Ihtisham Kabir

It all started when I overheard my friend Niaz speaking with Shafiq at the Bird Club.

Cranes are special birds, sometimes called “the birds of heaven.” Because of their large size, grace and beauty, cranes are well-loved. Many cultures hold them in high esteem.

It was Meryl Streep that made the Dingo famous.

Arriving at the Haor just before sunset, I realize, once again, the magic of Golden Hour. I am standing on a strip of land bisecting a fishpond and surrounded by water. Stillness has descended on the water, the muddy land and the trees, but I still feel a fine breeze on my skin. The autumn sun has decided it is done for the day and is rapidly retreating. A thin layer of mist settles over a patch of reeds growing in the pond. With hardly a bird or animal in sight, my photographic goals are foiled; nonetheless I am glad to be here.

I had taken just a few steps into a large, soggy field in the Haor when from the corner of my eye I saw two doglike animals, thirty feet to my left, sprinting in the same direction as I was headed.

In 2013, when I had just started paying attention to birds, I photographed a large bird perched atop a leafless tree in Baikka Beel, Moulvi Bazar. Sitting still, it only moved its head as it scanned for fish in the adjacent beel. When I showed my photograph later to other birders, they identified it as a Grey-headed Fish Eagle.

Instagram was launched in 2010 as a mobile phone app enabling users to easily share photographs and videos.

Her variety of wildlife has drawn me to Australia twice in the past year. Along with impressive birds and animals, I experienced several surprises Down Under.

Imagine a crocodile in a river that spots a dead buffalo floating on the water. Seeing a free meal it swims closer. The buffalo is a big animal, however, so where to start? The crocodile decides to eat the leg first.

Up before dawn, I take a quick cold shower to rouse me for a full day of bird photography and gather my binoculars, hat, boots and camera. Leaving the hotel my Australian birder friends and I drive north , leaving behind Katherine, a small town in the Northern Territories of Australia. After about fifteen minutes we stop and walk down a dirt road to a stream called Edith Creek.

When birding in a new country, what is banal to locals there can be thrilling to the visitor. In Bangladesh I have seen visitors marvel at our Purple Swamphens and Common Kingfishers. And so when I visited Kenya, the Superb Starling, which is very common there, delighted me. Its iridescent blue back, orange breast and white eyes that stared from its black head kept me spellbound.

We would have missed it but for the vultures. A large flock of them stood around at the far edge of the giant field that stretched to our right, catching our attention. The ground beyond the field was raised and covered with trees. Periodically a vulture flew over to the shade of the trees and lazily flapped its way back to the flock after a few seconds.

Masai Mara National Reserve of Kenya is one of the few places in the world where one can see a large variety of mammals – including Lions, Cheetahs, Elephants, Zebras and Giraffes - in their natural habitat. For anyone who loves nature and wildlife, it is a compelling attraction.

I first met her on Christmas Day a few years ago. In the late winter afternoon I was looking for birds in a large field in Purbachol. I found her perched on the very top of an Akond shrub. I couldn’t recognize her from a distance and, intrigued, came closer. Her underpart was cream coloured and she was brown on the top. Her wings had brown stripes and three dots near each shoulder. She was hardly larger than a sparrow. I photographed her, came closer and photographed her again.

My thoughts about good writing spring from writing non-fiction, where my goal is to communicate, inform, and perhaps persuade the reader. Writing is a craft. Like all crafts, you can improve your writing with practice. I hope the following words help you write better.

I saw it one winter morning when I was on my way to Kalenga forest. Resting on a slim bamboo that floated on a small pond of murky yellow water was a snake. It was soaking in the soft, warm winter sunshine and its bright yellow skin, offset by a black pattern, glistened like gold in the morning light.

Dubrovnik is a port in south-western Croatia, across the Adriatic Sea from Italy’s eastern coast. Endowed with a spectacular setting, it has become a magnet for tourists who come here to enjoy sailing and water sports in the deep blue Adriatic Sea, hiking in the spectacular mountains, and exploring the remarkable old town - still surrounded by a wall - which dates back to the 10th century.

In last week’s column, I mentioned The Decisive Moment, a photographic term for the moment when the subjects of a photograph in motion come together perfectly. The term is applied primarily to a street photograph, where such a moment is snatched from ongoing human activity. The subject(s) of the photograph are in motion, and in one particular instant, the photograph as framed by the viewfinder comes together in perfect geometry, preferably without the knowledge of the subjects. The photographer must click the shutter at this moment.

I was fortunate to have discovered the photographs of Kertesz early in my photographic life. They have inspired and nourished me for decades.

Majeda Haq, a star of Bangladesh birding and a development professional, left us on 6 June, 2019. Her untimely departure - in addition to the death of wildlife researcher Tania Khan in March - made 2019 a painful year for conservationists of our land.