A Small Stretch Of Forest In The Middle Of City Of Kurunegala-3, Juvenile Spotted snakehead Fish In A pond

There is a pond on the way to the top of the Ethugala Rock, in the wood in the side of the path. When I crawled under the bush and had a look at the water, there were hundreds of tiny Spotted snakehead fish   (Channa punctata). We call it Madakanaya or Madakariya in Sinhalese. You can have more information on this freshwater fish here.  


Freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka

Well, that's all I've got to share about the small forest that surrounds Ethugala Rock, for the time being. That's somewhere I visit often, so I'll probably be able to tell you what other kinds of  critters inhabit the forest, with time to come. Await some butterflies on next posts! 

A Small Strech Of Forest In The Middle Of The City Of Kurunegala -2, Toque Macaque Monkeys This Time

Toque Macaque  monkey (Macaca sinica ) Aka Rilawa is endemic to Sri Lanka. I saw this small troop near the top of Ethugala Rock. It is almost impossible to pass a troop of them without  bribing them with food. These dare devils snatch anything edible from the hands of the travelers. It's a common occurrence at every travel destination with these monkeys. I feel  very uneasy thinking what kinds of food find their way in to these monkey's systems, as travelers happen to carry all kinds of food with them. It must have been people who gave the macaques a taste of picnic snacks by throwing tidbits at them. 

You will find some very interesting facts about these monkeys here, here, and here, they are world famous!

A Small Strech Of Forest In The Middle Of The City Of Kurunegala -1

I've decided to make a series of posts with my observations at the recent visit to the Ethugala rock in the middle of Kurunegala. Surrounding the rock is a small forest, the exact area of which I don't know yet. Nor do I know what type of forest it exactly   is yet, but I guess it to be a mix of lowland wet   and dry zone forests, with tall trees drown closely together, some canopy, but much less underbrush, ferns, orchids and moss.  See how the forest is grown on both sides of the twisting road that gets you to the top of the rock.

This palm, Caryota urens , is locally called Kithul.   A sugary fluid can be collected by manipulating the flower in a certain way,which is used to produce treacle, todi, and and jaggery.     

There is some vegetation on the rock surface too, but they are sort of pygmy, a natural bonsai effect caused by lack of soil to grow in.









This is a rare sight, a flowering Corypha umbraculifera (Talipot palm).(center of the pic) This palm bares a flower only once with in its lifetime, and considered a bad omen by local folks when it does.  

There is plenty of evidence that a considerable proportion of the forest is secondary forest, clearings and coconut palms.

All right, that's all for today, but, to be continued, stay put!

A Crab That I Saw At Thelagamu Oya

This is the only critter I had a chance to observe in our recent trip to Knuckles.  Could any of you help me to identify this one?