Although winter is still about a month away by the calendar, migratory birds have already begun arriving at the wetlands of the coastal Khulna region. As in other years, flocks of guest birds are coming to this area next to the Sundarbans from cold countries including the Himalayas and Siberia. But, as every year, hunters have become a threat to the birds and the environment.

It is alleged that, defying the law and lured by quick cash, hunters have become active in killing migratory birds with new tricks. Their latest method is the sound of a flute. After catching them, they sell the birds for Tk 300 to Tk 500 each, depending on size.

Asked about this novel flute made to match birds' calls, a hunter from Sutarkhali village in Khulna's Dacope upazila, who did not want to be named, said it is made by wrapping sellotape around a palm leaf and fixing it with superglue and rubber to one end of a motorcycle's hydraulic cover.

In the cold countries, severe winters cause acute food shortages for migratory birds. With snowfall on one side and hunger on the other, their lives are at risk. To survive, the birds fly thousands of miles and choose Bangladesh, where the winter is milder, as a temporary home.

When winter ends they return to their own countries, and this year is no exception. Canals, beels and wetlands across Khulna's nine upazilas are already ringing with the calls of thousands of migratory birds. Among them are the bali hans (whistling duck), egrets, jacanas, comb ducks, sorali, kastechara, patari hans, cormorants, snipes, hurhur, khoyra and sona rijia.

According to local sources, more than a thousand hunters in different parts of coastal Khulna have for a long time been freely catching birds at night and selling them before dawn.

These hunters set traps beside wetlands at night, then sit in the paddy fields and play flutes in tune with the birds' calls. Confused by the sound, many birds fly in and get caught in the traps. Hunters also lay small and large nylon-string snares along the birds' flight paths, and hundreds of birds are caught in them as they fly at night.

Some hunters also catch birds by shining lights in their eyes, setting hooks baited with earthworms, spearing them with a koch (fish spear) and laying current nets. The hunters kill several hundred migratory birds in a single night.

It is alleged that the local administration looks the other way. Terokhada and Dumuria upazilas are among the areas of Khulna district where the most birds are hunted.

Hunters go out at night in the long-waterlogged Bhutiar Beel area of Terokhada upazila, including Nachunia, Induhati, Pakhimara, Noukadubi, Arkandi, Aurobunni and Basukhali beels; in Dumuria upazila at Beel Dakatia, Magurkhali, Shibnagar, Kathalia, Ghurunia, Langalmora, Bogarkhor, Kulti, Jalerdanga, Bhelkamari, Kharia, Paschim Beel Pabla, Gagana canal, Baisarani, Rangpur, Mirzapur, Shobhana and Maguraghona; and in various canals and beels of coastal Dacope upazila.

On a visit to the thread and motorcycle-parts shops in Dumuria and Chalna bazars, unscrupulous hunters were seen buying the materials for these flutes from shopkeepers.

Batiaghata police station OC Md Rabiul Kabir said he was not aware of migratory birds being killed. But anyone who hunts them is committing an offence, he said.

Dacope upazila agriculture officer Mehedi Hasan Khan said the hunters are committing an offence by catching birds, and on top of that they are damaging aman paddy in the fields in the dark of night.

Asked about it, Dumuria upazila nirbahi officer (acting) Sanjib Das said killing birds is a punishable offence. There are reports of migratory birds being hunted, but the hunters cannot be caught red-handed, even though they kill birds at night. If accurate information is received, strict legal action will be taken against them, he said.

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