The once common house sparrow — the bird that inspired India’s most famous ornithologist Salim Ali to take up the profession — is a rare sight these days. It was an encounter with a common sparrow that pushed India’s original birdman Salim Ali to become an ornithologist. Once found in large numbers across the country, however, the bird isn’t as common anymore.

With their natural nesting places being taken over the numbers of these birds, thought to have originated in the Mediterranean, have been dwindling in various countries.