Sri Lankans find a digital helping hand for baby birds fallen from nests

Nesting season for Sri Lanka’s birds, which runs from February to May and coincides with the start of the monsoon, often sees chicks falling out of nests, being orphaned, or attacked. Sri Lanka also has a long and strong tradition of goodwill toward birds, with many households setting up feeders and bird boxes in their gardens. This year’s nesting season has seen people locked down at home by the COVID-19 pandemic turning to online sources for help caring for fallen, injured or displaced chicks. Bird-watching has also increased in popularity, aided by digital platforms and apps such as eBird and Merlin that help register bird sightings and identify different species. COLOMBO — Folklore has it that babies were delivered by storks, who carried them in slings from their beaks and left them at the door of unsuspecting couples. But the script was flipped for Premathilaka Peramuna , who opened his door in the town of Baduraliya, in western Sri Lanka, to find a chick huddled inside a cardboard box. The bird hadn’t grown its flight feathers yet, but a yellow line on its wing indicated it was an endemic Sri Lanka green pigeon ( Treron pompadora ). Peramuna didn’t […]

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