Strange Birds, Broken Lands, Rich Fauna: The Niger Delta
A poultry of multicoloured avians laced the banks of a waning narrow creek. Although it was mid-day, the waters appeared to have fallen asleep, wrapped in a blanket of verdant colours, as a poultry of 7 birds gently suck from its muddy edge.
These birds I have never seen before, and these I beheld and couldn’t turn my head. They seemed to notice my presence and began to saunter farther into the creek. Their struts and splendour jiggled the reins of my enchanted soul.
On another island near a gas plant, not very far away from here, a strange-looking bird wadded across the shallow waters flooring a low mangrove forest. It had a funny protrusion at the back of its skull like that of ‘Ajasco’. at first glance, its form aroused repulsion, but within a few minutes of observation, its carriage and demeanour -as it hunted for food in the mud- seemed to dispel every fragment of dislike. It exuded an aura of royal rareness and matchlessness.
Pelicans and hawks grace the entire delta and colonies of grey parrots subsist at different corners clouded away in the sempervirent canopies capping the delta’s islands.
Most of these birds, their names I know not, but their accolades I raise before the world. A vast variety of wildlife they are, a massive bundle of eco-tourism potential they shall ever be.
This is Nigeria, and this is our Niger Delta.
Filed under: Conservation, Travel
