India, Aug. 23 -- In late May, Shama Bothe, a Bombay High Court lawyer who divides her time between her residence in the city and weekend home in Kihim, Alibaug, stopped in her tracks at the sight of a phalanx of two to three feet tall Asian Openbill storks perched atop a tamarind tree in Dhokawade, a village near Madwa. Cawing and pruning their feathers with long bills, they were busy making nests ahead of the breeding season.

That refreshing sight, which remained fixed in her mind, was shattered on a mid-July visit when she saw 30 stork chicks lying dead on the ground, possibly pushed off their safe perches by strong sea winds or robust siblings. Six birds - some of them storks, others egrets and pond herons - were alive also lying on ...