on why they have gone. Even the squirrel is becoming a rare sight. Certainly the metal pollution is taking a toll.. but I am really taken aback by the audacity of birds like the raven, crows.. just a couple of hours ago a crow or was that raven hit my shoulder with a wing as if mocking at us humans. Rats, cockroaches have been surviving from ancient times when dinosaurs roamed around.. they will not go away even when the human become extinct.
Is it the WiFi radiation that is taking a toll of the sparrows? Growth of mobile communication & disappearing of sparrows are too close be a coincidences.
Yes I too think there could be a link. However no proper research is being done on this and the reasons are clear. Big telecom companies do not want such negative publicity.
The noise made by crows & raven are perhaps reminder to us; in the name of modernization & urbanization we destroyed their nesting places, powerful microwaves in air has adversely affected their navigation which depend on earth’s magnetic field; Cell phones & towers emitting low frequency of 900 or 1,800 MHz can cause thin skulls of chicks & thin egg shells. Researchers at the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, say there are enough reasons to attribute bird mortality to such radiation. A team at the Center for Environment and Vocational Studies of Punjab University, headed by RK Kohli, exposed 50 eggs to EMR for duration of five minutes to 30 minutes. “All the 50 embryos were damaged. It’s almost like being microwaved!”. This kind of damage is almost non-reversible.. Unless there is strict check on power radiated by cell phone operators the remaining few will also become history…
soooooooooo sorry about the sparrows
once up on a time my back yard full of sparrows morning to evening their chir pir was nauseating some time they intruded the home like pakistani terrorists some time I caught them and played with now they disappeared not a single to see, strange!! but true
I used to live in the centre of Beijing, China until two years ago and there were quite a few sparrows that used to land on my windowsill. Admittedly, because there are not so many trees in the city, Beijing doesn’t have a lot of birds, except pigeons (of course) and some crows or ravens, I don’t know which. But there were quite a few trees around where I lived. So this rather unexpected fact seems to contradict the mobile phone theory, mentioned above. Now I am living in an inner suburb of Sydney, Australia and I haven’t seen a single sparrow here in two years, where they were plentiful decades ago. I am heartened by the guy who earlier wrote in 2008 that sparrows were plentiful in the outer western suburbs of Sydney. I’ll have to check that out. Maybe the reason is that that area is close to the large Blue Mountains National Park.
(Continuing my post) By the way, there are lots of other birds here in the inner suburbs of Sydney, where trees are plentiful.