Babies!!!!!.......................

A few days ago, I noticed a Common Tailorbird /Orthotomus sutorius/බට්ටිච්චා coming to a shrub by the driveway over and over again. Curious,  I went and peeked in to the shrub when the bird was away. There were three little ones hidden among the foliage. I didn't see the nest, the little birds were just perched on branches. I quickly took these photos, made a short video, and left them alone. I hope they would grow up alright and fly away.

Personal Hygiene ...............................

 

 

Isn't It A Beauty?........Chalky percher...

I used to post more insect  photos on this blog until I bought the camera I use now, which has a greater zoom and gives me a better chance with birds and other big creatures and I've been ignoring insects a little lately. But I like to have balanced variety of creatures on Wild Sri Lanka, and I'm gonna try to do just that. So, here's a dragonfly that I find very beautiful. These photos are from my very first spotting of this kind. It was basking in glaring hot sunlight in my garden last Wednesday and allowed me to get really close to it until I accidentally touched  it with the camera lens!    This species of dragonfly is called Diplacodes trivialis/Chalky percher.

                            





                                                                                                    

It's Time To Croak...........

The Giant....................

I took these shots as I was leaving for work this morning, just a few meters away from home. These big fluffy fellows are abundant in the neighborhood,  though not very easy to photograph. These Grizzled Giant Squirrels/Ratufa macroura/දඩුෙල්නා grow as big as a domestic cat,roughly. They cause considerable  destruction to the garden crops around, fruits and coconut that is, and are considered pests by everybody. But they have no choice, being stranded in a block of land bordered by a highway, a railway line and a paddy field,  with homes scattered over and  a two abandoned gardens. Luckily this particular land is well wooded and the human occupants satisfy by chasing the squirrels away from their garden when ever they can  and tolerating the inevitable loss of crops. But in some places, specially where people grow fruits and coconuts for a living, the situation is very different, I know that for a fact!

 

Blue Tiger.................

The Skink Goes Crawlin'.........උරගෙයක් හදුනා ගනිමු

I used to see these lizards around my old place in Panadura quite a lot, but during the near six years I've been in Kurunegala, I've seen them only twice.  This particular one you see in the photos was on a palm tree trunk near the tank of Kurunegala, my second siting of this reptile in this area. I searched online for identifying this one, and it seems to be a Common Skink/ Eutropis carinata lankae/සුලබ හිකනලා,  an endemic subspecies. 

 

You Made Me Happy When The Sky Was Grey.............

After about two weeks of bright sunny days, the gloomy,drizzly weather has begun again. Good times don't last! Sigh. I've had to opt for traveling to and from work  by bus instead of walking, and it kills me to see increasing bird activity all around as the spring is slowly approaching, without being able to take my camera and and go about photographing them.   My parents told me a couple of Red-vented Bulbuls/Pycnonotus cafer/ෙකාණ්ඩ කුරුල්ලා were building a nest inside their very room at my old place and my cousin brother told me a Black-hooded Oriole/ Oriolus xanthornus/කහ කුරුල්ලා was building one in a very-easy-to-photograph spot in his garden! As I was just on my way to sign off duty yesterday this Rose-ringed Parakeet/Psittacula krameri/රැන ගිරවා came to perch on  a very small tree and stayed just long enough for me to take a snap. As it was quite gloomy I shot with increased exposure, just  a little too much. I had a touch it up with Picnik's auto fix feature to make it a little more presentable. Wish me luck for fair weather soon, my dear readers, it's the best time of year for birding!