Ihtisham Kabir

At about 8pm on the night of 8th September this year, Hassan Al-Razi Chayan and Abdur Rahim, accompanied by Forest Guard Mozaffer, were walking on a trail of Adampur Forest in Moulvi Bazar. They were searching for nocturnal animals using several

Recently I wrote about the visionary and influential English conservationist Guy Mountfort's visit to Sundarban in 1967. Mountfort, the founder of World Wildlife Fund, wrote a book called The Vanishing Jungle about his expedition to wilderness areas of erstwhile Pakistan. At the time of writing that column, I worked off a photocopy of one chapter of the book, but recently I obtained the book itself, elegantly bound in cloth with a golden tiger on the cover.

The Harpy Eagle captures our imagination. One of the largest eagles in the world, its wingspan is more than six feet and it can weigh up to twenty pounds. Its talons are four inches long, as long as the grizzly bear's.

Although I spent almost three decades in the United States and spent many hours outdoors under the blue sky of that fair land, it was here in Bangladesh that I learned all about birds and birdwatching.

We have a little problem,” said Gabriel, my birding guide. This side-trip from my base in Manaus, Brazil was turning out more exciting than I had planned.

Amazonas is the largest of the twenty-six states of Brazil. The state contains most of the tropical rainforest of the Amazon basin, possibly the greatest concentration of biodiversity of our planet. Its capital Manaus is situated where the Negro river splits from the mighty Amazon.

Imagine a Haor bigger than Bangladesh. It fills with water during the rains and empties in dry season. This is the Pantanal, one of the world's great wilderness areas. It is a wetland in Brazil's Mato Grosso state that extends into Bolivia and Paraguay. Covering between 54,000 and 75,000 square miles, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its ecological diversity.

Eminent birder and conservationist Enam Ul Haque recently received the Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation. In a ceremony in Dhaka on 18th July, the honourable Prime Minister placed the Award's gold medal around his neck.

The Paraguay River turned out to be much wider than I had expected. Before our boat took off from the hotel's jetty at breakneck speed in the hot afternoon sun, I had asked Ben, our guide, the distance we expected to cover. “A lot – maybe fifteen to twenty kilometres,” he replied. So this Ferrari of boats did not let up. Soon Alessandro, our boatman, was talking over his radio. Another boat had spotted a jaguar and we sped to the spot before it disappeared.

Like a broken record, the same sequence of events has repeated several times this year. Before I leave the house for my morning run, I

At eight centimetres and much smaller than a sparrow it is the smallest bird seen in Bangladesh. Chances are, if you have a large tree

Guy Mountfort (1905-2003) was an influential English conservationist. He was a founder of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and co-wrote the best-selling A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe.

Some years ago, while reading the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harrari, I was struck by the author's thoughts about the effect of human beings on other species of our planet.

The year is 2013 and Bangladesh Bird Club is hosting a group of Bhutanese birders. I accompany them on their tour of bird-rich Tanguar Haor in Sunamganj. Afterwards, I ask them about the most interesting bird they saw here. “Purple swamphen”, they reply without hesitation. Our common kalem pakhi is exciting to Bhutanese eyes.

As dusk settles in I am out in the park for a walk. The exercise clears my head and recharges my soul and, of course, gives me an excuse to be outdoors.

Winter and spring comprise our best birding season. Shatchori National Park in Habiganj is no exception to this rule, yet I am here on a summer's morning. I do not expect the avian bounty of winter, but I still hope to see a few birds. And I want to see the forest in summertime.

The physical size of Bangladesh may be small compared to other countries, but what our land lacks in size it makes up in biodiversity.

I had just turned sixteen when I went to London to pursue my A levels. I spent two years there living away from home. This comprised my first taste of independent living.

The photography bug bit me when I was a third-year electrical engineering student in the United States. The museum at my

At one time or another, most of us take up a hobby. Hobbies can be anything under the sun, popular ones being collecting stamps