Conservancy worker rescues Chestnut winged cuckoo in a busy part of Chennai; that resurfaces an old question about the species

Recently, connected its Instagram page, Urbaser Sumeet raised a hymn of praise to a conservancy idiosyncratic wrong its fold. Not a verse successful that praise struck a superfluous note. Udaykumar, the conservancy worker, rescued an injured bird, pulling it retired of the jaws of decease aft it had travel betwixt the jaws of a canine. While Udaykumar was connected his beat, clearing garbage connected Oliver Road successful Zone 9, a nonmigratory told him astir a vertebrate bitten by a canine and cowering successful the neighbouring house. The reel shows Udaykumar narrating the series of events that led to the bird’s recovery: however helium took the bird, the wounded from the wound connected the broadside of its cervix evident, to a vet, informed his bureau and finally, handed the vertebrate implicit to the wood department. If it had not been a Chestnut winged cuckoo (CWC), the communicative would person ended past and determination arsenic a heart-warming enactment of kindness. No sequel to it. 

The show of this CWC successful the reel held mildly by Udaykumar, with bare hands and with gloved hands could not but enactment this writer successful caput of an reflection ornithologist V. Santharam had made successful the discourse of a treatment astir the CWC 5 years ago. 

He had made the reflection successful an nonfiction in The Hindu titled, “How overmuch of a transition migrant is the Chestnut winged cuckoo?” (dated November 22, 2020).. He recalled 2 instances of rescuing a Crested winged cuckoo successful the Santhome of the 1980s erstwhile helium was a nonmigratory of the neighbourhood. On some occasions, the CWC had flown into a house, and crows had launched into it. In 1 of those 2 instances, it had “crash-landed” adjacent doorway successful Santharam’s neighbour’s house. 

In a speech connected with the existent article, the ornithologist shared that again successful the aforesaid clip period, a nonmigratory of northbound Chennai brought a rescued CWC to his bureau successful Nungambakkam, seeking his help. At that time, Santharam was moving with UBS Publishers which had an bureau successful Nungambakkam. 

The caller incidental astatine Oliver Road provides an entity acquisition astir this CWC trait (getting disoriented and flying into houses) for the existent generation. 

It astir apt could travel arsenic an absorbing trivia to galore young birders, 1 seasoned birders are acquainted with. A sizeable portion of what 1 hears astir the CWC from birders present is astir however it has started patronising definite patches. For 5 years, wintertime aft winter, determination person been accounts of CWC sightings happening astir connected an appointed day (putting it without hyperbole, astir a peculiar clip of year) astatine Nanmangalam reserve forest.

Kumarasen Chandrabose is among birders successful Sembakkam, Nanmangalam and surrounding areas that person been documenting the accomplishment of the CWC astatine Nanmangalam for the past 5 years. 

In the aboriginal years of the Chestnut winged cuckoo’s engagement with the Nanmangalam forest, tyres from a distant onshore rolled in. Reportedly, birders from Bangalore queued up 1 time astatine Nanmangalam for a glimpse of the bird.. 

Cut to now, the comparative regularity of CWC sightings successful assorted different parts Chennai and its vicinity marque a compelling lawsuit for asking an aged question each implicit again — nary marks for guessing what it is. Let america get to it successful a minute. AM Aravind has reported a CWC sighting from Puzhuthivalkam. Sundaravel Palanivel has seen it astatine a spot of Pallikaranai successful Kamakotti Nagar, conscionable a chirp distant from his home. He past caught up with the taxon successful Kumizhi adjacent Guduvanchery. Jithesh Babu had a “meetup” with the vertebrate successful Karikali. There person been sightings of the CWC successful Adyar, 1 precocious by Kumaresan Chandrabose. And past the Oliver Road incident. 

This writer puts the aforesaid question to Santharam, 5 years aboriginal — however overmuch of a transition migrant is the Chestnut winged cuckoo. Without taking a nanosecond to deliberation it over, the ornithologist shoots backmost the aforesaid answer. “It is simply a transition migrant; but immoderate of them could beryllium staying connected successful Chennai for the winter.” Who knows, astir apt much of them than before.

According to Santharam, determination are 2 clip capsules erstwhile CWC sightings are mostly reported successful Chennai — November-December and during March-April connected the instrumentality migration. Those clip frames suggest beardown transition migration, but that does not regularisation retired the information that immoderate individuals mightiness beryllium going against the atom and resting their feathers longer successful Chennai.