In Halla village of Barlekha upazila, Moulvibazar, one homestead is known simply as the 'bird house'. The road beside it runs along Kaiyarkona beel in Hakaluki haor, and after a day of fishing in the beel several thousand cormorants and egrets come back at night to roost in its trees.

The two-and-a-half-acre homestead is thick with hijal, koroch, barun, koroi and kadam trees, every branch holding nests and chicks. When the parents fly in with fish, the chicks jostle to be fed first. The yard, the roofs and the leaves are white with droppings and the smell is strong.

The house belonged to the late Manohar Ali Master, who gave the birds shelter despite his neighbours' objections. His son Akhtar Ahmed Shibu says that before he died in 2009 his father told his sons that the birds were heirs to the house along with them. Shibu and his brother Swapan still live there with their families.

The family received a national award for environmental conservation in 2019. They say they got only part of the prize money and that the rest went to local public representatives. A Climate Change Trust Fund project to conserve the bird house's biodiversity was taken up in 2023, but they have seen no work.

The trees are a growing worry. Many old ones have broken under the weight of the birds, and the writer argues that new trees must be planted now so the birds are not left without shelter when the old ones fall.

The feature was written for Prothom Alo by a conservationist who visited the bird house on 29 August while overseeing fishing cat conservation work in Hakaluki haor. The writer asks whether one family's selfless love for birds has become a burden, and whether making rules is all the rest of us can do.

Photo: the writer, Prothom Alo

Source: Prothom Alo