‘Bring Back Sparrow’ boosts bird population in Hyderabad

Rapid urbanisation reduced sparrow populations in Hyderabad, but the ‘Bring Back Sparrow’ campaign by AWCS has helped revive numbers. With nest boxes and community support, nearly 20,000 sparrows have returned, improving urban biodiversity and ecological balance.

Sangareddy: Rapid urbanisation had destroyed the nesting places for sparrows, which eventually dwindled the population of little birds across Hyderabad and suburbs.

Decline in insects and food sources further impacted the sparrow’s survival, while increasing pollution levels and changes in lifestyle also contributed their bit.

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However, the ‘Bring Back Sparrow’ campaign launched by the Animal Warriors Conservation Society has been giving positive results. The AWCS, which launched the programme in 2016, had installed over 1,600 nests in Ameenpur, Gachibowli, Dilsukh Nagar and Alwal.

Involving the residential communities, corporates, educational institutions and other organisations, they have installed the nesting boxes and also distributed over 1,000 nest boxes every year during the last 10 years apart from monitoring the previously installed ones.

Usually, sparrows have four to six breedings every year and produce two to four chicks in each of these cycles. Since the nests prepared by AWCS are safe, the survival rate of chicks has increased considerably, contributing to the increase in its population.

Speaking to ‘Telangana Today’, Pradeep Nair, founder of AWCS, said that they had brought nearly 20,000 sparrows back to Hyderabad with their decade-long effort. Stating that the efforts would help to restore urban biodiversity balance, he said sparrows will also be considered as natural pest controllers.

Pradeep said the AWCS could reconnect people with urban wildlife, apart from creating a replicable conservation model for other cities. The positive development was that 90 per cent of nest boxes were being occupied by sparrows.

The AWCS founder said that they have involved the communities by making them install the boxes and monitor the birds’ movement by placing water bowls and by feeding them.

Pradeep said that they also educated the citizens to make their balconies, terraces and other empty places friendly for sparrows. He further observed that they would cover more areas if corporates, government and communities extend support to take the distribution of nests like a movement in the State capital and other towns in Telangana.