Birds are known to exist on planet earth since 160 million years ago. Birds have unique and common characteristics which they share with other species of the animal kingdom.
They are warm blooded, winged creatures, lay eggs to give rise to their off springs, have the ability to fly with their wings, they have two legs and vertebrates, and their body is covered with feathers. Birds belong to class Aves.
The smallest known bird till date is the humming bird and the largest being the ostrich. There are some birds which have exceptions like the penguins found in the arctic regions that cannot fly.
Also, parrots have the ability to mime human speech, that is they have the unique ability to grasp a few catchy words from the human speech and tend it repeat it the same way, indicating a higher level of intelligence. We can find birds in bird sanctuaries, forest reserve areas, swamps, lakes, rivers and also national parks.
Birds are closely connected to nature and have the ability to adapt to certain kinds of weather conditions. Based on the favorable weather conditions at a particular place, they choose to dwell there or leave for other habitats.
That’s the reason why birds can be spotted at sanctuaries and national parks only in their favorable season and if it’s an off season, they wouldn’t be spotted there. Incubation or a method of providing warmth to the eggs laid in the birds’ nests is another unique feature of birds.
Through a method of heat transfer from the mother bird’s body to the eggs, through a process of heat transfer, incubation of the eggs take place and the young ones hatch in their nests. The mother bird takes care of its young ones until they are fit enough to fly on their own and it supplies food and all their needs directly in the nest.
Tiny and Chirpy Creatures
Chirping and the sweet sounds of birds are pleasant to hear when we take a stroll in the park early in the mornings or when they are done for the day and return to their nests in the evenings. We can see birds flying in groups or popularly called a flock of birds and they are also known to live in peace and harmony within their group.
There are no records till date to prove that birds fight amongst themselves, so basically they are peace loving creatures. Many of the important occasions begin with symbolically flying a white pigeon to mark the beginning of any event on a good note in an auspicious manner.
It has been the culture of many nations to follow this practice and is followed in our country as well on many important events and occasions.
Nowadays we find birds facing threats of extinction due to unsuitable environmental conditions around and the fact that cities have turned nothing less than concrete jungles, providing absolutely no space for birds to breathe and nest. There are many bird savior groups and NGOs that have taken many initiatives to extend help to these suffering birds.
Sparrows
Sparrows were a common sight about ten to fifteen years ago, they could be easily spotted in front of small and big departmental shops, on the buildings, trees, here and there, everywhere, in the temples, cool places, etc, but today they are not even a rarity.
It’s really very difficult to show sparrows to the current generation and we have to rely on pictures in the books to provide them a picture of how sparrows actually look. A fast disappearing breed that they have now become, this was not the scene a few years ago.
They could well adapt to the prevailing conditions of cities and could be found jumping and chirping here and there, but due to the cities having turned into big concrete jungles, sparrows have little or no space for themselves, hence they have declined in numbers and that too, have reduced to a very minor number.
Hierarchy
Sparrows belong to the class aves and in the hierarchical order, they belong to the family Passeridae. Looks wise, they are small, chirpy creatures, have a blunt and stubborn beak, feathers could be either brown, black, white or a mixed combination of these three colors, spread across the body in a non-uniform manner, have small tails at the back.
Sparrows can be found all over the world, some of the native species could be Spanish, Italian sparrows, but the most commonly known and found sparrows are the house sparrows that we can see in our neighborhoods.
Fear of Extinction
Sparrows are becoming extinct by the day. They can hardly be found in our backyards or neighborhoods. Special teams and NGOs are working towards taking special initiatives and steps to form teams to rescue these tiny creatures from extinction.
Man has become so selfish in recent times that he has hardly bothered to think about nature and the surrounding areas around him. He has not given a thought about co-existing creatures that have entirely depended on nature for their survival.
Imbalance on Earth
At first, mother earth was filled with greenery to a large extent that brought in balance and harmony with man and nature. Slowly man stared becoming more selfish and started acquiring forest lands, converted lake beds into sites for building constructions etc. once the natural habitats were restructured, a definitive balance between natural ecosystems were upset.
Once this started happening on a very large scale, the entire biological sphere around us started changing too. Rains started occurring at abnormal seasons, forcing sparrows to flee from their usual habitats looking out for shelters. What used to be their usual favorable time to come out in the open turned out to be unfavorable, forcing them to flee from their natural place of dwelling to some unknown far off places which became quite suitable for the time being.
When many other sparrows started following suit, the migrated places became new habitats for these sparrows. That’s exactly the reason why we don’t spot sparrows so often anymore.
They have moved on, they have created new places of dwelling, far away from cities, nobody knows where they are found now, and they have created their own new places. After a while, we can even see the existing population of sparrows dwindling because they are not able to sustain in the highly polluted, choking environments of the cities.
Mobile Transmissions – Reason for Sparrow Decline
Mobile towers are other reasons why sparrows tend to run away from cities. The radiations and transmissions from mobile towers upset the natural form of sparrows, disturbing their harmony and natural balance. Vibrations cause unfound disturbance and lot of destruction for the sparrow family.
They cannot thrive in such environments. Mobile radiations are known to cause enough damage to the human brain. For tiny creatures like sparrows, it is known to be even more disturbing and is a reason for worry for the entire world.
Harmony in Ecosystem
World Sparrow Day is being celebrated on the 20th of March every year to spread awareness about the dwindling population of sparrows to the world. People who are volunteers with certain organizations spread awareness about what small steps we could take to bring back the lost population that once used to be the beautiful tiny creature that used to hop in our backyards.
In earlier days, children used to be shown sparrows to weave stories of how hard work is important to everyone in life, how sparrows are wonderful in their own ways and many other stories related to these creatures. In today’s polluted environments where sparrows are a rare sight, it is even more difficult to find a single sparrow anywhere near us.
We either have to find them in far off zoos or some nature recreation centers, far away from cities. That makes it very unfamiliar to the present generation about sighting sparrows. What used to be a daily sight once turned into an ugly picture of not sighting anything at all.
This also brings in an important debate regarding the conservation of our natural habitats and maintaining the balance in our ecosystem for allowing other, co-habitating creatures around us, like birds, plants and animals to live in harmony with us.
The world can be a beautiful place to live in, provided we take steps to conserve the flora and fauna around us, to keep up the greenery belt around us, to conserve environments, to keep our surroundings clean, to reduce pollution, etc.
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