The best way to make children observe and love nature is to make them paint or draw it. Students of an art school here were asked to paint house sparrows. Many of the children said they could not paint the bird because the small birds that were so common once have almost disappeared.
Several international organisations have come together and designated March 20 as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about not just the house sparrow, but many other birds that were once common in urban environment. These birds that were part of our urban environment were fast disappearing.
The idea of marking a World Sparrow Day came up during an informal discussion at the office of the Nature Forever Society, founded by Mohammed Dilawar, an Indian conservationist, who networked with several international organisations. The idea was to earmark a day for the house sparrow to convey the message of conservation of the sparrow and other common birds and also mark a day of celebration to appreciate the beauty of the common biodiversity which was taken so much for granted. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 in different parts of the world.
The day was celebrated by carrying out different kinds of activities and events like art competitions, awareness campaigns, and sparrow processions.
