Ultimate Care...!

It was a bright Sunday on 23rd of October 2005. The sun rose just as any other day. After a long bus journey penetrating the concrete jungle with the most desired nap of the day I reached my work place Bannerghatta Biological Park. As usual I went on my routine morning rounds inside the zoo premises to meet my wild friends, in whose eyes I could see a ray of hope for a new day with buffer stored for them. The day being weekend was fully crowded with people as if the whole Bangalore has marched in to raid the park.

At around noon I was in my office talking to a 10th STD boy who was keen on learning how to handle snakes & also wanted to know more about them. Right at that moment I heard a voice from the other part of the office asking for someone who takes care of animals. Sensing the depth of feeling in their voice I rushed to them and told them that they can count me as one of the persons who takes care of animals at park. Soon they revealed a small hatchling which they were holding in their palm and narrated the whole story about how they found it and how they snatched it from the hands of a monkey inside the park premises when they were wondering from enclosure to enclosure as any other visitors do. I paused for a while, glanced at the bird and realized it was a juvenile of Purple Rumped Sunbird which had grown big enough to leave its nest & explore the mighty world. The words flowed from those guys mouth while handing over the bird to me, asking me if I would take the responsibility of rearing the bird. I was blank for a moment and then smiled with assurance. With the blank mind for that moment I could recall a small incident which I had read in Newsletter for Birdwatchers where a Weaver Baya nest was restored back to its place for the adult pair to complete their successful nesting story. Soon I asked those guys to take me to the place where they found the bird so that I can make an attempt to locate the nest as I was familiar with Sunbird nests. As they guided me to the place I could notice they were wondering what I was trying to do. On the spot I browsed all along many branches of the surrounding trees and scrubs but all efforts were in vain not find any trace of nest. We were on that spot for more than 15 min now suddenly I realized that the bird in my hand started to scream in distress gathering all the last bit of energy in it. For a moment I loosened my grip wondering if that was the reason but soon I could hear the call of an adult Sunbird right from the top of the tree under which we were standing. After browsing the canopy for a while I could see the adult pair restlessly looking for its lost young one among the rushing crowd. As it is always believed that once a chick is touched by human the flock will not accept them back, half willingly I released the young bird on to a small branch at a height which I could reach upon. Within no time as we were all observing from a distance we saw the mother came down to the branch pecked on its back and flew to the next tree and as an obedient child the young one followed it. Soon both the pairs started feeding the young one as they managed to fly the bird away from us. We were so delighted to see the reunion of the family however at the same time we were also concerned about the threat from the crows and monkeys around. Both the responsible parents managed to fly the young one to a safe place and continued to feed it.

This entire event of 20 to 25 min managed to transform that just another day to a memorable day which I will remember for the rest of my life. This also thought me a lesson of “ultimate care” in nature which we humans think are the only to have possessed it.