Hey, Litlle Fella!

My Camera Critter this week is a juvenile Common Green Forest Lizard (Calotes calotes). He was in a shrub by the driveway, and dashed away before I could get close enough for a macro.

Barbet And Robin..........

Hey folks, how's it goin? We have had a good mix of blazing sun and thundering downpour for about two weeks, and it didn't rain at all for last three days.

I have observed Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) to be mostly a solitary bird. Their diet seems to consist almost entirely of insects, there are instances when one would snatch some cooked rice off the feeder in the garden. 







Do you remember my post about nesting Brown-headed Barbets? Well, the chicks seem to be growing well, they make  quite a racket! The nest is completely hidden from view though, good for them. Here are some stills and  a video I managed to get of the adult bird/s.

A post for World Bird Wednesday and Wild Wings Wednesday.

Top Model..............

I photographed this Tropic Dart/Potanthus confucius    last week in my garden. It was one of those occasions when your subject literally poses for you.  Interestingly, this critter is also called Chinese Dart and Confucian Dart  ! Posted for Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday.

What's With The Solemn Face?

A Toque Macaque  Monkey/Macaca sinica I photographed a little while ago.  These ones I see in Krurnegala belong to the subspecies  Macaca sinica aurifrons  and are generally called Dusky Toque Monkey. Posted for Camera Critters.

The Tailor That Flies..............

Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) gets its name because of the way the female bird builds her nest. She sews two leaves together with her beak using cobweb strings or other natural fiber she can find. I've taken a photo of  a nest I see by our driveway these days. Do play the video,I've got one quite close in that.

Posted for World Bird Wednesday , Wild Wings Wednesday ,and ABC Wednesday. 

Two Very Religious Bugs.......

The green color Praying Mantis below was inside the house at night last Friday,when I quickly took a photo. He was still in on following morning, so I scooped him up on a newspaper and put him on a Pomegranate tree and took another photo. Just as I was getting back inside, I saw the brownish one on a window grill. Talk about coincidence!  I clicked on him right then too,and again inside the house at night on the same day. Not only they differed in color but also in size, the green one was about four inches from head to the end of abdomen,while the other was roughly one fourth of it. 

Posted for Macro Monday.

Breaking Fast..................

This is my Camera Critters photo this week.

A Tricky Bird To Photograph..........

The bird you see in these photos is Brown-headed Barbet/Megalaima zeylanica/. Its diet consists of fruits and berries. This bird doesn't come down to the ground, blends perfectly on the foliage of a tree, and very vary. All these factors make it quite a task to take a decent photo of this bird.

Any way, a good many days ago, I noticed one of these repeatedly coming to perch on a dead Bael   tree in the garden next door. So I kept my eye on her a for a while, and I noticed that her actual destination was a Breadfruit tree next to the Bael. She will perch on the Bael tree for a while, then move on to and disappear in to the foliage of the Breadfruit tree, fly off after a while, come back to the Bael tree, the ritual went on and on. There was only one explanation. She had a nest in the Breadfruit tree. So I stared waiting at a point where I could have a good view of her to take some photos at some points of her visits. Imagine my surprise when I realize that It was actually two birds doing this thing! It's either that both male and female birds of this species feed their young, or two female birds have nested in the same tree. I didn't find enough data online to confirm either of the two hypothesis.

After many days of keeping watch at my vantage point, making god knows how many attempts to photograph them, I manage these shots, though not very satisfactory yet.  I'll keep trying!

A post for World Bird Wednesday and Wild Wing Wednesday

Psyche

Psyche/Leptosia nina nina is  a very common and small butterfly I see around. I photographed this one in my garden. A huge variety of butterflies visit my garden every day, and I will share them with you folks as I manage to photograph them.

Posted for Macro Monday.

The Giant Again.....

I think it's about time I show you some more shots and a video I managed of the Grizzled Giant Squirrel/. Don't forget to check the video,he was so close to me when I was shooting that I could almost touch him!


Grizzled Giant Squirrel/Ratufa macroura/ දඬුලේනා

 

 













Posted for Camera Critters.

Did It Hurt When You Fell From Heaven?

Saw this couple yesterday evening at an overgrown patch in the garden,apparently in love.

Three-Striped Palm Squirrel/Funambulus palmarum/තුන්ඉරි ෙල්නා

Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica)

♂

♀

Posted for World Bird Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday. 

The Lake.....

Do you remember the lake I show you as I saw it from the top of the small rock that I climbed? I visited that lake last Monday with my little girl. Though I call it a lake, the term "tank" is also used  by some. These tanks are from  a thousands of years old civilization, made with a technology that baffles modern engineers. The tanks were built in an environmental friendly manner and to be very very durable. Their purpose was to collect rain water for paddy cultivation in the dry zone of the country. Learn more...



There was not much vegetation along the banks of this particular one, there for the bird life was relatively mild. I did see some Turns and Swallows though. You can see the rock that I climbed in the below picture.



There were steps on the banks for people to get i to the water, and I got to the water's edge using one. There I saw some beautiful    fishes, and I captured them in video. The video turned out pretty lousy,but I thought I'd show you a anyway. My attempts to identify these fish online has been so far fruitless.

Name The Bugs.......

I'm throwing in a bunch of insects that I've not been to identify yet for this week's Macro Monday. I hope some of could help me place some of them.