With little expertise, wildlife expert Saleem is trying to give them a new lease of life
The city wildlife team is facing an unusual challenge. They have to pull off what is considered a one-in-a-thousand rescue and rehabilitation of young house swifts (Apus nipalensis), which experts term is a touch-and-go situation.
Despite lack of expertise in rehabilitating the house swifts, which are very delicate, the six young ones are being cared for round the clock with great diligence by wildlife rehabilitator Saleem Hameed.
The birds were rescued from the HAL campus on Friday. At present, Saleem feeds them 24 times in 12 hours, once every half an hour.
This is what Saleem said:
“They were eight birds when they came here. They were rescued after a fall from a hangar. The good thing is, they were rescued along with the nest. Sadly, two died soon, but six are alive.
”They are very difficult birds to raise. With a high rate of metabolism, they have to be hand-fed every half an hour and they need attention round the clock at least till they fledge. The feeding starts at 7 in the morning. They are fed an insect diet, Mazuri, shipped down from the US. They are responding well. They need great care and attention, predominantly between 7 am and 7 pm.
”Unlike most birds, these are very sociable and live in huge colonies. In most birds, we find the territorial fight and new ones are not easily accepted. But here, they are accepted soon as they are sociable. As nothing much is known about swifts, we hope these birds which are roughly about 3-4 weeks-old would take a week or two to fledge. Some birds fledge within a month. Sparrows fledge within 14-15 days.
”An interesting thing is that one of them, probably the oldest of the lot, has already started jumping and is trying to fly. He jumps about 2-3 feet. As they fledge, they have to be launched into air to ensure they can join other swifts that are in a colony.”
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Chetan R, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / March 27th, 2014