International Journal of Environmental Sciences

Sparrow population has decreased considerably in many parts of the globe in particular urban-suburban gradient. Being a cavity nest bird, use of artificial nest box may be an attempt to reduce the population loss of house sparrow. This work highlights the response of house sparrow Passer domesticus indicus to artificial nest boxes at different habitats (urban, suburban and rural) in West Bengal, India during the breeding season of the sparrow. At first one green box is erected beside a lake where various common bird species are present as a trial run to investigate the response of sparrows and then twenty four brick colour specially designed wooden boxes are erected at different habitats after searching suitable locations for the nest boxes. Eighteen out of twenty four boxes are found attempted by the sparrows. The egg size (354.78 mm ²) and chick weight (15.33gm) are found comparable with natural breeding. In spite of the disturbances of other birds, predation, starvation and other environmental causes, the average survival and death rate are found to be 1.0 and 0.67 per pair respectively. It is also interesting to note that all the boxes of high noise level zone remain inactive. Statistical analysis shows that the response is positive. Hence the nest box replacement may be considered as one of the solutions to enhance the population of sparrows particularly in urban and suburban areas.