Sparrows have declined, but regional variations exist: Study

MUMBAI: Nature is under threat and birds are clear indicators of the state of the environment. The ubiquitous sparrows have been declining over years and that prompted BNHS India, with support from ministry of environment and forests, government of India, to conduct a nationwide survey of the house sparrow in 2012.

The results of the survey titled 'Citizen Sparrow' are out and they allow a closer evaluation of the widespread impression that sparrow populations have declined over the years. The survey was conducted in association with National Centre for Biological Sciences and Nature Conservation Foundation, along with dozens of other partner organizations across India.

The survey found that sparrows are seen in fewer places now than they were before 2005. Where they are still found, the numbers are lower than earlier and fewer nests are seen as well. This suggests that the number of sparrows has indeed declined and the low number of nests might mean that they are continuing to decline.

Among cities, Mumbai came out on top of the sparrow charts, with many more people reporting sparrow presence than they did from Bengaluru and Chennai, where a much larger percent of participants said the bird was not found at all in their localities. Coimbatore and Pune were next after Mumbai. Hyderabad and Delhi were intermediate in reports of sparrow presence.