House Sparrows Find a Humble Home in Assam's Tezpur Town

Dinesh Sharma and his wife turned empty shoe boxes into nests on their campus to accommodate these sparrows, writes Pranab Kumar Das.

Tezpur:The house sparrows, which have been putting up a brave fight for their survival mainly due to rapid urbanization and loss of old architectural styles, have finally found a house in northern Assam's Tezpur town.

The declining bird species have found a good samaritan in Dinesh Sharma and his wife, who have accommodated hundreds of house sparrows on their campus in Tezpur town. Apart from providing shelter to sparrows, the Sharmas have also been sharing their space with several other bird species for the last 18 years.

As of today, the Sharmas have accommodated including Bulbul, Jungle Maina, Oriental Magpie Robin, Wagtails, a Koel etc. "Although the Koels are migratory in nature, one of them has stayed with us for quite some time now," Sharma said.

The Sharmas have turned empty shoe boxes into nests for the sparrows and planted bunches of bamboo trees on their campus to accommodate these sparrows. "The house sparrows were very common everywhere in Assam earlier. The chirrup of house sparrows used to be a wake-up call for us when we were young. However, the rapid urbanization led to the declining population of the sparrows," said Sharma while adding that the sparrows used to make their nests in the ceiling of thatched houses.

"It was way back in 2008 when I was sitting on the verandah of my house and saw a house sparrow flying out from inside the ceiling of my garage. I smashed the biscuit and threw it towards them. After the initial inhibition, the sparrow picked up the smashed biscuit and flew into its nest. This was repeated several times and I was amazed to see this happening. Later I started spreading some paddy seeds on the frontage of my house and it was even amazing to realize that there is a sparrow family there. We also arranged a small bowl of water and put it close to their nest. That was the beginning and our friendship with the sparrows began," said Sharma while talking to ETV Bharat.

That was the beginning, said Sharma, adding that the number gradually increased and we started giving them some nests. "The empty show boxes could be very useful. We made a hole in it and hung it near the ceiling. Quite a few boxes are hanging in my campus these days and we guess there are around 200 house sparrows here," said a happy Sharma.

"I took the advice of an Ornithologist, Dr Prabal Saikia of North Lakhimpur University and built a thatched house on my campus so that more sparrows could build their nests on the campus," he said.

"The monthly grocery list of our family these days essentially includes rice grist, particularly for the sparrows," he said.

"The number of sparrows has been on a decline in Assam. We surveyed in 2016 on the sparrows on the banks of Brahmaputra. If there are less than ten birds in a flock, it is an indication that the number is declining," said Dr Prabal Saikia. He said that the sparrows prefer thatched houses to build their nests compared to concrete houses and tinned roofs. The numbers have declined in most of the areas in and around Tezpur.

He also said that the radiation emitting from mobile phones has also affected the population of sparrows.

It may be mentioned here that the Nature Forever Society in India declared March 20 every year as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness of the house sparrow and the threats to its population.