By Shyamal Kashyap Coordinates: 26° 37′ 52.73″ N, 92° 44′ 1.67″ EObservation period: February–April, annually from 2021 to 2026Estimated colony: Around 500 pairs or more, based on field observation There is a moment when a river island seems to disappear into the landscape. From a distance, there may be little to distinguish it from the […]

By Shyamal Kashyap Winter arrives quietly on the Brahmaputra. The monsoon has withdrawn, leaving behind a river that seems to have no fixed shape. Water divides and reforms around long sandbars, channels of dark current winding between pale islands of sand. Grasses rise from freshly deposited silt. Cattle move slowly across the floodplain. In the

By Shyamal Kashyap Across Assam, elephants are increasingly moving through farms, villages, tea gardens and transport corridors built across landscapes they have used for generations. The resulting conflict is costly for both people and wildlife. As darkness settles over the fields of Assam, the attention of farmers can turn towards the edge of the forest.

by Shyamal Kashyap The wetland is alive with movement. A Whiskered Tern sweeps low over the grass, its long wings carrying it just above the vegetation. Another follows. Farther away, a small group gathers over the shallow water before scattering again across the marsh. At first glance, it could be just another day on an

By Shyamal Kashyap The first sign of a healthy wetland is not always the haunting call of a waterbird or the splash of a fish breaking the surface. Sometimes, it is far more subtle—a dragonfly hovering effortlessly above a quiet marsh, or a slender damselfly clinging to a blade of grass beside a forest stream.

By Shyamal Kashyap A River That Never Stands Still Long before the first rays of sunlight touch the waters of the Brahmaputra, the river belongs to silence. Mist drifts low across the broad channels, softening the horizon until the boundaries between water and sky dissolve into a single silver landscape. The cool morning air carries

By Shyamal Kashyap The morning mist hangs low over the wetlands as an enormous silhouette settles atop a towering tree. Bald-headed, heavy-billed, and almost prehistoric in appearance, the bird seems less like a creature of the modern world than a survivor from another age. When it finally spreads its immense wings and lifts into the

By Shyamal Kashyap Introduction: More Than Wildlife For generations, the people of Assam have lived in close relationship with wetlands. These landscapes are not merely places of extraordinary biodiversity; they are living systems that provide food, livelihoods, cultural identity, and traditional knowledge. Across the region, communities depend on these dynamic water bodies — from vast

By Shyamal Kashyap Among all the creatures that share our planet, few capture the human imagination like butterflies. Their colourful wings, graceful movements, and extraordinary transformation from a tiny caterpillar into a flying insect have fascinated people for generations. They are often seen as symbols of beauty, change, and freedom. But butterflies are much more

By Shyamal Kashyap In the quiet light of early morning, Deobali Jalah awakens beneath a veil of mist. The reeds glisten with dew, dragonflies hover like sparks above still water, and distant calls of birds echo across the floodplain. Here, in the northern stretches of Nagaon district, the landscape breathes with the pulse of Assam’s