OUR NESTS ARE TAKEN

Dear All,

You will recall we had placed bird nest homes for sparrows in Shimla on 20th March, 2012. Hon'ble Chief Minister and Forest Minister Himachal Pradesh had launched the drive.

We are happy to report that this threatened species has found a home in the nests. You may see the images of a sparrow preparing her bed in the home! These pictures were taken by Mr. Raj (retired DFO-Wildlife) and an executive member of Himachal Birds.

Happy chirping!

WORLD SPARROW DAY, 2012, SHIMLA

Hi All!

Today we celebrated World Sparrow Day in Shimla. It was very kind of Hon'ble Chief Minister and Forest Minister of Himachal Pradesh to kickstart our campaign of installing nest homes for sparrows in Shimla.

In fact the Forest Minister, Sh. Khimi Ram chose to install the first one himself.

We are installingh 100 such nest homes in Shimla alone. To take our message forward

to create awareness about house sparrows, 10 bird nest homes will be installed in all the district headquarters.

We take this opportunity to thank Sh Sudripto Roy, Addl Chief secretary, Forests and Environment, Himachal Pradesh and PCCF, Wildlife Sh RK Sood for supporting Himachal Birds in this cause.

This is what people had to say:

1. "Its a great effort by you and its a inspiration to other...." - Mohammed Dilawar, Nature Forever, Nashik
2. " That's a great effort for celebrating and conserving house sparrow. More over events like these really make people think of saving this little creature." - Mahesh Garg
3. "Just great". - Saurabh Sawant, Mumbai
4. " Great initiative,wonderful way to spread the awareness. Keep it up Somesh ji." - Col BS Lakra
5. " This is a great initiative undertaken by Himachal-Birds team, very well done !" - Navjit Singh, Chandigarh
6. "It is nice to see politicians at the highest level in the state of Himachal Pradesh stepping forward for protecting birds specially the House Sparrow a bird regarded as a pest at one time in China, where politicians almost drove it to extinction.
   While adults are grain eaters and farmers try and drive them off their fields. Hatch-lings and young birds are almost entirely fed on a diet of insects, because of their voracious appetites the sparrow protects crops from insect attack when the crop is most vulnerable in doing so It is actually a farmers friend.And for this reason deserves our respect." - Narbir Kahlon, Chandigarh
   
   

Happy Chirping!

BOOK - THE COMMON BIRDS OF SIMLA

Hi All!

Himachal Birds has reprinted a long forgotten book titled THE COMMON BIRDS OF SIMLA by AE Jones. The book was published in 1920 by Liddell's Printing Press, Simla.

The book now carries 124 pictures, a new introduction and two bird lists compiled in 2011.

It makes a very interesting read for enthusiastic birders.

The book can be ordered at the following link:

http://himachalbirds.org/publications

The book is moderately priced at Rs 250 only.

Hope those who order the book will find it useful. Your feedback will be eagerly awaited.