CHENNAI: To map the dwindling sparrow population, students of the eco club at Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering have developed a mobile application for public use to crowdsource information about the bird.To mark International Sparrow Day, on March 20, the app, 'SoS - Save Sparrow', allows users to pin the location where a house sparrow is sighted. "Users can take a photograph of the bird or its nest and this data can be uploaded. Using this app a sparrow map in the city can be created that shows the distribution of the bird in various parts of Chennai. After recording sizeable sightings, this data will be transferred to the e-bird portal," said K Jaswanth, one of the student who developed the app.The eco club along with Environmental Monitoring and Action Initiating (EMAI) is part of the team that developed the app. Vishnu Kumar of EMAI said, the organization is also distributing sparrow nests that can be kept in residential areas."Before taking the nests, residents have to confirm that sparrows have been spotted in their neighbourhood," said Sanjay, another EMAI volunteer.Principal of the college Ganesh Vaidyanathan said: "The project sparrow was initiated by the eco club five years ago. Now, the students have used technology to make a difference in nature conservation."Nests have been distributed in some of the residential areas in north Chennai such as Royapuram, New Washermanpet, Thiruvottiyur, Mannady, Parrys Corner and Chintadripet as these areas have old tiled houses, which attract sparrows.Those wish to take a nest can contact 9840619193. Android users can download the app from PlayStore.

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