When the Karatoya river falls in the Bengali months of Kartik and Agrahayan, fertile silt is left exposed along its banks. Farmers in Teliharha village in Bogura Sadar upazila are now ploughing that land for winter vegetables, as Prothom Alo photographer Soel Rana recorded.
As the power tiller turns the soil, insects and larvae come to the surface, and flocks of white egrets crowd onto the fields to feed on them. Some land to pick off their prey; others sweep in circles over the whole field.
The pictures show a farmer driving his tiller with a line of egrets close behind it. One bird flies off with prey in its beak, another plucks an insect from the freshly turned earth.
White birds wheeling beside farmers at work is a familiar early-winter sight in rural Bangladesh, and egrets feeding on soil insects during ploughing are long regarded as a helpful presence on the land.
Photos: Soel Rana, Prothom Alo
Photo: Ashef Emran / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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