Recently I read a news item that talked about Sushil Kumar from Motihari, Bihar, India, who wants to save the Indian Sparrow and is passionately involved in a campaign for protecting the bird, whose numbers have come down drastically in recent times. Incidentally he had become a sensation by winning millions as the winner of KBC an Indian version of a television game show based on the British program, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.’
Chairman Mao thought that these birds were pests that consume huge amount of food grains which could otherwise feed many. A sustained campaign followed and the sparrow disappeared from China in late 1950s. It was an ecological disaster, as the sparrow not only feeds on food grain but also insects that harm crops. In its absence there was large scale damage to Chinese agricultural production that led to famine like situation in China in 1961 - 62.
The Chairman could see his folly and he had to import sparrows from Russia to restore the ecological balance. It was a lesson for all but I think we are yet to learn it well, I did not see any in my locality in Kolkata, the accompanying photograph with this post is an old one, taken by me in our flat’s balcony in Hong Kong.
Here on my window-sill, lies an empty ceramic plate, a relic from the time when sparrows will drop in with their whole group, to partake whatever was on the offer: rice, bird seeds and bread crumbs, and will feed in small quantities. They lived anywhere or on nearby trees in loose colonies. While laying eggs, some pairs will sneak into any comfortable space where nests would come up fast by the papa and mama sparrow’s labour.
In a few weeks, eggs will hatch, may be five to six chicks, insatiably hungry and noisy. Mama sparrow will make innumerable trips outside to bring food for them, but I guess, also to keep them quiet. We will have to refill the plate a few more times than usual. Soon the chicks would take their first tentative flights and in a matter of days fly away from their nest.
Summer would be their dust bathing time. They will scratch a hole in the ground with their feet, then lie in it and fling dirt or sand over their bodies with flicks of their wings. During rains, they will also bathe in accumulated water on the nearby play ground. Sparrows will stand in shallow water and will flick water over their back with wings and duck their heads under the water.
I suppose the dust and water bathing for them is some sort of group social activity, for many birds will participate at once. Their bath will be followed by preening and sometimes group singing, standing on some comfortable wire; the whole group will then look like a choir – a beautiful sight to watch.
There are reports that communication towers kill millions of birds. Worse, they often kill birds that are already rare. A few such towers have come up in my area. I wonder if this is the reason why the ceramic plate on my window-sill is now a memorabilia? I also wonder whether Twitter will have a monopoly on tweets or men like Sushil Kumar, save these birds from extinction in the time to come.
