Man rescues Babui chicks left homeless after sudden Sreemangal rain

On 28 April, a sudden storm, coupled with hail, rained down on Moulvibazar's Sreemangal, damaging roads and houses, and causing power outages due to uprooted electric poles.

The storm lasted for about an hour-and-a-half, with winds of up to 89 kilometres per hour lashing the upazila, also considered the tea capital of Bangladesh.

One of the damages of the storm which went unnoticed at first was the greenery Sreemangal is famous for. Along with uprooted electric poles were uprooted trees also.

And below and around these trees, locals of a tea garden stumbled upon some 10-15 intricately weaved nests.

The nests were empty; the locals could hear chirping. They even saw some chicks.

Photo: Collected

The locals then immediately contacted "Stand for our Endangered Wildlife" (SEW), a local volunteer body.

The call went to Khukon Thounaujam, a member of SEW and also a photographer.

Khukon rushed to the spot. He saw around five nests and estimated there would be some 15 chicks. Khukon and the locals, however, managed to rescue 8 birds, which turned out to be the Baya Weaver, also known as Babui.

The birds, of which two were a little grown and the other six hadn't even opened their eyes, made their way to Khukon's home, along with the nests. 

"Back home, the birds, still too young to eat solid food, are being hand-fed a blended mash of rice, pulse and eggs, through syringes," Khukon told The Business Standard.

"By today, three of the chicks have opened their eyes. The two older ones have grown even bigger."

He said the birds would be released into the wild once they learn to fly and find food for themselves.

Regarding his organisation, Khukon said the SEW was formed in 2018. So far, they had already rescued around 300-350 animals, including pangolins, fishing cats, a spotted owl and the Bengal Slow Loris.

The Babui Pakhi, which the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers to have a stable population, may have a different fate in Sreemangal, Khukon said.

"When I was growing up, I could see many of the Babui's distinct nests on coconut and betel nut trees. But now such nests are a rare sight," he said.

He said it wasn't that the tree population had decreased by that much either.

"In our observation, the bird's population has declined," he said.