Common Jezebel

The Common Jezebel is a medium sized pierid butterfly found in many areas of South and Southeast Asia, especially in the non-arid regions of India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. More images and info inside.

The wingspan of both males and females range from 6.5cm to 8.5cm. The upper and under sides of the females wing  are similar to the male but the black edging to the veins and the postdiscal transverse bands on both fore and hind wings are much broader than that of the male.

This butterfly is common through most of its range except for the desert tracts, and up to an altitude of 7000 feet. It can be found wherever there are trees, even in towns and cities. The females can be seen flying amongst the trees in search of its food plants, while the males are more frequently observed visiting flowers for nectar or mud-puddling. It rests with its wings closed exhibiting the brilliantly coloured underside.

 

It has bright coloration to indicate the fact that it is unpalatable due to toxins accumulated by the larvae from the host-plants. Like other unpalatable butterflies the Common Jezebel is mimicked by Prioneris sita, the Painted Sawtooth. The Common Jezebel can be distinguished by the shape of the orange red spots on the hind wing. In the Painted Sawtooth these spots are very squarish whereas in the Common Jezebel they are more arrow head shaped. The Painted Sawtooth also flies faster and will also mud puddle.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delias_eucharis

All the shots on this post have been taken with the Canon 7D and the EF 100-400mm lens. I used an ISO of 400 hoping to utilise a faster shutter speed and minimise the noise. I managed to get within 2 meters of the butterfy tocapture these images. The butterflies were photographed in Anuradhapura, Trincomalee and Colombo. The largest specimens were seen in Trincomalee.

Indian Paradise-flycatcher

The Indian Paradise-flycatcher is usually about 20cm in length but the long tail streamers double this. The bird in the images on this post is roughly three years old. The adult Indian paradise-flycatcher has a white body but the juvenile has a chestnut coloured body, similar to the Ceylon Paradise-flycatcher. The juveniles start moulting into their white plumage in their third year. The bird pictured in these images has just started the moulting process. More images and info after the jump.

The females of both species are similar to the males in colour but lack the long tail streamers. Several races are recognised but further study is required. Subtle differences in colour and markings differentiate the races from each other. The race found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka has very long streamers and crests.  The Paradise flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp skreek call. It also has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched. They bathe in small pools of water in the afternoon by diving from a perch.

I have grown up with this bird visiting my garden towards the end of every year. We started recording the date which it first appeared and found that for a period of over ten years, the variation was around 10 days.

It was pretty easy to see this bird as it arrived in our garden at roughly the same time every evening. It also followed the same path to the pond where it had a bath. Unfortunately the perches it used were in the canopy or quite well hidden from view. The bird was also very shy and would fly off as soon as it saw anyone. This made getting a clear shot of it almost impossible.

The image above clearly shows the tail feathers and some of the upper parts moulting into white plumage. This would mean that the bird is three years of age.

These shots were captured over a period of a month between mid December and mid January. The shots were taken when the bird had paused for a relatively long period of time to feed. All these shots were taken with a 100-400mm lens mounted on a Canon 7D. The ISO was around 400 in order to use a faster shutter speed.

Western Monasteries - Anuradhapura

In the quieter parts of the sacred city of Anuradhapura lie the Western Monasteries or the Tapovana Monastery. The Monastery was inhabited by meditating forest dwelling monks who came into prominence in the seventh century. More info and images inside.

The main component of the hermitages of these monks was the padhanagaras or the meditation houses, which were beautifully built of well proportioned and meticulously-dressed plain stone. A curious feature of these monasteries is the ornamented urinal stones. These are the only elaborately decorated features found in the Monastery which is otherwise characteristically devoid of ornamentation except of the simplest kind.

Architecturally the habitations of these monks of the tapovana sect also called Pamsukulin are generic, and are duplicated in many other monasteries of the fraternity as at Ritigala and Arankele. However according to scholars the monasteries at Anuradhapura represent the padhanagara pirivena in its most developed form.
Source - http://www.angelfire.com/in4/anuradhapura/tapovana.htm

All the images shown above were shot with a Canon 400D with an EF 50mm f1.8 lens. The image of the cave comprises 6 images stitched together using Hugin.

Yellow-fronted Barbet

The Yellow-fronted Barbet is an endemic bird found in the well wooded area in the wet lowlands and mid hills of Sri Lanka. More info and images after the jump.

This is the second largest Barbet found on the Island (the Brown-headed Barbet is the largest). It is unmistakeable with its yellow forehead and blue face. It frequents tall trees but descends to lower branches, especially when these are in fruit. It mainly feeds on fruit but is known to occasionally eat insects as well.

The breeding season is during February and May with a secondary season form August to September. The nest hole is similar to that of the Brown-headed Barbet but is slightly smaller in size. The cavity is oval in shape and, if new, is 8 inches in depth. The Yellow-fronted barbet uses its nest for several years running, digging it deeper each year.

I came across this bird at our place in Kandy where it was seen feeding on these flowers at around 7.00 am every morning. Getting the shots above wasn't hard. All I had to do was make sure I was around at the correct time. To capture these images I increased the ISO to 640 with the hope of getting a faster shutter speed. In hind sight, I should have used an ISO of 400 and a bit of fill flash. This would have reduced the noise. Something to keep in mind for next time....

Other images / info on Barbets

• Brown Headed Barbet
• Yellow Fronted Barbet
• Crimson Fronted Barbet

Common Kingfisher

The Common Kingfisher is found throughout Sri Lanka, although it is scarce at the highest elevations. It is not as common as the White-throated kingfisher but can be found at most village tanks (man made lake). More images and info inside. Click the images on this post to view larger versions.

It is easy to identify this species of Kingfisher due to its small size and overall blue plumage but may be confused with the extremely rare Blue-eared Kingfisher. The Chestnut coloured ear coverts differentiate the common Kingfisher from the Blue-eared Kingfisher. However, it must be noted that the Common Kingfisher can hide its ear coverts when it adopts a hunched pose. The female of the species is identical to the male except the female has an orange-red lower mandible.

The Common Kingfisher is widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is a common breeding species across most of its Eurasian range but is a winter visitor to North Africa. It inhabits clear, slow flowing streams and rivers with well vegitated banks. It frequents scrubs and bushes with overhanging branches from which it hunts.

The Common Kingfisher nests in a burrow, excavated by both birds, in a vertical riverbank.  The straight sometimes inclining burrow is usually 60-90 cm long and ends in an enlarged chamber. The nest cavity is unlined but soon collects a litter of fish remains. The Common Kingfisher typically lays five to seven eggs which are incubated by both sexes. Usually one or two eggs from a clutch fail to hatch as the parent can't cover them.

It hunts from a perch around one or two meters above the water with its bill pointing down as it looks for prey. Once prey is detected, it dives to seize the fish below the surface. The wings are open under water and the open eye is protected by a third eyelid. The bird then rises, beak first, and flies back to its perch. The Kingfisher then adjusts the fish in its beak so that it is held near the tail and then proceeds to beat it several times on the perch until the fish is dead. The fish is then swallowed head first.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Kingfisher

I visited the Thalangama tank on a regular basis during December and January with the aim of capturing a couple of decent images of this bird. I was fortunate enough to identify a perch which was frequented by a Common Kingfisher within the first couple of visits and managed to get a number of shots using the car as a hide. However, I wasn't too happy with these images as they needed to be cropped. I had to get closer to it. On my next visit, I waited until the bird had its back turned to me and got out of the car and moved closer on foot pausing whenever the bird looked in my direction. I managed to get within fifteen feet of the bird and captured the shots above. They have not been cropped. I was using the 100-400mm lens on the 7D.  

Christmas in Colombo

We had a blast over Christmas as we spent a month over December and January in Colombo with family and friends. It was also a hell of a lot busier than Sydney was the year before! I captured around 70GB of images (most of them were shots of birds) while I was away and have lots of material for more animal and bird posts. However with this post I thought I'd share something a bit different for a change. More Christmas images after the jump.

There aren't too many shots of the food......... probably because I was eating! Here's a shot of some Brandy Butter which I managed to capture.

 

and the Christmas Pudding being lit.