House sparrows: my companions in the lock down

Day 14 of the lockdown (stay inside: staysafe), stretched my legs while leaning on the sill of a wide window in thefirst floor of our shelter; exactly the way I used to spend time during thedeluge of 2014. While thinking of the large number of the worrying events andissues; the increasing Covid-19 morbidity and mortality scores, helplessness ofeven the so called developed nations, scarcity of the protective gears forhealth workers, bursts in the positive cases, appearance of positive cases inthe vicinity, pathetic condition of the poor, need for more and more prayers byone and all etc etc one after another and overriding each other, I peepedthrough the adjacent window pan. A large park located in front of our residenceroutinely occupied with humans of all ages and status; sitting, walking,playing, and grazing their cattle or sheep was now completely devoid of anyfauna. On the 30 feet wide roads adjacent to the park, neither the automobiles(always in hurry to overtake one another) nor the teenagers (in different oddpostures of the stunts) on their bikes could be traced.

In this standstill and calm lifeless spell,chirrups of some birds pierced through providing some soothing effect. Whileexploring the source of the songs, shaky movement of a few twigs of a shrubwith densely grown lush green leaves located within our lawn adjacent to themain gate (that is shut since a forte night) attracted my attention. In themeanwhile a dozen of small 25g to 30g, very active birds flew out of the bushand landed over the compound wall (where cooked rice is spread by my near onesevery morning), and the electric and telephone wires passing few feet above.Almost equal distribution of the genders; half of them with dark patches orstripes representing males and the remaining with lighter complexion thefemales could easily be appreciated. They persistently appeared restless;repeatedly jumped from one object to the other or into the lawn; nibbled orposed to engulf grains, seeds or insects.

   

The instantaneous actions like flying,hopping, stretching the neck, bill rotation and tail movements every fewseconds were always accompanied by contact calls by the birds in motion. Thesongs of specific tones coming persistently towards my distressed soul were asource of pleasure and inspiration. As I developed (for the first time) someinterest in the species, tried to get up, come down the staircase and gocloser, but they instantly flew away in unison with alarm calls and shrillsounds. I returned to my place and posture, they also followed in twos andfours to their territory giving me one more opportunity to enjoy their company,and simultaneously Google some of the facts pertaining to this lovely creature.

Having left the forest lands ten thousandyears ago, the house sparrows have voluntarily opted to accompany humanswithout discriminating between urban and rural settings. With time, theadaptation even changed their genetic makeup to relish the starchy human food.With stout bills they enjoy feeding on the whole grains and seeds. The damagescaused to the grain crops earned them a bad name -‘pest bird’. As opportunisticfeeders the sparrows also eat insects and other foods.

Although holding second place in the totalnumber (1.4 billion) among birds they have now due to their dwindling numberbeen placed in the ‘least concern’ group of the IUC red list. House sparrowscan fly with a speed of 45.5km/hr and 15 wings beats/sec, but generally livewithin a radius of a few kilometers throughout their life span (average threeyears). The maximum age of 19 years 9 months in the wild and 23 yrs incaptivity has been recorded.

Almighty has created the living creaturesas communities (Surah Al-Inam 6:38). House sparrows jointly perform severalsocial activities including water or dust bath and social singing. Communalchirping before and after the birds settle in the roost in the evening as wellas before they leave the roost in the morning is also a routine for them.

Despite their smaller size, the females aredominant over males at feeding stations and nests. They are monogamous andtypically select one mate only for the whole life. On an average two clutches4-5 eggs/clutch are laid per year but only 20% to 25% hatched birds survive upto the first breeding season. Building of the nest is initiated by male whiledisplaying to females however the females may at times assist them.

House sparrows may suffer from bacterialand fungal infections that may come into the human and domestic animal foodchain. They may also act as reservoirs of viruses (e.g., West Nile, Saint Louisencephalitis) transmitted subsequently to humans and domestic animals bymosquito bites. Various fungal diseases, ticks, mites and lice may also infestthem. The domestic cats are their most common predators.

The sparrow singing session continued toboost my energy, but could not defeat the exhaustion resulting from the use ofa poor 2G mobile service. The lunch time call from the kitchen to have it alongwith other family members (practice revived with the lock down) provided me anexcuse to say good bye to the orchestra team. The sparrows had continued tofill their belly while charming me. They therefore did not get offended by mydecision of leaving them as is indicated by their daily courtesy calls andflying visits. Wish them a happy, untamed and CORONA-free life.

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