62 : White-Browed Fantail

White-Browed Fantail - Rhipidura aureola

This was a snatched shot from a safari truck. Follow up in two Sri Lanka bird books narrowed down the identification and that black mohican stripe and broad white supercilium and brow is the give away. The clue is in the name.

I got a glimpse of this bird - nothing more or less and this is the best of 3 shots (no long lense as yet).

So armed with this poor shot I have now discovered that this is in the family of "Monarch Flycatchers and Fantails" - the same family as Asian Paradise Flycatcher of which I can share and even worse photo in due course. My own Fantail here apparently wafts his tail about to disturb insects and flush them from hiding spots.

I do remember this being at the end of a long drive where bird after bird was appearing. I cannot wait to go back.

I leave you with Spotted Deer to make up.

We are planning a trip to Tanzania this year. I really need the new camera. I am definately going to spend my retirement in the bush - one way or another. If I bump into elephants, tigers, pandas and pythons along the way while finding my birds I think it will just be a bonus.

White-Browed Fantail - Rhipidura aureola
Yala - Sri Lanka
April 2011

52 : Yellow-billed Babbler

Yellow-billed Babbler - Turdoides affinis

A noisy sociable thrush that frequented the understory across Sri Lanka. I hope these birds eat leaches. These horrible things would come out and attach themselves to your ankles when it rained. They really freaked the kids out after walks - the screams could be heard across the valley. We ended up walking wit little bags of salt or an indian lime in our pocket to make them fall off. Truly disgusting creatures.

I used watch one of these birds making its way through the leaf litter each morning tossing aside debris in its search for goodies - all the world like a Song Thrush back home. There are clearly "niches" for birds but I wonder why a super thrush couldn't dominate the world ? Tiny differences in food, fauna, other competitive pressures non-existant elsewhere ?

A fairly plain bird but on our side in the war against leaches !

Yelow-billed Babbler - Turdoides affinis
Sri Lanka, Ellerton Lodge near Kandy
April 2011

51 : Indian Pond Heron

Indian Pond Heron - Ardeola grayii

A common bird throughout South Asia. These two birds were photographed at the river at the bottom of my jungle walk in Sri Lanka. They look like the asian version of a Squacco Heron to me. Herons have the advantage that they are easily photographed !

The family are all back after the long Summer and routine is here so I am looking foward to getting into a routine with my blog pages and catching up the bird a day !

Indian Pond Heron - Ardeola grayii
Hills near Kandy, Sri Lanka
April 2011

48 : Little Cormorant

Little Cormorant - Phalacrocorax niger

Cormorants are pretty unloved birds. They "steal" fish from man, tend to smell in large numbers and are not that attractive. They give a good indication of the health of a river or lake though in terms of its fish population so we should be grateful. In the UK cormorants are the bane of fish farmers and angling clubs. Guns get involved.

I had not heard of this species of cormorant before I saw it in Sri Lanka near to Kandy. I took this picture of a Little Cormorant drying its wings at the end of a short morning's walk down to a river near our lodge. I thought it was a smart little bird - identified from the photo by its shorter conical bill and smaller size. These birds frequent the upland wet zone rivers apparently - A jungle cormorant ! What's not to like about that.

Indian Cormorant - Phalacrocorax niger
April 2011
Hills near kandy, Sri Lanka

47 : Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike (Pied flycatcher-shrike)

Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike (Pied flycatcher-shrike) - Hemipus picatus

I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for decent images from Sri Lanka now (any decent images !) but this bird was seen from a restaurant on the way to Yala from the high tea country. This is the Sri Lankan endemic race "leggei". It is found throughout the island in any good stand of forest and prefers the canopy. I was lucky here because I was on the side of a steep hill and at canopy level.

It reminds me of a slim version of a pied flycatcher from home. Smart bird - an exciting bird.

Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike (Pied flycatcher-shrike)
Hemipus picatus
Somewhere on the way to Yala from the tea country ! Sri lanka
April 2011

39 : Purple-rumped sunbird

Purple-rumped sunbird - Nectorina zeylonica

Another sunbird from the garden of Ellerton's lodge near Kandy in Sri Lanka. This is the male bird. Please see my post on Long-billed Sunbird (number 14) for a fuller description of this bird family.

I am getting postively low on images ! or decent images at least - I either have to raid the hard drives of the old computer or get out tomorrow up to Al Barsha park to see whats about. A couple more weeks and I will be running out. I haven't got the new camera yet so its going to be challenging to get some pictures of the various swifts and Hirundines. I am a post behind which I will catch over this weekend and also construct the page for Al Barsha park.

Purple-rumped Sunbird
Ellerton Lodge, Kandy, Sri Lanka
April 2011

36 : Grey-headed Fish Eagle

Grey-headed Fish Eagle - Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus

This is not a bird that I am familiar with at all. I saw them 3 or 4 times in the Yala in Sri Lanka but did not see them anywhere else in Sri Lanka. They are listed as "rare" in Sri Lanka.

I was looking at the birdlife international website just now which lists this eagle as "near threatened". There are somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 wild birds left and their population is thought to be in decline. The main issue is habitat loss. They are widespread but only locally situated in pockets across South and South East Asia. They hunt for fish on rivers, lagoons, lakes and so on. They also need big trees in which to nest near to the water that they depend on for a livlehood. They are regulary persecuted by fisherman in particular who see them as a threat to fish stocks. I think overfishing by man is probably the biggest threat to fish stocks ! I doubt they take more than one or two fish a day. Its not as if they are flying off with children.

Birdlife say that there are currently no programmes running to assist these eagles other than to track their numbers and try and find the causes of the population decline.

Grey-headed Fish Eagle - Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus
Yala National Park, Sri lanka
13-15 April 2011

4 : Malabar Pied Hornbill

Malabar Pied Hornbill - Anthracoceros coronatus

This post was orginally made as number 4 at the beginning of May - for some reason it has moved up the list when I edited out a typo.

Back to the exotic again today. There are 54 species of Hornbill and I have only seen one of them. Like Bee-eaters they are spread across Africa and Southern Asia. This bird (and several others) was photographed again recently in Yala National Park in Sri Lanka while we were on a mini-safari during a family holiday.

These really are big birds and they need a big nesting hole. The threat across Asia to Hornbills is logging. Without the big old trees to nest in certain species are at risk. I read this morning that after the female lays her eggs they are walled in with mud and then the male brings food and feeds the female through a slit in the plug. Presumably this little fort protects the eggs, female and young from snakes and mongooses and other such predators and scavengers.

Around Yala these birds would gather in large roosts in certain trees - twenty or thirty at a time. I needed to remind myself that this was not the aviary in Regents Park Zoo but the real thing. I am not sure what purpose the nob or casque on the top of the bill has. It looks heavy but I presume it is fairly light like all bills.

- Anthracoceros coronatus
Yala National Park, Sri lanka - 15-18 April 2011

31 : Asian Open-bill Stork

Asian Open-bill Stork - Anastomus osciatans

Another stork today - the Asian open bill is a lot smaller than some of the featured storks so far. It is named after its curious bill which seems to have a adaptation like a nutcracker. The photo shows the advantage of the gap between the mandibles. This bird is about to crack a water snail as if it was a wlanut at Christmas.

These birds have a large range across India, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. They are tree nesting waterbirds and I expect Yala is a favourite spot.

I have not dared to count how many pictures of birds I have left but I have a plan afoot for a long weekend trip to Ethiopia which is about a 4 hour flight away from Dubai. The Bale mountains are a day's drive from Addis Adaba. If I sort out my camera equipment I reckon I could scoop up a couple of month's worth of birds in two or three days. Its not a place I ever thought about until I bought a book by Dominic Cousins called 100 Best Birdwatching sites to try and prompt some thoughts about quick getaways to get some ammunition for this site. Drawing concentric rings around Dubai you can get to some interesting places for a couple of hundred pounds and I have never been birding in Africa.

It will be quite a trip - thats for sure. For now I leave you the Yala.

A large Egret roost. I am sure that this is prime breeding territory for Open-bills as well.

Asian Open-bill Stork
Anastomus oscitans
15-17 April 2011

30 : Southern Coucal

Greater Coucal - Centropus (sinensis) parotti

Coucals are members of the Cuckoo family - there are 122 species of Cuculiformes. Less than half of all cuckoo species are "brood parasites" - laying their eggs in another bird's nest for a free ride. The Coucals of which there are 28 species are not brood parasites. In other words they get a bad wrap and have the decency to raise their own families.

I saw this species all over Sri Lanka whereever there were plenty of trees. They a big bird, almost pheasant sized and crash through the leaves of trees when they are off the ground. I think they forage on the ground for a living. They certainly do not look at home perching.

As ever when its Yala I leave you with some action from the world outside of birds. Here a mongoose - Ricki Ticki Tavi.

Southern Coucal - Centropus (sinensis) parotti
Yala, Sri Lanka
14 April 2011

25 : Ceylon Small Barbet

Ceylon Small Barbet - Megalaima rubricapilla (?)

June and I am still here ! Believe you me I am the most suprised. Perhaps I should declare on facebook or this site that I will lose weight and that might happen.

I had the humility to attach a question-mark to the citation on this bird when it first went up as in all honestly I wqas not sure if this is correct or if it is Crimson Headed Barbet (Meglalaima haemacephala indica) which is the Ceylon sub-species I think of Coppersmith Barbet (the main indian race I think). As no passing Barbet expert from the Ceylon bird club has yet put me right I have removed the question-mark. I will amend my post after some more research but for now thats my call and I am not going to beat myself up if I am wrong. The lady at Ellertons in Kandy Sri Lanka had never seen a Barbet in her garden so there you go. I put a few ticks in that lodges' bird book (visitors would tick new birds form the garden against the picture - that was a red-rag to a bull !).

When I first downloaded a list of the birds of the world, probably a good 10 years ago, I would sit at work and get quite bemused flicking through and planting ticks next to names of "British Birds" only to find that they sat alone on a whole sheet of the list. I used to take delight in reading the names to my wife at home - imagine if I could see a Scaly Breasted Munia or a White-rumped Shama ? - those would be the sort of names I would pour over imagining that everything was flitting somewhere in the sunshine waiting to be discovered by Adventure Neil - my imagined alter ego. I have discovered it is more pottering Neil when my bins are on but there you go - I like a nice 'Potter' around a bird reserve followed by a something to eat and a nosy around the shop. Walking around a concrete resevoir in the desert in fourty degree heat here in Dubai I quite miss a cup of tea and a piece of cake and a purchase of the London Wildlife Trust annual bird report. Better still fish and chips. You have to suffer for your birds out here - but I still Potter. I stopped at Whitards in Festival City recently for a pot of earl grey after I had been thrashing around some scrub in the back of beyond. No restaurant and gift shop you see. I need to speak to Sheikh Mohammed about mass birding culture - give us tea and cake and we will be out in droves. We potter !!

I digress as ever - Barbets were certainly one of those names that conjured up something magical and judging by this fine fellow they did not disapoint. This was my first Barbet and I have 82 species to go. These are forest birds mostly eating fruit like figs up in the canopy. They are related to woodpeckers - I can see they have a short stiff tail which I am sure they can use for propping themselves when hanging of a tree. I can see why they are in a family - Capitonidae - with woodpeckers e.g. who also have that stiff tail. They also nest in a hole in a tree (a few in holes in banks) - again like woodpeckers and Hornbills (another member of that larger bird family).

One Barbet is endangered - please hang on in there Colombia's White-mantled Barbet ! The ranches and farming are taking away its habitat and it is hanging on in fragmented populations. Another 9 are near threatened.

A lot of money from the big organisations like the WWT and RSPB makes its way overseas into research and work to help endangered species. You've done your bit by being a member. Also - when you are pottering about on a Sunday morning and you end up in a reserve gift shop look out for books endorsed by Birdlife International or signs of money going overseas as well for habitat protection - birdfood for example - you can do it whereever you go - rainforest coffee for example which they grow sympathetically. I can't see it hurts and birders are a force for good in this world. Birds are a good bell weather of a places' health. See how many species you get in a monoculture. I am from East Anglia and saw my first Corn Bunting in Spain ! I get irritated at the thought that the size of this task might get smaller over the next 27 years.

With that thought I leave you with a random picture of my last British post bird-potter lunch. I played hooky from work on a business trip and dipped into Barn Elms for an hour (Faringdon to Hammersmith on the Circle and 10 minutes on a taxi or a bus - sorted - at least I worked it out on the way back). Pottering is good - get out and potter - buy a book to read with your lunch rather than the Telegraph and help that Colombian Barbet.

Ceylon Small Barbet - Megalaima rubricapilla
Ellertons Lodge, Kandy, Sri Lanka
12 April 2011

21 : Yellow-wattled Lapwing

Yellow-wattled Lapwing - Vanellus malarbaricus

This shot of a small packet of Yellow-wattled Lapwings was taken in Yala. These birds are spread right through the Indian sub-continent from Sri lanka in the South right up to Pakistan and Nepal in the North.

I like the colour scheme - they really are quite handsome. They are birds of quite arid scrub and feed on termites, beetles and other insects. When they nest on an open patch of ground they will fly off to soak their chest feathers in water to keep the eggs cool while they are sitting.

Yellow-wattled Lapwing - Vanellus malarbaricus
Yalla, Sri Lanka, 15-18 Aoril 2011

20 : Black-hooded Oriole

Black-hooded Oriole - Oriolus xanthornus

Orioles belong in the sun of the tree canopy. Their sulphur yellow plumage and fluting songs are exotic and make you strain your eyes into the tops of trees to pick them out. They are such a reward to see and hear. This bird again was just around Ellerton's lodge in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Every morning I would walk 3 paces out of the front door of my room to look out onto a forested slope and spend a good hour picking out birds. Birding on tap at 6 am to work up an appetite for breakfast.

If you go to Sri lanka try hoppers - baskets woven out of rice flour that have an egg in the bottom. Fruit and a curry for breakfast is not uncommon either. They are accompanied by a thing called sambal which is shredded coconut usually with spicy tomatoe or mint. You might get a Dhal or some spicy potatoes. A Sri-lankan omolette with fiery green and red chillies is a good start for the day as well. There are different pickles made out of mangos,brinjal or limes. The bananas are good with the pickles - they tend to be small and sweet. In Sri lanka the food miles measured on a banana can be less than 1. Also buffalo curd with a treacle from palm sap was a new one on me. Big birds followed by a big breakfast. The day is already perfect before 8.30 am.

Black-hooded Oriole - Oriolus xanthornus
Ellertons lodge, Kandy, Sri Lanka
8-13 April 2011

19 : White-throated Kingfisher

Above - a later siting during the Banglore Bonanza in May 2012.

White-throated Kingfisher - Halcyon smyrnensis

This picture below was taken down at my river in the bottom of the valley near Ellerton's lodge in the hills beside Kandy, Sri Lanka. I had a daily walk that wound down the side of the hill - taking in a few smallholdings and bits of cleared forest. At the bottom of the track was a small hydroelectric power facility with a road bridge and a shop ! The mud in and around the bay by the dam was home to a few different bird species.

All Kingfishers are wonderful - they vary in size from whopping great things the size of small crows to tiny birds that would sit in the palm of your hand with ease. This is quite a chunky little kingfisher quite a bit bigger than the kingfishers you might be used to seeing in Northern Europe - 'commons'. The bill is quite large and I think these birds hunt over the land as well as the water taking small lizards, large insects and so on. I saw them all around Sri Lanka perched on telephone wires mostly.

I have to admit that on the day I walked down the valley and snapped this fine bird I cheated and got a tuc-tuc to haul my frame back up the hill. That was as much fun as seeing this bird - the driver had to be forced to take money from me. It was a short journey and he kept waving me away when I tried to get in my wallet. Amazing country, lovely birds and lovely people.

The chocolate brown and the bright blue on this bird were stunning in the sun and in flight it took your breath away.

This is a view of the front of the bird with its white throat.

And a blow up to show the big hefty bill. This was a very satisfying 'tick'. A sunny walk through a tropical forest that ended with a kingfisher in the valley below. Whats not to like.

White-throated Kingfisher - Halcyon smyrnensis

Near Ellerton Lodge, Hills by Kandy, Sri Lanka

10 April 2011

14 : Long-billed Sunbird

Long-billed Sunbird - Nectarinia lotenia

There are 130 species of these delightful birds according to my Collin's Birds of the World. I had never seen a sunbird until I moved to Dubai and specifically hunted one down in Safa Park. These are small birds usually but this species seen in Sri Lanka is much larger than the sunbirds I am used to seeing in Dubai.

The bills are all adapted for probing different 'makes and shapes' of flowers. They are filling the same niche as new world humming birds but are completely unrelated. It's what you call convergent evolution. Both families of birds have independantly developed long bills adapted to take advantage of the high energy food available from flowers, irridescent plumage and they can hover.

Again I'd recomend a delve into the books of Dawkins. Seals and whales are a good example of convergent evolution - both are mammals adapted to return to the sea. A whale is closer to a pig though in evolutionary terms than a seal which is of itself closer to a dog or a wolf. They have got back into the sea along a different path.

This Long-billed Sunbird really does what it says on the tin. I was suprised to learn when reading up today that they also take spiders to get a bit more protein with their nectar when breeding. This long bill is obviously highly adapted for very long tubular flowers but it also allows them to catch spiders lurking in the bottom of the flower bowls.

The photograph was taken of a bird resting on the roof of a bungalow we stayed at in Sri Lanka called Ellertons near Kandy.

Long-billed Sunbird - Nectarinia Lotenia
Hills near Kandy, Sri Lanka - 10 April 2011.

9 : Indian Nightjar

Indian Nightjar - Caprimulgus indicus

The bulk of shots you get of nightjars are usually on the ground like this during the daytime. They are of course nocturnal and spend the evenings and nights hawking for moths.

This bird was camped out on the safari track in Yala and I have to admit that this shot was taken by my wife who was on the right (left) side of the safari truck. It is wonder that it didn't get run over or disturbed. It was only when we got home a couple of weeks later that we noticed the fluffy object to the right of the bird - I am sure there is a chick resting on the ground. They must rely utterly on the camouflage and remaining prefectly still. We saw dozens of mongooses and monitor lizards while in the park, there also jackals and foxes and wildcats.

Well the camouflage works because we couldn't see the chick in real life looking directly down on this bird from the safari truck - perhaps a distance of 8 feet or so. I have always wondered about ground nesting as a strategy - it seems so precarious. I presume these birds can start another brood quite easily if the young get predated and that they have a long season to get lucky. They are a large bird so I assume they have a few seasons to get it right.

Pot luck getting this shot - the truck was turning the corner and the spotter on the passenger side saw this bird tucked on the side of the track. Nobody saw the chick and presumably the genetic clockwork just tells it to stay absolutely still - even when the parent is off hawking insects.

At the end of an afternoon's game drive the headlights would be turned on on for the last twenty minutes or so getting home as it got too dark to see the way - one night we had a nightjar chasing the moths that were dancing down the headlight beams - to all the world like a giant moth itself. Moths themselves have compeletly independantly evolved the same cryptic camouflage for staying still on the branch of a tree all day. The solution that works - as an accidental adaptation - just gets passed on if successful. With moths apparently in London it has taken only thirty years or so in some species for the colouration to change back to lighter tones now that the soot has been cleaned off the buildings and trees. The lighter toned moths are better camouflaged and the darker ones stand out and are eaten. Its mind boggling. I recomend any of Dawkins books - Blind Watchmaker, Selfish Gene etc. Once you get it in your head that adaptation is "unknowing" and accidental then it becomes even more amazing.

Indian Nightjar (and chick) - Caprimulgus indicus
April 17 2011 - Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

8 : Brown Fish-owl

Brown Fish Owl - Ketupa zeylonensis

Back to Yala National Park in Sri Lanka again this morning. Also our first owl.

I have to admit that I would not have seen this bird on my own. We did a series of 4 game drives over three days and our driver Stuart, a Burgher (white Sri Lankan)and his spotter were very good at suddenly stopping and pointing out birds for me. The big draws at Yala are the leopards and the elephants and we were lucky with these. Over the course of our short stay in the park I saw something like 90 birds species that were all new to me. It was hard to keep up and I am definately going back.

You always feel very privilaged to see an owl. It is always a special moment. This was a big owl - perhaps 50 cm + in height.

These are birds of tropical South Asia with a large range. They are generally nocturnal so this bird must have been roosting. They mainly feed on fish , frogs and aquatic crustacea. He was sat in a fairly large tree next to what they call a tank in Sri Lanka (a big resevoir or lake) and very close to the track. The sheer number and diversity of birds in this place was breathtaking.

Yala - heaven

I think Yala has put me off the deep end again with my desire to get out and see more.

Brown Fish-owl - Ketupa zeylonensis
15-18 April 2011, Yala National Park, Sri Lanka
74 Points

1 : Chestnut Headed Bee-eater

Chestnut Headed Bee-eater - Merops leschenaulti

I might as well start with a bang and not a wimper. To me this is bird porn. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago in the Yala National Park in South-East Sri Lanka. You can click on the picture for a slightly blown up view.

There are 25 species of Bee-eater in the world distributed across Southern Europe, Southern Asia, Africa and Australia - quite frankly I am convinced that if you have seen one you have not seen them all ! Most - 18 out of 25 species are found in Africa. I've never birded in Africa and consequently I think I've only seen 4 or 5 species so far in my life (I am currently consolidating my world list from various holiday lists, ticked guides and notebooks etc.) I certainly only have a picture of two species I think (I'll save that for a rainy day). Africa here we come ! If I stick with this project this will be the beauty of it. I will let you know from my rocking chair when I am heading off to Africa and then I'll be able to tell you if it was worth the journey - worth pouring over the books. If you are a commited bird man you will know the answer. Collecting without keeping;hunting without killing.

Bee-eaters perform. They hawk for insects and chatter all the time, looping and whirling around their colleagues. I have seen perhaps 20 in a tree together in Southern Spain. They seem very social birds. You will rapidly realise that I am no ornithologist - just a bloke who likes birds.I will try not to read in human emotions - but these are birds that seem to really enjoy going about their daily routine.

This individual stayed perfectly still on a branch about 8 feet from the side of our safari truck while we were on an early morning game drive. A perfect jewel. The lemon yellow, the chestnut on the back, the greens from a childrens felt tip set. For me amongst all the leopards and elephants this was another perfect moment.

Later at our riverside "glamp" I watched a pair on an overhanging branch. In turns they would dive down to catch something only to pop up right next to their mate. I stopped following the flying bird with my bins and started watching the empty space on the branch - after a while I stopped worrying about whether the second bird was about to pop up. This was a clearly a pair. In some species I learn from Collins, a mated pair will stay together for life. Now I don't know if thats true of Chestnut Headed Bee-Eaters - its a different strategy I guess from species to species but within a season they are monogomous. It shows. If this pair had been together for a season or two then how special. If they were both starting out for their first season or just one season and were bonding, then again - how very special.

After a chatter and a look around together off the other bird would swoop. Turn by turn. This went on for at least half an hour and with a Lion beer, a notebook full of new birds and my feet up it doesn't get much better.

I did not get a photo of the pair. I will need a big fat Canon lens and some spare cash. I got a good photo of the individual in the morning sun a few feet from the truck. My wife says that I was lucky with the quality of the branch for this photograph. Quite frankly I think they would look good on a breezeblock in the middle of a rubbish dump.

The family Meropidae - "a favourite with birdwatchers" says Collins Birds of the World. Well its a good place to start. Í've thought about some sort of points system - a bit like Parker points for fine wine. I think birds are a bit like a good wine - the moment, the atmosphere, the behaviour, the light - it all comes together so it has to be a very very subjective.

I am a bloke who likes birds, not a poet and certainly not an ornathologist. A scoring system will not elevate the task to anything more or less worthy. Every bird has its place and value whether I like them personally or not. There is birding Nirvana and I'll explain it when I post about it. Rest assured sitting with a beer next to a Sri Lankan river writing up your notes and being entertained by a pair of Chestnut Headed Bee-eaters is about as good as it has got so far.

15-18 April 2011, Yala National Park Sri Lanka
Chestnut Headed Bee-Eater - Merops leschenaulti
+ a very good start to what will have to be a lifetimes' work
Bon Voyage and happy hunting