Dhaka was once a green city of open skies and nature. At first light, the calls of doves, mynas, magpie-robins and sparrows announced the new day, and city dwellers' mornings began with their songs. But over time Dhaka has become a vast concrete settlement where birds have lost their natural homes and are rapidly disappearing.

Every day new high-rises, road-widening projects, shopping centres and businesses go up across the city. In step with this wave of development, old trees are being felled and open spaces cleared. Greenery in the capital has fallen markedly over the past five years, and birds, losing their natural homes, are the biggest victims.

In a city where people once woke to birdsong and children saw colourful birds of many species, that familiar sight has now almost vanished.

Environmental experts say modern buildings have no corners or holes where birds can live, so small birds cannot survive in the city. Pollution adds to the danger. Dhaka is often named among the world's most polluted cities, and air pollution worsens in winter, seriously disrupting birds' breathing, hatching of eggs, rearing of chicks, feeding and communication.

Professor Mashhura Shammi of the environmental sciences department at Jahangirnagar University said the biggest reason for the loss of bird habitat in Dhaka is rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation. Countless trees are being felled to build residential and commercial structures across the city, destroying birds' natural habitat.

Filling canals, beels and low-lying areas with waste in the name of urban development is also upsetting the natural balance, she said. Places where birds once found safe shelter, water and food are now being covered in concrete.

Professor Shammi added that it is not only resident birds: winter migrants from far away are also losing their familiar resting places and are now discouraged from coming to the city. As a result, the capital's biodiversity is being badly damaged.

1. Rapid urbanisation: almost every vacant space in the city is being turned into buildings, roads, markets or housing. Fields, gardens, bushes and trees are all being replaced by building materials, concrete and tiles, leaving birds nowhere suitable to nest.

2. Tree felling and shrinking greenery: large trees were once seen in every part of Dhaka, home to countless local birds including magpie-robins, mynas, doves, drongos, tailorbirds, parakeets and sparrows. But these trees have been cut for construction or road widening, and large trees across the city are now on the verge of disappearing. Birds need not just food but safe homes, places to lay eggs, shade and protection from bad weather. No trees means losing the very basis of their lives.

3. Filled-in canals and rivers and the loss of water bodies: water bodies gave birds food, safe water and shelter. But canals and reservoirs have been filled with waste in the name of urban development, and buildings, roads, markets or rubbish heaps have taken their place. With these water bodies gone, birds' natural environment has been completely destroyed.

4. Pollution: air, noise and light pollution have become part of everyday life in Dhaka, and all three are dangerous for birds. Dust causes breathing problems, noise frightens birds away from their nests, light pollution disrupts their normal sleep cycle, and toxic substances in waste spoil their food. Together these are rapidly reducing birds' ability to breed.

5. Food shortage and an unsafe environment: concrete-centred development has cut birds' natural food sources. Fruit, seeds, earthworms and insects were once plentiful. Markets, rubbish heaps and drains are all full of pollution, so birds cannot find food, and what they do find is often contaminated and makes them sick.

Careless human behaviour such as flying drones, the noise of fireworks and glass walls on buildings also threatens birds; many die after hitting glass. When birds decline, it is not only the environment but human life that suffers: insect attacks increase, trees are damaged and the balance of biodiversity is lost.

In losing birds, people also lose a large part of their childhood, nature and history. Birds are an inseparable part of nature; if they survive, the city, the environment and people will survive too. Action to protect bird habitat is needed now, or bird shadows may never again be seen in Dhaka's skies.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.