Nature Quest: The blue-eared kingfisher
I do not feel surprised to see a bird because born and brought up in Barisal, I am used to bird-watching every day. Since my childhood, I'm used to watching what birds do, what they eat, where they make nests, how they sleep, why they feel panic seeing humans and so on. However, those thoughts have not stopped yet.
My village in the Southern part of Bangladesh made me familiar with many fresh water wetlands, plenty of fresh water fish and many bird species. Among the birds, the species with bluish feather specially attracted me. They are commonly known as mauccha-ranga pokkhi in the dialect of greater Barisal region, but in modern Bangla, we call them machhranga, which in English is called kingfisher.
I have always found kingfishers where small fish species like puti, chela, bokthurina, kholsha etc are available. I have been very familiar with two subspecies of kingfisher, which are called common kingfisher (pati machranga) and white-throated kingfisher (dhola-gola machranga). Their amazing poise before catching a fish, diving underwater, always made me more inquisitive about them. But I don't know why I missed another small but pretty subspecies known as nilkan machranga in Bangla and blue-eared kingfisher in English.
Bird researcher Sayam U Chowdhury told me once that the bird was frequently seen in Kashipur area of Barisal. I visited the area but could not locate the tiny kingfisher. But the dream came true in 2014 when another local birdwatcher Abdul Mazid Shah Shakil found a pair of blue-eared kingfisher in Ruya of Barisal city. He invited me to visit the area.
Ruya is an area with dense foliage and some canals, marshes and ponds. We first found the male bird early in the morning and the female some time later. Perching on tree branches near a canal, they both waited for diving into the water. Its usual chirp is a repetitive shrill note: cheek … chichi ... chee ... chit ... before flying off and settling on another tree branch.
It is distinguished from the common kingfisher by darker cobalt-blue upperparts. The average length of this kingfisher is 16 cm. It inhabits hill streams, pools and ponds in dense vegetation area, tidal creeks and mangrove areas. It is a solitary bird and usually seen alone or in pairs. It is usually seen perching motionlessly on a low branch overhanging from a big tree, regularly bobbing its head up and down, occasionally flicking its tail up and down. It usually breeds in March-June. It feeds on fish and aquatic insects.
It is a rare resident bird of Bangladesh. It is found in the Sundarbans and the evergreen forests of Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna Divisions. Deforestation in southern Bangladesh has reduced its population.
The writer is a biologist.