Various Birds of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi birds are coded for abundance, breeding,  wintering, migration, endemic, rare, etc.; Two thousands pages on birds, nature, bird seeing, where to go birding, birds and nature images, nature conservation, equipment, bird feeding, etc. 

This country is the home to a huge number of species of birds that vary from residents, that stay total year around, to breeding birds, that spend a well part of the growing season in Bangladesh to raise their young, migrants who pass through Bangladesh with the seasons, to wintering birds who like to spend most part of the winter in Bangladesh to escape colder conditions up north. While many kinds of birds are relatively common such they are part of the ecosystems of the country, it is always a thrill to stumble upon a rare bird or vagrant, that does not really form part of any the Bangladesh ecosystems. Maybe it got lost during its travels between its summer and winter residence or it got displaced by bad weather.

The national bird of Bangladesh

Among the kinds of the checklist of the birds of this country you can search  waterfowl and wading birds, a huge suite of song birds, raptors, game birds, swifts and nighthawks, etc., many of which occupy several ecosystems simultaneously, as they fly to and from forests, meadows, shorelines of waters, cities and and urban green spaces. At Birdlist, we have developed a coding system that can help you predict when you may expect a certain species, with a code for seasonality, such as resident, nesting, wintering, etc. A code for abundance will give you a clue on the likelihood that you may actually see a certain species of bird. As we progressed with the coding, we realized that there should be a differentiation in the coding for "common", such as less common, common and very common birds. However, this would require reliable quantative data, which for most states, are not revealed by the commission of bird records. We hope to provide those in the future. In the meantime, enjoy the current checklist of the birds of Bangladesh.

There are different types of birds in our country. They are different in colour , size and habit. They eat different kinds of food. Some birds eat fish and flesh, some live on warms and insects, some on fruits and grains some on filth and grains, some on filth and garbage’s . birds are divided into many classes. They are teasing birds, song birds, rapacious birds. Game birds, migratory birds and tailor birds.

There are some great locations for bird watching in Bangladesh: forests, mountains, and even choice areas in and around most of the lakes. However, if you don't know what you're looking for then you might as well sleep in or go searching for Bengal Tigers.

The Doel or the magpie robin is the national bird of Bangladesh. One of the more familiar birds about towns and villages. Shy, silent and unobtrusive during non-breeding season, but known to pull a complete change of character that more often than not sees it skulking about in the bushes and trees, subtly cooing in hopes of attracting a mate.

Conspicuous during breeding season when the male Doel sings lustily (chirping the bird equivalent of Barry White) from its favorite treetop or post, specifically during early mornings and late afternoons. The doel's chirping is accentuated by upward jerks of its white fringed tail. The Doel also happens to be a very good mimic of other birds' calls (which is a good trick to know when you're out searching for a mate). It jealously guards its breeding territory, and intruding males are regaled with all sorts of bird machismo including a puffed out chest, strutting about a general display of arrogance (much like you would expect to find in Naples, Italy - only there we're not talking about birds).

The Shalik or myna bird is a very common bird species in Bangladesh. A common myna is about the size of an American robin. Its colors range from rich wine-brown on the lower breast to deep black on the head, neck, and upper breast. It has a splash of white on the lower edge of its wings, and its bill and legs are a bright yellow. This myna feeds on plants, insects, and worms. It often builds its nest in crevices of buildings. It is a noisy bird that is common about yards and buildings. Thus, you don't need to travel far to find a myna staring back at you within your binoculars range of vision. It is often seen among chickens or perched on the backs of cattle.

Just like back in the United States, mynas are easily taught to imitate the human voice and can talk, sing, and whistle.

Meanwhile, the Machhhranga or the kingfisher is very common in the Bangladesh river delta. Twelve varieties of kingfishers have been recorded in Bang including the brown-winged, white-collard, black-capped and the rare ruddy kingfisher.

The Kaththokra or the woodpecker boasts an incredible 22 different in the country, especially in the Sundarbans.

And finally, the red-cockaded woodpecker is becoming rarer and identified as a vulnerable species in Bang, its classification being listed just under endangered.

It doesn't take much too really get sucked into the joy of bird watching. A field guide, a sturdy pair of binoculars and a little patience. Check out the Travel link on Bangladesh.com for reliable points-of-contact for tour agencies that can provide transport to the best bird watching areas in the region.

The Doel or the magpie robin is the national bird of Bangladesh. One of the more familiar birds about towns and villages. Shy, silent and unobtrusive during non-breeding season, then skulking in shrubbery and only uttering plaintive swee-ee and harsh chur-r. Conspicuous during breeding season when male sings lustily from favourite tree-top or post, chiefly early mornings and late afternoons. Song punctuated by upward jerks of white fringed tail. Also very good mimic of other birds' calls. Breeding territories jealously guarded, and intruding males defied with puffing- out, strutting and much show of pugnacity.

The Machhhranga or the kingfisher is very common in riverine Bangladesh. Twelve varieties of kingfishers have been recorded here including the brown-winged, white-collard, black-capped and the rare ruddy kingfisher.

Kingfisher on Action

The Shalik (myna) is a very common bird in Bangladesh. The common myna is about the size of an American robin. Its colors range from rich wine-brown on the lower breast to deep black on the head, neck, and upper breast. It has a splash of white on the lower edge of its wings, and its bill and legs are a bright yellow. This myna feeds on plants, insects, and worms. It often builds its nest in crevices of buildings. It is a noisy bird that is common about yards and buildings. It is often seen among chickens or perched on the backs of cattle. People have released the common myna into the wild in many tropical Pacific islands, including Hawaii, where the bird is now abundant. Talking mynas are sometimes kept as pets. Many imitate the human voice and can talk, sing, and whistle.

Herons are carnivorous and largely eat fishes and frogs. Usually the birds stand still in or near the water or on some objects floating or emergent in the water, and suddenly strike at the passing prey either impaling or killing it instantly. Cattle Egrets often follow grazing cattle and catch insects, frogs and small reptiles disturbed by them.

Herons bird of Bangladesh

Common Bangladeshi herons are Pond Heron or Paddybird (Kani or Kana Bok), Ardeola grayii; Cattle Egret (Go-bok), Bubulcus ibis; Little Egret (Choto Sada Bok), Egretta garzetta; Median/Intermediate Egret (Majhari Sada Bok), Egretta (new name: Mesophyox) intermedia; Large Egret (Bora or Jathua Bok), Egretta alba (new name: Casmerodius albus); Grey Heron (Dhushar Bok), Ardea cinerea; Purple Heron (Beguni Bok), Ardea purpurea; Giant or Goliath Heron (Brihat or Mohakai Bok), Ardea goliath; Black-crowned Night Heron (Wak or Nishi Bok), Nycticorax nycticorax and Tiger Bittern (Bagha Bok), Gorsachius melanolopus. All but the night and tiger herons are diurnal while these two species are nocturnal or crepuscular. Goliath Heron is either migratory or vagrant in the country and there have been only a few records of sightings during past few decades. Pond Heron, Little Egret and Cattle Egret are the most common and widespread herons in the country. Tiger Bittern is less common and secretive than the Night Heron.

 

Forest Location in Bangladesh (Sundorbon)

Bangladesh is situated in the north eastern side of South Asia between 20° 34' and 26° 38' north latitude and between 88° 01' and 92° 41' east longitude. It lies in the active delta of three main rivers- Padma, Meghna and Jamuna and their numerous tributaries. Bangladesh covers an area of 1,47,570 sq.km and surrounded by India from the west, north and most of east. Myanmar sitauted on the southeastern edge and the Bay of Bengal on the south part.

A small part of tracts higher land occur in Mymensingh, Chittagong, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) regions. The southwestern region consists of a large amount of dead and Cut-off Rivers. The coastal part of Bangladesh includes the famous and biggest Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. A number of depressed basins are found in the district of greater Mymensingh and Sylhet which are inundated by fresh water during the monsoon season that gradually dry out during the dry winter season. These depressed basins are called 'Haor'.

Bangladeshi Climate is sub-tropical and monsoon rainfall varies from 1200-3500mm. Rice is the major staple crop while jute, sugarcane, and tea are the main cash crops. Other cash crops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetable and tree fruits. Garments, raw and manufactured jute goods, fish, tea and hides and skins are the chief exports.
Bangladesh is noted for its estuarine environment, yet less than 10 percent of its total water flow originates from its own sources and rest comes from India, Bhutan and Nepal. Normally 20 percent of the country gets flooded during the rainy season.

Bangladesh possesses enormous large area of wetlands including rivers and streams, freshwater lakes and marshes, haors, baors, beels, water storage reservoirs, fish ponds, flooded cultivated fields and estuarine process with extensive mangrove forest. Wetlands of coastal area and marine origin are less important in Bangladesh. The haors, baors, beels and jheels are of fluvial origin and are commonly identified for freshwater wetlands. These freshwater wetlands occupy four landscape units -floodplains, freshwater marshes, lakes and swamp forests.

Characteristics being identified in the lower end of the topography, wetlands are subject to periodic inundation/flooding, shallow to deep, during rainy season. For understand the hydro-geomorphological characteristics of the wetlands, a typical haor may be considered as an ideal example.

Apart from the major river such as Padma, Meghna and Jamuna courses and streams, the major wetlands of fluvial origin occupy the floodplains. The manmade wetlands including ponds, dighis and lakes are distributed all over the land. Some important wetlands of Bangladesh are chalon beel, Atrai basin, lower Punarbhaba floodplain, Gopalganj-Khulna Beels, Arial Beel and Surma-Kushiyara.

Importance the wetlands have a wide area of ecological, socio-cultural, commercial and economic importance and values in the country. These are important habitats for a huge variety of flora and fauna of local, national and regional significance. In the clean water wetlands the floral composition. Wetlands are critically important in the country for human settlements, fisheries, agricultural diversity, biodiversity, navigation & communication and eco-system.

Degradation of wetlands has caused many kinds of problems including extinction and reduction of wildlife, extinction of many indigenous wild and domesticated rice varieties, Loss of many indigenous aquatic plants, shrubs, herbs and weeds, loss of natural soil nutrients, loss of natural water sources and of their resultant benefits, increase in the occurrence of flooded and degeneration of wetland based occupations, eco-systems, socio-economic institutions and cultures.

Mangroves, the coastal area of tropical forests on land, and also called "salt water forests", have provided livelihood for a lot of local people in Bangladesh. The Sundarbans the world's largest mangrove forest stretches for almost 6,000 square miles across India and Bangladesh, a natural barrier against tsunamis and frequent cyclones that blow in from Bay of Bengal. With roots that tolerate salt water, the forest's mangrove trees grow 70 feet or more high islands of layered sand and gray clay, deposited by rivers which flow more than thousand miles from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

More than last 20 years, shrimp and tiger prawn exporters have taken over thousands of rice paddies and other farms and flooded them with salt water to raise the temperature.

Squeezed between the trees and thousands of expanding shrimp and tiger prawn farms, at least 100,000 urban people lives in Bangladesh risk Bengal tiger attacks who catch fish, cut trees and gather honey in the Sundarbans forest. For thousands of families who refuse to leave, the only select left is the hazardous work of gathering honey, catching fish or cutting trees in the mangrove forest, which lies in a region with one of this country's heaviest concentrations of shrimp and tiger prawn farms, extending almost fifty miles inland.

Many village peoples enter the forest for cut trees, for fishing, for collect hogla pata to supply factories that make hardboard for furniture and buildings, and additional wood products. Honey hunters often have one of the most risky job, searching for bees' nests in vegetation so dense that the only way through is on hands and knees. Each spring season, the honey collectors go deeply into debt to rent boats for their journey through a vast warren of muddy saltwater rivers and canals that meander around thousands of jungle islands. They have to stock up on food and supplies for their trips that may be up to three months.

Thrust into the deep Sundorbons by shrimp farming, villagers, honey hunters have to struggle for the liquid gold, closely preserved by forest animals such as pythons, king cobras, crocodiles and most dangerous the man-eating Bengal tigers.

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The experts invent that foliage has been stripped from the branches of trees in nearly a third of this mangrove forest which was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1997, while numerous huge number of trees have been felled and the crowns of others severely damaged.

The greatest damage has been saw in the East Sundarbans, the biologically richest part of the forest, which lies in the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers to the Bay of Bengal.

More than three thousand and two hundred people are confirmed to have been killed and almost 880 others remain missing as a result of Cyclone Sidr, which struck Bangladesh on fifteen November, bringing torrential rain and blow winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour.

The experts have not yet been able to identify the impact of the cyclone on the wildlife in the Sundarbans (mangrove forest), which is home to numerous endangered or threatened species just like as the Bengal tiger, the estuarine crocodile, king cobra and the Indian python. Its complex network of tidal water lands, small islands and mudflats are also breeding grounds for fish, shrimp and crab, providing a livelihood for an estimated thirty lakhs people.

In a press statement which released by UNESCO at its Paris headquarters, the experts said that the damage caused by Cyclone Sidr has left the Sundarbans ecosystem vulnerable to poaching and other intrusions that could jeopardize its regeneration.

Many field stations, boats, jetties and equipment drived by the country’s govt. Forest Department has been washed out to sea, compromising the Department’s capacity to manage the 1,40,000 hectare site.

The experts invite on international donors for help Bangladesh rebuild and restore its infrastructure and replace the lost boats and communication equipment. So that it can better protect the Sundarbans for Bangladesh.