The world just celebrated World Sparrow Day by speaking and writing about how this beautiful bird - the common sparrow called Gauraiya - is on the Red List of endangered species along with Tigers and snow leopards of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A day after people have moved on to other thoughts and ideas but Nature consevationists like Vishwas Pal and  Tanjil Akhtar are continuing to save the bird simply because they love it. Here are their stories of how they are saving the common sparrow:

Creating homes for sparrows in Gurugram

Shahnawaz Alam/Gurugram

When Vishwas Pal came to Gurugram, Haryana, to take up the job of a senior technician in a global two-wheeler company, he missed many things of his native place – Haridwar in Uttrakhand.

He missed the chirping of little sparrows that came into the courtyard of his house every morning. In the typical concrete jungle that he lived in Gurugram, the brown little sparrows never came there. Since he was so fond of the little birds he started finding them.

He cobbled a group of 10 nature lovers among his colleagues and formed a Sparrow Lovers’ Group. They launched a campaign to provide wooden nests to people to place in open spaces so as the sp[arrow can find their little niche and visit the area.

A child with artificial nests

All spent their own money for the nests.That happened ten years ago.

It was the birthday of Vishwas when the first sparrow adopted the artificial nest within a few days of its placement. This coincident filled the team members with hope and enthusiasm. They were prepared to upscale their efforts.

Soon the Sparrow lovers fanned out in different directions to survey the bird for its presence.

They would interact with the locals and discuss the missing birds. They spoke to the people about the missing birds and distributed artificial nests to be placed on their terrace or on the balcony.

In the last ten years, the team had distributed more than 2,000 artificial nests. Vishwas, an animal lover is also worried about the plight of stray cows in the cities and is planning to create shelters for them.

Vishwas says,” they say, it takes both hard work and money to follow what you love” He spends Rs 8,000 to 10,000 every three to four months on his mission. He says some people also pay a donation.

The sparrow lovers feel happy when the people send the pictures of sparrows inhabiting the nest the bird lovers had gifted them.

A Cop who invited birds home in Gaya village

Jitendra Pushp/Gaya

Tanjilur Rahman Khan of Moramardana in Gaya district of Bihar lives with birds, literally.

This 45-year old man has transformed his house into a nesting place for birds. He has placeddozens of earthen pots on the veranda of his house amidst the plants that line the boundary wall of his house making it a perfect nesting place for the nesting by the birds.

Twenty years ago when Tanjilur Rahman quit his job as policeman and started hanging earthenware on the veranda and locating plants outside the boundary wall of his house, people laughed at him.

Gradually, Tanjilur's ‘Pancchi Prem Ghar’ (Loving Home of Birds) attracted villagers and brought awareness to the area and people, where some people killed birds for fun and even food.

Tanjilur Rehman says, “Initially, I used to see two or four sparrows in my house. But now this number has increased to more than 5,000.” He had to install a CCTV to monitor them. Now apart from a sparrow, a variety of birds including Bulbul, Mynah, Pigeon, Cuckoo, crow etc have taken his house as their own.

Nests for sparrows to breed

He is planning to install an iron frame on the other side of the village pond. The contraption will create spaces where the sparrow can make their nests and safely raise their little ones till they take to the skies..

Later the Panchayat reconciled the matter and the culprits took a pledge never to indulge in the hunting of birds.

Agriculture scientist Sunita Kushwaha says, the major reason for the environmental imbalance is the continuous decrease in the number of birds. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are a threat to the sparrow in farming. Micro-organism in the soil are no longer there the fields and sparrows are not getting enough to eat.