They have installed pots of grain and water in house gardens that attract scaly-breasted munias, sparrows and other birds

In the withering heat of northeast Karnataka’s Deccan plateau, birds are discovering oases of food and water created by two young members of the Bidar Photographic Society. The two have installed pots full of grain and water in house gardens, attracting scaly-breasted munias, sparrows and other birds.

Vangapalli Vinayak, a post-graduate student of commerce at Karnataka College read media reports that some youths were hanging empty nests and feeders in front of their houses to help birds. He then came up with a simple contraption — with the help of metal workers in the old city, he produced a vertical tripod that can hold three pots in less than one square foot.

They were filled with finger millet, bought in bulk, as it can be stored without refrigeration. This was the grain of choice also because an old shopkeeper told him that birds like it a lot. The three tripods and some boxes were placed in an empty housing plot, where he had planted a flower garden.

Within minutes of spreading the grain and pouring water, hundreds of birds flew in.

Bidar is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave. Temperatures have touched 43 or 44 degrees Celsius, said to be the highest in 70 years. “While cattle and pets are fed at least once a day, wild animals and birds are on their own. We thought we should do something about it,” says Mr. Vinayak.

An engineering student, Sainath Sharma, recorded bird calls on an old mobile phone that he then kept hidden in the garden. This attracts birds in flocks, and they are greeted with bird feed and water cups.