Birds in Sundarban's Mangrove Forest

The birds of Sundarbans National Park deserve their own post. Here in the world's most extensive mangrove forest, kingfishers, waders and storks forage at low tide on the abundant invertebrates.

Among the kingfishers, the rare Brown-winged Kingfisher specializes in mangrove and tidal river habitats along the northern and eastern coasts of the Bay of Bengal.

A rare prize––the Brown-winged Kingfisher

(All photos by Narca)

The Collared Kingfisher is also a species of coastal wetlands, mainly mangroves.

A Collared Kingfisher with its favorite prey, a small crab

 Common Redshanks and Eurasian Curlews are among the shorebirds that overwinter in the region.

Common Redshank in winter plumage

Eurasian Curlew

Spectacular Hoopoes have both resident and wintering populations on the Indian subcontinent. Who wouldn't love a bird named Upupa epops, even if it weren't for that wild plumage? Upupa is the Latin rendition of its call, and epops, the Greek version. Like the Bar-headed Geese, Hoopoes will migrate at high elevations over the Himalaya. Most of the time, they forage on open ground by probing with their long bills, but when insects like locusts swarm, they maneuver easily to feast on airborne prey. Nesting females and young have an unusual defense: they secrete a foul-smelling liquid, which they rub into their feathers to make any would-be predator gag at the thought. This eau de rotten meat may also deter parasites. After the nesting phase, they no longer produce the gook.

Eurasian Hoopoe

 Lesser Adjutant storks stalk about the mudflats, joined by Striated Herons.

Lesser Adjutant

Striated Heron

 Little Cormorants and Ospreys perch conspicuously along the waterways.

Little Cormorant, drying its wings

Ospreys live on all continents except Antarctica! Only five other species of landbirds share such a cosmopolitan distribution, and of those, only the Peregrine Falcon occurs across a vaster range. (The others are the Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, and Barn Owl.)

The familiar, cosmopolitan Osprey

Back in the tangle of the mangrove forest, Oriental Magpie-Robins sing, and Purple Sunbirds skritch.

Oriental Magpie-Robin, an Old World Flycatcher 

and the national bird of Bangladesh

Purple Sunbirds can hover hummingbird-style to feed on nectar, although they usually perch by the flower. Like hummingbirds, they are VIPs––Very Important Pollinators––although they will also rob the nectar on occasion, slitting the flower to feed without pollinating it.

A male Purple Sunbird

Also in the shrubs you'll find Jungle Babblers, doing what they do best––you guessed it––babbling!

Jungle Babbler exploring a dwelling in Sundarbans