Lanka Rasa Raviya
Endemic & Threatened Birds in Sri Lanka
Local Name : Sri Lanka Bush Warbler
Scientific Name : Bradypterus palliseri (Blyth)
1. Slightly larger than a sparrow. Sexes alike, except that the male has red irides while those of the female are pale buff.
2. It is confined to elevations above 3,000 feet, but is common in suitable country above this height. It loves nillu(Strobilanthes) and elephant grass (dwarf bamboo), and may be confindently expected where these plants from dense brakes of undergrowth in the damp hil forests. It lives usually in pairs and some times it might easily be mistaken for a mouse. It feeds on small insects, being partial to soft-bodied green crickets (Tettigoniidae), which it finds hiding on the undersides of leaves.
The nest is large for the size of the bird, and it composed of moss, grass, scrub-bamboo leaves, etc., with a fairly deep cup lined with fine fibers. The breeding season is February to May, with a secondary season in September. The two eggs, which are fragile, are described as 'oval and only slightly pointed at the small end. The colour... whitish-pink, thickly powered all over with rather deeper purplish markings and with one or two long hair-lines at deep barown the larger end. Size .9 by .67' (about 22.6 X 16.7 mm.)
3. This mouse-coloured bird is essentially an inhabitant of the dense undergrowth of the mountain forests, or of thick scrub; but occasionally it will venture into tea-fields where these adjoin forest.
Lanka Adhuru Nil-Massimara - Sri Lanka dull blue flycatcher
Andurunil Masimara
Endemic & Threatened Birds in Sri Lanka
Local Name : The Dusky-Blue Flycatcher
Scientific Name : Eumyias sordida (Walden)
1. Sparrow-sized. Sexes similar, but the juveniles are brown, heavily spotted on head, back, wing-coverts and breast with pale buff; flight feathers are broadly margined with blue-grey.
2. It is not a shy bird. It feeds mainly on flying insects, beetles, caterpillars and the like, but also eats berries such as wild yellow rasberry, lantana, etc. It has a sweet rather loud song.
The main breeding season is in the first half of the year, March and April being the favourite months; but a second -or a third-brood is often reared in August-September. The nest is a compact mass of green moss, with a neat, rather deep cup in the top, lined with fine black fibers, probably fern roots. The site is always well shaded, but not always well concealed. The normal clutch is two, but occasionally three eggs are laid. They are pale pink, freckled all over with pale burnt sienna, which often formas a zone, or cap, at the large end. They measure about 20.5 X 14.8 mm.
3. The flycatcher is confined to the hills above 2,000 feet, but is not common below 3,000 feet. It inhabits forest or well-wooded ravines on estates, gardens, etc., where plenty of shady trees give it the seclusion it loves.
Lanka Mudun Bora Demalichcha - Brown Capped BarbblerLanka Mudun Bora Demalichcha
Endemic & Threatened Birds in Sri Lanka
Local Name : The Brown-Capped Babbler
Scientific Name : Pellorneum fuscopillum
1. About the size of the magpie robin, but with shorter tail.Sexes similar. It is a soberly coloured bird, brown with a darker brown cap, and the face, superclilium and all underparts pale rusty.
2. A shy jungle-loving bird, it lives in pairs. The nest is a domed, outwardly untidy structure composed of dead leaves, skeleton leaves, dry grass, etc., placed on the ground among the same kind of objects, among the same kind of objects, among which it is practically impossible to distinguish unless, and until, the bird flies off at one's feet. It is often situated at the base of a tree or shrub and is always in deep forest. The two eggs are broad ovals, white or off-white and thickly speckled with some shade of brown. They measure about 22.2 X 16.2 mm.
3. It is found, wherever there is forest, throughout the island except perhaps in the driest parts of the Northern and Southern Provinces. It ascends the hills to at least 5,500 feet.
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