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Press release here re World House Sparrow Day.
I've sent note to Christian Pilard, of co-organiser Ecosys, saying House Sparrows don't occur in Far East including Hong Kong, where I live. Instead, Tree Sparrows in their niche. But, good to promote common birds, some of which not as common as they should be.
Quote:-P R E S S R E L E A S E –World House Sparrow Day 20th March 2010
The world House Sparrow Day is an international initiative by Nature Forever Society in colabration with Bombay Natural History Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (USA), Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) Avon Wildlife Trust (UK) and numerous other national and international organisation across the world.
The World House Sparrow Day will be celebrated on 20th March 2010 and will be an annual event not only to celebrate the beauty of House Sparrows but all the common birds and biodiversity found in and around us.
The event will be promoted by a dedicated interactive website http://www.worldhousesparrowday.org which will be the nerve centre of the whole event. Organisation and individuals from across the world will be able to register their events and activities on this website.
The website will have information related to the event like, press resources, logos, posters, images and press releases. The website will also be useful for organisation’s and individuals as they will be able to download posters, logos and activity ideas which they can use to promote the event in their region or country.
The World House Sparrow Day will promote eventslike common bird watching trips, public discussions, exhibitions, presentations, bird rallies, art competitions, educational and public eventsall aimed at paying more attention to the birds in their neighborhood and their conservation.
All the events which will be carried out throughout the world will be uploaded on the website.
The event will be getting extensive press and media coverage as there is immense interest in the media and the masses on the decline of House Sparrows.
Apart from this regular updates in regard to the event will be circulated on national and international bird groups which have thousands of members.
What will the World House Sparrow Day achieve?
The rationale of having this day is not only to celebrate the event for a day but to use the day to 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, do collaborative research and form national and international linkages.
It 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.
House Sparrows and other common birds are declining across the Globe
This 20th March 2010, thousands of people around the world will be taking part in World House Sparrow Day (WHSD) events to draw attention to the decline of House Sparrows and other common birds.
The central theme for the introductory year of World House Sparrow Day will be – “ Help House Sparrows” – which aims to highlight reasons for decline like lack of nesting sites, food, effects of pesticides, microwave pollution and how we can help them in fighting against these odds.
It’s not only that the House Sparrows are decreasing but also the other common birds and the decline of Common species like House Sparrow which is a bio-indicator of the environment is a grim reminder of the polluted environment that we all live in.
Change in building Architecture
With increasing number of match box type building (buildings which have place for birds to make nest) being made House Sparrows have little nest building opportunity.
Urban Green Desert
Today the gardens are full of exotic species of plants which have of no ecological role to play and are of no use to the birds and insects. These exotic plants are a stress of vital resources like water and require large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. There is a urgent to need to create more awareness in this regard and replace these species with native species.
Changing attitude and life styles
Changing attitude of people towards birds and biodiversity is one of the most important reason why conservation of so biodiversity becomes so difficult. People today are to busy in their day to day life and have little time to think about birds.
Once upon a time people did not mind House Sparrows making nests in their homes and also regularly feed the birds with food and clean water. But with changing life style House Sparrows are not welcomed and feeding the birds is a practice which has been forgotten in modern India. Also traditional feeding grounds of House Sparrow like open grain markets have declined.
The modern house wife is busy in her daily sas – bahu serials hence also does not like to sit and clean grains but prefers buying pre cleaned and packed grains, pulses and flours.
Mobile Towers and cell phones
The advent of other man made threats like increasing numbers of mobile phone towers and microwave pollution is silent killer of House Sparrows.
For more information on the cause of decline of House Sparrows and what can be done to help them please visit the below mentioned web-link
So far little attention is given on the conservation, research and practical conservation measures for House Sparrows and Common birds. We aim to change this with the World House Sparrow Day, the conservation of common species of flora and fauna is equally important as threatened species because today’s common species only become tomorrow’s threatened and endangered species. The best example of negligence towards common birds is the case of Indian vultures which till a decade ago was one of the most common raptor in the world and is today on the brink of extinction. We don’t want the same thing to happen to House Sparrows or any common bird or flora and fauna for that matter.
Dedicated people and organisations around the world will be using World House Sparrow Day (WHSD) this 20th March to conduct events, which will help draw attention to the impact of man-made changes on House Sparrows, Common Birds and the environment we live in.
Notes to Editors
World House Sparrow Day (WMBD)
World House Sparrow Day (WHSD) is a global initiative by Nature Forever Society devoted towards celebrating House Sparrows and for promoting their conservation worldwide. Every Year WHSD will take place on 20th March and will have a central theme. This year’s them for World House Sparrow Day will be ‘Help House Sparrows’
World House Sparrow Day is global initiative by Nature Forever Society in Collaboration with Bombay Natural History Society, Ecosys Foundation (France),Cornell Lab of Ornithology (USA)Avon Wildlife Trust (UK) and other partners. People and dedicated organiations around the world will be using the event to draw attention to decline of House Sparrows, Common Species of Birds and Urban Biodiversity.
Activities to mark WHSD will include bird watching trips, public discussions, exhibitions, presentations, bird rallies, art competitions and other educational and public events.
Will the world House Sparrow Day be an annual event?
Yes it will be an annual affair every year the World House Sparrow Day will be Celebrated on the 20th March.
What does the World House Sparrow Day aims to achieve?
Why and how to register your Event?
The main aim of World House Sparrow Day is to bring together all the organisation and individuals working in different parts of the world on a common platform which will help in better networking, sharing ideas, resources which should help in better advocacy to device a better conservation strategy.
Registering your event will also help us to send you further resources like posters, photos, press releases and notifications. By registering your event officially photos of event conducted by you with write up will be uploaded on the website. Please do remember to send in good photos of events conducted by you along with proper write up.
Please join World House Sparrow Group on Facebook to have up-to-date information in regard to World House Sparrow day meet Sparrow lover to share and exchange ideas.
For more information in regard to the decline of House Sparrows and how you can help please visit http://www.natureforever.org
*Note – We have attached the Logo of the World House Sparrow Day as well as Photos of House Sparrows which can be used for the story kindly give the photo credit for the photos as they have been generously donated by people for this noble cause a photo credit will be highly appreciated.
There's a link to report on World House Sparrow Day here:
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