Modern buildings drive away house sparrows

A noted ornithologist has blamed house construction engineers for disappearance of house sparrows in urban centres as they have failed to give space for the tiny bird while designing house plans.

"The house sparrows generally build their nests in thatched houses. As the concrete structures no longer have such facilities, the house sparrows are not seen in the urban as well as rural areas, ornithologist U N Deb told PTI yesterday.

The World Sparrow Day was observed on March 20 which deals with mainly with house sparrows.

The design of the house should be environment friendly, so the house sparrow would be attracted to make nests, he said. Reducing space for home gardens and extensive use of pesticides are some of the factors which have proved lethal, he added.

Environment will remain clean in the presence of the house sparrow, as it takes small insects and other materials in the ground, he said.

Deb said the design of the houses was changed in New York town after the peregrine falcon, a popular bird in the town seen to disappear in 1940s. The bird, however, came to nest in the houses, when they created space for the birds in the house, he added.

Before the onset of rains, hundreds of house sparrows, popularly known as 'ghara-chatia' in Odisha were seen to take bath in the dust in the open space. The scene indicated the advent of the rain season, said retired chief conservator of forests Sudhakar Mohapatra.

However, the scene was now witnessed rarely, as the sparrow was rarely sighted, said Mohapatra, also a well known ornithologist.