Egrets of Bangladesh

Описание: This small country is heaven to thousands of birds.
Here wetlands remain sonorous with various species of birds.
Egrets and Herons are well-known among those birds.
Locally they are also known as Boga or Bogla.
18 species of Egrets and Herons found in Bangladesh and they are all water birds.
They are commonly seen around wetlands.
Among them Indian Pond Heron, Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Purple Heron are unique.
They are keeping environment healthy by feeding on diseased & dead fishes and harmful insects and at the same time contributing in our economy by increasing fertility of soil.
Indian Pond Herons are very common bird of Bangladesh.
These small brown coloured Herons is habitually calm.
They roam alone or in couple.
But they hunt with other birds.
Though mostly they stay around wetlands but, while feeding, they can be seen in agricultural lands or around ponds.
They fly away if they encounter any threat.
Intermediate Egrets are yellow billed medium sized bird and Little Egrets are bright white coloured.
They hunt with their long black bill.
After feeding, they roost on tall trees around wetlands.
Cattle Egrets are medium sized bird.
Their look wonderful with their yellow bill in white body.
Locally they are also known as ‘Go Boga’.
They commonly wander in grazing lands with cattle.
Little Herons are the smallest Heron of our country.
They chase their prey walking slowly by the Reed lands beside water bodies.
Cinnamon Bitterns have red coloured body and green coloured legs.
They spend most of their time beside agricultural lands.
Black headed Night Herons are nocturnal bird.
Their back and head are black coloured and they roost on tree branches during daytime.
They become active with the fall of daylight.
In the dark of night they hunt walking through wetlands.
Great Egrets are large sized bright white bird.
They are mostly seen in Haors and Coastal areas of our country.
Most of the time they stay standing still alone in the shallow water and sometime slowly walk in quest of prey.
They hunt and feed with their long yellow bill.
Like Great Egrets, Grey Herons are also large in size.
But they have grey body colour.
Locally they also known as ‘Dhupni Bok’.
Purple Herons can be easily spotted among flocks of Haor birds.
They are tall water bird.
Their body is covered with purple coloured feathers.
They silently observe their prey standing in the shallow water.
Sometimes they pull their long neck to look at their surroundings.
Summer to monsoon is the breeding time for most of the species of Egret and Heron.
During this time physical diversity occur in Egrets and Herons, depending on the species differences.
Long feathers grow on the back of the neck of some species.
Appearance of new colours can be seen in some species.
The colour of their eyes, bill and feathers become bright to attract opposite sexes.
In breeding time various species of Egrets and Herons build their mixed colony of nests by themselves and sometimes with other birds.
They prefer tall trees around wetlands for their safe habitation.
Hundreds of Egrets and Herons build their nest together in every colony.
Both male and female work together to build nest.
Females of them lay 3-5 or more eggs.
Male and female hatch those eggs by rotation.
Their chicks grow up with intense care.
When time arrives, they start flying.
Egrets and Herons are maintaining healthy wetlands by feeding on dead and diseased fishes.
They are also maintaining ecological balance by feeding on harmful insects, amphibians, reptiles etc.
But they are becoming endangered due to filling up of water bodies, excessive use of pesticides and illegal hunting.
Their breeding grounds are being wrecked due to demolition of large trees and bushes.
If it continues like this, in near future, the number of Egrets and Herons will decrease substantially and the complete ecosystem will be imbalanced.
These wonderful birds need to be conserved immediately by ensuring their safe habitat.