Our Egrets

Beauty does not have to be rare. Often, I get lucky and find that the common and bountiful is also beautiful. That is the case with the egret (bok), probably our most common waterbird. I have seen thousands upon thousands of them since childhood, yet my heart skips a beat at the sight of another one. I stop to admire its all-white plumage, slim profile and graceful neck. When it takes flight, its wing movements are languid and effortless, and, like all egrets and herons (and unlike storks which fly with a straight neck), its neck retracts like an S. It usually sits at the edge of a paddy field, standing perfectly still in the water, waiting for the unsuspecting quarry. Sitting, it is a picture of grace, but when it strikes, it does so swiftly and surely, slicing the water with its sharp beak to catch the hapless fish which might have strayed too close.

Of our four species of egrets, three can be found on or near water. These are the great egret (boro bok), intermediate egret (maijhla bok) and little egret (choto bok.) They look similar and from a distance it is hard to tell them apart. One way to identify the great egret is to look at its gape line: the line along which its beak opens and closes. This line extends behind its eye. The intermediate egret has a shorter gape line and black feet and legs. The little egret is identified by its yellow feet and legs and its black beak.

The joy of watching a lone egret is multiplied when I can find a flock of them. During winter I see them in our haors, for example, Hail Haor in Moulvibazar or Tanguar Haor in Sunamganj.  Sitting where the water ends and the greenery begins, they rest, take short flights, play, or quarrel with each other – all the while searching for fish. Last spring, just around breeding time, I found a flock in a drained fishery in Hair Haor. The birds had grown long and fluffy breeding plumage. Every few minutes, a couple engaged in an aerial dance by flying up together a short distance while facing each other.

Once, on my way to Sundarban by boat, I saw a flock of perhaps a hundred great egrets on the bank of a great river, spread like white flowers over the branches of several trees. As our boat drew near, they took off like little explosions of white from the trees.

Our fourth species of egret is the cattle egret (go-bok.) It has a friendly relationship with cattle, eating fleas and other bugs from the cattle's body. It also eats bugs stirred up by the hooves of the cattle.  Cattle egrets have adapted remarkably well to humans and thrive in many parts of the world. They are white all over except for a yellow beak and a distinctive orange-yellow patch atop their head.

www.facebook.com/tangents.ikabir