Seagulls are common in the Naf river and on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is not seen too much in other portions of Bangladesh these days (except few rivers). It hasn’t been many years when Seagulls were widely available on our rivers. Like other rare birds of Bangladesh it is about to vanish from our country. Local name of this bird is Gangchil (means the kite of the river).
Though the bird looks white, it has a combination of ash and black at the wings. This bird lives preying on the fishes along with various kinds of foods including plants, fruits, seeds, dead or alive beings, etc. In fact this bird is omnivorous similar to the crow. And also they do not fear to reach near the human for their food as well.
During our ferry ride from Saint Martin’s island to Teknaf, these seagulls were ganging behind the ferry. They were watching for the fish which goes near to the surface of the water due to the turbulence from the ship. People were throwing biscuits and crisps to the birds as well. Seagulls have very good control in the air. We were tossing the crisps in the air, and the birds were catching those crisps in the air despite the heavy winds. Our last one hour of ferry gone by watching the plays of these opportunistic seagulls.
Written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog alonelytraveler.com
Friday, 20 January 2012
