Bhubaneswar, Sept. 18: Baya, the weaverbird, has been omnipresent in Oriya literature and popular folklore.

But with rapid urbanisation, the bird is vanishing from not just urban areas, but rural pockets as well and the beautiful nests of these birds are hard to find on tall trees these days.

While scientists blame the increasing use of microwave towers by mobile phone operators as the main reason behind the vanishing of the small birds from their urban habitations, the presence and proliferation of the same technology (towers) in rural areas is threatening them in those areas too.

“Baya, the weaver bird, was seen in many areas of the city, especially in the Old Town area of Bhubaneswar. But it has practically disappeared from there. Though urbanisation and the effect of the mobile towers could be one reason, the absence of secure habitats or ‘sacred groves’ is another reason. The birds are even disappearing from the suburbs because of rapid industrialisation and development. You can see some nests of these birds beyond Khurda mostly on the premises of religious structures such as temples,” said Nrupesh Nayak, a bird lover.

“Small birds are present in Oriya literature, folk songs and even lullabies, but there is hardly any effort to conserve the birds,” he said.

About a decade ago, the nests of these birds hanging from trees were a common sight across the state. But there has been a sudden decline in their number. Ecologists say habitat loss and non-availability of food are the main reasons behind the decline of their population. Urbanisation has started to destroy or shrink natural water bodies where these birds used to collect their nest-building grasses.

“Apart from the absence of the nest-building grasses, indiscriminate use of pesticides is another reason behind the fall in number of weaver birds. These birds live on small insects and grains. Rampant use of pesticides has poisoned the food of the birds. Large-scale use of pesticides is also the reason behind the decline in the number of sparrows,” said ecologist Prasad Dash of city-based social service organisation Vasundhara.

Architectural wonder

The number of nests in a baya colony may be anywhere between 20 and 30. The nest is an architectural feat. It hangs from a branch and looks like an upside down flask. The general features are a central nesting area with a long tube that leads to a side entrance. This tube makes it difficult even for snakes to enter the nest.

Although they look precarious, most nests are tightly attached to the tree and are impossible to remove without severely damaging the nest. The nests are made entirely out of strips of grass, which the birds collect by cutting a notch in a tall grass, then stripping off a 30-60cm piece. A newly-made nest is green and turns brown as the grass dries. The baya weaver (Ploceus philippinus) constructs its nests mainly on palm, coconut and date palm trees. This small bird comes from the same family as the ubiquitous house sparrow and is found across South East Asia and from Pakistan to South-west China including the Indian subcontinent.

Firefly theory

A folk belief in India is that the baya sticks fireflies with mud to the nest walls to light up the interior of the nest at night. Clay, however, is known to be used in the nests of Baya weavers. Males alone have been seen to add blobs of mud and dung to the nest chamber prior to pairing up with a female. It has been theorised the clay helps to stabilise the nests in strong winds.

In earlier times, the baya weaver was trained by street performers in India for entertainment. They were trained to fire toy cannons, string beads, pick up coins and other objects. These uses have been noted from the time of Akbar.

The baya is like a wild sparrow, but yellow. It is extremely intelligent, obedient and docile. It will take small coins from the hand and bring them to its master, and will come to a call from a long distance.

Sociology

Baya weavers are social and gregarious birds. They forage in flocks for seeds, both on the plants and on the ground. Flocks fly in close formations, often performing complicated ones. They are known to glean paddy and other grain in harvested fields and occasionally damage ripening crops and are therefore sometimes considered pests. They depend on wild grass as well as crops such as rice for both their food (feeding on seedlings in the germination stage as well as on early stages of the grain) and nesting material. They also feed on insects (including butterflies), sometimes eating small frogs and molluscs, especially to feed their young. Their seasonal movements are governed by the availability of food. Their calls are a continuous “chit-chit” sometimes ending in a wheezy “cheee-eee-ee” that is produced by males in a chorus. A lower intensity call is produced in the non-breeding season.

Other threats

According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List Category, the baya is classified as a least concern species. However, this bird is not immune to threat, particularly related to human activities.

The nest is sought after because of its ornamental value. During nest collection, nestlings may still occupy the nest and many were simply thrown away. Also, nest trees are sometimes dragged down during collection and thus lead to reduction in suitable nesting platforms.

Sighting the baya

On your way to Atri, the hot spring near Hatekeswar Temple after Baghamari on the Khurda-Nayagarh State Highway, the coconut trees on the famous temple have a good collection of baya nests where one can observe the nest-building activities of the little birds with a binocular. “It is a wonderful sight to watch the weaver birds form their nests with a lightening rapidity as they act as the nature’s expert architect in building one of the most beautiful nests of the world,’’ said Negen Bihari Panda, a Bhubaneswar-based dentist, who also practices in Khurda.

“Conservation should not only be restricted to big cats and carnivorous animals in their wilderness or adopting the captive breeding routes, but small animals and birds like baya should be on the agenda of the policy planners and activists working on animal conservation.

Even the people living in rural areas can contribute in this regard where they can help by providing a safe place for these little birds to stay,’’ said another city-based environmentalist Bijay Mishra.