Beautiful Sparrows : The Extremely Sociable and Melodious Weaver Bird
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Modern science still has got difficulty in fully understanding the technology being used by the BAYACHADHEI ( a kind of Indian weaver bird i.e. sparrows) to build it’s nests. It’s earthquake proof and so flexible that it can withstand a wind speed more than 300 km/hr. It was seen after the super cyclone of Odisha in the year 1999 that many palm trees were uprooted but the sparrow’s nests were intact. One more awe-inspiring thing is that how does a honeybee become airborne without having an aerodynamic body (very little wings compared to it’s body weight)?
Sparrows nests hanging in the palm trees
Most Common Characteristics of Sparrows.
Sparrows are individuals from the passerine group of birds, usually alluded to as “larks” or “perching birds”. Sparrows are somewhat little in size. Some eat bugs or insects however they are for the most part seed-eaters, and their cone-molded bills make them seasoned veterans of husking seeds. The most widely recognized assortment of sparrows look little brown or grey in variety with streaking along their backs and wings.Sparrows assume a significant part in the neighborhood environment by eating bugs and spreading seeds in and around our locality . The sparrow’s present status is recorded as ‘ least worry’ on the IUCN Red List.It means there are still a large number of sparrows available in our countryside. Its hunters incorporate snakes, civet cats, falcons, and numerous other savage birds . Sparrows are frequently alluded to as a nuisance due to their huge consumption of rural agricultural items.
Common male sparrow,
photo source: wikipedia
Common Female Sparrow
Photo source: wikipedia
Weaving of nest
The nest is dome/spherical in shape, 8 to 10 inches in external diameter and is made of coarse material on the outside such as, straw, twigs, paper, leaves, grasses, and some other available material including feathers, stalks and roots of plants, barks, threads, strings or wool etc.
It ordinarily requires close to 18 days to complete the weaving of a nest for which around 1000 twigs/ straws are required and the concerned male sparrow makes around 500 to and fro flights. The inside is lined with feathers or fine grasses. The average life expectancy of a typical nest in the wild can be 3years.
There lies only one entryway to this dome/spherical shaped nest and it is such a narrow entryway that one sparrow only at a time can get inside through this.The eggs of sparrows usually remain an alluring attraction for the snakes…and that’s why sparrows weave their nests normally in the tail end of palm leaves which would be too difficult for a snake to reach.
Who is the weaver of the nests?
It is only the male sparrows that weave their nests.But they don’t weave at a single go…At first they weave the core structure and sitting on those half weave nests, they flap their wings to seek the attention of their female counterparts.If the female bird choose the nest to cohabit with that male bird, then she extends her help to fully construct nest…and it lays eggs in the new nest ( Sparrows typically lay eggs during the nesting period in early spring and summer. Anywhere between 3 to 7 sparrow eggs are laid) and after the necessary incubation, the baby sparrows come out and the female sparrow gathers little insects and seeds to feed her babies. Once the baby sparrows become able to fly…..they fly out and never return.
Dr. Manoj Mishra
lunarsecstasy@gmail.com
