The issue of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) disappearing from big cities, including Delhi, has been a cause of concern for environmentalist and wildlife lovers for quite a while now.Though there is no official data on the number of sparrows left in India, the population of the small birds has declined the world over. As part of a campaign to save the common house sparrow, Delhi government recently declared it the State Bird. Recognising the decline in the number of sparrows in the City, the Delhi Government accorded this status to common bird along with launching a campaign ‘Rise for the Sparrows’ to connect people from all walks of life to save this humble, unassuming species. The founder of Nature Forever Society, Mohammed Dilawar, who has been working specifically on this campaign for over a year and around seven years for increasing their numbers in general, says declaring house sparrow as the state bird will send out a significant message among both - the special and the common man. It was high time we did it. Generally, some rare bird is given this status but by declaring a common bird a State Bird will attract everybody’s attention towards the issue,” he says.
Source: Deccan Herald, 15 September 2012
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/272973/calling-sparrows-back-our-co…
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