Braving heavy rain and bitter cold and scouring village woods, Abul Hasnat Md Nazmul Kamal Roni found birds that won him "Big Birder of the Year", while Rashedul Kabir and Muhammad Tarik Hasan came second and third to win the "Big Bird Award". Between them the three found six birds. The Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University honoured them at its Pakhimela (bird fair). Adib Mumin Arif recorded Roni's account of his birdwatching.

Roni said: I work as a senior principal officer at Krishi Bank. I toil all week, so Friday morning is my only chance to get out. Yet on that very morning the sky was covered in cloud. Still, driven by my passion for birds, I set out on my motorbike from my home in Rajshahi city. This was on 5 May last year. When I reached the Naodapara area the light was growing, and so were my hopes. But I saw no birds, only now and then the call of the shah bulbuli.

The birds vanished after a single glimpse. Two or three tits were busy looking for insects in the bark of a koroi tree, a cuckoo chick that had not learned to fly was hopping from branch to branch, and a family of small owls was watching me like wise men. A little further off a kalapakh kabasi was calling. The sky grew darker. Suddenly, as a squirrel landed on a large koroi tree, something flew off. Following it very slowly, I found a tiny bird behind the green leaves, pecking at insects incredibly fast and hopping between branches. Its colouring was such that once it hid I could not see it again. I had never seen a picture of this bird; perhaps it was new. It was 9am, and the sky was so dark it seemed evening had fallen. I took a few shots and was forced to head home.

After lunch I posted the photo on the "Birds Bangladesh" and "Ask IDs of Indian Birds" Facebook groups. Within a short time several well-known ornithologists said it was most likely a "brown-capped pygmy woodpecker" or "Indian woodpecker". Dr Monirul H Khan and Sayam U Chowdhury then confirmed it, and later Inam Al Haque did too. Though it is seen in parts of Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, no one had seen it in this country before, so it had no Bengali name. The Bangladesh Bird Club then proposed "khoyra tupi batkurali". In English it is called the brown-capped woodpecker. This 14cm woodpecker has brown on top of its head and behind both eyes.

It was not only the khoyra tupi batkurali that won me Big Birder of the Year this time, but also the "chitthuti gaganber", which I was also the first to record in this country. That story is wonderful too. It had rained heavily from the night before and was still raining on and off in the morning. People of our village, Harina in Bagha upazila of Rajshahi, call this monsoon downpour "ashwini gein" (the Ashwin rains). I heard from my mother that it means Ashwin is leaving and Rajshahi's famous biting cold is on its way. Still, with rain on my head and driven by my passion, I set out on 10 October 2017.

At 5pm I reached the bank of the Padma and found no sign of Anik, my constant birdwatching companion, or his boat. I phoned him; he said he was out on the river and would be at Hasnater Char. So with an unknown boatman I had to set off, ignoring the big waves and the thick black clouds in the eastern sky. The raindrops grew bigger and I felt cold even in a raincoat. My camera was wrapped in plastic and a gamchha; it could not get wet, for if it were ruined, where would I find the money for a new lens and camera? I sat huddled. The engine boat soon reached Hasnater Char.

The char is under water in most monsoons and rises in the dry season. When the boat landed, a large flock of "ranga manikjor" (painted storks) was walking about. So they would not fly off on seeing me, I had to crawl forward on my chest. My elbows and knees burned and I ran out of breath. I rested a little and moved on, taking photos in between. In this way I advanced 500 yards; any further and they would take fright. My stented heart began to pound. Oh Allah, in the half-dark of evening, among some fifty painted storks, a chitithuti gaganber! And on an unknown char in Rajshahi! I could not tell whether my whole body was shaking from cold or excitement. A few tears mixed with the rain.

The bird's English name is spot-billed pelican or grey pelican. In Bengali it is called "gaganber" because in flight its huge wings seem to encircle or cover the whole sky (gagan). The bird, 50 to 60 inches long and weighing four to six kilograms, breeds in parts of India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. It nests together with painted storks and feeds on small fish, moving about in shallow, clear water. It had never been seen in our country before; my photos and description are its first record. So, ignoring the rain, mud and sand, I took the pictures. The spot-billed pelican is "near threatened" worldwide. For photographing birds and raising public awareness through exhibitions, the Ministry of Environment and Forests gave me the "Bird Conservation Award 2016".

The 14-member team was then in the Bay of Bengal. Among them was Rashedul Kabir, a researcher with the Isabela Foundation, a non-governmental organisation working on nature and wildlife conservation, and the Forest Department, and a student in the Department of Zoology at Chittagong University, doing an MPhil on bird habitat, breeding and diversity. Having reached the Swatch of No Ground aboard the ship Karatoya, each was photographing seabirds. One bird looked new, so he quickly took its picture, and later learned that this seabird, the masked booby, had never been seen in Bangladesh before. The next day, at the same place, he photographed a red-billed tropicbird, recorded only once before in the country. He won second prize.

Third-prize winner Muhammad Tarik Hasan found two rare birds, the savanna nightjar and the Indian nightjar, in Chapainawabganj. He began photographing birds in 2013 and started working with birds in 2015. As a child he played with clay birds bought at fairs, and from then on grew a special love for birds. Beside his home lies government khas land with some bushes, arjun trees and grassland, where flocks of many kinds of birds and packs of jackals live, so whenever he goes home he pays it a visit.

One day he went there to photograph birds and saw something sitting on a distant branch. He took some pictures and saw that the bird was asleep. It was the deshi ratchora (Indian nightjar), a bird that sleeps by day and is busy at night. Its colour matches the branch, so it is almost impossible to see without looking very carefully. Talking with bird lovers at home, he learned it is very rare in Bangladesh and seeing one is a stroke of luck. The next day he went back but could not find it. After searching all day, he set off home tired at dusk. With the sun down the nightjars came out, and at once he photographed another bird, the metho-ratchora (savanna nightjar). With photos of two rare birds in two days, he won third prize in the Big Bird Award. Tarik Hasan now works as chief operating officer of Ohonish Film.

"The event began in 2001, and Pakhimela has been held at this university for the past 17 years. It is organised by the Department of Zoology with support from the Bangladesh Bird Club. So far 690 species of birds have been found in Bangladesh. The award was introduced in 2014 to encourage birdwatching and confirm new bird species in Bangladesh. In the past five years a total of fifteen young birders have received the Big Bird Award from the zoology department for finding rare and new birds. They receive a crest and an honour, and the best birder is given the title 'Big Birder of the Year' for one year." So said the award's coordinator, Dr Monirul H Khan, professor in the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University and a renowned wildlife biologist.

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