Ihtisham Kabir

Watching bathing birds is an unexpected but sublime delight. Depending on the bird, you can see them frolic in abandon, splash water around, puff up their chest before dipping, dive and pop out in a stream of water, create sprays of water by shaking their wings and make all kinds of faces while doing it.

Recently I started reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, a German forester who spent several decades managing old trees in European forests. The book has many startling observations and claims: for example, trees communicate with each other, they raise alarms and work cooperatively, and they single out certain weak trees for special attention and care.

It happened just after we emerged from the bushes to face a small crescent-shaped lagoon. A thin layer of winter fog covered the shallow water.

In my eyes the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch is one of the prettiest birds of Bangladesh.

During my 2018 trip to the Pantanal in Brazil I learned that Teddy Roosevelt had travelled there a century earlier. This piqued my curiosity and I decided to learn more about that trip.

I often write about rare or interesting birds (or wildlife) I have encountered. If you read my column you might think I find them on every trip or outing.

Recently I had a pleasant surprise when checking in for a flight at Dhaka airport. After I placed my suitcase on the weight scale, the ticketing agent looked at me, puzzled. “Sir, your luggage is so light that it is showing a negative weight.”

The Felidae family, commonly known as cats, consists of 38 species of carnivorous mammals.

I had been out since early morning cruising the Padma river and was returning to Rajshahi town. After turning a bend, I noticed an airborne black silhouette against the white sand of a char to my left.

In 1519 the Spaniard Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico. His band of adventurers defeated the Aztec king Montezuma, thus starting 300 years of Spanish rule. Before that, for hundreds of years, several native civilizations rose and fell in Mexico, and the nation proudly boasts that heritage wherever one looks.

Owls occupy a special place among birds. Nocturnal creatures, they look distinctive because of their large heads and upright stance.

During my trip to Brazil last year, I travelled on a boat that traversed the massive Paraguay river - in the wetland called Pantanal - looking for Jaguars.

It all started when I overheard my friend Niaz speaking with Shafiq at the Bird Club.

Cranes are special birds, sometimes called “the birds of heaven.” Because of their large size, grace and beauty, cranes are well-loved. Many cultures hold them in high esteem.

It was Meryl Streep that made the Dingo famous.

Arriving at the Haor just before sunset, I realize, once again, the magic of Golden Hour. I am standing on a strip of land bisecting a fishpond and surrounded by water. Stillness has descended on the water, the muddy land and the trees, but I still feel a fine breeze on my skin. The autumn sun has decided it is done for the day and is rapidly retreating. A thin layer of mist settles over a patch of reeds growing in the pond. With hardly a bird or animal in sight, my photographic goals are foiled; nonetheless I am glad to be here.

I had taken just a few steps into a large, soggy field in the Haor when from the corner of my eye I saw two doglike animals, thirty feet to my left, sprinting in the same direction as I was headed.

In 2013, when I had just started paying attention to birds, I photographed a large bird perched atop a leafless tree in Baikka Beel, Moulvi Bazar. Sitting still, it only moved its head as it scanned for fish in the adjacent beel. When I showed my photograph later to other birders, they identified it as a Grey-headed Fish Eagle.

Instagram was launched in 2010 as a mobile phone app enabling users to easily share photographs and videos.

Her variety of wildlife has drawn me to Australia twice in the past year. Along with impressive birds and animals, I experienced several surprises Down Under.