DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE AND NEST SITE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOUSE SPARROW PASSER DOMESTICUS IN MANJERI MUNICIPALITY, KERALA

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1 DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE AND NEST SITE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOUSE SPARROW PASSER DOMESTICUS IN MANJERI MUNICIPALITY, KERALA Technical Report Submitted to Wildlife Research and Conservation Trust DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY NSS COLLEGE MANJERI

2 DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE AND NEST SITE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOUSE SPARROW PASSER DOMESTICUS IN MANJERI MUNICIPALITY, KERALA Technical Report Submitted to Wildlife Research and Conservation Trust P. Balakrishnan, N. Jijeesh, M.Shabeeb Kurikkal, T. Maya, M.P. Lijitha, Reshma R. Bhaskar & N. Vipeesh DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY NSS COLLEGE MANJERI

3 Citation: Balakrishnan, P., Jijeesh, N., Kurikkal M. S., Maya T., Lijitha M. P., Bhaskar R. R. and N. Vipeesh Distribution, abundance and nest site characteristics of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus in Manjeri Municipality, Kerala. Technical Report submitted to Wildlife Research and Conservation Trust. NSS College, Manjeri. Photographs: Jijeesh, N., Kurikkal, M.S. and P. Balakrishnan

4 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.

5 Contents Contents...1 Summary INTRODUCTION House sparrow: the study species Global decline of House Sparrows Goal and objectives MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area Field methods and data analysis House Sparrow surveys Habitat and nest site characteristics RESULTS Distribution and abundance of House Sparrows at Manjeri Habitat factors and distribution of House Sparrows Nest site characteristics of the House Sparrow population at Manjeri DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION REFERENCES

6 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 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 km 2 ) 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 negative correlation 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 3.83±1.29 m above ground ranging from 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. 2

7 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 and pollution (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 House sparrow: the study species The House Sparrow belongs 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 bodied insects 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). 3

8 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 and suburban 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 (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 at determining 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 4

9 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) 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 (11 07 N & E 5 and N & E) the commercial capital of Malappuram District in Kerala State in Southern India. The municipality of Manjeri comprises km 2, 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 and number 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 1 st April Manjeri is inhabited by more than 83,704 people and population density is 1307 / km 2 (2001 census). During the last 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 km 2 and 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).

10 Figure 1. Map of Manjeri Municipality showing the study location Figure 2. Average maximum and minimum temparature at Manjeri. 6

11 Figure 3. Average monthly rainfall and number of rainy days per month at Manjeri. Figure 4. Map Showing the intensive sampling locations 7

12 Plate 1. a). view of Manjeri Town; b). a close view of one of the road-transects 8

13 2.2. Field methods and data analysis 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 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 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 9

14 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 the nest 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 mean±sd 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 Mann Whitney U test. Table 2. Descriptions of habitat features measured at the nesting sites of House Sparrow at Manjeri. 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 of vegetation or tree 10

15 3. RESULTS 3.1. Distribution and abundance of House Sparrows at Manjeri The core area of Manjeri town ( 2 km 2 ) supports a reasonably large population of House Sparrows (>530 individuals). We recorded an average of (±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: 4.29±1.79) male and between 0 26 (mean ± SD: 3.24±1.47) 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 Total nests Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Table 4. Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Nilambur Road, Manjeri. Transect Name Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total nests Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Nlbr Total

16 Table 5. Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Pandikkad Road, Manjeri. Transect Name Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total nests Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Pkd Total Table 6. Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Malappuram Road, Manjeri. Transect Name Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total nests Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Mlp Total

17 Table 7. Number of House Sparrows recorded in the transects along Kozhikode Road, Manjeri. Transect Name Count 1 Count 2 Count 3 Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total nests Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Koz Total 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). 13

18 Table 8. Summary statistics of the habitat characteristics of the transects surveyed for the House Sparrows in Manjeri Municipality, Kerala. Code Variable Mean ± SD Range NCRF No. of buildings with concrete roofs 5.50± NTRF No. of buildings with tile roofs 1.88± NSHTR No. of shutters 15.10± NHTL No. of hotels 1.64± NGCS No. of grocery shops 0.37± NGDNS No. of godowns 0.13± NWLS No. of wells 0.25± NWPS No. of water pipes 0.45± NTREES No. of trees 2.05± NGRASS No. of grass patches 0.70± 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 3.83±1.29 m above ground ranging from 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 under the concrete shelters extending about 1.90±1.30 m (range: 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). 14

19 a b c d Plate 2. Nesting sites of House Sparrows a. A pair of House sparrows in a nest on roller shutter box b. House sparrow nest in a card board box c. House sparrow nest place on a board placed between the shutter boxes d. House sparrow nest in a bamboo basket 15

20 Table 9. Spearman rank correlation matrix for the habitat variables and the abundance of sparrows and number of nests at Manjeri Municipality, Kerala. Variables Con. Roofs Concrete roofs Tile roofs Tile roofs No. of Shutters 0.361* No. of Shutters Hotels 0.557** ** Hotels Grocery Shops 0.333* ** Grocery Shops Godowns 0.304* ** 0.19 Wells Pipes ** Godowns Wells Pipes Trees Grass Trees ** ** ** ** * Grass ** ** ** * ** No. of Sparrows 0.347* ** 0.491** * ** ** No. of Sparrows No. of Nests 0.435** ** 0.551** 0.328* 0.307* ** ** 0.441** * indicates a significant value at p < 0.05; **indicates a significant value at p < 0.01 Nests 16

21 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 Range HTGD Height from ground (m) 3.83± VSNT Visibility of nest (%) 12.14± SHTR Shelter above nest (m) 1.90± DNNT Distance from nearest nest (m) 7.64± DHTL Distance from nearest hotel (m) 26.21± DGWN Distance from nearest godown (m) 16.88± DGSH Distance from nearest grocery shop (m) 8.17± DGAD Distance from nearest garden (m) 36.69± DVEG Distance from nearest vegetation (m) 37.07±

22 Table 11. Comparisons of the characteristics of House Sparrow nest sites in markets and roadside transects, in Manjeri Municipality. Market Transect Code Variable U p (n = 31) (n = 53) HTGD Height from ground (m) 4.12± ± VSNT Visibility of nest (%) 10.85± ± SHTR Shelter above nest (m) 1.94± ± DNNT Distance from nearest nest (m) 9.34± ± DHTL Distance from nearest hotel (m) 18.09± ± DGWN Distance from nearest godown (m) 21.51± ± DGSH Distance from nearest grocery shop (m) 8.58± ± DGAD Distance from nearest garden (m) 30.81± ± DVEG Distance from nearest vegetation (m) 30.66± ± 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. 18

23 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., Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Compact edition, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. 19

24 2. Balakrishnan, P A survey report on the House Sparrow Passer domesticus in south India. Malabar Trogon, 3(2): Balmori, A. and Ö. Hallberg The Urban Decline of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus): A Possible Link with Electromagnetic Radiation. Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 26(2): Bauer, H.-G., Berthold, P., Boye, P., Knief, W., Südbeck, P., Witt, K Rote Liste der Brutvögel Deutschlands (3rd ed.) Ber. Vogelschutz, 39: BirdLife International (2011) Species factsheet: Passer domesticus. Downloaded from on 20/02/ Crick, H. Q., Robinson, R. A., Appleton, G. F., Clark, N. A., Rickard, A. D. (2002). Investigation into the causes of the decline of starlings and house sparrows in Great Britain. BTO Research Report No Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). London. 7. Dandapat, A., Banerjee, D. and D. Chakraborty The case of the Disappearing House Sparrow (Passer domesticus indicus). Veterinary World, 3(2): Daniels, R. J. R Can we save the sparrow? Current Science, 95: (11) Dhanya R., & Azeez, P. A., The House Sparrow Passer domesticus population of Arakku township, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds, 5 (6). 10. Everaert, J. and D. Bauwens A Possible Effect of Electromagnetic Radiation from Mobile Phone Base Stations on the Number of Breeding House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 26: Ghosh, S., Kim, K. and R. Bhattacharya A Survey on House Sparrow Population Decline at Bandel, West Bengal, India. Jour. Korean Earth Science Society, 31(5): , 12. Goyal, M Preliminary Survey of House sparrow (Passer domesticus) in three Different Areas of Haridwar, Uttaranchal. MSc. Dissertation submitted to Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, India. 13. Hole, D.G., Whittingham, M.J., Bradbury, R.B., Anderson, G.Q.A., Lee, P.L.M., Wilson, J.D. and J.R. Krebs Widespread local house-sparrow extinctions. Nature, 418(6901):

25 14. Indykiewicz, P Proceedings of General Meetings of the Working Group on Granivorous Birds. Nest-sites and nests of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in an urban environment. In Granivorous Birds in the Agricultural Landscape, (Eds. Pinowski, J. and Summers-Smith, D.). pp Joshi, D.K House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus): The Endangered Bird. Orissa Review, February-March 2009: Mcdonald R.I., Kareiva, P. and R.T.T. Forman The implications of current and future urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation. Biological Conservation, 141: Peach W, Vincent K Environmental causes of the decline of urban House Sparrows: a review of the evidence. Journal of Ornithology, 147: Rajashekar, S. and M. G. Venkatesha Occurrence of house sparrow, Passer domesticus indicus in and around Bangalore. Current Science, 94(4): Raven, M. J., Noble, D. G., Baillie, S. R. (2003). The breeding bird survey (2002). BTO Research Report 334. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford. 20. Ricketts, T.H., Dinerstein, E., Boucher, T., Brooks, T., Butchart, S., Hoffmann, M., Lamoreux, J., Morrison, J., Parr, M., Pilgrim, J., Rodrigues, A., Sechrest, W., Wallace, G., Berlin, K., Bielby, J., Burgess, N., Church, D., Cox, N., Knox, D., Loucks, C., Luck, G., Master, L., Moore, R., Naidoo, R., Ridgely, R., Schatz, G., Shire, G., Strand, H., Wettengel, W. and E. Wikramanayake Pinpointing and preventing imminent extinctions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 51: Robinson, R.A., G.M. Siriwardena and H.Q.P. Crick Size and trends of the House Sparrow Passer domesticus population in Great Britain. Ibis, 147: Summers-Smith, D The Sparrows. T & A D Poyser Ltd, Calton. 23. Summers-Smith, J.D The decline of the House Sparrow: a review. British Birds 96: Vijayan, V.S Where have all the sparrows gone? Down to Earth, January Vincent, K Investigating the causes of decline of urban House sparrow Passer domesticus population in Britain. Ph.D thesis submitted to De Montfort University

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