Dust bath of a Bengal Bushlark (Mirafra assamica)

[Samrat Sarkar]

I hope that everybody will be of the same opinion that the secret of knowledge lies in the power of observations. The progress of mankind and their behavior of aggression also, to some extent, are the fruits of that knowledge. Observation of those various natural facts and their justifications from different angles make wide open a number of ways of interests. In the field of ornithology also there is no exception.

The observation is universal. Everyone can be independent in his observation and is not under any authority for this. We all can study the daily happenings in nature – all from individual perspectives. The educational qualifications the professional background etc. may not always influence the simple observations of the people and induce loss of their merits in that field. What plays an important role here is the interest, the impression and thereby the logic formed by the person who observes. In my case the spirit behind studying birds is my love and passion for them in spite of my being a civil engineer and profession being in a completely different field. And I find it easier to observe their moods and behaviors from those perspectives, reasoning and justifications come out of the interest and passion of observations. Of course the blessings of internet can not be neglected to help to come to a refurbished concrete conception out of those pieces of common observations.

I must confess that all these observations and justifications are not always free from any faults and neither are hundred percent scientific. These types of observations made with the help of human sense organs and intellect may not always be truly scientific. To make the observations truly scientific one needs to be associated with some relevant scientific Institution; which I don’t have any access to. This is the limitation of this so called ‘universal observation’. Bearing that in mind I would like to describe one of my experience which I had a few days back.

I do not miss any chance to go for outings when the sun rays peep through the clouds in between spells of rains during the monsoons. On a particular day, I suddenly discovered a Bengal Bushlark having its dust bath just beside a man-made narrow footpath in the field. It was not very far from my house. On a sudden look one may take it as if injured and wincing out of pain. As this event was not new to me, I was not very much concerned and could understand what was going on. The main challenge behind making a documentary of this particular behavior is to choose a suitable position for my camera without disturbing it. And I tried my best.