Broken wings - a wounded Asian koel

The other day I found a bird in my car park. It was lying flat on its belly with its legs splayed out under it – not a good position to be in when you are a bird.

The cleaner and the security guard were trying to get it to move. They prodded it. The startled bird flapped its wings but remained on the floor. You could sense its frustration – why can't I fly, it was probably thinking, and why are these strange people poking me?

When you live in urban spaces you are not used to dealing with animals or birds from the wild. We either run from them or chase them away.

I thought quickly about what to do. The vet? The police? My mother? Mothers always seem to know what to do, don't they?

I scanned my bird brain for names of friends who were bird lovers – one and she lives in Sydney. I thought of people I had interviewed about birds in my career – one and he works with the Jurong Birdpark. Bird's eye.

I took a photo of the bird (pictured above), went to the park’s website, found the right contact and emailed the photo. To cut a long story short, Budi came, picked up the bird that turned out to be an Asian koel (of the cuckoo family, always known as the Indian nightingale) and brought it back to the park. I think it’s the same bird which wakes me up every morning with her singing.

That same day I read Dave Barry’s column "On protestors, politics and bird porn". I was more interested in the "bird porn" bit given my recent brush with our feathered friends.

Writing about a bird porn protest in Denver, he said, "Their position, if I understand them correctly, is that bird-watchers are perverts who enjoy watching birds have sex, and this must be stopped."

There’s even a website, StopBirdPorn.Org.

"Also Krok told me that if I went on YouTube and searched for 'bird porn,' I would see many explicit bird-sex videos," wrote Barry.

I did and I will never look at birds in the same light again.

Later, that same afternoon – yes, it was turning out to be that kind of day – I read an article that said, "To swat a fly, don’t aim straight at it."

It was the "fly" that caught my attention because I want so much for the wounded female Asian koel to fly again one day.

The article gives advice on the perfect swatting strategy. "The right approach is to aim not at the insects themselves because they are extraordinarily good at anticipating where exactly your blow will land …

"It is best to aim a bit forward of the fly's starting position, to anticipate where it is going to jump when it first sees your swatter."

It sounds like a good strategy to apply to any potential "swattees", actually. For example, bird watchers who do it for porn's sake and the politicians and protestors in Bangkok who are doing serious damage to their country's image, economy and tourism.