Kahibella - Lanka Blue Magpie (Urocissa ornata)

Identification

Sri Lanka Blue Magpie is about the same size as the European Magpie at 42–47 cm. The adults are blue with chestnut head and wings, and a long white-tipped tail. The legs and bill are red. The young bird is a duller version of the adult. Sri Lanka Blue Magpie has a variety of calls including mimicry, a loud chink-chink and a rasping krak-krak-krak-krak.

Behavior

It is scarce and usually shy, but locally common and bolder. It associates in flocks up to six or seven, but pairs or solitary individuals are sometimes met with. A very energetic, agile bird, most of its time is spent in searching for food among foliage at all levels from the ground to the tops of tall trees. It capture the critters like hairy caterpillars, green tree-crickets, various chafer beetles, tree-frogs and lizards. The breeding season is in the first quarter of the year, so far as is known, but the nest has seldom been found. The nest resembled a small crow’s nest. It is very well concealded among small twigs and foliage near the top of the tree. The eggs number three to five and are whitish, profusely spotted and speckled with various shades of brown. They measure about 30.5 x 22.1 mm.

Location

It inhabits the heavy virgin forests of the mountains and wet-zone foot hills.

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Maha Rathu Karala - Crimson - Backed Flamback (Chrysocolaptes stricklandi)

Identification

This Flamback is about 11.5 ; tail 3.5 ; wing 5.9 ; tarsus 1.1; bill from gape 1.9. Back, scapulars, and outer surface of wings, except primary-coverts and outer webs of primaries, dull crimson, edges of feathers brighter, rump also brighter. In all other respects this species resembles C. gutticristatus except that there is everywhere more black and less white, there are only white spots on the back of the neck, and the sides of the head above the malar region and of the neck are almost all black, the superciliary stripe being represented by a row of white spots. The black borders of the breast-feathers are very broad. Sexual distinctions as in C. gutticristatus.Bill brownish or olivaceous at the base, greenish white in the middle, the tip dusky; iris yellowish white; legs and feet greenish' slate.

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.

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Giramaliththa - Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot (Loriculus beryllinus)

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.

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Alu Girawa - Layard's Parakeet (Psittacula calthropae)

Identification

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

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Watha Rathu Malkoha - Red-Faced Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus)

Identification

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.

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