Recent seizures there prove that fowl play with exotic species is not a canard.
By ET Bureau |
BCCL
Transporters are guiding people from outside to the water body to witness the rare American wood duck.
It is not unreasonable to expect a hamlet in West Bengal named Ghoshpara Bankpukur to have a waterfowl or two in the local pond. But a flamboyantly dressed foreigner swanning around there is bound to attract interest, especially in these restrictive times.
With people flocking in to have a gander at the fine-feathered new resident for the past week, little wonder then that local businesses are (d)raking it in and a mini tourism hub has sprung up at that spot, some 20 km from Kolkata.
Although there is only a poultry difference in plumage, the claim that the fowl is a Mandarin duck rather than an American Wood duck is obviously a canard. But how it arrived in eastern India, flying 13,000 km from its US homeland must be investigated as the latter species is not known to be a great traveller.
The unexplained appearance of a rare American wood duck at a Howrah pond is boosting the economy for a number of households in Bally as hundreds of bird watchers, amateur photographers and curious onlookers are flocking the water body. The reason for its appearance at that unlikely spot is still a mystery but a conspiracy of some sort was clearly hatched to that end, particularly since the only grouse most have against this kind of perching duck is that it tends to stick to its North American habitat, disinclined to even venture along the Pacific Flyway.
There is also no ducking the fact that the recovery last week of two keel-billed toucans (reportedly worth 14-18 lakh in the black market) from smugglers near the Bangladesh border portends extensive fowl play in the region.
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(All images are for representation purpose only)
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