Sir,
This refers to the news item’Dogra Sadar Sabha observes ‘Save Birds Day’ (DE,May 8,2016).It is really heartening to read that Dogra Sadar Sabha organised a function to sensitize the students and public at large to conserve and provide water to the birds,especially in ‘kandi’ areas and provided earthen pots for this purpose.It must be rememebered that birds are an important link in our ecosystem.They are beautiful to look at and they sing sweet notes to soothe our touubled minds.They must,therefore,be taken care of.What would our world be but for the birds.One of the ways in which we can help birds is by providing water in bowls and waterbaths,especially in summer when water level is drastically reduced in water bodies and there is fear of the birds dying from lack of water.These bowls must be kept in the balcony,gardens and rooftops and stones or small twigs/branches of trees must be put in them if they are deep so that the birds can comfortably sit on them and drink water which they need for their survival.Though they excreate little water,they do lose water during respiration and passing out faeces.They can make up this loss to some extent by eating insects but they still need water at least twice a day to replace the loss and clean their feathers and bodies and avoid parasites.
Therefore,it is imperative that we should put sufficient amount of clean and clear water in the bowls and waterbaths for the birds and ensure that this water is regularly changed and kept at such a place where there are no predators.These bowls must be kept in the shade as far as possible so that it remains cool.At the same time, it is a pious act to feed birds by throwing various seeds or grains such as millets,oats,cracked corn etc which are their favourite food.All this will attract a wide variety of birds to the neighbourhood and it will improve the quality of the habitat of the adjoining area and provide an opportunity to the people to watch the behaviour of birds of different hues and sizes so close.Therefore,everybody ought to join the movement for providing water and food to the birds to save them from being dehydrated and starved and thus,reap a pious act as there is no act greater and more pious than feeding the hungry and providing water to the thirsty living beings.
Yours etc……
Ashok Sharma,
Flat No 4,
Housing Colony, Udhampur.
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