Nagercoil Vegetable Markets...A Heaven For The Rare Bird Now...Sparrows!

.

WELCOME PAIR: Sparrows searching for worms and insects among discarded vegetables at the APPTA market in Nagercoil.

I love Nagercoil! I wrote about Nagercoil cutting on plastic usage in these posts, here because of the efforts taken by the Nagercoil Collector. He had written what steps he had taken to implement it. A person who came from that place said that they are still following it!

Now, this article has made me to think of visiting this place, Nagercoil, soon.  I would love to visit this market where they respect this bird and facilitate their numbers to grow!

A haven for sparrows...this article came in The Hindu, yesterday! I was so happy reading the article...still some good people are there who just don't go after money and be selfish all the time.  These people are pampering the small birds to live among them, in so many ways.  Now, to some interesting parts of the article:

The first thing a customer will notice at a mega vegetable market here is the constant flutter of sparrows that have found a new and safe home here.

Quite surprisingly, this tiny species, which faces a threat elsewhere because of a host of factors, is thriving here.  Sparrows nest on wooden, bamboo and paper boxes and clay pots fixed on the walls and roofs of the shops and feed on seeds of coriander plants, worms and caterpillars emerging out of decayed vegetables and fruits.

It is estimated that about 400 pairs of sparrows have occupied the complex, in which the market run by Agriculture Products Producers and Traders’ Association (APPTA) is located.

Since 2007, when the initiative to help the sparrow population began, organisations like Rotary Club have supplied several boxes, but many more are needed.

Conversion of tiled-roof houses into concrete buildings, conversion of backyard wells — a traditional nesting site — into septic tanks, lack of feeding ground, proliferation of motor vehicles and noise pollution are some of the factors that have greatly reduced the sparrow population in Kanyakumari district. (Not only there, but all over the cities).

“Even though the sparrow population has survived these ravages, I can see that their breeding rate is not as high as in the past. Pesticides and insecticides also have a deadly impact on the species,” said Mr Davidson.

A regular watcher of sparrows will clearly notice that the sparrows living in the APPTA complex are slightly bigger in size than their cousins elsewhere. The constant supply of fodder in the form of worms and insects that accompany the loads of vegetables, fruits, banana leaves and green vegetables is cited as a reason for the presence of healthy sparrows.

“I am used to having sparrows in my shop even when I managed a shop in Vadasery market. When I shifted here, I put up a box and almost immediately a few birds moved in,” said B.T. Boopathy, an areca nut merchant. He regularly feeds the birds with millets.

So protective of these birds are these traders that many of them even avoid rolling down the shutters of their shop lest they disturb any nest. In this part of the State, the sparrow itself is referred to as adaikkalam kuruvi (sparrow of refuge) as it is believed that the bird seeks refuge in human habitations.

Also, an age-old belief that the sparrow is a symbol of prosperity has also encouraged the traders to grant asylum to these birds.

Yes, my mother also used to say that.  She used to throw some rice and wheat in the balcony.  We used to watch sparrows feed on them when we were small children.  I followed it later.  I used to throw some rice on the dining table before leaving for office for the sparrows to eat.  They had built a nest in the attic in some cardboard box.  We were worried most of the time, to switch on the fan lest the birds fly here and there inside the room! When I was in Bangalore, I used to throw some wheat in the balcony and made my children watch them (they were very small then!) so that I could finish some work peacefully!

I saw some sparrows at Rameshwaram and was so happy to hear their chirpings, after a long time! I took a photograph immediately...I know that I might not see them often hereafter, here, in Chennai...well, I saw a lone bird at Shastri Nagar, Adyar, a few months back, though!

What can we do to bring back the birds? They too are like us, living beings.

.

Edited to add, after a few hours: I read this article just now! Bird lovers might be interested to know!

I remembered about one more post of mine, about a village which pampers migratory birds.  The post is here.