School campuses in north Chennai are being turned into homes for sparrows during the lockdown period.
D. Ganeshan, convenor of Koodugal , a voluntary organisation working towards sparrow conservation, has recently fixed about 100 nest boxes in the Revoor Padmanabha Chetty Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tiruvottiyur.
Though there were plans to distribute several nest boxes to students and schools this year, it was disrupted due to the pandemic. Popularly called as ‘ Kuruvi ’ Ganeshan, the engineering college professor pursued his passion and made nest boxes during the lockdown.
“Sourcing materials for the boxes was a challenge and schoolchildren could not participate. Many students who already have such boxes in their houses found sparrows have started visiting them now,” he said.
Mr. Ganeshan has set a target to make 10,000 nest boxes and reach out to schools in different districts by next year. The school in Tiruvottiyur has provided funds to make 1,000 more nest boxes.
“We have already distributed 1,000 free nest boxes to students through five schools this year in north Chennai,” he said.
There are also plans for a survey through the organisation’s website, www.koodugal.org, wherein people will be asked to register details about the nests and the sparrows that visit it.
