The morning wakes in quiet gray,
with no sweet songs left to play.
The empty branches touch the sky;
no little wings go flying by.
The garden waits at break of dawn
to find the morning calls are gone.
No chirping sound, no joyful trill;
the leaves are bare, the air is still.
One evening, a sparrow returned to the place she had called home for years. But the tree was gone. In its place stood a towering concrete structure.
It is a story repeated across our fast-growing cities. Old homes with gardens are giving way to new construction, while trees are felled with little thought for the lives they shelter. With every tree lost, sparrows, pigeons, doves and satvayas lose the small, familiar spaces where they rest, nest and raise their young.
For us, it is construction. For them, it is destruction.
Three or four decades ago, rural India had a simple tradition—people made little homes for birds, fed them grains and welcomed their morning chorus. Contai Leo Club, District 322C1, in collaboration with Rajdoot Byayamagar, decided to revive that tradition.
The Leos installed nests made from natural materials on trees, buildings and in grain markets across Contai town, in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. They also commissioned local potters to create specially designed clay nesting pots, which allowed in sunlight and fresh air while letting rainwater drain away. Straw and dry grass provided warm bedding within.
A tiny home. A safe corner.
A place where a bird could lay her eggs and raise her young.
Perhaps one morning, a sparrow will return, find a nest waiting and begin to chirp again.