International Journal of
Biodiversity and Conservation

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-243X
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJBC
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 679

Full Length Research Paper

Artificial nest box for house sparrow: An apt method to save the dwindling species in an urban environment

Balaji S
  • Balaji S
  • Post-graduate and Research Department of Zoology, Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College, Sivakasi, State Highway 42, Tamil Nadu 626124, India
  • Google Scholar


  •  Accepted: 13 January 2014
  •  Published: 28 March 2014

Abstract

House sparrow Passer domesticus belongs to Passeriformes order and Passeridae Family. It has a worldwide distribution living in all continents and many of oceanic Islands. Some of the ecologists believe that this bird is a symbiotic species with human, hence recognizing and identified as a bird species depended on human environments. A lack of holes suitable for nest sites on modern or renovated buildings has been proposed as a possible cause of the house sparrow population decline. There has been an increase in the use of plastic fascia boards and the use of contoured tiles or roofing sheets to prevent the entry of birds on modern housing. House sparrows predominantly nest in holes and gaps in soffit boards and under tiles, therefore this tendency may have an impact of the availability of nest sites. Hence the present study was undertaken to apt a suitable method to conserve the house sparrow population in urban areas of Sivakasi town by erecting artificial nest boxes in Sivakasi town from October 2012 - October 2013 and obtained a positive response by the house sparrow towards the artificial nest boxes.

 

Key words: Worldwide distribution, symbiotic species, renovated buildings, impact.