On the occasion of World Sparrows Day on 20^th of March with the intention of spreading awareness amid people we had organized a small roadside student fair in collaboration with Tarumitra family and exhibited banner and the poster to the office coming and going people with the written message on it. It was quite successful and the best part was that the people responded positively. Actually, World Sparrow Day is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organization across the world. Sparrow is also our state bird. So we had celebrated this event as a part of our large campaign against deforestation in urban spaces.

The house sparrow is a common wild bird, oldest one sharing habitat with humans. A stable house sparrow population indicates a healthy ecosystem for human beings in terms of air & water quality, vegetation & habitat quality. House sparrow numbers are decreasing rapidly shows there are detrimental changes in the ecosystem. The fall in house sparrow numbers is mainly because of non-availability food and nesting spaces. The house sparrow feeds on rice, oats, corn, wheat, leaves like coriander and small mustard seeds. And the hatchling is fed protein-rich soft insects and worms. Use of pesticides and insecticides, cultivation of exotic crops and use of unleaded petrol as automobile fuel kill off the insects and worms, the food for the young ones. The closing down of old-time grocery shops has affected food availability for house sparrows. The adoption of modern architecture of houses and buildings without crevices and spaces like ventilators has adversely affected the nesting space availability for house sparrows. Electromagnetic radiation from mobile tower masts also affect the hatching of house sparrow eggs and interfering with the bird?s navigation and preying. Creating awareness among the people on the issue, placing nest boxes and feeders, opting for organic farming, and contain the spread of cell phone towers can bring back the house sparrows. It?s time we save the house sparrows and our ecosystem and I suppose we are the last generation to take such initiative otherwise it will be too late.