A Rare Duck
A "fogwich" was what I called that morning on the Padma river - a foggy mid-morning that was sandwiched by sunshine before and after. My friends and I had met our guide Nuru at the Bot-tola ghat on the river. Scrambling down the ghat's slope we had boarded his engine boat for our day-long cruise looking for birds.
Heading south on the river for an hour, the sunshine was replaced by fog rolling in from nowhere. After an hour it thinned and the sun eventually broke through. The dry season water was shallow and chars had emerged on all sides.
As we left the city behind us, birds began appearing. First, there were mundane ones: Black Kites and Cormorants. Then a Great Crested Grebe showed in the water, a white and brown creature with a long elegant neck topped by a puff of black feathers. Seeing us it decided to take flight. It took long running strides on the water for twenty feet, creating circular splashy waves with each step, flapping its wings mightily and eventually taking off.
Straight ahead, the river bifurcated around an elongated char, perhaps a mile across. From the distance, we could see a row of dots lining its edge. They were ducks. Binoculars revealed copper-coloured Ruddy Shelducks,
Then I saw two black-and-white dots in the middle of the row. They were facing away from us making identification difficult, but they looked different from other ducks here. Not only their colour, but also their large size, almost that of a goose, stood them apart.
Coming a little closer, we saw they were dark on top and white at bottom. When they turned their head we saw their most interesting feature: their white head and neck were speckled in a salt and pepper pattern. By then our boat's progress was impeded by shallow waters. The ducks were still far but we had seen enough.
They were African Comb Ducks, Sarkidionis melanotos. Also known as Knob-billed Ducks, they are found in Africa, Madagascar and some parts of Asia including the subcontinent. In Bangladesh they are very rare winter visitors. Some of the largest duck species in the world, they weigh up to three kilograms and possess a five-foot wingspan. Male ducks have a knob on their bill. But knob or not, they are unmistakable due to their spotted neck.
Late that afternoon, on our way back from other chars, we again encountered one of them on a sandbar, standing at water's edge. It tipped one foot into the water and pulled back into the
sand, repeating with its other foot, like an unsure dancer. Then it floated into the water. Finally it flew. Its takeoff was abrupt like other ducks, but unlike smaller ducks, its flight was slow.
All this while, I had thought our Comb Duck was unattractive. But when it opened its wings in flight, an unexpected beauty emerged. Within the black of its feathers were shimmering islands of orange, blue and green. As always, nature revealed her secrets slowly.
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