H K Jibon, IU Correspondent: Migratory birds, coming from different parts of the world, have taken shelter at Haors, Baors and Lakes at various parts of Bangladesh.

As a part of this, the birds also started appearing at the lake of Islamic University, a heavenly paradise for the winged beauty, in search of warmth and cold food with the advent of winter.
Their tweeting and chirping reverberates through the campus as it has been shut because of the coronavirus pandemic. This situation may have encouraged the birds to land in the lake.

The teachers, students as well as the environmentalists said that they never saw such a large number of migratory birds in the lake before.

The lake has taken a blissful look with big and colourful water lilies and different species of migratory birds.

Various migratory birds come to Bangladesh from Siberia, China, Mongolia and other Himalayan regions seeking refuge in relatively warmer climate, IU Environmental Science and Geography department lecturer Inzamul Haque Sazal said.

IU campus is certainly one of the most eco-friendly territories for the birds to find some warmth and food.

Though the university authorities have not conducted any bird survey, Inzamul said that many species of birds had started flocking to the lake; however, most of those were lesser whistling duck or Pati Sarali and greater whistling duck or Bara Sarali.

Rayhan Badsha Ripon, a master’s student of IU Arabic Language and Literature department, said, ‘I am very excited to see such a huge number of birds on our campus.’

The birds are not able to roam in the campus freely due to huge amount of water hyacinths in the lake, Ripon claimed.

The university authorities should take all possible measures to protect the birds and to ensure a safe environment so that they can roam around the lake freely, he added.

IU acting chief engineer Alimuzzaman Totul said that they would remove water hyacinths from the lake within two days so that the birds could enjoy their winter destination.

He would effective initiative to make the place more attractive after holding a discussion with the university authorities, he added.