A charming bird of Champakdi and a sad saga of shrinking biodiversity | 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

Sunday
May 25, 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
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2025
A charming bird of Champakdi and a sad saga of shrinking biodiversity

Panorama

Enam Ul Haque
16 October, 2021, 02:30 pm
Last modified: 16 October, 2021, 05:00 pm

Related News

  • From storm to sunshine: Puffin-watching on the Isle of May
  • A rocky ride to Bass Rock’s gannet kingdom
  • Do not be surprised to spot migratory birds in summer
  • Man rescues Babui chicks left homeless after sudden Sreemangal rain
  • 2 smugglers with rare birds arrested in Ctg

A charming bird of Champakdi and a sad saga of shrinking biodiversity

The Black-hooded Oriole, commonly found in our villages and featured in the book "100 Birds to See Before You Die," is a striking sight to behold especially in our diminishing natural habitats

Enam Ul Haque
16 October, 2021, 02:30 pm
Last modified: 16 October, 2021, 05:00 pm
Oriole in a eucalyptus tree. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Oriole in a eucalyptus tree. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

We heard a short, fluty bird-song "pupilio pupilio" as we entered Champakdi, a quiet village of Munshiganj. We knew that the song was of a Black-hooded Oriole, one of the most beautiful birds of the world, even if fairly common in the villages of Bangladesh.   

Two authors, David Chandler and Dominic Cousens, recently raised our Black-hooded Oriole to a luminary status by featuring it in their book titled "100 Birds to See Before You Die." They chose only a hundred out of the 11,000 species of birds of the world, and one of our birds made that elite list!

The Black-hooded Oriole, however, is no elite in Bangladesh for its being so commonplace. But every time it crosses our path, we cannot help looking at it spellbound. Its black head and wings put such an accent on its golden body! And its indescribable reddish bill is so out of the world!  

Golden yellow, certainly, is the overriding colour of the Oriole. The very name 'oriole' has come from the Latin 'aureolus', which means 'golden.' Its popular Bangla name 'Holdey Pakhi' simply means yellow bird. But the yellow bird would not be so striking, were it all-yellow and had no black feathers.              

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

In his youth, the bird besotted poet Ted Hughes had seen the all-yellow Eurasian Golden Orioles migrating to the English countryside every summer. In a poem, he likened the migrant Oriole with his passing moments of happiness:

Playful Oriole on top of a tree. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Playful Oriole on top of a tree. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Happiness

Appeared—momentary,

Peered in at your window

Like a wild migrant, an oriole...

To the poet, the fleeting moments of happiness were like the Oriole or some other birds at the window that was, as he wrote: "gone before we could identify it." But, thankfully, the singing orioles of Champakdi village stayed long and were not gone before we had seen, identified and photographed all.

The Black-hooded Oriole is probably most abundant in Bangladesh, although it is found in a dozen countries of the Orient. Carl Linnaeus, the legendary creator of scientific nomenclature of living organisms, formally described it in 1758 with an illustration of the bird by George Edwards from Bengal.  

An oriole sings from a thicket. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
An oriole sings from a thicket. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Interestingly, the great Linnaeus labelled that bird of Bengal an 'American bird'. He was confused by the illustrations of a similar-looking bird done in Jamaica. Quite a few birds of the American Blackbird family looked superficially like our Oriole and were named 'Oriole' by the English settlers centuries ago.

The error of Linnaeus was corrected later, and Bengal was recognised as the 'place' from where Black-hooded Oriole was first collected. In scientific jargon, such a 'place' is called the 'type location.' With several beautiful Orioles around us at Champakdi, we felt that we were indeed in the correct location.

To be fair to Linnaeus, we must note that 31 species of the American Blackbird family bearing the vernacular name 'Oriole' look quite a bit like many of the 31 species of birds of our Oriole family carrying the same vernacular name 'Oriole.'

Of the American Blackbirds, the most interesting is the bird that lives in Texas and Mexico and is named Audubon's Oriole. With a black hood and yellow body, it looks uncannily like our Black-hooded Oriole, although they belong to very different families and live on two opposite sides of the world.

We have to admit that the Americans are captivated by their Orioles much more than ours. Five cities in the five states of the US are named Orioles, and a major league baseball team is named Baltimore Orioles. But, unfortunately, we are yet to name anything after the Oriole in our parts of the world.

Oriole flies in a bamboo grove. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
Oriole flies in a bamboo grove. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

To distinguish between the American Orioles and the Orioles of our parts of the world, we call ours the Old World Orioles. That should be fine with our Orioles so long as 'old' does not mean dated, decrepit and decaying.

We saw several agile Black-hooded Orioles in the tangle of trees and straggly bamboo, along with a web of canals in Champakdi village. We found four splendid adults in dazzling colours and one lacklustre juvenile. The juvenile looked dull with a full yellow body because its head and wings were not black enough to create the proper contrast to bring out the yellow.

Apart from the sprightly Orioles, we sadly missed many other exciting birds we usually found in our previous visits to Champakdi village. This time we missed the hitherto common birds of Champakdi like the coucals, the owls, the shrikes and the cuckoo-shrikes.

We were visiting the Champakdi village after two years of pandemic-driven isolation. We noticed that the green areas of the village had diminished noticeably, and more than a few new clusters of glittery tin-houses and chicken farms have cropped up along the canals and the swamps.

An immature oriole. Photo: Enam Ul Haque
An immature oriole. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

While we were pleased with the five jolly Orioles of Champakdi village, we regretted the palpable absence of a great variety of birds we found there before. What distinguished that village to us was not the great number of a few species of birds but a great diversity of them.

We may be happy to die after sighting the hundred top birds of the world, but we cannot live with only a hundred species of birds! Nature cannot do with only a hundred species of birds; it needs many more to control insects, pollinate flowers and disperse seeds. That is why it has created no fewer than 11,000 species of birds.

Features / Top News

Bird / Haque’s eye view / oriole

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

  • Infograph: TBS
    Dhaka, Beijing seek to resolve deadlock over dollar loan terms at JEC talks
  • Ports crippled as NBR officials escalate protests, threaten full trade halt
    Ports crippled as NBR officials escalate protests, threaten full trade halt
  • Infographic: TBS
    Strong external sector bolsters economic recovery hopes: GED

MOST VIEWED

  • Govt set to release Tk1,000, Tk50, Tk20 notes with new designs before Eid
    Govt set to release Tk1,000, Tk50, Tk20 notes with new designs before Eid
  • New Managing Director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) Md Omar Faruk Khan. Photo: TBS
    Omar Faruk Khan appointed acting managing director of Islami Bank
  • Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus presides over a meeting of ECNEC at the Planning Commission office on 24 May 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    CA Yunus is not resigning; we are not leaving: Planning adviser after closed-door meeting
  • Members of army and police were deployed in front of NBR headquarters to prevent any untoward incident on Saturday, 24 May 2025. Photo: Reyad Hossain/TBS
    Army, police deployed at NBR as officials go on nationwide strike, halting clearing of imported goods
  • BNP senior leaders and CA at Jamuna on 24 May evening. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Talks with CA: BNP calls for swift completion of reforms for elections in Dec, removal of 'controversial' advisers
  • Photo collage shows Salman F Rahman's son Ahmed Shayan Rahman [on left] and Salma's nephew Ahmed Shahryar Rahman [on right]. Photos: Collected
    UK's crime agency freezes £90m of London property belonging to Salman F Rahman's son, nephew: Guardian

Related News

  • From storm to sunshine: Puffin-watching on the Isle of May
  • A rocky ride to Bass Rock’s gannet kingdom
  • Do not be surprised to spot migratory birds in summer
  • Man rescues Babui chicks left homeless after sudden Sreemangal rain
  • 2 smugglers with rare birds arrested in Ctg

Features

The well has a circular opening, approximately ten feet wide. It is inside the house once known as Shakti Oushadhaloy. Photo: Saleh Shafique

The last well in Narinda: A water source older and purer than Wasa

1d | Panorama
The way you drape your shari often depends on your blouse; with different blouses, the style can be adapted accordingly.

Different ways to drape your shari

1d | Mode
Shantana posing with the students of Lalmonirhat Taekwondo Association (LTA), which she founded with the vision of empowering rural girls through martial arts. Photo: Courtesy

They told her not to dream. Shantana decided to become a fighter instead

3d | Panorama
Football presenter Gary Lineker walks outside his home, after resigning from the BBC after 25 years of presenting Match of the Day, in London, Britain. Photo: Reuters

Gary Lineker’s fallout once again exposes Western media’s selective moral compass on Palestine

4d | Features

More Videos from TBS

NCP Insists on Clear Election Plan, Reforms, and Justice

NCP Insists on Clear Election Plan, Reforms, and Justice

12h | Podcast
What are the thoughts of BNP and other political parties on the capital market?

What are the thoughts of BNP and other political parties on the capital market?

13h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 24 MAY 2025

News of The Day, 24 MAY 2025

14h | TBS News of the day
90 days are coming to an end, Trump's hopes have not been fulfilled

90 days are coming to an end, Trump's hopes have not been fulfilled

11h | Others
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