Brown Shrike Bengal Birds -12 (কসাই পাখি/কাজল পাখি ) The most common type of shrike that is found in our state is Brown Shrike. The shrikes are carnivorous and they are also known as ‘butcher birds’ due to their eating habits. Usually they kill more than they can consume and thus have acquired such name! […]
House Sparrow Bengal Birds -11 (চড়াই/চড়ুই ) Over last few years the number of House Sparrows, once found in quite abundance in Kolkata, have reduced significantly! I heard and read the news, but didn’t encounter that until this lockdown. Truly, once the most frequent visitors to our house and garden, now have become a rarity.
Oriental Magpie Robin Bengal Birds -10 (দোয়েল) Commonly known as ‘Doel’ in West Bengal, Oriental Magpie-robin is basically a singing bird. Few years back a robin was a resident in my balcony. Surprisingly that bird found comfort in sitting on the grill of the balcony throughout the night! I was not as enthusiastic as I
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Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary (CKBS) Situated at the southern end of the city limit, Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary (CKBS) is the only declared sanctuary within a close proximity to Kolkata. Government of West Bengal took it from private owners in 2005 to make it available for public, helped it to get the ‘sanctuary’ status and
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‘Chaotic’ Jungle Babbler Bengal Birds -10 (সাতভায়া, ছাতারে) CHAOTIC!!! That’s the one word which perfectly describes Jungle Babbler/Common Babbler/Seven Sisters. In fact, that’s the reason they got such name. The Bengali name ‘Satbhaya (seven sisters) ’ justifies their gang-name but just overlooks their nature! It is really true that they almost always found to be
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Shantiniketan শান্তিনিকেতন, বীরভূম (পশ্চিমবঙ্গ) ২০২০ সালের মার্চ মাস থেকে অতিমারী যেন আমাদের গোটা জীবনযাত্রায় ঘুণ ধরিয়ে দিয়েছিল ! আগের দেড় বছরে কতকিছু পরিবর্তন হয়ে গেছে, কিন্তু কিছু জিনিসের পরিবর্তন না হওয়াই ছিল বাঞ্ছনীয়, যেমন চরৈবেতি ! তাই ঠিক করা গেল, সেবারের ছেলের জন্মদিনের সময় কাছাকাছি কোথাও ঘুরে আসা যাক। যাত্রা শুরু সেইমত ৬ ই মার্চ
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Red-vented Bulbul Bengal Birds -9 (বুলবুলি/বুলবুল) Bulbul pakhi, moyna, tiye….’, a very popular Bengali song for kids starts with this line which basically spells out the name of three common singing/talking birds, Bulbul, Moyna and Parakeet. Not only this, numerous others Bengali songs and nursery rhymes have been written on Bulbul bird which I found
The ‘arrogant’ Common Myna Bengal Birds -8 (শালিখ) There’s got to be very few birds as arrogant as a Common Mayna, known as salikh in our state. Already known for their aggressiveness and boldness, they are one of the most commonly found birds in my locality. From the clarity of the picture it is evident
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Purple Sunbird Bengal Birds -7 (মৌটুসী , দুর্গা টুনটুনি) Sunbird is the a creature (only 12-13 cm long) which I first managed to capture through my lens in great detail and to my satisfaction! They live on honeys from different kind of flowers and thus are commonly known as ‘moutushi/durga tuntuni’ (mou=honey) in Bengal. Their
Common Tailorbird Bengal Birds -6 (টুনটুনি) In our childhood probably all of us thought that common tailorbirds are the tiniest bird in the world! But as we grew up, that wrong perception went away, instead their specialties become more important. We all know that they are called tailor birds, but have you seen their work