Recently my most of the tours were having a mandatory birdwatching portion (short & quick) along with visiting the places. But this time I have arranged a tour that would focus on birding in a great deal along with the exploring. Our main objective for this trip was to reach at the Atkandi Mosque by walking so that we could observe the birds from the way.
At the morning 9:00am we have started for the Narsingdi (নরসিংদী) town using a bus named Meghalaya (মেঘালয়) from Gulistan (গুলিস্তান). After 2.5 hours we have reached at the Narshingdi (নরসিংদী) town. We have had our brunch from a nearby restaurant, and it was a traditional Lonely Traveler breakfast. After that we have started our walking and it was 12:00pm of the day.
There is a river named Hari Dhoa (হাড়ি ধোয়া) at the corner of the main town. The water of the river was too much black and was smelling pungently. We have crossed the river using 5 Taka per person through a boat service. It was rudely expensive. Usually we use to pay 2 Taka for such services (keep reading, you’ll find why i said this expensive). The water was black there mainly for the pollution that is done by the industries nearby. And like always our government is phlegmatic regarding this matter as always. GPS coordinate of the ghat is (23°55’13.55″N, 90°43’41.06″E).
After crossing the river we have walked through the village road until we reached at the railway line. On our way we have seen several common birds including the White throated kingfisher bird. We have found several Common Iora birds (ফটিকজল পাখি) near the railway line, but couldn’t catch them on the frame as they were too much restless.
There were a flock of Green bee eater bird showing their display and skill of preying on the Flies around. I have taken several shots of the birds from there. And it was the first time I was taking snaps of that bird. It was a dusty path beside the train line. Having several ponds around (farm of fish). We have taken photo of Lizard (তক্ষক), Indian catmint flower (গোপালী ফুল), and several butterflies. Also we have seen a large Brahmini Kite (শঙ্খ চিল) just caught a fish from the pond and took away.
It was a hot day and we were at the middle of the day. We were having a seat on the roadside and found a pair of White Browed Wagtail (ধলা ভ্রু খঞ্জন) were foraging around. But from the far I thought they were a regular wagtail bird and didn’t bother about them. But after scrutinizing the photos at home, I found those were a different species of wagtail. What a pity!
The best time for the birdwatching is at the early morning. But we started at the midday, so didn’t find that much birds during our walking. Most of the birds were common birds. Also, the scenic beauty around us were too much rough as the fields were empty (harvesting was done already). Everything were pale and grey around us.
So, after a birdless one hour we have found a flock of Scaly Breasted Munia (তিলা মুনিয়া) which were foraging on the bushy grasses from the field beside us. There was a small Brown shrike bird that was looking for a prey from the perch. A large sized Indian Pond Heron was standing alone at the other corner. And like always few ‘Red Vented Bulbul’ were picking fruit seeds from a tree.
After few minutes of walking, we have found vehicles were running on the road again. We have followed that road to go to Atkandi (আটকান্দি) village. On that road we have found several birds those were Rufous Treepie, Fulvous Breasted Woodpecker, Small Minivet (ছোট সহেলী), etc. It was a pair of Rufous treepie (হাড়িচাঁচা) on our way and they were fighting with each other. Or may be it was the foreplay of matting?
The duration of the day is too small during this season. So it started to become darker slowly and once again we were walking through a typical village path which was covered with trees from the both side. That actually made the path much darker than actual. On that darkness we have seen a Orange Headed Thrush (কমলা ফুলি) that was hiding inside the shrubby bush. It was already darker there, and that was inside the bush. Very poor lighting, and couldn’t take any better picture of the bird from there.
It was probably at 5:00pm of the day when we have reached at our primary objective, the Atkandi Nilkuthi Mosque. I have spent few minutes to explore the mosque. It was beside a river which is actually a branch of river Meghna (মেঘনা নদী) and locally known as Chhoto Meghna Nodi (ছোট মেঘনা নদী). We were waiting there for the public boat that would go for the Norshingdi (নরসিংদী) town. We didn’t know about that boat before. So we had a bonus boat riding from there for 45 minutes. And it was only 10 Taka per person.
How to Go:
There may have several ways to go to Narsingdi (নরসিংদী) town. But we have used the bus Meghalaya (মেঘালয়) near from the Police Box of Gulistan (গুলিস্তান). It was probably 80 Taka per person. It required around 2-3 hours to reach at Narsingdi (নরসিংদী).
GPS coordinate of the Police box of Gulistan (গুলিস্তান) is (23°43’22.82″N, 90°24’42.82″E). And the GPS of the Atkandi mosque (আটকান্দি মসজিদ) is (23°55’7.32″N, 90°46’55.21″E).
Birdwatching and Exploring Narsingdi (নরসিংদীতে পাখি দেখা ও ঘুরে বেড়ানো),
Village: Atkandi (আটকান্দি),
District: Narsingdi (নরসিংদী),
Country: Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ)
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://alonelytraveler.com/
