Pushpa Gujral ScienceCity today celebrated World Sparrow Day by organizing a webinar. MohammedDilawar, the man behind the first celebration of World Sparrow Day was the keyspeaker at the occasion.
He said that fivedifferent species of sparrows are found in India. Out of the five, only onespecies is migratory while the rest are native to the Indian subcontinent. Themost abundant and widespread is Passer domesticus. It's important to savesparrows by installing nest boxes, bird feeders, planting native plants andreducing use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. He emphasized on savingsparrows to save humanity.
Gitanjali Kanwar,Coordinator, WWF-India added that there are about fifty species of birds thatlive closest to human dwellings. These birds include bulbul, sparrows’ pigeons,warblers, parakeets, etc. Such birds find birdhouses safer, protective andhabitable. It is the survival instinct that urges the endangered sparrows toshift their natural habitats from houses and buildings to the artificiallybuilt bird houses.
Speaking at theoccasion, Dr Neelima Jerath, Director General Science City said that humblehouse sparrow or Passer domesticus (gharaan di chidi) is a bird most of us grewup with. The chorus of chirping that greeted us at sunrise and sunset was asgood as clockwork but slowly and surely these little delightful and hyperactivebirds have bid adieu to our homes and cities. This has been an ongoing processsince the 1990s. Further, each year March 20 is observed as the World Sparrow Dayand rightly so, as these birds deserve our sincere conservation efforts torestore these birds to their genuine habitats.
Delivering voteof thanks, Dr Rajesh Grover, Director, Science City said that it is veryimportant to raise awareness about the decreasing population of sparrows elsewe may hear stories from our next generation narrating once upon a time therewas a little bird called a sparrow.