MUMBAI, Aug. 24 -- 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, Alibag, 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 the ground. Her mind was made up. The 45-year-old, whose father's great uncle was Salim Ali, pre-eminent ornithologist and naturalist, wasted no time in getting into action. With the help of villagers, she separated the live birds from the dead, that lay in a wet and mangled state. On learning that this was a common phenomenon seen over the past 10 years, which the villagers ignored, they decided to put up a landing net between the trees to break their fall. But that was not a solution to the problem, as if the birds were not rescued quickly enough, they would die exposed to harsh weather conditions. All six rescued earlier, eventually perished. Bothe had a mission now, and continued to make several trips to the village in search of birds that needed rescuing. Over the last one month, she along with villagers and a local vet managed to rescue 25 birds and transported them to Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW), an NGO in Mumbai, after permissions from the forest department. 12 of them have managed to survive. Rescued birds are first sent to RAWW's centre at Bhaucha Dhakka, and after they are able to travel, sent to the NGO's Thane facility, where they are nursed back to health, till they are able to hunt for their own food. They are eventually set free. On Friday, after the rain-lashed coastal village was back on its feet, Bothe returned to the village to find 15 dead birds and 2 alive, who are with her and will be sent to the NGO. Gitesh Mhatre, the villager on whose land the tamarind trees stand and who allowed Bothe to set up the nets and helped in the rescue mission, said, "The birds often fall due to the strong winds. Those that die due to the cold are pushed off the branches by the older ones. It is wonderful that someone has come forward to save them." Bhausaheb Jawre, the assistant conservator of forests, Alibag, said, "The storks come in May, lay eggs in June and then hatch. There is a little fight for survival of the fittest among them." He said, in this year the number of birds and nests on each tree was between 30 and 40, "which is excessive". "We have helped Bothe. Next year we plan to set up a transit treatment centre with a vet stationed here to look after the birds," Jawre added. Pawan Sharma, founder of RAWW said rescued birds often perish en route Mumbai, as many "catch a bad bout of pneumonia, having fallen off the trees". "They suffer shock from the fall, and the longer they stay out they become vulnerable to weather conditions," added Bothe. "They need immediate intervention: some warmth, antibiotics, saline or electrolytes if needed." Sharma agreed, as he said, "Ideally, the birds should be stabilized at a nearby transit facility, before they're put through the stress of travel among crowds in captivity." The rescue mission and looking after the birds, said Bothe, "is a fulltime full time job". "Even though I am not a specialist, as my father was a naturalist, I know my way around the birds. It's amazing to see all these birds present in such a small concentration, which means the scope to save them is tremendous. I just found out that another village, some distance from this one, has two banyan trees where the same phenomena is seen, but has gone unnoticed," she said. Though not endangered, the Asian Openbill features on the schedule two of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, prohibiting their hunt or trade. They get their name from the gap between their mandibles, which they use to feed on clams. Bothe remarked that the birds stick to one partner for their lifetime, and return to the same tree for nesting every season. In the next breeding season, Bothe plans to set up a centre in the village to take care of the birds' immediate needs. "The money will come, but it is important to find the right set of people who have the will to do this," she said....