Rescuing A Black Winged Stilt

"Are you at home?" My phone rang at 9 AM this morning.

"Why, what happened?", I replied as I was returning home after morning golf.

"We found a bird injured by the kite's string manhja in the golf course", replied Gen Chengapa a fellow golfer and animal lover. "Am bringing it to you knowing your passion for wildlife", he added.

"Sure" I said and ten minutes later Gen and Mrs Chengapa handed over the badly injured bird to me. It was a black-winged stilt with blood stains on its slender legs as well as the left wing. One leg appeared limp as if broken. I put her in a cardboard box and she jumped out onto the floor. It then kind of crawled to a corner. Neeta and I put some water in a bowl. But it won't drink. 

See the video clip below and notice how alert the bird is despite her injuries.

 How the animals and birds recognise a human touch is to be felt to be believed. See the two pictures below.

Since we have stray cats around, we put her under a plastic basket. I kept a vigil by having my breakfast in the verandah with the bird. Thanks to Google, we located a veterinary clinic for all creatures not very far from our house. Spoke to Dr Rohit Kumar who was very reassuring and agreed to examine the bird at his clinic. Wingy, the name given by Neeta to the bird had not taken even water. We held Wingy in our palm and dipped her long beak in the water bowl. She did open her beak and probably took a few sips. We put her in a bigger cardboard box and reached the clinic by 10.45 AM.

Dr Rohit examined her and recommended x-ray to be taken. It was for the first time that I had held a bird in the palm under an x-ray machine! 

Here is a 25 seconds video on the X-ray table. Please ignore the noise of passing vehicles on the road below the clinic.

The X-ray revealed dislocation of her left leg from the pelvic joint. Dr Rohit very deftly restored the leg to its original position and bandaged it for support. Another x-ray validated the procedure. 

Dr Rohit performing the procedure on the bird while I had the privilege of being his assistant- see the video below:

But still the challenge was what to feed and how to give rehab to Wingy. Stilts eat aquatic insects which are not found at home. Dr Rohit referred another wildlife enthusiast Ashish Sikka who in turn referred us to Animal Warriors. It is an NGO run by Pradeep Nair and his team of dedicated volunteers.

We brought Wingy home. Pradeep was very helpful and suggested we hand over the bird either to the Zoo or their NGO for rehab and care. He said he would send one of the volunteers to pick up injured Wingy. By then Wg Cdr Yella P Rao, an avid birder and our neighbour also joined. He offered to take Wingy for a diet of shrimps and fish. He had earlier rescued a bird with similar injury in the North East. He also identified the bird to be a sub-adult by the grey colour around its neck.

After two hours, he reported that the bird had not eaten anything. We were concerned that the bird may dehydrate and starve to death. We then decided to release the bird in the wetland near Yapral lake. We walked across the lake and removed the bandage so that the bird could move freely. We then found a spot with enough grass and water. But the bird felt uncomfortable in that thicket.

We then moved her to a marshy patch where she stretched her legs. See the picture and a short video below.

The 10-sec video shows the bird adapting to the natural environment.

With the sun going down, we prayed that she survives and bounces back.

We thank the following for their whole hearted support in rescuing Wingy- a black-winged stilt- injured by manjha the kite string:

Gen and Mrs BK Chengapa, Nature lovers and socially responsible citizens, Secunderabad

Dr Rohit Kumar and his team at All Creatures Animal Clinic, Yapral

Mr Ashish Sikka, Wildlife photographer, Secunderabad

Mr Pradeep Nair and his team of volunteers, Animal Warriors, Hyderabad. If you find any animal in danger kindly contact the helpline 9697887888 - Animal Warriors Conservation Society.

Wg Cdr Yella Prakash Rao, Birder, photographer, Nature lover, Yapral.

Next time, you lose a flying kite please recover the manjha string and don't leave it hanging across trees and parks. We don't want more birds to be caught in the manjha and lose their life.

The manjha spares no one. Few years back, we had rescued a fruit bat injured by the manjha. You may browse the story 'Rescuing an injured bat'.

Hope we don't have to rescue more birds in future injured by the kite string manjha!

Thanks for browsing.

    -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 4th Feb 22

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