Where are the little sparrows that used to greet us every morning ?

Oh the dinosaurs aren't there anymore!
Come on, everyone knows that.
Maybe that is enough to show that a whole species can get erased off the face of our wild planet. The biodiversity is endangered and we humans are largely responsible for it. It is time to realise that all the species have an equal right to this planet in this largely democratic world. And we must not take this right from them because when the nature punishes, it can demolish anything in sight.

I hope you guys remember the tiny brown sparrows springing all around the town, chirping sweetly, making our mornings prettier. Weren't they visible everywhere, in the parks, the balconies, gardens and what not. Where are they now ? The Passer Domesticus, commonly known as the house sparrow was included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2002 following the sudden disappearance of these chirpy little creatures.

We humans have shared our habitat with the house sparrows for thousands of years. Found across all the continents except Antarctica, the house sparrows have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Researchers and scientists have put forward various theories and reasons linked to this sharp decline in their numbers which include air pollution, noise pollution, lack of food and insects to survive on and tens of other reasons too.

 But the major cause of this decline is the increasing electromagnetic radiations from mobile towers. Powerful radiations tend to hinder the immune and nervous system of these birds and are also known to interfere with their sense of navigation. The sparse vegetation in urban regions has also contributed to loss of habitat for our fellow creatures. Among other reasons are air conditioning, insect repellants, chemical farming, modern changes in architectural designs and loss of green cover. New houses are more congested and the architecture is such that there are few nooks for the house sparrows to breed and nest in.  Basically, rapid changes in the environment caused obviously by our selfish race is leading to all this loss of biodiversity and the chaos in nature.

The decline is not limited to India itself, the number of sparrows have sharply reduced throughout the globe. Since 1966, the number of sparrows has reduced by about 20 million. Our little childhood friends are not the only birds suffering this fate. Due to the sudden accelerated reduction in sparrow population, conservation efforts have taken off. 20th March is celebrated as the World Sparrow Day. The House Sparrow was named the State Bird of Delhi in 2012. The irony however is that the House Sparrow though named as such is nowhere to be found around our 'houses'. It is said that a sparrow is to a city what a tiger is to a forest. The saying couldn't be truer because both the city and the forest dwellers are fading away from their respective homes.