Birds forget to chirp, get irritable under stress

LUCKNOW: The next time you hear the twitter of birds on your window sill, don’t assume they are chirping with joy. Most probably, they are irritated, weak and hungry. Deforestation, rising pollution levels and lack of adequate food are taking a toll on birds’ behaviour.

A two-year-long study on 100 birds by research scholars in Kanpur has revealed that rapid urbanisation and its after-effects are not affecting the lifestyle of human beings alone. “Even the beahvioural pattern of birds is bearing the brunt of changes in the environment,” says Dr Vijay Laxmi Saxena, head of the zoology department at the Dayanand Girls’ Post Graduate Degree College, who led the study team.

Research scholars Ishita Pandey and Abhay Sharma were part of the team which conducted the study. It found that birds are increasingly becoming cranky, and stress and tension, normally associated with humans, are becoming visible in the feathered beings, too.

Also, the bodies of these birds were producing protein in much lesser quantity than required for normal physical activity. As a result, the birds tend to become weak and irritable, and also chirped less than normal.

Dr Saxena and her team carried out their study on different varieties of ‘bater’ (quail), including the ‘chanak’ (rain quail) and the ‘ghaghas’ (grey quail), in simulated atmosphere to study the impact of environmental changes on these birds. Their behaviour and activities were watched after introducing changes in light, temperature, food and oxygen content in the air.

“These are changes that the birds are experiencing in the outside world, too,” she says, adding that they are definitely influencing the behaviour of the birds.

At the Sheffield University in UK, researchers have found that in urban areas the robin now sings only at night, due to the traffic and noise pollution during daytime.
Similarly, researchers at an American university found that songbirds in cities were under-nourished as they avoided leaves affected by urban pollution. It is findings like these that prompted the Kanpur-based research scholars to undertake the study on local migratory birds.

Sabina Khanam, who has done another study on birds at the premier Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) here, says, “Pollutants affect the growth and behaviour of birds in a big way.” During her 21-day study on the impact of heavy metals and pesticides on birds, she found that while heavy metals like zinc slowed down their growth, pesticides induced weakness and irritation in birds.

The researchere say that the urban birds seem to be losing their natural instincts. Unless
corrective measures are initiated, it might not be long before we start losing several species of these beautiful featherlings forever, they warn.
g_deepak@dnaindia.net