Sudhakar Kurhade, Jayant Kshirsagar, Prashant Wagh and Raosaheb Kasar
The House sparrow (Passer domesticus indicus) is distributed all over India up to 4000m in the Himalayas. Distribution of House sparrow is not uniform in the country, and in the recent years disappearing of sparrows is also reported from various parts of the world. Rapid urbanization, deforestation (particularly of thorny shrubs), RCC housing constructions in rural and urban areas , loss of nesting sites, indiscriminate use of pesticides, use of chemically treated seeds etc. are possible reasons for disappearing of sparrows. As decline in the sparrow population is the alarming signal, to know the present status and distribution of sparrows “Citizens sparrow” programme was undertaken by Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai and other NGO’s. The study area Parner Tehasil of Ahmednagar District (Maharashtra State) shows satisfactory population of sparrows, which is equally distributed in various habitats studied.
