In Agartala, where Krishnachura trees once lined every street and birds filled every garden, common species are vanishing in plain sight. The rarest thing, writes Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee, is not a bird — it is the person still watching.
When the Garden Was Alive
Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee grew up in Agartala, northeast India — a city once loud with birdsong. Krishnachura trees lined every street, turning the city red in bloom and drawing orioles, sunbirds, and sparrows year-round.
Today, most of those trees are gone. And with them, the birds.
>> "The rarest species is not a bird at all. It is the birdwatcher — and when a bird has no one watching, it has no one to protect it."
Disappearing in Plain Sight
Across Indian cities, common species like the house sparrow have declined dramatically over the past 20 years. Unlike charismatic endangered species, these birds disappear quietly — no headlines, no campaigns. Just silence where there used to be sound.
Bhattacharjee has documented 28 bird species still observable in and around Agartala — from pond herons and spotted doves to tailorbirds that consume thousands of caterpillars in a single season. Most people walk past them every day without noticing.
What You Can Do
Platforms like eBird and iNaturalist let anyone contribute — one sighting at a time. Citizen scientists build the data that makes conservation possible.
The birds are still there. The question is who is still watching.