Something New and still Easy? Are you kidding?
Parenting a baby bird, when real parents are actually doing all the parenting, was not something new to me. As a child, my responsible shoulders did support at least one/two sparrow nests in home at most time round the year. All it required was making parents feel comfortable (They are anyway and that's why they have their nest in your house but still, you can always do your bit), supply some food to them which they can feed to babies (I learned quite late that supplying monotonous, non core food actually was doing more harm than good - specially when real parents were inexperienced and accepted what I offered rather than toiling harder to find appropriate food) and keep a watch on any danger (inside home, there wasn't much of that however, still I had that concept.). Add to that - of me being already experienced, that now I had few more bits of wisdom. Now I knew each species eat different things and what do they eat primarily.
After parents had fed the baby, I realised I was sitting there for quite some time so take the baby home (and it showed as much agility as had shown while going out - and here, for the first time I become aware of danger posed by the black dog - you have read about her before.). After a while, I head back to the feeding place carrying dove baby and Bajara (Millet) - for parents. Repeat my elaborate process of displaying of the baby so that parents can see it from anywhere on more than dozen trees from that place, put the bajara and the dove on ground and back off. Now, I Knew bird babies are non-stop eaters. and parents must keep running from dawn to dusk non stop to feed them. but somehow, parents did not come readily. I waited. and after some wait they did come and fed the baby. It was still more than an hour since the baby was fed the first time. It was Odd. why didn't they rush as soon as baby was back?
Anyway, now that they have resumed, things should go smoother. So, I waited for them to return. and waited and waited. Meanwhile, the Sun of 17th May, the day when years worst heat wave was just started, kept inching higher in sky every minute. I was too pre-occupied with my easy parenting job however and had not yet thought about it.
It was around 11 AM now. Heat was already unbearable for last hour and a half. I wanted water, needed to be back to cooler place but what about the baby, must be very hungry as parents had not returned after second feeding. I expected mom to at least remember me and come and give some water - but nothing, apparently was going as expected. She did finally remember me around 11.30 and I got the water, but I decided to take a break and returned home with the baby dove soon after.
Staying out in that heat -without something to protect head from the heat, without water, to someone fully healthy, fit and who is used to such exposure is also quite difficult. and, all I can say here is, I am lot more fragile compared to an average person around me. plus, of course, I was not used to stay out to face heat on such hot days at all. (of course, you cant be used to what is not possible for you, right?) This part of the story would be 90% unconveyed if reader doesn't get the idea what it meant to be out under the tree for me (not Sun - story would have never been written if it was to be so - with writer long dead) - and probably I am not good at describing it. But anyways, let me proceed to tell you remaining 10% of it.
Upon returning home, I decide I must try to feed the baby dove - કાણિયું (Kaniyu - One eyed). Friend whom I had requested to check dove baby food had replied (it probably had not occurred to me to acknowledge the reply or to update anything back), also, I do have a pair of Eurasian collared dove in my multi species family so what to feed did not seem a big question immediately, neither in what form. I needed paste - possibly cooked to make it easily digestible as the Kaniyu was still young and may not be ready for raw food. Millet atta wasnt there, but wheat was equally good alternative for now. So I make wheat flour's cooked paste and try to feed Kaniyu. It turned out to be non starter. He wouldn't eat. I tried hand, spoon, round hollow tube (so its beak can go into that), different consistencies of the paste, but he wouldn't eat. I thought that even if he may not respond to the sight, smell and food touching its beak, hunger, but must understand my spoken request to eat - So I kept saying 'Kaniyu, Kha.' (Kaniyu, eat.) I had no idea then that, this two word sentence would end up being the sentence spoken most number of times in my entire life so far and that, he wouldn't oblige me even once ever.
Not soon after 1 PM, after spending nearly 45 mins in trying to feed Kaniyu, and having my own lunch, I was back under the tree. Parents came soon enough. Fed him. and I return in less than half hour as promised to mom. Unimaginably exhausted, I had no option but to take some rest. Next feeding at around 3 came soon after I took Kaniyu out there. but it was only mother who came. Last one came around 5, even though I sat there waiting parents to come once before the day was over till almost 6.30.
Kaniyu appeared to be sleeping between his feedings for most time. after that he would became active again, preen profusely, do multiple rounds of typical wing stretching followed by shoulder flexibility exercise. and he was doing all these very diligently. I tried to make him sit on a table instead of on floor, but in no time he would have fallen on the floor and then slowly make his way to sit on my shoe.
Next day, I was out there at 6 AM, first feeding by both parents was only around 7.15. I returned around 9 AM, parents had not came for second feeding by then. On day two also, eventually I managed to keep Kaniyu out there enough and he eventually managed five feeding. I had some lessons learned and I kept my head covered and kept sprinkling water over myself. but given this very infrequent feeding and also realising I wont last long in this routine of staying outdoor whole day in Mid may, my feeding attempts became more and more desperate. without any result - in some 30-40 min each time I spent, he sipped no more than 2-3 ml while I repeated Kaniyu, Kha some 500-1000 times. Even as my attempts to feed him did not show any positive results, there were at least two negative results. One, I ended up wasting all spare time I could have used to rest and recover, and as you know, cooked wheat flour is extremely sticky, despite all my efforts to keep it away, wipe away, from Kaniya's feathers, he managed to spread it all over. Worst affected were throat and below area and one shoulder - he had this habit to turn its head and rest its beak on the shoulder joint - and he could do it so much more faster than I could wipe its beak.
Over next three days, routine was more or less same as day two, with one improvement that as I slowly came to understand that five feeding is what they do and that for Kaniyu, it was enough, I spent marginally less time outdoor and worried a lot less about Kaniyu being hungry. with each passing day and hour of course, I was losing my energy to heat and keeping up continued to be harder and harder, in fact it was no less than a miracle that I managed to keep on. Kaniya's routine was same, eat, on coming back sit on shoe (I shifted shoe over the table next to window - so he can have shoe as well as can glance outside window to see and learn from lively world outside), sleep, exercise and grow. I could see him growing day by day with lot of satisfaction. while waiting to be fed, he started becoming increasingly active, even started attempting flying - not succeeding gaining height beyond few inches however, but still he managed few small horizontal flights circling me (as I stood at level below him). Yes, he always aimed his flight at / around me. He knew clearly now that he had two kinds of parents. feeding parents and guarding parent.
These three easy days still had their quota of disasters, mainly arising out of my lack of parenting skill, all of them fully voided by unfailing luck that protected Kaniyu. Some of them were..
- I kept increasing distance between me and Kaniyu in order to make its parents more comfortable - till, one morning a crow landed next to Kaniyu. Even as Kaniyu looked at the crow innocently, crow at Kaniyu in risk assessment mode, I ran and shouted as fast I could, what made the crow abort his attempt to attack Kaniyu was both his parents darting from different directions straight towards the crow. So I reduced the distance thereafter, kept extra eye on crows (lots of them around), AND - stopped my ritual of displaying kaniyu to make it visible to its parents. - they could see their baby from anywhere exactly. All I was doing was making it visible to predators and inviting them.
- On another occasion, a dog came completely quietly from my back with an eye on Kaniyu. He did not succeed as you know, but my vigil then extended to 360 degrees.
- Kids used to came to play near the Kaniya's tree - I was worried both as to parents may not come with all these kids nearby and, that their ball may hit Kaniyu. (kids in India play only cricket - just in case you didn't know.). As my skills in dealing with people is in complete contrast with my comfort with non-humans, and that I actually dislike human kids (I find them copies of their parents, only yet to learn how to hide what better stay hidden.), even as I tried being as nice as possible and even as they actually weren't as bad as average human kids and some of them actually were good, not just not bad, mornings remained not exactly easy - we had to start late on two of the three days.
- Once, parents did not come for day's last feeding. I sat there for nearly an hour past usual time but they didn't come. As I was returning disappointed, a Shikra flew off from few trees away. So, that was the reason. With sure death like shikra's preying eyes present, obviously parents didn't come and feed. This again expanded scope of my vigil, reduced my max and average distance from Kaniyu and increased time/no. of visits outdoor as when parents didn't turn up, I now thought of a predators presence and returned after a brief wait, to come back again after few minutes.
- I thought if my doves (doves in my multi-species family) adopt / become extra parents to Kaniyu, things can go smoother. When I kept Kaniyu outside home, they saw him and came promptly near. seeing them Kaniyu went as mad with happiness as he did seeing his own parents. The Doves however instantly attacked Kaniyu and it was again Kaniya's luck and me knowing body language of my doves too well that my hand was between attacking dove and Kaniyu well in time.
Completely unaware of any of these problems, Kaniyu continued to grow bigger, stronger and more active. His yellow infancy strands were almost gone now and tail was somewhat longer. He was still a very lovely infant to an human eye, though he was not THAT young for a dove. If he was to have normal childhood, he would have left nest for ground in next 3-7 days.
Staying out in that heat -without something to protect head from the heat, without water, to someone fully healthy, fit and who is used to such exposure is also quite difficult. and, all I can say here is, I am lot more fragile compared to an average person around me. plus, of course, I was not used to stay out to face heat on such hot days at all. (of course, you cant be used to what is not possible for you, right?) This part of the story would be 90% unconveyed if reader doesn't get the idea what it meant to be out under the tree for me (not Sun - story would have never been written if it was to be so - with writer long dead) - and probably I am not good at describing it. But anyways, let me proceed to tell you remaining 10% of it.
Upon returning home, I decide I must try to feed the baby dove - કાણિયું (Kaniyu - One eyed). Friend whom I had requested to check dove baby food had replied (it probably had not occurred to me to acknowledge the reply or to update anything back), also, I do have a pair of Eurasian collared dove in my multi species family so what to feed did not seem a big question immediately, neither in what form. I needed paste - possibly cooked to make it easily digestible as the Kaniyu was still young and may not be ready for raw food. Millet atta wasnt there, but wheat was equally good alternative for now. So I make wheat flour's cooked paste and try to feed Kaniyu. It turned out to be non starter. He wouldn't eat. I tried hand, spoon, round hollow tube (so its beak can go into that), different consistencies of the paste, but he wouldn't eat. I thought that even if he may not respond to the sight, smell and food touching its beak, hunger, but must understand my spoken request to eat - So I kept saying 'Kaniyu, Kha.' (Kaniyu, eat.) I had no idea then that, this two word sentence would end up being the sentence spoken most number of times in my entire life so far and that, he wouldn't oblige me even once ever.
Not soon after 1 PM, after spending nearly 45 mins in trying to feed Kaniyu, and having my own lunch, I was back under the tree. Parents came soon enough. Fed him. and I return in less than half hour as promised to mom. Unimaginably exhausted, I had no option but to take some rest. Next feeding at around 3 came soon after I took Kaniyu out there. but it was only mother who came. Last one came around 5, even though I sat there waiting parents to come once before the day was over till almost 6.30.
Kaniyu appeared to be sleeping between his feedings for most time. after that he would became active again, preen profusely, do multiple rounds of typical wing stretching followed by shoulder flexibility exercise. and he was doing all these very diligently. I tried to make him sit on a table instead of on floor, but in no time he would have fallen on the floor and then slowly make his way to sit on my shoe.
Next day, I was out there at 6 AM, first feeding by both parents was only around 7.15. I returned around 9 AM, parents had not came for second feeding by then. On day two also, eventually I managed to keep Kaniyu out there enough and he eventually managed five feeding. I had some lessons learned and I kept my head covered and kept sprinkling water over myself. but given this very infrequent feeding and also realising I wont last long in this routine of staying outdoor whole day in Mid may, my feeding attempts became more and more desperate. without any result - in some 30-40 min each time I spent, he sipped no more than 2-3 ml while I repeated Kaniyu, Kha some 500-1000 times. Even as my attempts to feed him did not show any positive results, there were at least two negative results. One, I ended up wasting all spare time I could have used to rest and recover, and as you know, cooked wheat flour is extremely sticky, despite all my efforts to keep it away, wipe away, from Kaniya's feathers, he managed to spread it all over. Worst affected were throat and below area and one shoulder - he had this habit to turn its head and rest its beak on the shoulder joint - and he could do it so much more faster than I could wipe its beak.
Over next three days, routine was more or less same as day two, with one improvement that as I slowly came to understand that five feeding is what they do and that for Kaniyu, it was enough, I spent marginally less time outdoor and worried a lot less about Kaniyu being hungry. with each passing day and hour of course, I was losing my energy to heat and keeping up continued to be harder and harder, in fact it was no less than a miracle that I managed to keep on. Kaniya's routine was same, eat, on coming back sit on shoe (I shifted shoe over the table next to window - so he can have shoe as well as can glance outside window to see and learn from lively world outside), sleep, exercise and grow. I could see him growing day by day with lot of satisfaction. while waiting to be fed, he started becoming increasingly active, even started attempting flying - not succeeding gaining height beyond few inches however, but still he managed few small horizontal flights circling me (as I stood at level below him). Yes, he always aimed his flight at / around me. He knew clearly now that he had two kinds of parents. feeding parents and guarding parent.
These three easy days still had their quota of disasters, mainly arising out of my lack of parenting skill, all of them fully voided by unfailing luck that protected Kaniyu. Some of them were..
- I kept increasing distance between me and Kaniyu in order to make its parents more comfortable - till, one morning a crow landed next to Kaniyu. Even as Kaniyu looked at the crow innocently, crow at Kaniyu in risk assessment mode, I ran and shouted as fast I could, what made the crow abort his attempt to attack Kaniyu was both his parents darting from different directions straight towards the crow. So I reduced the distance thereafter, kept extra eye on crows (lots of them around), AND - stopped my ritual of displaying kaniyu to make it visible to its parents. - they could see their baby from anywhere exactly. All I was doing was making it visible to predators and inviting them.
- On another occasion, a dog came completely quietly from my back with an eye on Kaniyu. He did not succeed as you know, but my vigil then extended to 360 degrees.
- Kids used to came to play near the Kaniya's tree - I was worried both as to parents may not come with all these kids nearby and, that their ball may hit Kaniyu. (kids in India play only cricket - just in case you didn't know.). As my skills in dealing with people is in complete contrast with my comfort with non-humans, and that I actually dislike human kids (I find them copies of their parents, only yet to learn how to hide what better stay hidden.), even as I tried being as nice as possible and even as they actually weren't as bad as average human kids and some of them actually were good, not just not bad, mornings remained not exactly easy - we had to start late on two of the three days.
- Once, parents did not come for day's last feeding. I sat there for nearly an hour past usual time but they didn't come. As I was returning disappointed, a Shikra flew off from few trees away. So, that was the reason. With sure death like shikra's preying eyes present, obviously parents didn't come and feed. This again expanded scope of my vigil, reduced my max and average distance from Kaniyu and increased time/no. of visits outdoor as when parents didn't turn up, I now thought of a predators presence and returned after a brief wait, to come back again after few minutes.
- I thought if my doves (doves in my multi-species family) adopt / become extra parents to Kaniyu, things can go smoother. When I kept Kaniyu outside home, they saw him and came promptly near. seeing them Kaniyu went as mad with happiness as he did seeing his own parents. The Doves however instantly attacked Kaniyu and it was again Kaniya's luck and me knowing body language of my doves too well that my hand was between attacking dove and Kaniyu well in time.
Completely unaware of any of these problems, Kaniyu continued to grow bigger, stronger and more active. His yellow infancy strands were almost gone now and tail was somewhat longer. He was still a very lovely infant to an human eye, though he was not THAT young for a dove. If he was to have normal childhood, he would have left nest for ground in next 3-7 days.
