The lakes on the Jahangirnagar University campus are now very much animated with the presence of numerous migratory birds. The photo was taken on Friday. — FE Photo The ever-green Jahangirnagar University (JU) now resounds with sweet twittering of thousands of migratory birds, since they started landing on the campus lakes.
Colourful water lilies, especially red-coloured ones, that began blossoming on the lakes of the JU with the very beginning of winter this year, also add grandeur to the environ.
Every day, people of the Dhaka city get up from sleep hearing the loud horns of cars, buses, and many other vehicles.
But JU students, teachers and people living around the campus are different. They wake up from bed
amid twittering of the migratory birds, which fly above the JU sky and then come down to the lakes.
With the advent of winter, an estimated ten thousand migratory birds have already taken shelter in the two JU lakes, also known as the heaven for the migratory birds.
Their number this year is comparatively high than the previous years, Prof. Mostafa Feroz, a prominent bird researcher of the country and also a teacher of the JU Zoology department, told the FE.
About 20 species of migratory birds have already settled at the lakes, he said.
These birds usually come in winter for protection against severe cold and dense fog, he added.
Among the species, Desi Khanjana, Pintail, Lanja Duck, Tufted Duck, Spoonbill, Moorhen Sharali, Pochard, Fly fetcher, Heron and Comb duck are prominent.
The two lakes in front of the JU administrative building and beside the Jahanara Imam Hall are the main places for the congregation of the migratory birds. The birds live on small fishes, insects, small snails and aquatic plants.
The migratory birds come here from remote icy lands like Siberia, Mongolia, Nepal, Xinxian and the Himalayan region from early November to late December and stay until April.
Around nine to ten per cent of the migratory birds, coming to Bangladesh in winter season, land in the JU lakes.
Amid the presence of guest birds, the campus has turned into a tiny tourist spot. It always attracts a large number of visitors and bird lovers from the capital city as well as other parts of the country to enjoy the sweet chirping of the migratory birds.
The university authorities also have set up fences of iron chains around the lakes and hanged billboards to urge the people to maintain a congenial environment around the water bodies in order to give shelter to the migratory birds.
The authorities have also imposed restrictions on hunting of and misbehaving with the birds along with other animals living on the campus.
US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan W Mozena didn't miss the migratory birds in the idyllic place.
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