Ihtisham Kabir

When my son was growing up, he joined the Scouts and I volunteered as a parent, serving as Scoutmaster for Boy Scouts of America. It was a good experience for both of us. He went on to attain Eagle Scout rank and I learned about outdoor preparedness and safety.

For me, the forests and haors of Sylhet and the mangroves of Sundarban have been the two major attractions of Bangladesh, enough to occupy my imagination. Recently, when my friend Shumon invited me to accompany him and two other photographers - Adnan and Naser - on a trip to Bandarban, I hemmed and hawed for days and almost declined, even though I have not visited the Chittagong Hill Tracts in my adult life. In the end, though, I decided to join the trip.

The Great Barrier Reef lies several kilometres off the coast of Queensland, Australia on the Coral Sea. It is the world's largest single structure of living organisms and the only life form visible from outer space.

In recent years, chars of the Padma river in Rajshahi have become popular for birding particularly during winter. They have been in my wish list but my plans never materialized for one reason or another. So I was delighted when an opportunity came along to spend a day birding the Padma.

Winter beckons and migratory birds have started arriving. When we see one, questions naturally come to mind: Where did it come from? Where will it return to? These questions are not restricted to migrant birds: we often want to know the movement of birds which reside here year-round.

Queensland - one of Australia's six states – covers the northeastern portion of the island continent. For almost three hundred miles along the state's northeast coast stretches a rainforest called Queensland Wet Tropics. The forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its rich biodiversity. For example, the Wet Tropics takes up only 0.2% of Australia's land but is home to 40% of her bird species.

Late one afternoon last September I arrived at the two-story building on top of a hill in Khadim Nagar, Sylhet for what was to be my last meeting with Zahin Bhai. He met me upstairs outside his office, looking the same as always: diminutive, with a short, well-trimmed beard and thick spectacles, appearing more like boy than a man.

It was late afternoon when we reached the nature reserve in Yungaburra, a small Australian town in north Queensland.

The Hyacinth Macaw has to be seen to be believed. The world's largest parrot, with big mischievous eyes, is coloured deep blue with splashes of yellow. It is an endangered species and one of the 1900-odd types of birds found in Brazil.

I have been here in Hail Haor, Molvi Bazar, since early afternoon. The hot sun bears down on this cloudless and breezeless day. The muddy road is cracked and parched. It is the wrong time of year to look for birds, for I see only drongos, shaliks, pond herons, egrets and a few kites overhead. The more interesting and colourful birds are not here. They are en route on their long flight from northern lands and will arrive in two more months.

The Crocodilia order of reptiles comprises of two dozen species, including the Nile crocodile of Egypt, the alligators of Florida, the estuarine crocodile of Sundarban and the increasingly rare gharial of our rivers. Members of Crocodilia have several common features.

When we think of migrant birds, we automatically think of winter migrants. That's when numerous birds of dozens of species migrate from colder countries to our land for warmth. They stay here for the winter, fatten up for their return trip, and leave late winter or early spring. They normally do not breed here.

At about 8pm on the night of 8th September this year, Hassan Al-Razi Chayan and Abdur Rahim, accompanied by Forest Guard Mozaffer, were walking on a trail of Adampur Forest in Moulvi Bazar. They were searching for nocturnal animals using several

Recently I wrote about the visionary and influential English conservationist Guy Mountfort's visit to Sundarban in 1967. Mountfort, the founder of World Wildlife Fund, wrote a book called The Vanishing Jungle about his expedition to wilderness areas of erstwhile Pakistan. At the time of writing that column, I worked off a photocopy of one chapter of the book, but recently I obtained the book itself, elegantly bound in cloth with a golden tiger on the cover.

The Harpy Eagle captures our imagination. One of the largest eagles in the world, its wingspan is more than six feet and it can weigh up to twenty pounds. Its talons are four inches long, as long as the grizzly bear's.

Although I spent almost three decades in the United States and spent many hours outdoors under the blue sky of that fair land, it was here in Bangladesh that I learned all about birds and birdwatching.

We have a little problem,” said Gabriel, my birding guide. This side-trip from my base in Manaus, Brazil was turning out more exciting than I had planned.

Amazonas is the largest of the twenty-six states of Brazil. The state contains most of the tropical rainforest of the Amazon basin, possibly the greatest concentration of biodiversity of our planet. Its capital Manaus is situated where the Negro river splits from the mighty Amazon.

Imagine a Haor bigger than Bangladesh. It fills with water during the rains and empties in dry season. This is the Pantanal, one of the world's great wilderness areas. It is a wetland in Brazil's Mato Grosso state that extends into Bolivia and Paraguay. Covering between 54,000 and 75,000 square miles, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its ecological diversity.

Eminent birder and conservationist Enam Ul Haque recently received the Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation. In a ceremony in Dhaka on 18th July, the honourable Prime Minister placed the Award's gold medal around his neck.