The bird men of Delhi, saving sparrows, black kites and 'All That Breathes' one nest at a time

Delhi is home to 253 bird species, and almost all of them are at risk. Rapid industrialisation, construction, shrinking wetlands and human practices such as kite flying are the main reasons. But hope remains. Three men in India's capital city work tirelessly to remedy the damage done by humans.

Rakesh Khatri, 60, has calloused hands and an easy laugh. His brown eyes sparkle with delight when he talks about birds. Khatri has been making bird nests from coconut shells, discarded tetra-packs and bamboo since 2008. He has made and installed more than 250,000 bird nests across India.

"People always ask me: birds make their own nests so why are you doing it?" Khatri says. To this his reply is, "What space have we left for birds to nest? All old and indigenous trees and bushes in Delhi have been replaced by ornamental and foreign species and we've paved every open area to make room for tall buildings."

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The Indian house sparrow, Delhi's state bird that was once ubiquitous across India's capital city, has been particularly hit by a lack of nesting spots. "Sparrows need cavities to nest in, which new houses simply do not have," Khatri explains.

Khatri is known as India's Nest Man. There is a chapter on him in Indian textbooks; he has won the International Green Apple Award for "Best practice on Sparrow Conservation in India", and the Indian National Award. He has also appeared in the Limca Book of Records twice and in the London World Book of Records.

The environmentalist grew up in Old Delhi in the 1960s and 1970s. For him, birds, especially the sparrow, were synonymous with the idea of home. "I remember how excited I would be to come back from school and play with the birds," he recalls. In the 1980s and 1990s, as he moved towards New Delhi, Khatri noticed the city was becoming "pure concrete". With each passing year, sparrow sightings became rarer. He could not stop thinking about the birds' plight.

He made nests out of coconut shells and hung them wherever he could. The initial results were disheartening. "Squirrels would break those and blue rock pigeons, which have now become the most common avian species in Delhi, would usurp the nests from sparrows," he recalls. The environmentalist now makes nests with much smaller holes so that the pigeons cannot use them. "[Pigeons] are one of the biggest reasons for the decline of the sparrow population because they have increased exponentially in number and compete for resources."

Khatri might have abandoned his quest to save the sparrows had it not been for a stranger he met in a local forest where he had gone to install bird nests. The old man asked him what he was doing, and the two had a long conversation. At the end, the old man told Khatri to never give up because he was providing homes for a species whose habitat humans had snatched away. Khatri never saw the old man again, but credits him as a divine messenger.

Revitalised after the conversation, Khatri installed 19 bird houses around his housing complex in 2003. He kept cameras trained on them to see if any birds would adopt the man-made nests. "The first bird was a male sparrow and I got so excited I clapped my hands in glee," he recalls, eyes sparkling with the memory. He adds, "when my neighbours saw that the birds were coming to the nests, they took them to keep in their houses." From that moment, Khatri never looked back.

In 2013, he noticed that government workers building the Delhi-Noida highway toll plaza were closing holes in walls using plaster. These same holes were the nesting place for many birds. He retaliated by installing his bird homes along the toll plaza. When the local governing body asked him to stop, Khatri refused and threatened them that he would file a case with the national environmental watchdog. The workers backed down. Now Khatri installs bird nests on every Indian toll plaza he comes across during his extensive travels.

To continue his work, Khatri set up his non-profit organisation Eco Roots Foundation on March 23, 2012. Eco Roots holds nest-making workshops in over 800 schools and local communities. Soon, he plans to visit a terminally ill woman in Mangalore city who wants to make and install 10,000 bird nests before she dies.

Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud are brothers and co-founders of Wildlife Rescue, a non-profit organisation dedicated to rescuing and treating injured birds of prey in Delhi. Now in their forties, the duo began their efforts by chance. They came across an injured eagle and tried to get it treated at Charity Birds Hospital, India's largest veterinary facility. But they were told birds of prey were unclean and would not be treated in the clinic. The hospital is run by Jains, part of a minority religion in India who do not eat meat and believe meat-eaters are "impure".

The experience led them to study raptor birds and, in 2003, they began rescuing eagles, black kites and owls. They were helped by a veterinary surgeon friend. As word spread, more people called either to report an injured bird or to have a bird of prey removed from their property, which they considered bad luck.

"We got a call from a man who wanted us to remove an owl from his house - he was convinced that the bird was responsible for his job loss and an injury to his wife," Shehzad recalls.

Co-managers of a small manufacturing business, the pair used their own money to fund their rescue work for seven years. Asked why they put in so much of their lives rescuing the black kite - a bird hated in Delhi and not endangered - they reply, "no one else was doing it so there was a need".

Between 2003 and 2010, they treated 500 birds. As the number of calls they received increased, the brothers opened Wildlife Rescue. Now, they work out of the NGO's office in Northern Delhi.

From the outside, their office is unremarkable. Upon entering, 100-odd birds - eagles, owls, kites and more - in various stages of rehabilitation greet the visitor. Wildlife Rescue treats over 2,500 birds every year.

The brothers learned to distance themselves from patients the hard way. "In the initial years, every death or failed rescue hit us hard. It was getting in the way of our work," Shehzad, 44, explains.

The most common cause of injury to birds is kite flying. Indian kite fliers often use a glass-laced thread called Manja, which can be fatal to the birds. Despite a 2017 ban on sale of the thread, people continue to use it, especially on August 15 - India's independence day, when it is traditional to fly kites.

"Indians have always lived in harmony with nature, especially birds. So, it is painful that we continue to use Manja when it causes so much injury to these birds," Saud says.

The brothers are the subject of a documentary, All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen. The film won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize this year.

While they have not met, Khatri and the raptor rescue brothers are aware of each other's work. When asked what they think will help the avian population of Delhi, they say educating the youth, "because it is they who will continue our work".

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.