Identification
Behavior
Location
It inhabits the heavy virgin forests of the mountains and wet-zone foot hills.
Maha Rathu Karala - Crimson - Backed Flamback
Identification
Behavior
This species haunting a nest-hole high up a large tree in January in such a manner as to indicate that they had young.
Location
This Woodpecker is found in forests almost throughout the island, on both hills and lowlands.
Giramaliththa - Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot
Identification
This is a small, mainly green hanging parrot, only 14 cm long with a short tail. The adult has a red crown, rump and bill, and an orange tint to its back. Immature birds lack the orange hue to the back, have a duller rump, and have only a hint of orange on the crown.
Behavior
Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually alone or in small groups outside the breeding season. Its flight is swift and direct, and the call is a sharp whistled twiwittwit..twitwitwit. The lorikeet is a convivial little bird, delighting in juicy fruits, the nectar of flowers (especially red cotton), and the juice of palms collected in toddy-drawers’ pots. Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot is a bird of open forest. It is strictly arboreal, never descending to the ground. It nests in holes in trees, laying 2-3 white eggs in the first half of the year, and sometimes again in July-September. Its breeding habits are highly remarkable.
Location
This brilliantly-coloured little parrot is found everywhere in the hills up to 4,000 feet, and in the north-east monsoon it ascends a thousand feet higher; it also inhabits the low-country wet zone and parts of the dry zone to the south of the Northern Province.
Alu Girawa - Layard's ParakeetIdentification
Layard’s Parakeet is a bird of forests, particularly at the edges and in clearings, and also gardens. It is locally common. It nests in holes in large trees, laying 3-4 white eggs. This is a green parrot, 29 cm long with a tail up to 13cm. The adult has a bluish-grey head and back, separated by a green collar. There is a broad black chin stripe and the tail is blue tipped yellow. The upper mandible of the male’s bill is red, and the lower mandible is brown. The female is similar, but has a black upper mandible. Immature birds are mainly green, with a dark red bill. Layard’s Parakeet is less gregarious than some of its relatives, and is usually in small groups outside the breeding season, when it often feeds with Brahminy Starlings. Its flight is swift and direct, and the call is a raucous chattering.
Behavior
It undergoes local movements, driven mainly by the availability of the fruit, seeds, buds and blossoms that make up its diet. Its cry is quite distinctive.
Location
Forests, Gardens, Quite common in in the High Country & forested humid arrears in the low country. Uncommon in high elevations
Watha Rathu Malkoha - Red-Faced MalkohaIdentification
This is a large species at 46 cm with a long graduated tail. Its back is dark green, and the uppertail is green edged with white. The belly and undertail are white, the latter being barred black. The crown and throat are black, and the lower face white. There is a large red patch around the eye and the bill is green. Sexes are similar, but juveniles are much duller. The Red-faced Malkoha takes a variety of insects including caterpillars, giant stick insects, mantises and small vertebrates such as lizard. It occasionally may eat berries but this needs confirmation.
Behavior
It inhabits tall forest, and lives either solitary, in pairs, or in small flocks. It is shy and restless, a dweller in the tree canopy, where, like the last species, it cleverly threads its way through tangled twigs, creepers and foliage.
The breeding season is in the first half of the year and probably again in August-September. The nest is described as a shallow saucer of grass, roots and twigs, very carelessly put together, and placed in high bushes in forest with thick undergrowth. The two or three eggs are white, with a chalky surface, and they measure about 35.8 X 27 mm.
Location
The Red-Faced Malkoha is regularly seen at Sinharaja and few other remaining rain forests, frequents associating with feeding waves. It is also found in scattered riverine habitats in the dry zone, such as Lahugala, Wasgamuwa, Manik Ganga and Kubukkan Oya.
Lanka Haban Kukula - The Ceylon Spurfowl
Identification
Size of a partridge, or of a half grown village fowl. The hen resembles a small, brown village chicken; the cock, with his white-spangled black foreparts and dark chestnut hinder parts, is unmistakable.
Behavior
Strictly a forest bird, it is so shy and wary that its presence in a district would often pass quite unknown were it not for its unmistakable cry; this reveals that it is not uncommon in much of the more densely forested parts of its range. The cry is peculiar, ringing cackle, consisting of series of three-syllabled whistles.
Distinctly a ground bird. The food consists of various seeds, fallen berries, termites and other insects, and it scratches vigorously for them amongst the dead leaves, etc.,of the forest floor.
The breeding season is in the north-east monsoon, and sometimes a second brood is raised in July-September. The nest is a slight scrape in the ground in the shelter of a rock, bush, etc. The eggs from the normal clutch, but up to five have been recorded; they are cream or warm buff in colour, and exactly resemble miniature hens' eggs in appearance. They measure about 43 × 31 mm.
Location
This bird widely distributed in the southern half of the Island, both in in the hills, up to 7,000 feet, and in the low country; but is commonest in the damp rain-forests of the wet zone. It also occurs locally in riverrine forests of the dry zone, in both the northern and southern half of the island.
Wali Kukula - The Ceylon Junglefowl Identification
Size of a small, but not bantam, breed of domestic fowl.
Behavior
Wali Kukula is a fairly common bird. It spends its life in forest or its outskirts, never venturing far from cover, though, especially in wet weather, it likes to frequent open places, such as roadsides or glades.The food of the Wali Kukula consists of grain, weed seeds, berries, various succulent leaves and buds, and a large proportion of small animals, such as crickets, centipedes and termites. When nillu flowers and seeds in up-country jungles, junglefowl migrate to these areas in large numbers to fatten on the abundant seed.
The main breeding season is in the first quarter of the year, but often a second clutch is laid in August-September, and breeding may go on throughout the year. The nest is often a shallow scrape in the ground, concealded by herbage, at the foot of a tree or beside a dead log. The eggs number two to four; they are creamy-white, some very finely peppered, other more boldly but sparingly speckled with brown. They measure about 48 × 35 mm.
Location
The Junglefowl is distributed throughout the Island, whenever jungle or dense scrub of any extent is to be found, but it is nowadays common only in the wilder parts of the dry zone.
Lanka Bata Etikukula - The Green Billed CoucalIdentification
slightly smaller than the Common Coucal, from which it may at once be distinguished by its leg, like-green beak; its wings, too, are much darker chestnut, and the sheen on the head and neck is purple, not blue. Sexes alike.
Behavior
A very shy and elusive bird, it is far better known by its calls than by sight but, wherever the wet-zone forests have been spared the axe, it is still fairly common; its range, however, is rapidly dwindling and as it shows no sign of being able to adjust itself to new conditions, there can be no doubt that its days will soon be numbered - with those of several ither endemic forest birds - unless wise foresight reserves extensive forest sanctuaries in the wet zone.
Location
This coucal is found only in the forests of the wet zone, west, south-west and south of the main mountain massif, which it ascends to 2,500 feet, or perhaps higher.
Pitathabala Vana-Bassa - The Chestnut-Backed Owlet
Identification
About the size of the Collared Scops Owl. Sexes alike. This little owl is very like the last species in shape, size, and general appearance but it is chestnut on back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, and has white underparts marked with blackish shaft-streaks, and bars on the flanks. Some specimens have white spots on the outer scapulars. Irides bright yellow; feet pale yellow.
Behavior
It is shy and wary, and as it frequents the tops of tall trees, usually on steep hillsides, it is seldom seen. It is very diurnal in habits, often hunting and calling in broad daylight. The Mukalan Bassa feeds mainly on insects, such as beetles, but also captures mice, small lizards, and small birds, on occasion; most likely, the larger vertebrate forms of prey are taken only when young are being fed.
The breeding season is from March to May, the eggs being laid on the bare wood in a hole in the trunk or limb of a tree. The two glossy white eggs measure about 35 × 28.2 mm.
Location
This owl appears to have been fairly common in Legge's time in many parts of the southern half of the Island, especially the hills and wet-zone low country extending to outskirts of Colombo; but its range has undoubtedly shrunk very greatly since then, and it is now found sparingly in the remaining forests of the wet zone and adjoining hills up to 6,500 feet.
Rannalal Kottoruwa - Yellow-Fronted BarbetIdentification
Between the Red-vented Bulbul and Common Myna in size. Sexes alike. The yellow forehead, blue face, and comparatively small beak, distinguish this bird from the last.
Behavior
Throughout its range it is a common bird, not shy, and well known for its resounding calls, which form a pleasant feature of its haunts.The Yellow-fronted Barbet feeds on numerous kinds of berries, wild figs, and cultivated fruits such as guavas and pawpaws-being rather a pest in orchards. It feeds its young mainly on fruit, but also on some animal food as W.W.A. Philips has published a photograph of one at its nest-hole with a gecko in its beak.
The breeding season is from February to May, with a secondary season in August-September, but an occasional nest may be found at other times of the year. The nest-hole is very similar to that of the Brown-headed Barbet but slightly smaller- about two inches in diameter. The cavity inside is oval and, if a new one, is about eight inches deep; but sometimes the birds use a nest for several years running, digging it deeper each year until it may be two feet or more deep. The height from the ground varies greatly, but is usually from six to ten feet. The two or three white, and smooth but not glossy, eggs measure about 28 × 21 mm.
Location
It is mainly a bird of the hills which it ascends to at least 6,500 feet, but it is found in many parts of the low-country wet zone, and in scattered colonies in some dry-zone districts to the east of the mountains. In many of its habits it resembles the Brown-headed Barbet, but is more partial to heavy forest although by no means confined to it
Hisa kalu Kondaya - The Black-Capped Bulbul
Identification
Rather smaller than the Red-vented Bulbul. In general coloration some what like the preceding species, but at once distinguished by its black cap and white-tipped, dark-brown tail.
Behavior
It is found in pairs or small parties. Its call-note is a plaintive, minor-key whistle on an ascending scale, something like yor, yer ye, or wer wer we we - each syllable higher than the last.
The nest is very similar to the small ones of Red-vented Bulbul. It is a cup, composed of small twigs, rootlets, etc., rather flimsily built, and line scantily with fibres. It is well concealed among foliage, either in a low bush or in a small tree growing in a wooded ravine or on the outskirts of forest, etc. The eggs normally number two, and they resemble small ones of Red-vented Bulbul, being pinkish white, heavily spotted and speckled with reddish brown. They measure about 20.9 × 15.7 mm.
Location
Black-capped Bulbul is found in throughout the hills, up to at least 4,000 feet, and in scattered colonies in the dry zone except in the most arid parts. It prefers forest varied by open country, shoals and the like, to dense forest.
Lanka Arangaya - Sri Lankan Whistling-Thrust
Identification
Head and neck is black in color. Shoulder, dorsal area and brest are dark blue. Bright blue shoulder patch can be seen in male. Flight fethers rump,main tail are blackish bround.Beak and feet are black. Iris is broun. Belly is brown
Female is more browner. Her shoulder patch is pale. The plumage of imature bird is more beown with little blue.
Behavior
This bird is very shy. They prefer thick under groths. Sometimes it comes out. It can be seen hunting or singing on sticks or rocks beside streams. They prey on creatures like insects, geckos.
The breeding season lies from March to May. But the April is more important. They make the nest on banks or on branchers of 5-10 feet tall tree. The neat is cup shaped. The “Varalla” and ferns are used as main building materials. Inside the nest is made out of dead leaves. About two white color eggs with pale and red brown colored patches and strips are laied at a time. But most of the time only a one offspring is born. Haching is done by female, but the feeding is done by both male and female.
Location
They live hidden in place with water flowa at about 3000 feet elevations. They can be seen in thick under growths near flowing streams….They are recorded in Haggala Horton place. Today they are restricted to the higher elevations of central hills. This bird is difficult to find due to it’s shyness.
Pulli Wal Awichchiya - The Spotted-Winged Thrush
Identification
Between the bulbul and the mynah in size. Sexes alike. The young rather closely resemble the female Pied Ground Thrush, but many be distinguished by the characteristic facial pattern of the white and black, which is similar to that of the adult.
Behavior
It is rather shy but also inquisitive; a singing male easily decoyed within sight by whistling an imitation of its song, which is rich, varied and sweet-toned performance, usually uttered from a perch in the lower branches of the tree-canopy. It feeds on insects, worms, etc., and probably also on berries.
They have two breeding seasons. One is in March-April and other is in August-November. The nest is placed in a fork of a sapling, balanced on cardamom-fronds, or in the crown of a tree-fern, etc., in forest. The two eggs laid are measure about 26.8×19.7 mm.
Location
This thrush is found throughout the hills, ascending to 7,000 feet; throughout the low-country wet zone; and in scattered localities in the dry zone, but its main habitat seems to lie between the 500 and 5,000 feet contours. It is a bird of forest, or well-wooded country.
Kandu Hambu Kurulla - Sri Lanka Bush Warbler
Identification
Slightly larger than a sparrow. Sexes alike, except that the male has red irides while those of the female are pale buff.
Behavior
It is confined to elevations above 3,000 feet, but is common in suitable country above this height. It loves nillu(Strobilanthes) and elephant grass (dwarf bamboo), and may be confindently expected where these plants from dense brakes of undergrowth in the damp hil forests. It lives usually in pairs and some times it might easily be mistaken for a mouse. It feeds on small insects, being partial to soft-bodied green crickets (Tettigoniidae), which it finds hiding on the undersides of leaves.
The nest is large for the size of the bird, and it composed of moss, grass, scrub-bamboo leaves, etc., with a fairly deep cup lined with fine fibers. The breeding season is February to May, with a secondary season in September. The two eggs, which are fragile, are described as 'oval and only slightly pointed at the small end. The colour... whitish-pink, thickly powered all over with rather deeper purplish markings and with one or two long hair-lines at deep barown the larger end. Size .9 by .67' (about 22.6 X 16.7 mm.)
Location
This mouse-coloured bird is essentially an inhabitant of the dense undergrowth of the mountain forests, or of thick scrub; but occasionally it will venture into tea-fields where these adjoin forest.
Anduru Nil Masimara - The Dusky-Blue Flycatcher
Identification
Size Sparrow-sized. Sexes similar, but the juveniles are brown, heavily spotted on head, back, wing-coverts and breast with pale buff; flight feathers are broadly margined with blue-grey.
Behavior
It is not a shy bird. It feeds mainly on flying insects, beetles, caterpillars and the like, but also eats berries such as wild yellow rasberry, lantana, etc. It has a sweet rather loud song.
The main breeding season is in the first half of the year, March and April being the favourite months; but a second -or a third-brood is often reared in August-September. The nest is a compact mass of green moss, with a neat, rather deep cup in the top, lined with fine black fibers, probably fern roots. The site is always well shaded, but not always well concealed. The normal clutch is two, but occasionally three eggs are laid. They are pale pink, freckled all over with pale burnt sienna, which often formas a zone, or cap, at the large end. They measure about 20.5 X 14.8 mm.
Location
The flycatcher is confined to the hills above 2,000 feet, but is not common below 3,000 feet. It inhabits forest or well-wooded ravines on estates, gardens, etc., where plenty of shady trees give it the seclusion it loves.
No comments:
Post a Comment