Kolkata Book Fair: Comprehensive book on a variety of birds released
Kolkata: Two senior officials of the state Forest Department who have been serving important portfolios have penned a comprehensive book on the wide variety of birds found in West Bengal. The book titled ‘Amader Pakhi’ (Our Birds) was released by state Forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick at the 46th International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF) on Monday.
The book unveiled is the second edition, the first edition was released in 2015. Mamata Banerjee released the first edition at the IKBF itself and also penned a beautiful poem that found its place at the beginning of the book. The poem by Banerjee has been used in the current edition as well. The book is written in Bengali language but descriptions have been penned in English as well.
Tapas Das, Director of Alipore Zoological Gardens, and an author of the book said: “There are around 1,331 birds found in the country and among them, 850 are found in West Bengal, including the migratory ones. We have been able to describe 700 such birds in the book. There are photographs of the birds that have been described and credit has been given to 56 photographers”.
Das’s co-author Ujjal Ghosh is presently posted as the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest in North Bengal. The first edition dealt with 380 birds.
Das said: “We have used icons in such a manner that if a person who is incompetent in English or Bengali language flips through the book, he will be able to access basic information about the birds”.
Das, who has been associated with the Forest department since 2000, has developed a keen interest in wildlife photography. However, it was in 2014 when a book publisher suggested he write about birds.
The book has 520 pages and the initial 50 pages deal with the history of birds, and their evolution with the passing of time. The nature of the birds has also been classified for arousing the interest of the readers.
Bird enthusiasts believe that apart from books by Ajoy Home (popular as Birdman of Bengal), seminal books on birds of the state have been a rarity. The void can be fulfilled by the present one.
