| ID | 6102 |
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| Q1. Name of locality or area you are reporting about | Eklavya Campus, Malakhedi |
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| Rough Address/Area | |
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| City/District | Hoshangabad |
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| State | Madhya Pradesh |
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| Location Latitude | 22.74940491 |
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| Location Longitude | 77.75053406 |
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| Q3. What time period are you reporting about? | 2010-2012 |
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| Q4. What kind of general area are you reporting about? | Town |
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| Q5. What kind of locality is/was this in the time period chosen above? | New residential development |
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| Q6. Roughly how large is the locality/area from which you are reporting sparrows? | Less than 100 metres across (eg, a few houses or shops) |
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| Q7. How well do/did you know this place in the time period chosen above? | I lived there |
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| Q8. How frequently did you see House Sparrows in the time period and locality/area chosen above? | Often: I saw sparrows several times a week |
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| Q9. When you did see House Sparrows in this time period and locality/area, how many did you typically see? | A fair number: When I saw sparrows, there were usually between 5 and 30 birds |
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| Q10. If House Sparrows are/were present in this time period and locality/area, did you observe active nests? | Nests seen frequently |
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| Q11. Would you like to share a story about House Sparrows from this time period? | I am writing from Hoshangbad, in Madhya Pradesh. i live in Kothi Bazar a locality on the banks of the Narmada and my office is in Malakhedi in the same town.
I had been distressed by the sudden disappearance of sparrows which used to haunt our houses some ten years ago. They used to make their nests all over the house, between books, on fan cups, in the ventilator, etc etc. they flew around the house and often got struck by the fans. During the mating seasons male sparrows could be seen fighting their images on the mirror much to our amusement. But all this vanished some years ago, in fact we did not even notice their disappearance till we read about it. We were told that this was due to the mobile phone.
We were gladdened when they reappeared a couple of years ago - again it is difficult to say when exactly. I have been observing them carefully during the last few weeks and can share a few interesting observations. it appears that they are avoiding interiors of houses. I no longer find them nesting within the rooms. however they seem to be nesting in the interface between the buildings and the outside. For example we have an external wall with a tiled veranda in our office. I find about two to three nests where the tiled roof and the wall meet. Further, we have bamboo 'chicks' to keep away the sun in other long verandas and we usually tie them up during the winter. As the summer set it we realised that there were sparrow nests in the folds of many of these 'chicks'. I can spot at least ten such nests in our office. Many more in similar interfaces between the house and the outside in my residential area.
By now in many places the eggs have hatched and the young ones have even been going around with the adults catching worms in the dirt around.
It is so nice to hear them make the characteristic ruckus! |
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| Q12. What kind of buildings are/were present during this time period in this locality? | |
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| Q13. Please describe this locality/area in your words. | |
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| Q14. Does or did anyone feed sparrows in this locality/area, or put out nestboxes? | |
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| Q15. If this is an agricultural area, what are the main crops grown? | |
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| Q16. How much green space exists/existed in this locality? | |
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| Q17. If you have seen sparrow nests, where were they? | |
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| Q18. When did mobile phone coverage arrive at this locality? | |
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