The Flight to Freedom

This week seems to have just flew by....especially the last 3 days ZOOM'ing past with the numerous online webinars, meet up, con-calls, interactions over a diverse set of topics.

Monday, the 25th of May 2020 however started off on a lacklustre note. Around noon'ish, I thought I heard some noise come by from near my balcony corridor. Paused, checked it and got back to work.

By evening, realized there seemed to be a similar noise coming by again. This time, being more curious, waited and using a mirror noticed a bird fluttering from below. While I thought it could be a pigeon or a crow possibly, by opening the grill shade, it could fly out on its own. 

But realized it wouldn't go, either it was reluctant to move or there was just about too little space to try and fly. Upon googling the features [black body, red eyes, pale beak], I figured out it was an Asian Koel.

Unfortunately that house, one exactly below us whose window if we opened up, could easily release the bird, happens to be a training institute and had closed their office (for last 2+ months). The tenants reside ~ 15 km from here. Since the place they stay happens to come under a containment zone, they said coming down here was almost quite impossible.

The same evening, I called up a local NGO team, who are experts in rescuing animals, birds and even reptiles. They said not to worry and they'd come by on Tuesday.

The next day, the team arrive at our doorstep to help rescue the bird. Apparently, they were here after rescuing a rat snake which stepped into a residential colony. When I asked more about their work and what they did with the snake, they said their key goal is to minimize human-animal conflict, and they try best to provide an alternate environment, which is more conducive for it (for instance the snakes or wild beasts are released back to nature (marsh near city's vicinity or the forest area in the city). For those of you who wouldnt know (Chennai, has a thriving wildlife ecospot in the heart of the city. Yes, you guessed it right "Theosophical Society" Do read more about it here. Theosophical Society 

We checked all possibilities, trying first from our balcony and moving down to the 1st floor (adjacent) neighbor and take assistance. But despite everything we did, we couldn't achieve our objective.

The guys said, they will come back better equipped, and said they did not want to give more stress to the bird, as it can survive a week too, since its a 'wild bird', elaborating further that anything which is not tamed is wild.

The next day was just quite a busy day. So much so that I couldn't follow up on the rescue folks. I tried to keep the bird hydrated by pouring water, some cereals and grains so that the bird might just about eat something and stay safe. The good part is there is sufficient aeration, so knew that should not be a big deal.

Thurday arrives, and I do not see the bird in the place where it was seen earlier. So I gleefully thought it just flew out on its own. But that was to be short-lived. I looked down again, and noticed the bird has gone down 1 floor below. While this was a positive news, still the bird had to be rescued. 

By noon, called up the owner of the 1st floor tenant and asked if they could really do something about it. Thankfully, one of their partners happened to be around our area, and came by. I went down and indicated the place, where the bird was stuck. 

The grill was raised, and the bird flew out in JOY! Hurray - F-r-e-e-d-o-m!

I am extremely fascinated to note the bird's grit, patience, and extraordinary will-power to stay calm in such a dire situations. Such challenging situations may come, but what matters most is our ability to wait patiently and thrive!