MANOJ KAR
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| In other parts of the state house sparrows are disappearing fast and their sighting has become rare. File picture |
Kendrapara, April 15: The idyllic
wetland and meadows within the Bhitarkanika national park continue to be
a conducive habitat for house sparrows, a specie now on the verge of
extinction.
Although sparrows were once present
everywhere, these pint-sized birds are incidentally not listed in any
schedule of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Over the years, they are
disappearing fast and its sighting has become rare.
In such a scenario, it is heartening that the sparrows have made Bhitarkanika their permanent home.
“The human habitations thriving on the
fringes of the national park have turned out to be blessing for the
house sparrows. The villagers have built many straw thatched houses.
Twigs from the straw come handy for sparrows’ nesting. They feed on the
grains from the crop fields,” said Manoj Kumar Mahapatra, divisional
forest officer (DFO), Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division.
In most other areas the grains and insects
the sparrows feed on have gone out of sight due to man-made factors.
The birds used to throng the countryside and the urban landscape. The
increasing use of pesticides in agriculture fields mainly has spelt
doom. These birds steadily perished as grain-feeding birds failed to
withstand toxicity. Urbanisation and fast disappearing traditional
straw-thatched houses have contributed to the shrinkage of their
habitat.
However, farmers in Bhitarkanika grow
saline-resistant paddy. There is less use of pesticides here. Sparrows
are averse to eating grains grown through application of pesticide. Thus
grains here suit the food chain of these birds.
“We have sighted many nests of house
sparrows near the tourists rest sheds of the sanctuary. Large groups of
sparrows have been seen in various places of Bhitarkanika,” Mahapatra
added.
(sourced from the telegraph)
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