Save Our Sparrows

The common house sparrow is to a city what the tiger is to a forest.

- Aishwarya Sridhar

Sparrows are bio-indicators of a city’s ecosystem just like the tiger forms an important link in a forest’s ecosystem. Thanks to humans, the friendly “Chirp-Chirp” sound of sparrows has vanished amidst Mumbai’s noisy streets. We have still not realised that eliminating even a single species will alter the web of life and have an extreme impact on us.

When was the last time you heard or saw a sparrow on your windowsill? In the past, the sparrow was an integral part of family life, sometimes nesting even inside homes. What is the reason that has led to them being rarely sighted nowadays? With human population accelerating rapidly, development is keeping pace in a way that everything vital for a healthy ecosystem is being sacrificed.