India's 'Birdman' Feeds Thousands Of Parakeets Daily
Language
Reading Level
Listen to Article
Though the moniker 'birdman' may not conjure up images of a superhero, that is what India's Joseph Sekar is to the thousands of parakeets that he feeds daily. The 62-year-old Chennai resident says that he had always left small amounts of rice and grain out for the neighborhood sparrows and squirrels. However, things took a dramatic turn in 2004 after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a massive tsunami that impacted many Indian cities, including Chennai.
A few days after the natural disaster, Sekar noticed two parakeets flying in the vicinity and fed them some rice. The birds not only returned the following day but also brought along other hungry friends. As more birds 'heard' about the generous man, they joined in too. Today between 2,000 - 4,000 beautiful parakeets visit the Birdman twice a day!
While that is certainly impressive what is even more so is that Sekar does not feed the birds raw grains - He cooks them! This means that the amazing man gets up at 4:30 AM every morning and spends over an hour cooking the rice. He then painstakingly spreads the grains across 14 wooden planks that stretch across his roof.
The breakfast rush begins at about 6:00 AM when a flurry of beautiful parakeets fly in and continues until every last grain of the delicious rice is gone! The ritual is repeated in the evening when the birds arrive around 4:00 PM and stay for almost two hours. Besides feeding them, the superhero also takes in sick or injured birds and nurses them back to health.
Of course, feeding this many birds is not a cheap undertaking. Sekar estimates that he spends 40% of his daily income of $13 USD as a camera technician on the meals. The generous man says all of his actions come out of a sense of love, which he believes should be universal and extend to all beings, even ones as small as parakeets.
Though Sekar has no immediate plans to stop the tradition, he does worry about what will happen to the beautiful birds as he gets older and is unable to continue. Hopefully, another 'birdman' who is as dedicated to the gorgeous parakeets will step in and take his place.
Resources: odditycentral.com, inhabitat.com,mnn.com
Cite Article
Geography
Learn Keywords in this Article
373 Comments
- Cassidyalmost 9 yearsI learned that a generous man named Joseph Sekar is known as a 'superhero' due to his kind actions of feeding 2,000-4,000 parakeets a day so these birds can stay happy and healthy!
- Abigailalmost 9 yearsI find it cool that this person gets up at 4:30 AM everyday just to feed 4,000 parakeets. He not only feeds them but it says he cooks the rice too. It says he spends a hour doing this
- Isabellaalmost 9 yearswhat I learned about this article is that this guy feeds 2000-4000 birds twice a day every day. He also doesn't give his birds raw grains he cooks the grains before he gives the birds them.He also said that he doesnt worry about what will happen to the bird as he gets older.He said there is another person who will take care and feed the parakeets.
- Greysonalmost 9 yearsIt's very generous of this man to feed 4,000 parakeets twice daily
- Tyalmost 9 yearsI learned that there are people who have such patchiness that they wait 1 and half another to do that. I also learned that there are over 4,000 parrots.
- Andrewalmost 9 yearsI have learned the parakeet was brought to India because of a tsunami
- Emmaalmost 9 yearsI think this article is very cool. It is crazy that a man that age wakes up and cooks rice and feeds it to the birds!
- Oliviaalmost 9 yearsI learned that "the birdman" pays $5.20 to feed the birds everyday
- Michealalmost 9 yearsI learned that it takes only one some for the flock to come in I guess...
- Emmaalmost 9 yearsI learned that hard work and caring about living creatures can be rewarded, not by money, but by pineapples payment of happiness. This man has a tender heart and is respected by me.
