Sparrows, the avian neighbours of humans for thousands of years, are now sadly fast disappearing. Once a familiar sight, the tweeting and chirping exuberant little birds are now a rare sight in cities and towns. And we, the humans, are to blame for their disappearance.  In our race towards urbanisation, we have destroyed their homes. They no longer come to rest in nooks and corners of our houses. They either do not find resting places, or even if they do, they do not feel safe enough.

The ‘house sparrow’ has now become one of the most endangered birds and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has added them on the red list. 

Realising the important role these little birds play in maintaining the ecological balance, the forest division of Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, has launched the ‘Mor Chiriya’ initiative. According to the Conservator of Mahasamund, Mr. Pankaj Rajput, IFS, the initiative is about taking people along in birds’ conservation, especially the sparrow. In exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, the officer gave details of the initiative. The initiative was launched on World Wildlife Day and the dedicated website is live from – World Sparrow Day i.e. 20th of March 2022. 

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WHY SPARROWS ARE DISAPPEARING

Sparrow has always lived near humans. Earlier, when the houses where of wood and mud, these little birds could easily find places to build their nests. Due to the wood and mud, their nests would be comfortable in all kinds of weather. 

But, since the modern-day houses are made of bricks and cement, they don’t have places to build nests. Besides this, the radiation from mobile and TV towers are also killing the birds on a mass scale. Rapid unplanned urbanization destroyed their homes and now people at large are unsympathetic to their plight. 

WHY CONSERVE THEM

What most people do not realise is that these little birds play a big role in maintaining the ecological balance. Sparrows feed on seeds and small insects. They help in the germination of seeds by spreading the seeds to places away from the parent plant. By spreading seeds, sparrows help the survival of many plants that are the producers in an ecosystem. 

Sparrows also feed on small insects and keep their population in check. Otherwise, the insects would have eaten certain plants to extinction. Hence, it is necessary to protect and conserve these little birds.

MOR CHIRIYA

The forest department of Mahasamund district in Chhattisgarh is taking a welcome step in this regard by focusing on creating homes for the sparrows. Under the ‘Mor Chiriya’ initiative, the department is distributing DIY kits to people to build eco-friendly nests for sparrows.

The department, under the leadership of Conservator Pankaj Rajput, is also organising workshops in schools and civil societies. Besides teaching them to make sparrow nests in a fun way, the department is also focusing on educating the people, especially the students, about the importance of sparrows and how we can save them by providing food and water to them. 

Mr. Rajput told Indian Masterminds: “We want to sensitise the people towards bird conservation while keeping special focus on the sparrow. Our vision is to target the larger population, and for that, we have launched a website, ‘Mor Chiraya’, from which anyone can order the DIY kit and help us in rebuilding the homes of sparrow.”

ECO- FRIENDLY NEST

Mr. Rajput and his team are determined to rebuild houses for the sparrows. Under Mr. Rajput leadership a special DIY kits are prepared by the women SHGs (Self Help Groups) of Bagbahra, Mahasamund. The DIY Kit has material for building an eco-friendly nest for the sparrows. It has bamboo rings, jute and cotton thread, Coconut coir, Fevicol, bangle. With these materials even the kids can build beautiful homes for the sparrows. Mr. Rajput says that the time to discuss and blame the reasons for the endangerment of these birds has long gone. We should focus on rebuilding their homes so that they can live and thrive. One can buy the material from the website, https://www.mor-chiraiya.org and help in conserving the sparrows

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Here’s what you can do to save the house sparrows: 

1. Leave a bowl of water and some grains on your window sills, balconies, terraces, courtyards, etc. 
2. Leave a bird bath – a bucket or a large bowl filled with water – on roof tops to let the birds bathe and get some relief from the soaring mercury.
3. Use superior quality fuel in your vehicles to lessen pollution.
4. Grow trees in your locality.
5. Minimise the use of mobile phones to lessen the radiation in the environment.
6. Provide a place or build nest outside the houses where the birds can live

Small steps can go a long way in saving these little birds from going extinct and bringing them back to live with us once again, happily co-existing together, as before. Let’s live and let live.