Village turned off street lights for over a month to save bird, its nest
By Web Deskupdated : 2 weeks ago
TAMIL NADU: 29, JULY, 2020: An interesting incident took place in Indian village named Potthakudi in Tamilnadu’s Sivaganga district where the area has kept its street lights off for a month just for a bird and its baby.
The rest of the street lights are operated from a single central pole in Puta Kuri, a village in the Shiva Gangai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
During the Corona Lockdown, a bird made a nest on its switchboard and laid eggs on it.
This came about when Karuppu Raja, a resident of Potthakudi, in-charge of operating the street lights in the area, noticed a small bird flying out of the main switchboard.
"My house is located at the end of a street where the main switch for 35 street lights is installed. I have been turning them on at 6 p.m and switching them off at 5 a.m since childhood. When I stepped out of my house one afternoon, I noticed a small blue bird flying in and out of the switchboard. Being curious, I went closer and saw that it was gathering sticks and straws. I did not know what bird it was, but it was building a nest," says Karuppu Raja.
For the next three days, whenever he went to turn on the street lights, the bird would drop its sticks and fly to safety. But, on the fourth day, Karupuraja saw three greenish-blue eggs with brown spots on the nest. The eggs belonged to a local bird. The student and his friends then asked the locals to keep the lights off until the eggs hatched. This was because the switchboard of the same pole supplied electricity to the remaining dozens of street lights in the village.
"I took a picture of the nest it was building and shared it on a WhatsApp group with all the residents in my locality. I explained how I wished to provide a safe place for this bird to lay its eggs and asked for their support to cut the power line. Most villagers thought of this as an opportunity to give back to mother nature and agreed. But, some people thought this was an extreme step for a little bird," says Raja.
The students also campaigned for it on social media and went door-to-door to prepare people for it. Some called it stupid and some promised to do it.
Thus a small step to save a bird and its young took on a campaign. Ultimately, 100 families in the village have agreed.
After that, the village street lights remained off for 35 consecutive days, during which the villagers used the light of their mobile phones to travel on the road.
Eventually, all the eggs hatched during this period. But these children will still be expected to grow up and the switchboard will be turned on as soon as they leave their nest. (04)
Village turned off street lights for over a month to save bird, its nest
By Web Deskupdated : 2 weeks ago
TAMIL NADU: 29, JULY, 2020: An interesting incident took place in Indian village named Potthakudi in Tamilnadu’s Sivaganga district where the area has kept its street lights off for a month just for a bird and its baby.
The rest of the street lights are operated from a single central pole in Puta Kuri, a village in the Shiva Gangai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
During the Corona Lockdown, a bird made a nest on its switchboard and laid eggs on it.
This came about when Karuppu Raja, a resident of Potthakudi, in-charge of operating the street lights in the area, noticed a small bird flying out of the main switchboard.
"My house is located at the end of a street where the main switch for 35 street lights is installed. I have been turning them on at 6 p.m and switching them off at 5 a.m since childhood. When I stepped out of my house one afternoon, I noticed a small blue bird flying in and out of the switchboard. Being curious, I went closer and saw that it was gathering sticks and straws. I did not know what bird it was, but it was building a nest," says Karuppu Raja.
For the next three days, whenever he went to turn on the street lights, the bird would drop its sticks and fly to safety. But, on the fourth day, Karupuraja saw three greenish-blue eggs with brown spots on the nest. The eggs belonged to a local bird. The student and his friends then asked the locals to keep the lights off until the eggs hatched. This was because the switchboard of the same pole supplied electricity to the remaining dozens of street lights in the village.
"I took a picture of the nest it was building and shared it on a WhatsApp group with all the residents in my locality. I explained how I wished to provide a safe place for this bird to lay its eggs and asked for their support to cut the power line. Most villagers thought of this as an opportunity to give back to mother nature and agreed. But, some people thought this was an extreme step for a little bird," says Raja.
The students also campaigned for it on social media and went door-to-door to prepare people for it. Some called it stupid and some promised to do it.
Thus a small step to save a bird and its young took on a campaign. Ultimately, 100 families in the village have agreed.
After that, the village street lights remained off for 35 consecutive days, during which the villagers used the light of their mobile phones to travel on the road.
Eventually, all the eggs hatched during this period. But these children will still be expected to grow up and the switchboard will be turned on as soon as they leave their nest. (04)
