16th May 2013

Dwindling population of House Sparrow

CHESS is a sister concern of P.G. Zoology Department, Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College, Sivakasi and it was established on 30th August 2012, Thursday. The objectives of this study centre is to maintain the dwindling population of House Sparrow – a small, granivorous bird which always associated with human dwellings for their roosting and to conserve them.

An awareness programme was also organized on 30th August 2012 for the school students hailing from around 35 schools of Virudhunagar District and their accompanying staff. Dr.S.Baskaran, Principal and the Lover of Nature and the awardee of Best Environmentalist by the Government of Tamil Nadu, delivered the guest lecture on CHIRPS FOR SPARROWS to the students.

Dr.M.K.Rajan, Assistant Director of CHESS emphasized the endangered animals and birds species in the world and stressed the role of human beings in the conservation of sparrows and other animals. Mr.S.Balaji, Co-ordinator of CHESS has narrated the purpose of this programme and also demonstrated how to construct artificial nests for house sparrow as an attempt to combat the loss of house sparrow population with power point presentation.

To inculcate the awareness on sparrows in the minds of students, Drawing competition was conducted and prizes and certificates were issued to the winners. Pamphlets emphasizing the need for conservation of sparrows and method to design the artificial nest box were also distributed in Sivakasi and its outskirts on the occasion of World Sparrow Day (March 20th).

This Centre also focussed on various research activities including the present status of House sparrow, Passer domesticus in Virudhunagar District, density and distribution of house sparrows in eight different Taluks of Virudhunagar District and also to suggest many conservative measures that are need of the hour to protect the vanishing house sparrow species in towns and semi-urban areas.

In addition to these, the CHESS has also designed an artificial nest boxes for rearing house sparrow and erected these nest boxes in different regions of Sivakasi town (Reserve line, N.G.O colony, Solai colony, Muslim colony, Bye pass Road and N.R.K.R road). A good response was observed to the artificial nest boxes by the house sparrow in certain regions.

So far, three research papers has been presented in various National Seminars held at Sivakasi, Thanjavore and Thirunelveli and two papers had been selected for Best Paper presentation award. Two papers have been accepted for publication in reputed international journals like Current Science and Bombay Natural History for Society (BNHS). The Centre has also sent proposal for two funding agencies, Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST) and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to carry out further work on house sparrow population. Another proposal is on the pipeline with Lions Club to distribute PRICELESS ARTIFICIAL NEST to the public in the forthcoming days to conserve the house sparrow population.