Days of Discovery

During a golden age of discovery about a century ago, the knowledge of birds of the subcontinent leaped forward. New discoveries were published, specimens collected and numerous birds identified and named. One factor catalyzing this movement was the establishment in 1849 of the Natural History Museum in Kolkata by The Asiatic Society of Bengal. Its first curator was the great ornithologist Edward Blyth who inspired many others to study our birds. A second factor was the publication - by Allan O. Hume - of the ornithological journal Stray Feathers. It was a massive annual publication that continued for twelve years. Hume was a civil servant who encouraged other government officials in India to write about their findings and observations about birds in their area in his journal.

Today we recognize the names of these pioneers in the birds and animals they first described, for example, Blyth's pipit, Hume's short-toed lark, Jerdon's baza, Hodgson's redstart and Phayre's langur.

Now, over a century later, we may be witnessing another golden age in ornithological discoveries in our land. In recent years, this column has reported several birding discoveries in Bangladesh. Many were made by members of the Bangladesh Bird Club (Bbc), founded by Enam Ul Haque in 1996, while other discoveries and publications came from researchers at Jahanigrnagar University.

Comparing these two times reveals interesting parallels. Both periods have an institution and a publication. In the earlier age, it was the Asiatic Society and Stray Feathers. Today we have the Bbc and its publication, Banglar Pakhi, which have encouraged birders and zoologists to go out, observe, and write about our birds.

But the story does not end there. In 1986, the Oriental Bird Club (OBC), based in the UK, started publishing a refereed annual journal called Forktail dedicated to birds of the Orient. In 2004, OBC started a second bi-annual journal called Birding Asia. Paul Thompson, a member of the OBC based in Bangladesh, encouraged Enam and other Bangladeshi birders to write scientific articles. This inspired and encouraged many of our young birders.

The results have been nothing short of phenomenal. For example, scanning the table of contents of the latest Forktail  (v. 30, 2014) I found three papers by Bangladeshis. Other than Enam and Paul, significant ornithological researchers include Monirul Khan of Jahangirnagar University and Bbc's Sayam Choudhury, Samiul Mohsanin, M. Foysal, and several others. Sayam studies the spoon-billed sandpiper, Samiul surveys the indian skimmer while Foysal monitors the red-necked falcon persistently. Several young birdmen of Bbc reported in Birding Asia the sighting on new birds in Bangladesh: Sarwar Alam on red phalarope (Dec 2013), Onu Tareq on red-billed tropicbird (Dec 2014) and Omar Shahadat on blue-capped rockthrush (June 2015).

Dedication and commitment of our young scientists does not end there. Although birders are probably the oldest and largest group, young researchers have formed groups devoted to butterflies and to reptiles. Conservation organizations such as IUCN, CARINAM, CNRS, NACOM, WT etc. and the professors at our universities with their research-work play an important role in this work.

Is the study of nature in Bangladesh experiencing a golden age of discovery? Only time will tell, but the signs are encouraging and momentum is building, particularly among the younger generation. We hope they will unlock many more mysteries of living beings in our land .

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