Sunday Celebrity: Mohammed Dilawar ‘thinks and breathes sparrow’

Ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali, popularly known as ‘birdman of India’ will be peaceful in his coffin for there is somebody who has stepped in his shoes and carrying on his works.

The young ‘bird watcher’ started his career with eco and environmental interest, but soon turned his interests to care of the birds, especially the house sparrow that is fast disappearing from many metropolitan cities of the world. Going through the web, he learnt about the dwindling numbers of the house sparrow past a decade. He lost himself.

Yes, Mohammed Dilawar lost his (heart) ‘dil’ (for) ‘ever’ (Dilawar) for the cheerful, gregarious house sparrows, once commonly seen flitting around the neighbourhood, are in real trouble. He had decided to something about it. That was a five years before. It has become his life’s ambition.
The Director of Bombay Nature Historical Society (BNHS) Asad R. Rahmani writes about Mohammed Dilawar in his current bi-monthly circular thus: “He is mad about House Sparrows.

He thinks breaths and dreams of sparrows all the time. I think he sees more sparrows in his dream than there are in Nashik, his home town.”

He joined Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) five years ago in the IBA Programme but left to pursue his passion on House Sparrow conservation.

He was so much plunged into the conservation of the winged beauty that he attended a House Sparrow conference in UK, partially funding his trip from his pocket. There he impressed everyone by his knowledge, passion and enthusiasm. Coming back, he wrote a good proposal which was funded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests—a three year project on House Sparrows he undertook. Dilawar has also established Nature Forever society.

Talking to Asian Tribune from Mumbai day before yesterday and from New Delhi yesterday over phone and on internet, Dilawar said “according to the latest sparrow census put together by various environmental organisations, there has been an 80 per cent decline in their numbers during the past decade. The disappearance of sparrows in India has been widely reported, but responses have been quite muted so far.”

He added: “Their recent decline has put them on Red List category by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).”

Dilawar says he had started working on house sparrows about five years back after reading a research paper from the UK in which the decline of house sparrows was reported. “I immediately noticed that same was the case in India. So I started searching for scientific papers and reports. I was baffled with the outcome since there was practically no research done on the decline of house sparrows in India”

When he found there was no data on the status of common birds in India and the House sparrows being a common bird was not considered important from the scientific point of view, “I was upset with this lack of scientific aptitude and decided that I will work for the house sparrows in India.”

World House Sparrow Day

Dilawar took the lead in India to celebrate on March 20 to highlight the plight of these chirpy human companions who are now in great trouble, mainly due to our activities.

Fortunately, Mrs Sheila Dixit, the Chief Minister of the Delhi Government has agreed to inaugurate the House Sparrow Day on March 20 yesterday at her residence. Yesterday Dilawar was in New Delhi in connection with the World House Sparrow Day, first time being celebrated in India and many important cities in the world.

Speaking at the event organized by Nature Forever Society in collaboration with Bombay Natural History Society, Eco-sys Action Foundation (France), Avon Wildlife Trust (UK) and numerous other national and international organizations, the Chief Minister said this first-of-its-kind event would also address the problem and look for solutions.

“There is a need to start house sparrow habitat conservation drive by providing water and food regularly, by switching back to organic gardening, planting more hedges and putting up nesting boxes dedicated to house sparrows,’’ she said.

Ms. Dikshit said till four years ago the dominant species of birds in Delhi were house sparrow, house crow, rock pigeon and common myna. By 2008, however, all these have been sidelined by the rock pigeon. “The sparrows and pigeons were in competition for nesting space and the smaller bird was obviously beaten. Rapid urbanization has created obstacles in habitat of the birds,’’ she said.

“House sparrow is one of the most common and loved birds in the world. The decline of house sparrow has been a matter of much concern and debate across its natural ranges. It is an important bio-indicator. The decline in its number is a grim reminder of degradation of the urban environments and the danger from it to the human welfare in the longer run,’’ she said.

Ms. Dixit has set a new task for Dilawar. She wanted him to bring out some literature, a fact file, in booklet form so as to create awareness among the comman man, who should first understand about the seriousness of the problem.

Dilawar said that due to various ecological disturbances, the population of this friendly bird has witnessed a freefall. He listed the reason: non-availability of food grains due to food packed culture and shopping malls; lack of nesting places in urban areas due to concrete structures; over-usage of pesticides in agricultural zones that has affected the total insect population leading to a decline in population of many familiar bird species, including house sparrows, that feed on insects; mobile phone towers and microwave pollution are silent killers of the house sparrows for the waves kills the unborn chicks in the eggs; the replacement of native plants by exotic varieties.

Dilawar recalled the sparrows used to build their nests below tiled roofs of houses. With contemporary architecture making a clean sweep in cities, tiled roofs have become a thing of the past, and sparrows have lost their prospective nesting spots.

He said the association between the human and sparrows dates back to several centuries. No other bird has been associated with the day-to-day life of humanity like the House Sparrow. “You won't find sparrows in jungles, deserts or places where humans are not present. The sparrow is a species that has evolved with humans and is always found in and around human habitations.”
The World House Sparrow Day, he says will bring together all the individuals and
organisation working on the conservation of House Sparrows and urban biodiversity on a common platform. “With the help of the website we aim to build a network which can result in better linkages of like minded people. In the long term it’s an effective way to carry out advocacy, docollaborative research and form national and international linkages.”

He believes the World Sparrow Day will also help in getting the attention of government agencies and the scientific community on a whole for more conservation measures and research on the common bird species and urban biodiversity.

Dilawar has been working for the cause of sparrow conservation for more than five years. In 2008, Time recognized him as a “hero” of the environment. The Nature Forever Society he had started is encouraging and like-minded people are joining his movement.

About his receiving the Time award, Dilawar said “I felt extremely proud that an Indian was featured for such a prestigious award. The award also helped tremendously in bringing to light the plight of the house sparrow, which is such an ignored species.”

“It is extremely fulfilling to save house sparrows and the rewards come in when people call you to tell that you that the nest boxes have been adopted by sparrows or their children are happy to see them feeding from the feeders.”

Now Dilawar is distributing nest boxes free for the sparrows. He says in Mumbai he has found the sparrow is on the come back trail with the nest boxes people agreed to keep on to their houses. “Since they have always been in and around humans, a nest box provided to them is willingly accepted by them. As the nest boxes replicate their natural nesting site it doesn't change its natural behaviour in any way.”

The government spends a lot of money on saving wild animals. He says the attitude towards conservation has to be changed. “It's still a myth that only what is in the forests having to be considered for conservation. Even in the urban surroundings, there are birds to be conserved. The common man has to be educated on this,” he says.

Dilawar further says the common birds like house sparrows, mynas or even squirrels are wild and also need to be conserved. These animals are also protected by the Wildlife Act of India.

Gallery – Click on picture to zoom.

- Asian Tribune -