Every World Sparrow Day as the world wakes up to the need of protecting sparrows and thus begins distribution of sparrow nests, one man calmly goes about doing his work. The sudden spurt of activities to protect sparrows on March 20, the World Sparrow Day, often amuses VD Bala, a former Range Forest Officer. Every year, Bala distributes at least 2 lakh sparrow nests made up of cardboard papers irrespective of whether it is a day of celebration or not. "The nests cost me Rs10 each and I give them away for Rs 5. I don't give it for free because I have realised that when you give something for free it is not valued," Bala said. Bala, who began working for sparrow conservation almost a decade ago, also makes it a point to visit at least two schools every day, sharing with them the need to keep nests in their houses for the bird. "We helped identify 32 spots that sparrows use for night rest in Rajkot and distributed the nests to houses close by so that the sparrows could make their homes there," Bala said. The now-retired forest officer is not much impressed with the clay houses that are being offered in many parts of Gujarat as sparrow nests. "In clay nests, the birds don't get enough place to build a bed, " said Bala. He said in the last decade, works of those like him in conserving sparrows have resulted in a resurgence of the bird's population. "In Rajkot city alone, where I live, sparrows are now more visible and this is true for the Kutch region too. Overall, Saurashtra is doing good as far as the sparrow population is concerned," said Bala. Interestingly, the nests he distributes comes with a list of instructions guiding the buyers on where and how to place it. "One important thing to observe when placing a nest is to ensure that it is in a shaded area and never on a balcony," said Bala adding that only a few people realise that sparrows rarely stay in the nest during the night and in fact it is used only during the day.

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