Habitats of House Sparrow Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Rameswaram Island, Tamil Nadu, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7879.15.2.22586-22596Keywords:
Nest boxes, nest colony, nesting plasticity, nest predation, Passeridae, Passeriformes, sand, water bathingAbstract
This paper pertains to the nesting habitats of House Sparrow Passer domesticus with specific reference to population dynamics, nesting-related habits, nests, behaviours and other threats faced by these birds in Rameswaram Island. A total of 2,988 adult House Sparrows and 407 active nests were counted during the study. Of nests counted, 19% (n = 77) were solitary. The highest number of nests observed in a cluster was 9 (2 clusters). 60% of nests (n = 244) were found in concrete buildings, 39% (n = 159) in artificial nest-boxes, and 35% (n = 144) in cavities/crevices within buildings. House Sparrow population exhibited nesting plasticity, and 2% of nests were found constructed on vegetation. A wide variety of locally available materials, such as pieces of synthetic fishing nets, nylon ropes, and polythene papers were used for construction of nests. Sand and water bathing by birds were observed. Accidental fall of eggs and chicks, predation of nests by House Crows Corvus splendens, and unsuccessful attempts to predate adult birds by Black Kite Milvus migrans were observed, as well as opportunistic sightings of Shikra Accipiter badius.
References
Ali, S. (1996). The Book of Indian Birds, 13th edition. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 466 pp.
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1987). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, Compact Edition. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 737 pp.
Anderson, T.R. (2006). Biology of Ubiquitous House Sparrow: From Genes to Populations.Oxford University Press, Oxford, 560 pp.
Barrows, W. B. (1889). ‘The English Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in North America, Especially in Its Relations to Agriculture’ US Department of Agriculture, Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, Bulletin No. 1.
Bhattacharya, R., R. Roy, S. Ghosh & A. Dey (2011). Observations on house sparrow at Bandel, Hoogly, pp. 147–152. Proceedings of National Seminar on Biodiversity, Water Resource and Climate Change Issues. Kalyani University, West Bengal.
Bibby C.J., N. D. Burgess, D.A. Hill & S.H. Mustoe (2000). Bird Census Techniques, Second Edition. Academic Press, London, Xvii+302 pp.
BirdLife International (2016). Passer domesticus: The Red List of Threatened Species. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T103818789A155522130.en (accessed on 19 August 2018).
Bower, S. (1999). Reproduction, habitat use and population structure of a flock of House Sparrow in Hamburg. Hamburger avifaunis-tische Beitrage 30: 97–123.
Butt, E.H. & J.M. Ichida (1999). Occurrence of feather degrading bacilli in the plumage of birds. The Auk 116: 364–372.
Cink, C.L. (1976). The influence of early learning on nest site selection in the House Sparrow. Condor 78: 103–104.
Daniels, R.J.R. (2008). Can we save the sparrow? Current Science 95: 1527–1528.
Deepa, M. (2013). The Sparrows: Concerns and Conservation, 18th April 2013. .
Dhanya, R. & P.A. Azees (2010). The House Sparrow Passer domesticus population of Arakku Township, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian Birds 5: 180–181.
Ghosh, S., K. Kim & R. Bhattacharya (2010). A survey on House Sparrow population decline at Bandel, West Bengal, Indaia. Journal of Korean Earth Science Society 31: 448–453.
Indykiewicz, P. (1991). Nests and nest-sites of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus (Linnaeu,1758) in urban, suburban and rural environments. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 34: 475–495.
Khera, N., A. Das, S. Srivatsava & S. Jain (2010). Habitat-wise distribution of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) in Delhi, India. Urban Ecosystems 13: 147–153.
Kulczycki & Mazur-Gierasinska (1968). Nesting of House Sparrows Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758). Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 9: 231–250.
Lim H.C., N.S. Sodhi, B.W. Brook & M.C.K. Soh (2003). Undesirable aliens: factors determining the distribution of three invasive bird species in Singapore. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19: 685–695.
Leasure, D.R. (2011). The House Sparrow Passer domesticus decline: conservation tools emerge from contrasting North American perspectives. Indian Birds 8: 22–23.
Martin, C.D. & B.A. Mullens (2012). Housing and dust bathing effects on northern fowl mites (Ornithonyssus sylviarum) and chicken body lice (Menacanthus stramineus) on hens. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 26: 323–333.
Morris, F.O. & W.B. Tagetmeier (1896). A natural history of the nests and eggs of British birds II, 4th edition, London: John C. Nimmo, London. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.18043
Moyer, B.R., D.M. Drown & D.H. Claton (2002). Low humidity reduces ectoparasite pressure: implications for host like history evolution. Oikos 97: 223–228.
Mulsow, R. (2005). Hmburg, pp. 127–152. In: Kelcey J.G. & G. Rheinwald (eds.). Birds in European cities. Ginster, St. Katharinen.
Mulsow, R. (2006). The Birdlife of Hamburg. Hamburger Avifauna Beitrage Special Edition IOC Hamburg, 45–76 pp.
Munro, H.L. & R.C. Rounds (1985). Selection of artificial nest sites by five sympatric passerines. Journal of Wildlife Management 49: 264–276.
Nath, A., H. Singha, P. Deb, A.K. Das & B.P. Lahkar (2015). Nesting in a Crowd: Response of House Sparrow towards Proximity to Spatial Cues in Commercial Zones of Guwahati City. Proceedings of the Zoological Society 69: 249–254.
Newton, I. (2004). The recent declines of farmland bird population in Britain: an appraisal of casual factors and conservation factors. Ibis 146: 579–600.
Pandian, M. (2021). Population, Nesting, and Conservation Issues of House Sparrow Passer domesticus (Linn., 1758) in Rural Arakkonam, Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 118: 40–48.
Prowse, A. (2002). The urban decline of the house sparrow. British Birds 95: 143–146.
Rahmani, A.R., K.S. Karthik & S. Quader (2013). Investigating causes of House Sparrow population decline in Urban sub-habitats of India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India, 99 pp.
Rajashekhar, S. & M.G. Venkatesha (2008). Occurrence of House Sparrow, Passer domesticus indicus in and around Bangalore. Current Science 94: 446–449.
Rothschild, M & T. Clay (1952). Fleas, Flukes and Cuckoo: A Study of Bird Parasites. Macmillon Co, New York, 304 pp.
Salek, M., J. Riegert & S. Grill (2015). House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus): fine scale distribution, population densities, and habitat selection in a central European city. Acta Ortnithologica 50: 22–232.
Shaw, L.M., Chamberlain & Evans (2008). The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in urban areas: reviewing a possible link between post-decline distribution and human socioeconomic status. Journal of Ornithology 149: 293–299.
Sheldon, E.L. & S.C. Griffith (2017). A high incidence of non-cavity nesting in an introduced population of House Sparrows suggests that the species should not be constrained by cavity-nest site availability. Avian Research 8: 29–37.
Summers-Smith, J.D. (1963). The House Sparrow. Harper Collins Publications, London
Summers-Smith, J.D. (2003). The decline of the House Sparrow: a review. British Birds 96: 439–446.
Van Der Elst, D. (1981). Notification du moineau danestique Passer domesticus dans les arbres en Wallonie. Aves 18: 123–127.
Van Liere, D.W. (1992). The significance of fowl’s bathing in dust. Animal Welfare 1: 187–202.
Vincent, K. (2005). Investigating the causes of the decline of the urban house sparrow Passer domesticus in Britain. Ph.D dissertation. De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, 303 pp.
Published
Versions
- 26-02-2023 (2)
- 26-02-2023 (1)
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 M. Pandian
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
