There were once many trees, bushes and thickets, and all kinds of birds came and went. Morning and evening, the air was full of their calls. Now, as settlements grow, the thickets are steadily shrinking, and with them the birds.

Around Naogaon district town there are mango, jackfruit, guava and lemon trees, as well as large rain trees and many trees whose names people do not know. Countless birds come and go among them. Every afternoon, people of all ages gather at quiet spots a little way from town for some peace, passing the time watching different birds.

Away from the mechanical noise of the town, people feel very much at ease in this natural setting. One afternoon, a few friends and I were sitting chatting on the green grass on the bank of the Chhoto Jamuna river at Lakhaijani, two kilometres west of the town.

Suddenly a strange, beautiful bird flew from a koroi tree and perched on a branch of a guava tree. Its flight has a rhythm: a few flaps of the wings with a flapping sound, then gliding through the air with wings and tail spread, then flapping again, then gliding again.

In flight you can see that some of its wing feathers are whitish, and so are the middle tail feathers, as if framed in black on either side. The bird is the harichacha. Its English name is "tree pie" or "tree crow", and its scientific name is Dendrocitta vagabunda. In different parts of Bangladesh this cousin of the crow goes by several local names, such as kutum pakhi, lej jhola and dhenkileja.

The harichacha is a handsome bird. Males and females look alike. It is 16 to 18 inches long including the tail, and the tail alone is about 10 to 12 inches. It is one of Bangladesh's long-tailed birds, and its long tail catches the eye of bird lovers. Its body feathers are brownish rufous, and the head, throat and part of the breast are a pale black with a rufous tinge.

The tail has 12 feathers in all, with the two middle feathers very long. The small wing and tail feathers are greyish white and the rest black, and the tip of the tail is blackish. Like a crow, it has a strong, thick, sharp bill; the dark slate-grey bill is slightly compressed and curved. The legs are dark slate grey, the hind toe with its claw is a little larger, and the iris is reddish.

The harichacha is a familiar bird from town to village. Widely known for its colourful plumage and attractive long tail, it has found its way into Bengali literature, in rhymes, stories and poems. For generations, mothers putting their babies to sleep have recited: "Come, bird with the dangling tail / play with my little boy / eat and drink and chatter / and put my boy to sleep."

Kazi Najmul, president of the bird lovers' group Pran O Prakriti, said: "It earned this name, or bad name, because its call resembles the harsh sound made by rubbing a shard of a broken clay pot (hari) on a brick. They are seen more in our villages in summer, but that does not mean they are not seen in winter and the rainy season."

Photos: photographer Shaminur Rahman.

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