Folks ready to see what I've bagged this week? Well, I'd start with the birdies first, and here's a male purple-rumped sunbird pecking at his own reflection.
Purple-rumped Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica)
This Pelican was at a nature park we visited last Friday.
Spot-billed Pelican(Pelecanus philippensis)
This Grizzled Giant Squirrel was enjoying a little snack off our breadfruit tree.
grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura)
Now, for the mini-beasts. This is a grasshopper on one of my Bell pepper plants.
Another night-patrol-in-the-garden-with-a-flashlight revealed a spider and another bug. Could anybody help me ID the spider?
Well, that's all for now, hope to show you more come next weekend, have a good time!
It rained a lot this week, except for today and yesterday. When the sun appears after a period of rain, it brings out all kinds of creatures to the open, only I didn't have much time to go about photographing them. Here is a few shots I did manage get though.
White Fourring, Ypthima ceylonica
three stripped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum)
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!
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/දඩුෙල්නාgrow 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!
Hi all, it's been some time since my last post, for my faithful point-and- shoot is no more. :-( It'll take some time to have a new toy. I'm doing a bit of wildlife gardening till then. Here are some critters that I captured in the garden today with a cam a friend of mine lent me. I've mot identified some of them, and let you know if I do. I'll be grateful if you could help me there too.
Do you remember me telling you that its been quite a task to get a Grizzled Giant Squirrel on lens? Well, you couldn't imagine my excitement when I found out one building a nest on a Jackfruit
tree in the garden nest door! It was pretty amazing to see the animal busily carrying twigs in its mouth to the nest with out taking much notice of me. This time I got real close to it and made this footage, which would have been impossible had the squirrels wasn't so absorbed in building the nest. If I'm not terribly mistaken, this one is a male, so it must be the male of this species that builds the nest. I'll keep an eye on this one and keep you up to date with his progress.
I've finally got one of these fluffy fellows on a video after much waiting and struggle, but the result is still not very good. Not that they are a rare sight where I live, they just are more vary of us humans and prefer to be higher up in the trees than Three -Stripped Palm Squirrels, and none of them have ever come down to my bird feeders.
Grizzled Giant Squirrel is not as many in population as Three -Stripped Palm Squirrel, nor is as widely spread. However, they are more of a nuisance for fruit gardeners and farmers where ever they are found. They love fruits and nuts, and can gnaw right through the shell of a coconut! I've always observed as them to be solitary, and much less active than Palm Squirrels. Learn more.........
I've recorded this video with a Three-stripped Palm squirrel eating some stuff off my bird feeder. These little brats can recognize my whistle now, as I always whistle filling up the feeder every morning.
These are the most common squirrels in Sri Lanka. They are very fond of fruits and nuts as well as food scraps and crumbs people throw, so always come near households. There are some regulars of their kind who claim the most of what I put in my bird feeder.
Very active and swift animals, they have a very loud, high pitched, and rapid call that goes "tin, tin, tin".
The females build soft and fluffy nests on tree branches using fiber from dead leaves and grass, etc. Normally there is an average of three offspring at a time.
These squirrels are easily tamed. If people in a particular household give then food regularly, they will probably allow themselves to be hand-fed and nest some where in the house too, as in my old place. I used to raise the orphaned juveniles and release them as they grew up. They always hanged close and let me pet them.
Their main predators are domestic cats and Rat Snakes. Crows snatch juveniles from the nests too. Read more.............
