House Sparrow Passer Domesticus_manjeri Munipality_kerala

8/11/2019 House Sparrow Passer Domesticus_manjeri Munipality_kerala

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Technical Report Submitted toWildlife Research and Conservation Trust


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Technical Report Submitted toWildlife Research and Conservation Trust


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Citation:

Balakrishnan, P., Jijeesh, N., Kurikkal M. S., Maya T., Lijitha M. P., Bhaskar R. R. and N.Vipeesh. 2011. Distribution, abundance and nest site characteristics of the House SparrowPasser domesticus in Manjeri Municipality, Kerala. Technical Report submitted to WildlifeResearch and Conservation Trust. NSS College, Manjeri.

Photographs:

Jijeesh, N., Kurikkal, M.S. and P. Balakrishnan


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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Wildlife Research and Conservation Trust, Nilambur for funding this

project. Special thanks to Dr. K.S. Anoop Das and T.N. Bindu for providing literature and

support. We also thank the Principal, other staff members, our classmates and members of

Hornbill Nature Club for their critical thoughts, and the shop keepers and residents of Manjeri

for logistic support during this study.


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Contents

Contents ......................................................................................................................................1

Summary.....................................................................................................................................2

1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................3

1.1. House sparrow: the study species ..................................................................................31.2.

Global decline of House Sparrows ................................................................................4

1.3. Goal and objectives .......................................................................................................5

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS........................................................................................5

2.1. Study area .....................................................................................................................5

2.2.

Field methods and data analysis ....................................................................................9

2.2.1.

House Sparrow surveys ..........................................................................................9

2.2.2. Habitat and nest site characteristics ........................................................................9

3. RESULTS.......................................................................................................................... 11

3.1. Distribution and abundance of House Sparrows at Manjeri .......................................... 113.2.

Habitat factors and distribution of House Sparrows ..................................................... 13

3.3. Nest site characteristics of the House Sparrow population at Manjeri .......................... 14

4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION.................................................................................. 18

5. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................. 19


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Summary

The status, habitat selection and the nest site characteristics of the House Sparrow Passer

domesticus in the Manjeri Municipality were studied during December 2010 February 2011.

The birds were counted by a line transect method (40 transects of 50 m length) along the main

roads and by a total count method in the daily market. The core area of Manjeri town (2 km2)

supports a reasonably large population of House Sparrows (>530 individuals). We recorded a

maximum of 349 and 181 individuals from the road transects and the market, respectively.

House Sparrow abundance and the number of nests in the road-transects were positively

correlated to the numbers of buildings with cement-concrete roofs, rolling shutter doors, hotels

and rice/cereal godowns. The number of nests was also positively associated with the number of

grocery shops in the transects. The presence of vegetation in the transects had a negativecorrelation with the abundance of sparrows and the number of nests present. A total of 109 nests

were recorded during the study and of these 84 nests were studied in detail to reveal the nest site

characteristics of House Sparrows. All the nests were placed in human-made structures in the

buildings or artificial boxes and baskets established by the shop keepers. Majority of the nests

(89.3%, n= 75) were placed above the roller shutter boxes. The nests were placed at an average

of 3.831.29 m above ground ranging from 2.5 6.3 m. In general the nests were placed in the

close vicinity of grocery shops, rice godowns and hotels. As the House Sparrow populations in

major cities are already disappeared, there is an urgent need to conserve the species in small

towns like Manjeri, where it is still common for the long-term survival of the species.


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1. INTRODUCTION

In recent decades anthropogenic impacts have resulted in devastating biodiversity loss

throughout the world. Urbanization and pollution are the most damaging and rapid form of

anthropogenic pressure. Many rare species are known to be affected by urbanization andpollution (Ricketts et al., 2005; Mcdonald et al., 2008). Several widely distributed and common

species like House Sparrow Passer domesticus(Linnaeus, 1758) are also facing massive decline

across several countries due to anthropogenic pressures. It is important to understand the status

and habitat relationships of a species in decline in order to allow the suggestion of effective

conservation measures. The present study is an attempt to document the status, distribution and

the nest site characteristics of House Sparrow in Manjeri Municipality, Kerala, South India.

1.1.

House sparrow: the study species

The House Sparrowbelongs to the family Passeridae, occurs naturally in most of Europe, the

Mediterranean region, and much of Asia. It has also been intentionally or accidentally introduced

to many parts of the world, making it the most widely distributed bird species (Summers-Smith,

1988). In the Indian subcontinent they are commonly found in India including introduced

populations in Andaman Islands; Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives (Ali and Ripley,

1987).

The sexes are dimorphic with the male being boldly patterned. In male the crown is grey,

lores and round eye black. The mantle and scapulars are boldly streaked black, chestnut and buff

and the tail is dark brown. The female is grayish brown streaked with fulvous and dark brown on

back. A pale supercilium and the under parts plain brownish white. The House Sparrows seen in

pairs when breeding, otherwise in noisy flocks. They are unfailing commensal of man, primarily

associated with cities and suburbs, villages, often even isolated homesteads, and human

habitations of every description. The House Sparrow is primarily a seedeater, but also feeds on

fruit and flower buds, tender shoots, kitchen scraps and insects. Nestlings are fed on soft bodiedinsects and caterpillars, etc. The breeding season is chiefly March to June in north, continuing till

September or October in central India, but they breed throughout the year in south India (Ali and

Ripley, 1987).


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1.2. Global decline of House Sparrows

During recent decades, there has been a marked global decline of the House Sparrow populations

especially in the United Kingdom and in several western European countries. In England the

populations in rural areas have declined by 47% since the mid 1970s, whereas those in urban andsuburban areas have declined by about 60% (Crick et al., 2002; Summers-Smith, 2003; Robinson

et al., 2005; Vincent, 2005). Such declines have led to almost complete extinction in some urban

centres; for example, there was a 71% decline in London from 19942002 (Raven et al., 2003).

In Europe, trends since 1980 show that populations have undergone a moderate decline, based on

provisional data for 21 countries from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme

(BirdLife International, 2011). Further to these declines the House Sparrow was added to the Red

List of U.K. endangered species in 2002 (Summers-Smith, 2003) and in Germany, it is classified

as near threatened (Bauer et al. 2002) due to the large scale local declines. However, BirdLife

International (2011) listed House Sparrow as a Least Concern species as it has an extremely

large range and population size.

A number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the population decline of the

House Sparrows. These include lack of food, primarily aphids, which adults feed to nestlings,

inter-specific competition for food, loss of nesting sites, particularly under the eaves and in the

roofs of houses, cleaner streets providing reduced foraging opportunities, disease transmission

(e.g. salmonella), increased predation, pollution from vehicles running on unleaded fuel,

pollution (air quality), both in terms of immediate toxicity and indirect toxicity through the food

supply and increased use of pesticides in parks and gardens (Crick et al., 2002; Summers-Smith,

2003; Vincent, 2005; Peach and Vincent, 2006). Recent studies also support the notion that

long-term exposure to higher levels of radiation negatively affects the abundance or behavior of

House Sparrows (Balmori and Hallberg. 2007; Everaert and Bauwens, 2007).

Although there is a growing concern over the decline of House Sparrows in India (Vijayan,

2003; Daniels, 2008; Joshi, 2009; Dandapat et al, 2010)there has been limited research aimed atdetermining the population dynamics and geographical distribution and causes of declines (see,

Balakrishnan, 2005; Goyal, 2005; Rajashekar and Venkatesha, 2008; Dhanya and Azeez, 2010;

Ghosh et al., 2010). It is important that systematic surveys and comparisons of house sparrow

populations to be conducted in order to assess differences in abundance and breeding


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productivity within different areas of the same city and between different urban landscapes with

different socio-economic, technological and cultural characteristics (see, Crick et al., 2002).

1.3. Goal and objectives

The goal of this was to gather information on the status of House Sparrow at a local scale and

thereby contribute to its conservation. The specific objectives were to:

assess the status, distribution and abundance of the House Sparrow population in Manjeri

Municipality,

identify the correlates of the distribution of the House Sparrow with the habitat features,

and

obtain information on the nest site characteristics of House Sparrows.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Study area

This study was conducted in Manjeri Municipality (1107 N & 7607E and 11.12N &

76.12E) the commercial capital of Malappuram District in Kerala State in Southern India. The

municipality of Manjeri comprises 53.06 km2, across three villages and 50 wards (Figure 1). The

average elevation is 38 metres (124 feet). The climate is typical tropical with an average

temperature around 31.5 C. The average maximum and minimum temperature and rainfall andnumber of rainy days per month are presented in Figures 2 and 3. The municipal area can be

divided in two well differentiated areas: the core town area and surrounding agricultural and

residential areas with very small towns. The main town area composed largely of several

shopping centres and office buildings, most having two or more stories and few residential

houses. The rural area of the municipality is composed of small hilly agricultural fields with

coconut, rubber, arecunut and cashew as the main crops and bordering some riverine habitats.

The Manjeri Municipality was formed on 1st April 1978. Manjeri is inhabited by more than

83,704 people and population density is 1307 / km2(2001 census). During the last 10-20 years

majority of the old buildings in the town are replaced with cement-concrete buildings. The area

where the intensive study was carried out, had an approximate area of 3 km2and was located in

the middle of the Municipality. The intensive sites include the permanent market (1ha) and the

four main roads towards Malappuram, Kozhikode, Nilambur and Pandikkad (Figure 4; Plate 1).


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Figure 1. Map of Manjeri Municipality showing the study location

Figure 2.Average maximum and minimum temparature at Manjeri.


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Figure 3.Average monthly rainfall and number of rainy days per month at Manjeri.

Figure 4.Map Showing the intensive sampling locations


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Plate 1. a). view of Manjeri Town; b). a close view of one of the road-transects


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2.2. Field methods and data analysis

2.2.1. House Sparrow surveys

The preliminary surveys conducted in various regions of the Manjeri Municipality indicated that

the House Sparrow population is restricted to the core area of the town. Two methods were

employed to assess the abundance of sparrows. A total count method was used to survey the

birds in the market (1ha) area. In the second method we counted sparrows along 40 line

transects, 50-m long located in the four main roads of the town. All the four main roads had

equal number of transects (10 each). The surveys were repeated three times during December

2010, January and February 2011. All the surveys were conducted between sunrise and 2 h after

sunrise and were not conducted during precipitation or windy conditions. The numbers of males

and females sparrows were recorded separately during each survey. Apart from this, the total

number of nests was also recorded separately for each transect.

2.2.2. Habitat and nest site characteristics

In each of the 40 road-transects, a number of structural features were measured in order to

characterize the habitat characteristics. The habitat features measured include a number of

structural characters of the buildings, presence of food sources and vegetation (see Table 1).

Table 1.Descriptions of habitat features measured at each 50m line transects.

Code Variable Description

DRFT Dominant roof type Classified as concrete and tile roofs

NCRF Concrete roof No. of buildings with concrete roofs

NTRF Tile roof No. of buildings with tile roofs

NSHTR Shutterhood (#) No. of shutters on either sides

NHTL Hotels (#) No. of hotels

NGCS Grocery shops (#) No. of grocery shops

NGDNS Godowns (#) No. of godowns

NWLS Wells (#) No. of wells

NWPS Water pipes (#) No. of water pipes

NTREES Trees (#) No. of trees

NGRASS Grass (#) No. of grass patches


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The nests were located by searching all the probable nest sites like shutter boxes,

ventilators, shelter boards, trees, artificial boxes, etc., in all the transects and the market and also

by observing the behaviours of birds (moving with nest materials, food, etc.). To characterize thenest site characteristics we measured habitat characteristics of 84 nests of House Sparrows. The

variables measured include the nest site, height from ground, visibility of nest and several

parameters related to the food supply. Detailed descriptions of the variables and the method of

measurements are given in Table 2.

The meanSD values are presented for habitat and nest site characteristics. A Spearman

rank correlation matrix was also calculated to understand the importance of habitat variables on

the abundance of sparrows and number of nests in the transects. The nest site characteristics of

the nests placed in the market and transects were compared using MannWhitney U test.

Table 2. Descriptions of habitat features measured at the nesting sites of House Sparrow atManjeri.

Code Variable Description

NSITE Nest site Classified as Shutter, ventilator,

shelter boards or artificial boxes

HTGD Height from ground (m) Nest height above ground

VSNT Visibility of nest (%) % visibility of nest

SHTR Shelter above nest (m) Shelter distance in front of the nest

DNNT Distance from nearest nest (m) Distance to the nearest nest

DHTL Distance from nearest hotel (m) Distance to the nearest hotel

DGWN Distance from nearest godown (m) Distance to the nearest rice godown

DGSH Distance from nearest grocery shop (m) Distance to the nearest grocery shop

DGAD Distance from nearest garden (m) Distance to the nearest garden

DVEG Distance from nearest vegetation (m) Distance to the nearest patch ofvegetation or tree


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3. RESULTS

3.1. Distribution and abundance of House Sparrows at Manjeri

The core area of Manjeri town (2 km2) supports a reasonably large population of House

Sparrows (>530 individuals). We recorded an average of 301.33 (52.63) and 172 (12.3) House

Sparrows with a maximum of 349 and 181 individuals from the road transects and the market,

respectively. We detected between 0 43 (mean SD: 4.291.79) male and between 0 26

(mean SD: 3.241.47) female Sparrows on each transect over the three surveys. Raw counts of

the male and female House Sparrows during the three different counts in the market and along

the 50 m long transects in the four main roads are presented in Table 3 and Tables 4 to 7,

respectively.

Table 3.Number of House Sparrows recorded in the municipal market, Manjeri.

Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 TotalnestsMale Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total

97 61 158 108 73 181 107 70 177 35

Table 4.Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Nilambur Road, Manjeri.

Transect

Name

Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 Total

nestsMale Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total

Nlbr 1 4 3 7 4 3 7 6 4 10 3

Nlbr 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nlbr 3 4 3 7 6 3 9 9 6 15 3

Nlbr 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Nlbr 5 1 1 2 2 3 5 3 2 5 2

Nlbr 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Nlbr 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Nlbr 8 2 1 3 0 0 0 2 2 4 1

Nlbr 9 2 2 4 3 2 5 3 2 5 1

Nlbr 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Total 13 10 23 15 11 26 26 16 42 10


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Table 5.Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Pandikkad Road, Manjeri.

Transect

Name



Pkd 1 8 11 19 11 15 26 10 14 24 2

Pkd 2 12 14 26 19 26 45 9 9 18 8

Pkd 3 4 3 7 6 5 11 0 0 0 1

Pkd 4 2 1 3 3 1 4 5 3 8 3

Pkd 5 4 5 9 6 4 10 8 6 14 8

Pkd 6 10 13 23 16 18 34 16 19 35 9

Pkd 7 2 0 2 3 1 4 0 1 1 1

Pkd 8 3 2 5 0 0 0 9 4 13 2

Pkd 9 4 1 5 5 2 7 0 0 0 1

Pkd 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Total 49 50 99 69 72 141 58 56 114 35

Table 6.Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Malappuram Road, Manjeri.

Transect

Name



Mlp 1 15 11 26 27 13 40 43 26 69 6

Mlp 2 2 3 5 3 4 7 3 4 7 1

Mlp 3 11 4 15 10 6 16 14 11 25 3

Mlp 4 9 4 13 12 6 18 6 7 13 1

Mlp 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Mlp 6 12 5 17 13 6 19 27 14 41 7

Mlp 7 1 0 1 4 6 10 0 0 0 0Mlp 8 5 4 9 5 6 11 4 2 6 0

Mlp 9 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 0

Mlp 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 56 31 87 74 47 121 98 65 163 18


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Table 7.Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Kozhikode Road, Manjeri.

Transect

Name



Koz 1 5 2 7 7 4 11 8 3 11 4

Koz 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 1 2 0

Koz 3 6 2 8 7 9 16 6 4 10 2

Koz 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

Koz 5 2 1 3 3 4 7 3 0 3 3

Koz 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1

Koz 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1

Koz 8 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

Koz 9 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Koz 10 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

Total 14 5 19 21 18 39 21 8 29 11

3.2. Habitat factors and distribution of House Sparrows

A summary of the habitat characteristics of transects surveyed is given in Table 8. All the

transects except one had at least one building. About 73.3% (SD= 22%) of the buildings in the

transects had cement-concrete roofs. Except three transects, majority of the buildings were built

during the last 10 years and only few old buildings exist. All except two transects had shops with

rolling shutter doors which is used by the sparrows for the nest placement.

Of the 40 road-transects surveyed during this study, sparrows were found in all except

two transects. However, the nests were not found in 16 transects. House Sparrow abundance and

the number of nests in the road-transects were positively correlated to the numbers of buildings

with cement-concrete roofs, rolling shutter doors, hotels and rice/cereal godowns. The number of

nests was also positively associated with the number of grocery shops in the transects. The

presence of vegetation in the transects had a negative correlation with the abundance of sparrows

and the number of nests present (Table 9).


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Table 8.Summary statistics of the habitat characteristics of the transects surveyed for the HouseSparrows in Manjeri Municipality, Kerala.

Code Variable Mean SD Range

NCRF No. of buildings with concrete roofs 5.502.74 0-11NTRF No. of buildings with tile roofs 1.881.56 0-7

NSHTR No. of shutters 15.107.67 0-32

NHTL No. of hotels 1.641.94 0-7

NGCS No. of grocery shops 0.370.74 0-3

NGDNS No. of godowns 0.130.34 0-1

NWLS No. of wells 0.2549 0-2

NWPS No. of water pipes 0.451.15 0-6

NTREES No. of trees 2.052.55 0-9NGRASS No. of grass patches 0.700.79 0-2

3.3. Nest site characteristics of the House Sparrow population at Manjeri

Of the 109 nests recorded from the road transects and the market area during the study, 84 nests

were studied in detail to reveal the nest site characteristics of House Sparrows. All the nests were

placed in human-made structures in the buildings or artificial boxes and baskets established by

the shop keepers (Plate 2). The nests are mainly constructed with straw, jute, packaging tapes

(mostly thrown from the shops), feather, small pieces of grasses and several rubbish materials

like cotton and plastic pieces.

Majority of the nests (89.3%, n= 75) were placed above the roller shutter boxes followed

by the artificial boxes provided by the shop keepers (4.8%), shelter boards in front of the shops

(3.57%) and the ventilators (2.4%) (Figure 5). The nests were placed at an average of 3.831.29

m above ground ranging from 2.5 6.3 m. The overall visibility of the nests was about 12.1%

(10.6, range: 0-60%). The nests placed above the roller shutter boxes are well concealed underthe concrete shelters extending about 1.901.30 m (range: 0.5 6 m) above the nests. In general

the nests were placed in the close vicinity of grocery shops, rice godowns and hotels (Table 10).

The House sparrows in the market area placed their nests higher than their counterparts in the

road-transects. The nests in the market were also close to hotels, vegetation cover and gardens

(Table 11).


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a b

c d

Plate 2. Nesting sites of House Sparrowsa. A pair of House sparrows in a nest on roller shutter box

b.

House sparrow nest in a card board boxc. House sparrow nest place on a board placed between the shutter boxesd. House sparrow nest in a bamboo basket


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Table 9. Spearman rank correlation matrix for the habitat variables and the abundance of sparrows an

Municipality, Kerala.

VariablesConcrete

roofs

Tile

roofs

No. of

ShuttersHotels

Grocery

ShopsGodowns Wells Pipes Trees

Con. Roofs

Tile roofs -0.072

No. of Shutters 0.361* -0.044

Hotels 0.557** -0.136 0.494**

Grocery Shops 0.333* -0.064 0.249 0.548**

Godowns 0.304* -0.061 0.263 0.404** 0.19Wells -0.077 -0.071 0.217 0.155 0.112 -0.027

Pipes 0.123 0.053 0.202 0.205 0.132 0.13 0.418**

Trees -0.561** -0.11 -0.585** -0.606** -0.454** -0.318* -0.022 -0.04

Grass -0.627** 0.023 -0.555** -0.472** -0.287* -0.243 -0.189 -0.23 0.645*

No. of Sparrows 0.347* 0.117 0.981** 0.491** 0.217 0.276* 0.195 0.19 -0.598*

No. of Nests 0.435** 0.22 0.400** 0.551** 0.328* 0.307* 0.229 0.259 -0.543*

* indicates a significant value atp< 0.05; **indicates a significant value atp< 0.01


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Figure 5.Nest site use by House Sparrows at Manjeri Municipality, Kerala.

Table 10.Nest site characteristics of House Sparrows in Manjeri Municipality.

Code Variable Mean SD RangeHTGD Height from ground (m) 3.831.29 2.5-6.3

VSNT Visibility of nest (%) 12.1410.56 0-60

SHTR Shelter above nest (m) 1.901.30 0.5-6

DNNT Distance from nearest nest (m) 7.6419.30 2-150

DHTL Distance from nearest hotel (m) 26.2118.84 3-75

DGWN Distance from nearest godown (m) 16.8826.37 1-125

DGSH Distance from nearest grocery shop (m) 8.178.07 1-50

DGAD Distance from nearest garden (m) 36.6917.95 8-100

DVEG Distance from nearest vegetation (m) 37.0718.21 8-100


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Table 11.Comparisons of the characteristics of House Sparrow nest sites in markets and road-side transects, in Manjeri Municipality.

Code Variable Market(n = 31) Transect(n = 53)U p

HTGD Height from ground (m) 4.120.20 3.330.14 538 0.001

VSNT Visibility of nest (%) 10.851.03 14.352.56 814 0.942

SHTR Shelter above nest (m) 1.940.19 1.820.20 814 0.941

DNNT Distance from nearest nest (m) 9.343.31 4.740.53 749 0.490

DHTL Distance from nearest hotel (m) 18.0911.23 40.1021.15 346 0.001

DGWN Distance from nearest godown (m) 21.514.34 8.971.75 587.5 0.029

DGSH Distance from nearest grocery shop (m) 8.581.07 7.451.54 647 0.104DGAD Distance from nearest garden (m) 30.812.32 46.742.74 361 0.001

DVEG Distance from nearest vegetation (m) 30.662.33 48.032.68 330 0.001

4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The present study shows that the core area of the Manjeri, a fast growing medium size

town supports a large population of House Sparrows. We have no historical data on the status of

House Sparrows in Manjeri and the surrounding areas; therefore we do not know whether the

House Sparrow numbers changed drastically over time. However, there seems to be indications

of population changes in the first three transects in the Pandikkad Road (Pkd 1 -3), where about

180 (96 males and 84 females) sparrows were counted during January 2002 (P. Balakrishnan,

Unpublished data). During the present study only 82 individuals were counted from these

transects. We did not attempted to calculate the sex ratio of the species as we may have missed

several incubating female sparrows during our surveys.

The buildings with concrete roofs and rolling-shutter doors provided excellent nesting

sites for the House Sparrows. Those shutters constructed with a gap between the roller box and

roof of the buildings supported the sparrow nests, while in many cases the roller box is attached

very close to the roof which cannot accommodate the nests. Sparrows also used some of the

artificial nesting sites like card-board boxes or bamboo baskets provided by the shop keepers.


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This indicates the adaptive nature of the species to new environments. However, the more

recently built shopping centres with glass facades (exterior construction of the buildings) do not

provide much space for placing the nests. Thus the development of modern buildings is going to

be major threat to the breeding sparrows in the near future. A loss of suitable nesting sites in

modern buildings or after renovation and an insufficient nestling diet are discussed as main

causes for the decline of sparrows in urban areas, but other factors may also play a role

(Summers-Smith 2003, Vincent 2005). Although the vegetation cover in the transects are very

low, there is a considerable amount of small trees, shrubs and small gardens outside the transects,

which may host enough insects for feeding the nestlings. Most of the House Sparrow nests were

placed at about 4 m height. Indykiewicz (1990) found that the most common height when

analysing the location of urban sparrow nests was between three and four metres high. The

domestic cats and owls appear to be potential predators of the House Sparrow nests.

The level of pollution is and its impact on the sparrows was not documented in this study.

However, as the density of vehicles is very high at Manjeri it may have some potential impact on

the species. Recently there have been several studies supporting the notion that long-term

exposure to higher levels of radiation negatively affects the abundance or behavior of House

Sparrows (Balmori and Hallberg. 2007; Everaert and Bauwens, 2007). There are about 41 mobile

phone masts in the 3 km vicinity of the Manjeri town. The impact of the radiation from these

mast need to be studied soon.

In conclusion, the present study indicates that Manjeri host a considerably good population of

House Sparrows and the survival of the species depends on the protection of similar populations

in small towns by minimizing the pollution levels, use of pesticides and protection of old

buildings and construction of sparrow friendly buildings in the future.

5. REFERENCES

1. Ali, S., and Ripley, S.D., 1987. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Compact

edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.


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2. Balakrishnan, P. 2005. A survey report on the House Sparrow Passer domesticus in south

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4.

Bauer, H.-G., Berthold, P., Boye, P., Knief, W., Sdbeck, P., Witt, K. 2002 Rote Liste

der Brutvgel Deutschlands (3rd ed.) Ber. Vogelschutz, 39: 13-60.

5. BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Passer domesticus. Downloaded from

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Crick, H. Q., Robinson, R. A., Appleton, G. F., Clark, N. A., Rickard, A. D. (2002).

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Britain. BTO Research Report No. 290. Department for Environment, Food and RuralAffairs (DEFRA). London.

7. Dandapat, A., Banerjee, D. and D. Chakraborty. 2010. The case of the Disappearing House

Sparrow (Passer domesticus indicus). Veterinary World, 3(2): 97-100.

8. Daniels, R. J. R. 2008. Can we save the sparrow? CurrentScience, 95: (11) 1527-1528.

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