Brown Crake in Bangladesh: a century-long wait

12:00 AM, April 19, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:38 AM, April 19, 2019

It’s quite an incredible feat to still have more than 600 species of birds in our country and with the increasing numbers of birdwatchers and wildlife photographers every year, many new species are being discovered or rediscovered.

One such rediscovery was made in Chapainawabganj in February by a Rajshahi-based photographer Nur E Saud, who is a dentist by profession and wildlife photographer at heart.

Saud found a Brown Crake -- a bird whose presence was last reported in Bangladesh by an English Captain named Robert Tytler in 1854. There has been no definite record from Bangladesh after Tytler’s note more than 150 ago.

To see this rare Brown Crake, I got on a train to Rajshahi during a not-so-cold February night with birding mates Prince and Ratul. The train reached Rajshahi early in the morning where Saud waited for us. Along with him, we took another train to Chapainawabganj and then a local vehicle to Babudang -- where the bird was spotted.

I have always liked the countryside in north Bengal, as the landscape is never monotonous. The famers here cultivate wheat, sesame, sugarcane and various kinds of vegetables; the landscape is vibrant and offers a variety of habitats for wildlife. Many ground-dwelling species such hare, button quail and quail are still doing well in this region, although at the national level they have disappeared from many other parts of Bangladesh.

Babudang is basically an open space surrounded by cultivated land and villages. The small hillocks of Babudang support patches of trees and the rest of the area is either scrubland dotted with small bamboo stands or agricultural lands.

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BSF personnel rescue rare birds from Hili-bound bus

13 March 2019 6:01 PM

Balurghat: The BSF rescued 58 rare species of birds from a private bus from Trimohini Bazaar, about 21 km from here, on Tuesday afternoon. Acting on a tip-off, the BSF jawans under 183 Battalions conducted the raids and rescued the birds which were left abandoned in cages in the bus.

According to a BSF source, these birds looked quite similar to Indian hen. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cost of these rare birds was around Rs 58,00,000. None has been arrested till now.

The BSF said these birds were kept in cages in a Hili-bound private bus from Kolkata. It is suspected that they were being smuggled to Bangladesh because of their high demands in the neighbouring country. The BSF conducted the search operation after getting information from a reliable source that some rare birds were being smuggled to Bangladesh.

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The city's 'first' shade of purple

12:00 AM, January 25, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 05:14 AM, January 25, 2019

NATURE QUEST

Enam Ul Haque

For the first time in a generation, a rare Purple Heron was spotted near a lake in the capital. These birds of Bangladesh are seen only occasionally in the reed beds of large fresh-water lakes called haors.

It was heartening to see the beautiful bird trying to find a place in this rather unlivable city of ours.

The Purple Heron was a pleasant surprise to birdwatchers because even Pond Herons, commonly found elsewhere in Bangladesh, were a rare sight in the capital. The city is encircled by rivers like the Turag, Balu and Buriganga, and sprinkled with lakes of Dhanmandi, Gulshan and Mirpur etc. But much of these water bodies are not welcome places for waterfowl or wading birds. Although people continue to live by the noxious water of Dhaka, our prudent avian friends seem to want nothing of it.

With this level of pollution, it is fascinating to find a bird such as the Purple Heron try to make our city its home. The bird has chosen to inhabit the large lake between Mirpur Cantonment and the Birulia embankment. With nearly 640 acres of water and easily the largest lake in the city, it is called Goranchatbari ponding area.

The lonely Purple Heron was seen sitting on a pile of sticks between two islands at the north of lake. The only other large wader keeping its company there was a Grey Heron.

Although a second Purple Heron was nowhere near, it could well be there somewhere in the lake. A pair of Purple Herons usually split at dawn to forage at different sites and get together only at nightfall to sleep. The two islands, completely covered with trees and undergrowth, were likely to be the herons' place of rest.

Although opaque and rancid, the lake-water seemed to have enough fish, frogs, insects, snakes and mollusks to feed hundreds of cormorants, herons and egrets. Birdwatchers were elated to see half a dozen Little Grebes racing over the water and a thousand Lesser Whistling Ducks resting in the floating forest of water-hyacinths. 

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Oriental pied hornbill on decline

12:00 AM, March 07, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, March 07, 2018

Loss of forest habitats, food shortage threaten the large-beaked bird in Bangladesh

Mintu Deshwara, Moulvibazar

Noted for its exceptionally beautiful large beak, oriental pied hornbill sees a gradual decrease in our country mainly due to gradual loss of dense forests.  

“Only ten years ago, one would often come across this bird and hear its call in Lawacherra forest. But they are rarely seen now,” said Swapan Deb Sajal, director of Sreemanagl-based Bangladesh Bonyo Prani Seba Foundation, an organisation working for wildlife care.

“The birds have distinct yellow beaks. Their body is deep black. But the abdomen and tail is white,” he said.

“Oriental pied hornbill is hunted for the huge beak and big feathers. Besides, some unscrupulous kabiraj (herbal practitioner) in the rural areas use it for treatment of diseases,” he said.

“Locally called 'kao dhanesh', the bird measures 55 to 60 centimetres in length, and its scientific name is anthracoceros albirostris. Eminent bird researcher Salim Ali mentioned the bird in his book,” said Dr Monirul H Khan, professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University.

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Existence of rare and new species found

Researchers have found the existence of some rare species of birds, Slender Billed Gull and Red Phalarope, and the Jungle Glory butterfly in the country's forest reserves.

Of them, the Jungle Glory butterfly was spotted at Tanchi area of Bandarban hill district when researchers were updating the Red List of Species in Bangladesh for this year.

Prof Monwar Hossain of Jahangirnagar University's zoology department said this particular type of butterfly was last seen in the country some 132 years ago in forests in the Sylhet region.

The findings were unveiled at the 1st preliminary species assessment sharing workshop on updating species Red List of Bangladesh, held at the capital’s Spectra Convention Centre in the capital yesterday.

The Red List estimates the risk of extinction of a certain species which will help to set conservation plans and priority.

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Bangladesh vulture work really taking off!

Heather Mitchell 

2 Jul 2014 10:09 AM 

[By Chris Bowden our International Species Recovery Officer & Vulture SAVE Programme Manager]

After four high level meetings in Dhaka with senior Forest Department officials last week, and listening to what the Chief Conservator of Forests, and the Additional Secretary both had to say – I’m left feeling very upbeat on the prospects not only of making the diclofenac ban more effective in Bangladesh, but also for going the extra step to ban ketoprofen, (which although we know it’s also toxic to the vultures, has yet to be banned in any of the vulture range states)... could this be the lead we need to get it banned across South Asia??

My colleague, Ananya Mukherjee and I were made extremely welcome by our IUCN Bangladesh hosts and indeed many more, including even the high level Forest department officials. Dipu of IUCN had carefully planned almost every minute of our time, and made the most of it to raise the profile of vultures. As well as appearing on the national TV news channels, we even did an environmental (Channel i) chat show with the famous Muqeed Majumdar Babu, and were able to reinforce those SAVE priority messages on air! In the end I could also visit the field and saw one wild Oriental white-backed vulture as well as meeting all the newly formed local Vulture Community Team at their inaugural meeting! Ananya shared experiences from India and Nepal and we came away thinking that with the level of Forest Department support shown so far, this work could end up setting the standards for others to follow.

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Bird poaching goes on, actions rare

A section of locals are engaged in hunting of birds, especially herons, posing threat to the stock of the graceful creature of nature.

A poacher sold five herons at Balapukur Bazar in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat for Tk 150 to 200 each on Monday afternoon.

“I trap the birds in different areas and sell them at different markets without facing any obstacle from law enforcers or locals. Some people put order in advance to buy heron,” said the poacher, Jalal Hossain, 45, from Batrish Hazari village of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.

“I catch birds to earn a living. Many others in the district do the same. I do not know of any law against bird hunting,” he said.

Herons come to the beel (large water body) to eat puti maachh (an indigenous fish) but the birds are caught in the poachers’ traps set with the fish.

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Rare birds rescued, illegal traders jailed

Asif Islam Shaon Crime

A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion raided eight bird shops and three warehouses where they found the captive birds

A mobile court rescued over a hundred birds native to Bangladesh, including rare species of sparrow-kite, and arrested thirteen illegal bird traders from the capital’s Kaptan Bazar area on Monday.

A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) raided eight bird shops and three warehouses where they found the captive birds, which include mynahs, parrots, munias, sparrows and kites.

The team rescued 112 munias, fourteen mynahs, eighteen parrots, three Sparrows and one kite from five shops around 2pm, reported Anwar Pasha, magistrate of the mobile court.

According to the Bangladesh Wildlife (Protection and Safety) Act -2012, trapping, selling, buying, consuming or caging of wild birds is a punishable offence.

The mobile court sentenced thirteen traders to various jail terms, ranging from three to six months and fined them different amounts.

“Many people rear such bird without realising it is illegal to keep them as pets in cages. We want to create awareness among the masses not to cage these species of birds. According to the law, offenders can be imprisoned for a maximum of one and a half years,” the magistrate said.

“A group of people have been collecting these birds from the Chittagong Hill Tract areas and selling them in the city. We are trying to catch them,” he added.

On April 21, another mobile court recovered 246 native birds from various shops at a weekly birds’ market. A dozen people were jailed and the birds were set free.

http://dhakatribune.com/crime/2013/may/14/rare-birds-rescued-illegal-traders-jailed