Cities, let them breathe

Rapid urbanisation strips away green refuges, replaces them with mirror-walled towers that reflect deceptive skies. This makes our winged neighbours face disorientation, habitat loss, while declining food sources have put several species on the brink of disappearance

- ANISHA KHATUN, OP

Before the morning traffic begins its familiar chorus, before screens flicker to life and buildings wake in glass and steel, there is often a softer sound waiting to be heard, a bird's call, brief yet profound. It arrives like a gentle reminder that cities, no matter how modern, are still part of a living landscape.

As urban landscapes expand relentlessly, the urgency to create bird-friendly cities grows deeper by the day. Rapid urbanisation, vanishing green cover, reflective glass buildings, excessive noise and artificial night lights have turned once-navigable skies into perilous corridors. Birds face disorientation, habitat loss, and declining food sources, pushing many species closer to disappearance. Their struggle is not separate from ours, birds are sensitive indicators of environmental health and their decline signals deeper imbalances in the ecosystems that also sustain human life.

When we make room for birds, cities become gentler, healthier and more humane. Their songs soften concrete mornings, restore ecological balance and remind us of a shared responsibility. In protecting their flight, we safeguard our own future, crafting communities rooted in care, balance and a deeper respect for the living world around us.