Green-backed Heron: Nothing but a prayer to catch a fish   | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
May 29, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2025
Green-backed Heron: Nothing but a prayer to catch a fish  

Panorama

Enam Ul Haque
21 May, 2022, 12:05 pm
Last modified: 21 May, 2022, 01:05 pm

Related News

  • 73 endangered turtles rescued in Noakhali; 1 detained
  • Are Ghoria, Chandrabati rivers in Bogura really 'missing'?
  • Elephant found buried after being killed by electrocution in Chattogram’s Banshkhali
  • A dash of nature, ingenuity and community: The story behind Noakhali’s ‘Food Forest’
  • Over 3,000 trees felled, yet Biyanibazar's Tk40 billion highway project faces uncertainty

Green-backed Heron: Nothing but a prayer to catch a fish  

Though not a rare bird, one has to be quite lucky to spot a Green-backed Heron anywhere on earth. It is too stealthy and too well camouflaged a bird to be seen easily

Enam Ul Haque
21 May, 2022, 12:05 pm
Last modified: 21 May, 2022, 01:05 pm
Green-backed Heron on a tilting stalk. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Green-backed Heron on a tilting stalk. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

At the end of our daylong hike, we were delighted to see a bluish-green shape on the monotonous grey mud-bank of a derelict canal in Bhangura town. A dark and squat bird was hiding in plain sight! We guessed it could be a Green-backed Heron standing still to stay unnoticed.   

The old tributaries of Baral River were cut into pieces by road, rail and bazaar, and apparently, the stealthy Green-backed Heron was still able to make a living there. We stood still to steal a look at the stealthy bird and give a respite to our tired legs. 

Thankfully, the stocky Green-backed Heron completely ignored our presence on the bank and stayed doggedly stuck to its ground at the edge of the water. On that searing evening hour, we were the only people on the road, and the good bird did not seem to consider us a big threat. 

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Although it is not really a rare bird, one has to be quite lucky to spot a Green-backed Heron anywhere on earth. It is as widespread as the Pond Heron in Bangladesh, though not as numerous. Moreover, it is too stealthy and too well camouflaged a bird to be seen easily.  

Poised Green-backed Heron. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Poised Green-backed Heron. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

The Green-backed Heron has covered much of the globe the way few species of birds could. It lives in every continent of the world except Antarctica and many islands south of the Tropic of Cancer. It also lives in some northern islands, such as Japan, where it is known as 'Sasagoi'.  

Green-backed Heron is known to the world as an ingenious tool-user. It is known to drop small leaves, feathers or scraps of food on the surface of the water to attract fish. Such curious use of baits by the Heron to lure the fish has been recorded in many places in America, but we are yet to see the Herons do that in Bangladesh. 

The use of the tool may well be unknown to the Green-backed Herons that live in our parts of the world. By living isolated on distant continents and far-flung islands, the Herons have developed many diverse traits. Worldwide they are not really the true copies of one another anymore.  

Scientists have already split the Green-backed Heron into three separate species. The Heron of the isolated Galapagos Islands has been renamed Lava Heron and is considered one of the islands' endemic birds. The Heron living in the Americas has been named Striated Heron now. The one living across the other four continents of the world, the one we have, is renamed Green Heron, which is yet to enter our bird-books.    

The blue-green feathers of the Green-backed Heron became less distinctive in the mud-bank as the sun sank behind the tree line. The gritty Heron stressed its neck to bring its dagger-like bill to the water's edge, perhaps, wanting to stab a fish. Through the tender shoots of water-weeds, we could see its eyes glowing in anticipation.

The Heron stayed in that awkward position for quite a while as we held our breath and prayed for its success. The great nature-poet Ted Hughes had surely seen a heron poised to harpoon an unfortunate fish in England many times in the past century. In a poem titled 'The Heron' he wrote on behalf of the Heron:

I am nothing

But a prayer

To catch a fish

A hush of air

A bloom of cloud

On a tilting stalk  

The prayer of the Heron at the Bhangura wetland was heard. With a single stab, the Heron picked up a flailing fish and held it up in the air, maybe, for us to see and photograph. The fish struggled and gasped for some time at the beak of the persevering Heron. Then the Heron, without much ado, swallowed the dying fish head first. 

Green-backed Heron about to stab. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Green-backed Heron about to stab. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

The gratified Heron continued to stand poised at the edge of the water after devouring the fish. Possibly he was not willing to consider that little fish his last meal of the day. The sun had set, and the mud-bank turned too dark for us to see the Heron's next hunt. We had to move on.

Green-backed Herons are better at hunting at twilight hours when they can clearly see the silver-scaled fish swimming in the inky water, but the fish can see nothing of the dark heron. We have seen the Green-backed Herons fishing on moonlit nights in the Sundarban. With the incoming tide there, the hungry fish wiggles in at midnight only to be greeted by the hungry Herons.    

A good population of Green-backed Heron of Bangladesh lives in the Sundarban and the other coastal areas with mangroves. These sneaky Herons live in every other type of wetlands, including the expansive haor basin, but not in big numbers. It was good to see that the bird was doing fine in the fragmented wetlands of Bhangura.

Green-backed Heron with a fish. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Green-backed Heron with a fish. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

After a few months, the Heron could conceivably breed in the homestead gardens or bamboo groves around those wetlands. These shy birds do not usually join the noisy breeding colonies of other herons and egrets. They live solitary lives and nest quietly in the groves. 

While trooping away from the wetland, we wished the gritty Heron a very successful fishing and robust life. We surely would like to see him there when we visit the Bhangura town again.  

Features / Top News

Wildlife / Nature / Birds / wildlife photography

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia virtually addressing an event on 29 May 2025, marking the death anniversary of BNP founder and former president Ziaur Rahman. Photo: Screengrab from BNP Media Cell video.
    Democracy still being obstructed at every step: Khaleda Zia
  • Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners’ Association President Md Abdur Razzaque speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Bangladesh Light Engineering Expo 2025 in Dhaka on 29 May 2025. Photo: TBS
    Like leather, light engineering sector also needs industrial park: Industry leaders
  • Representational Photo: TBS
    Deep depression halts cargo unloading at Chattogram Port's outer anchorage

MOST VIEWED

  • Dhaka areas at a gridlock on Wednesday, 28 May 2025. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    BNP, Jamaat rallies: Traffic clogs Dhaka roads, including Motijheel, Paltan, Dainik Bangla intersection
  • IFIC Bank receives Tk6,000 cr in new deposits in six months
    IFIC Bank receives Tk6,000 cr in new deposits in six months
  • Mohammad Abdul Mannan, chairman FSIB Ltd. Sketch: TBS
    FSIB to bounce back soon
  • Abdul Awal Mintoo, chairman of National Bank Limited. Sketch: TBS
    'Regulatory support must for National Bank to restore depositors' confidence'
  • Md Nazrul Islam Swapan, chairman of EXIM Bank. Sketch: TBS
    Exim Bank restored depositors’ confidence, overcoming challenges
  • Mohammad Mamdudur Rashid, managing director and CEO, UCB. Sketch: TBS
    Customers’ trust and confidence fueling deposit growth at UCB

Related News

  • 73 endangered turtles rescued in Noakhali; 1 detained
  • Are Ghoria, Chandrabati rivers in Bogura really 'missing'?
  • Elephant found buried after being killed by electrocution in Chattogram’s Banshkhali
  • A dash of nature, ingenuity and community: The story behind Noakhali’s ‘Food Forest’
  • Over 3,000 trees felled, yet Biyanibazar's Tk40 billion highway project faces uncertainty

Features

For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

2h | The Big Picture
The university will be OK. But will the US? Photo: Bloomberg

A weaker Harvard is a weaker America

2h | Panorama
The Botanical Garden is a refuge for plant species, both native and exotic. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS

The hidden cost of 'development' in the Botanical Garden

2h | Panorama
Stillbirths in Bangladesh: A preventable public health emergency

Stillbirths in Bangladesh: A preventable public health emergency

2h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

News of The Day, 29 MAY 2025

News of The Day, 29 MAY 2025

1h | TBS News of the day
Businesses set for relief as interim govt eyes major tax & fine cuts

Businesses set for relief as interim govt eyes major tax & fine cuts

4h | TBS Insight
Love is essential for human life

Love is essential for human life

3h | TBS Programs
What Should Be the Interim Government’s Budget Priority?

What Should Be the Interim Government’s Budget Priority?

2h | TBS Economy
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net