Project 'Save the Maramkothi'

The rain is continuing. It has brought lot of relief from the heat and happiness to humans, animals, birds, plants and all kinds of insects and reptiles. It also brought some misery, especially for couple of these Maramkothi chicks that fell inside our unused well. We didn't see them on time to save both. We were only able to rescue this one. It was a grown chick, but did not know how to fly. We suspect the nest was in the pipe line we have for rain water harvesting since the birds didn't anticipate this big rain.
The chick did not eat on its own, we had to feed. We kept it through the day until it stopped shivering and dried completely. We took it to the terrace and strategically placed it for the panicked parents to find. It is amazing to watch how they reacted. The bigger parent, apparently the father, first came so close and fast and almost knocked of the chick. It did it few times. We later realized he was trying to make the chick react and fly on instincts. It didn't work. Then the father sat on a perch and lifted its wings and started to wiggle to show the chick how to fly. At the same time, the mother came back with a healthy supply of worms to eat and fed the chick. We got all of this in video.

It was already close to sunset. So the birds are safe from the prying eyes of the eagles that have a nest on the teak tree with their own chicks to feed. We closed the terrace access to the rowdy cats in our neighborhood. Since the birds were not comfortable with us watching them, we left the place for them since we know they were safe.

The next morning we saw all three giggling on the tree top. The chick was still tentative in its flight.