Winged Beauty killed by Towers

The House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus),one of the best known birds that was sighted wideli all over India,has now become rare, particularly in urban and its suburbs.Environmentalists have raised concern over the alarming decline in their numbers.
Studies on the decline of the House Sparroe population are being conducted in the U.K. for the last couple of yers.The bird has been included in the Birds of Conservation Red List.In India too, such studies are under way by ornithologists and natural lovers.
Various reasons,including use of pesticides,proliferation of concrete buildings and changes in agricultural practices have been cited as reasons for the decline in the bird population.
A recent study conducted by the Kerala Environmental Researchers Association(KERA) noted that unscientific building of mobile towers was one of the prime causes for the decline in their numbers.
A clutch can contain five to six eggs hatch in 10 to 12 days.But the study showed that eggs laid in nests near mobile phone towers were not hatched even after 25 days.Towers emit electro-magnetic rays.Being very small birds,the rays affect the nervous system of the birds.The rays have fatal effects on the eggs and fledglings,especially development of the skull bone and the rays can also misguide the birds when they navigate for foraging, the study says.