​Sparrows head north in search of homes

South Chennai may seem greener and neater, but sparrows prefer north Chennai with its old buildings and nooks and crevices that allow them to build nests. The just-concluded, first sparrow survey has found that there are 2,792 sparrows in 226 streets of north Chennai.

Student s from Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering started the survey in Anna Nagar and KK Nagar but couldn’t spot any sparrows. As they moved north, they found plenty in Royapuram, Tiruvottiyur, Parry's Sowcarpet, Tondiarpet, Old Washermenpet and Perambur. “We were impressed with the number of sparrows in north Chennai. Unfortunately, there are very few in other parts of the city,” said Rathnavel Pandian, who was part of the survey.

The common house sparrow, once part of every household, is fast disappearing from urban areas. The survey revealed that the number of male sparrows in Chennai is higher than female. Around 75 engineering students used Google sheets and Facebook to document the data for the ‘Save Our Sparrows’ project.

“We visited close to 400 streets in six months looking for sparrows. We counted the birds and noted down their nesting and roosting spots. We worked on weekends and holidays,” said Aarthi Suresh Kumar, another participant.

Seasoned birdwatcher and faculty in charge of the survey T Murugavel said sparrows are not tree-dwelling birds. “They prefer north Chennai because of the presence of old buildings in which they can nest. There are many rice mills that are a source of food,” he said.

Ornithologists and wildlife experts say the sparrow population has dropped due to the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, non-availability of food sources, and increasing microwave pollution from mobile phone towers. But there has been no official documentation of sparrow population.

K V Sudhakar of Madras Naturalists’ Society said, “Increasing pollution levels have caused a decline in their population. Open markets no longer store grains outdoors. People shop in supermarkets where everything is packaged in plastic. So their food sources have reduced.”

A sparrow has about 100 behavioural patterns, displaying love, fear and even anger, which makes it a photographer’s delight. But city-based photographers say spotting a sparrow is a difficult task.

“People used to wake up to the sound of birds. Message beeps and alarm tones have replaced that,” says Muragavel.