House Sparrows are disappearing...

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/12/01/stories/2003120100431400.htm
http://www.scientific-alliance.org/news_archives/biodiversity/michael_mccartney_sparrow.htm
http://www.cctv.com/program/Nature&Science/20050309/101177.shtml
http://www.brigadegroup.com/art/birds/house_sparrow.htm (this is the one we had here)

Some interesting links those.

Here in our part of the city too, sparrows have disappeared. The environmentalists say that it is due to the non-availability of seeds or grains in the open, increasing traffic, noise, pollution, favourable nesting places, bushes and shrubs are the main reasons. One of the links above say that they also have been affected by the e-waves that has been sweeping the atmosphere in recent times. It could be very true.

In our house, they were part of us, though a nuisance with its nesting behind slanted wall pictures, under the tiles, in small holes in the wall... It used to fly in through windows or other ventilator openings. People used to feed rice and water to them and they were quite happy, until a few years ago. Suddenly, there is a great decline in their population. Also, the concrete jungles have driven them away almost entirely. In China, in England it seems to have vanished.

I didn't click on the links b/c I'm at work but I know there is an issue with conjuctivitis (spelling?) with them.

Years ago I had several near my house that were afflicted. From what I had researched they most certainly die from it. Anyway, I could approach them to the point I could gently catch them. It was bizarre. The only reason I tried was that I put drops in their eyes - trying to do SOMETHING to help.. Conjuctivitis is highly contagious via bird feeders, etc... Anyway, I asked a vet if there was anything I could buy that would be better than what I was using (don't even remember what it was..) She got so mad at me for 'scaring' them... The poor things were doomed to die - I was just trying to help!

What a shame.. :(

Nicole

I don't know about environmental. Around here the things can get a sickness started and wipe them out for a few years and then they start showing back up. When I was a kid growing up my mom was a farm girl and always told me not to mess with sparrows, that they were always carriers of one thing or another.

Don

Never heard of any such thing as sparrows being carriers before. These things, to my mind, are recent 'discoveries'. Our physical resistance to little diseases have kept on decreasing while knowledge about and fear for them are moving in opposite direction. The birds have their own role in the ecosystem and these are being altered due to modernization. In my MIL's house even now (in another crowded locality 4 miles away) there are still sparrows around and they keep some water (in a stipulated can lid) and scatter some grains on the compound wall on which they happily feed.

There was also a saying that if a human touched a sparrow, that bird would be 'outcast' by the group and would eventually kill it. The reason for this superstition is not known. This may be one of grandma's tales, the basis remains obscure. There are little kids' stories featuring sparrows and crows that were popular when we were young.

The reason for the birds carrying disorders is because of mosquitoes, lice and other blood sucking critters that are found in heavy amounts on sparrows. Here in Texas we are having a problem with west Nile virus and are told not to pick up dead birds as they may have died from the virus and even though they are dead can still pass it on. The parasites on sparrows are some of the worst so I am told by my mom and I give credence to those old farmer ways, they can predict the weather better than the weather forecasters as I have seen.

Don

The sparrow was considered here as a 'clean bird' while the common crow 'a dirty bird'. Because crows can feed on almost anything and sparrows are choosy.

Yes, birds can feel Nature. Humans are also gifted with this instinct, but we are not living in tune with Nature and that is why our senses cannot pick up any slight changes that other sensitive beings can. With the advent of time, more and more strains of bacteria and viruses are being spotted. So more and more diseases, newer set of symptoms.. Tribal people that have been living in forests for generations can sense or predict the weather changes, know which animal is near them by their scent. Can we urbanized lot think of such a possiblilty? I'm afraid not. Our olfactory nerves are fed and trained with other unnatural things in daily life.

Today's paper carried a letter from a reader with interesting points worth noting in this context. He wrote back to the paper in response to a write-up on global warming. I reproduce below:

Besides greenhouse gases, a far more serious hazard is Electro-magnetic pollution (EM). GMF (Geo-magnetic field) forms an essential aspect of our atmosphere, influencing all terestrial phenomena, including biological processes. A stable geo-magnetic environment ensures normal conditions and is also conducive to health and well-being. Aberrations in the GMF can disrupt terrestrial events as well as phisiological (living) processes.

Some of the causes for this aberration are X-rays, gamma rays, microwave ovens, computers, mobile phones and cellular antennae. As terrestrial conditions are influenced by GMF activity, this EM pollution is largely responsible for abnormal climatic conditions. These radiations also interact with the nuclei of infectious micro-organisms like bactreia and viruses causing them to mutate, and thus increasing their virulence.
(Neville S Bengali, Mumbai, in Deccan Herald, 15.2.2007)