State Bird of Delhi- House sparrow

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passeridae
Genus: Passer
Species: P. domesticus

The Sparrow, worldwide in distribution and the most visual amongst the bird species has become threatened. A common sight few years earlier, it has now become almost disappeared from many urban cities. Just like the vulture which is under threat, the sparrow could very well meet the same fate and disappear totally unless conserved.

20th March was designated as The World Sparrow Day (WSD) across the world to raise awareness about the threat to the sparrow. This year’s theme of WSD was “Chirp for the sparrow, tweet for the sparrow.”

It was declared as the state bird by chief minister Sheila Dikshit at a citizen awareness campaign yesterday. The event was organized by Nature Forever Society (NFS). Since Delhi did not have a state bird, the humble sparrow being adopted as the symbol will help in creating awareness about its current status.

There are contradictory reports as to why the house sparrow population seems to be dwindling. In the absence of data about their numbers, some experts feel the rising pollution levels, microwave radiation and predation have contributed to the decline in their population while others feel that there is only a shift in their habitats.

A Common Bird Monitoring of India programme has been started by NFS where citizens can provide data about birds. You can also participate by visiting their website here- http://www.cbmi.in/index.htm

Image credit , GNU License