THOSE GOOFY GULLS … Two Brown-headed Gulls relaxing on the calm waters of the Muhuri Project in Feni’s Sonaigazi upazila. These bold, opportunistic birds are distributed across India, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, and many more countries across south and south east Asia. Often misconstrued to be “goofy”, these birds are generally quite intelligent. They can learn, remember and even pass on behaviours such as stomping their feet on the ground to imitate rainfall and trick earthworms to come to the surface. They know to go to ploughed fields, where they can find upturned grubs and other food sources, and also drop molluscs onto rocks to break them open. They even have an impressive sense of smell, which helps them detect the faintest trace of food from as far as three miles away! While the IUCN has listed the Brown-headed gulls in the “least concern” category, degradation of their wetland’s habitats may come as a threat to their survival.
Photo: Arif Ahmed
Soil traders are razing hillocks in Tarafpur of Tangail’s Mirzapur upazila, putting the environment at risk. The earth extracted from the hillocks would be used for making bricks, filling low land and building roads. The photo was taken recently. . Photo: Star
Scores of people scrambling to board a Dhaka-bound train at the Joydebpur railway station yesterday morning. Due to several ongoing development works on the Joydebpur-Tongi road, vehicles plying the route take around five hours to reach their destinations. Most commuters are now resorting to the railway, resulting in the trains being overcrowded.
PHOTO: ANISUR RAHMAN
