The second international celebration of World Migratory Bird Day fell on 10 October, with this year's theme 'Every Bird Counts: Your Observations Matter!'. In a column in Daily Bangladesh, journalist, columnist and researcher Shafiqul Islam Khokon writes that climate change, wetland loss, deforestation, pollution and illegal hunting together threaten migratory birds. The views are the writer's own.
Citing BirdLife International's State of the World's Birds report of 11 September 2026, he notes that about 45 percent of migratory bird species are declining and one in nine is threatened with extinction, with birds of marine habitats, forests and coastal wetlands worst off.
In his view, the haors, beels, rivers, chars and coastal wetlands of climate-vulnerable Bangladesh are vital resting, feeding and sheltering places for visiting birds, and they are disappearing to land filling, unplanned urbanisation, industry, blocked rivers and canals and coastal change. Losing one stopover affects birds along the whole flyway, and pollution and heavy pesticide use cut the insects, small fish and snails many species feed on.
Birds that fly thousands of kilometres are not safe even when they reach Bangladesh's wetlands, he writes: they are trapped, netted and poisoned for meat, for sale or for sport. Bangladesh has a legal framework for wildlife protection, but it works only with enforcement and surveillance, and the attitude that bird hunting is a pastime or easy money must change.
He calls for regular bird counts at important wetlands, species databases, monitoring of habitat change, local people's participation in protected areas and the involvement of volunteers, students and birdwatchers in observation. Development plans should weigh the value of wetlands, forests, rivers and coasts, and individuals should not hunt, buy or sell wild birds or dump waste in wetlands.
Photo: Sujoncristi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Daily Bangladesh
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