Taking Flight!

Living in a city can become monotonous at times. And monotony was what was broken on 20th March this year. It was World Sparrow Day and it could have passed by without a fuss like many other Days - Drinking Straw Day, Chocolate Day or even Valentine's Day but for Ahmedabad Mirror's wonderful initiative to distribute sparrow houses to interested people in Ahmedabad. These sparrow houses are small clay pots with a small hole at the top. The aim was to provide sparrows with lots of cozy spaces in the city to build their nests and give birth to little chicks because spaces is what these little birds can't find in the concrete and glass buildings of our times.
All queued up to get hold of a sparrow house!
And I think, the houses with the small hole were specially designed to prevent other more intruding birds like pigeons from building their nests in it. Being the nature enthusiast that I am (self proclaimed if you so wish), I got hold of a sparrow house and its feed from an AM reporter. Placing the house in a safe, secluded place was not going to be a problem with our decently big backyard here. And by evening, it was securely hanging from one of the branches of our guava tree. The feed grain was kept in a small container near the house and also spread on the ground around the tree, all waiting for its first visitors!
Safe enough?

Day 2 (21/3): There is something very exciting about setting the stage up and then waiting for your actors to blossom over it and share their joys with you. That is what has encouraged me every time I have organized an event and it was no different here! I was awake much before my usual waking time (and that too without an alarm) just to see the first visitors to the beautifully set up sparrow house. Our garden is usually at its chirping best in the morning and so it was today. Though no sparrows were seen then, I was willing to be patient enough to wait for it. Meanwhile, mom also gave this idea about planting some of the feed grains in the garden so that the seeds from the plants could be used as feed in the future. That was what I had learnt during my project on NTFPs in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh as well and so, a part of the feed grains was quickly planted in the garden. Talk about sustainability!!
The day passed by and I did see sparrow couples in our garden more than once. They were more interested in the grains spread on the ground and I don't think they have explored the possibility of setting up their home up on the tree as yet. Fingers crossed on that!
I will try and put a pic of our first visitors here very soon!

Comments

sarahsn said…
well..considering the elusive nature lover that you are and all the learning we got from IRMA..I think, this could be one sustainable initiative...albeit for the benefit of our two legged friends...:)
Anshuman said…
hahaha... more than a month and no sparrows in sight! :\
have left the house hanging there... hopefully it ll find its occupants... next season may be! :)

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