Have you ever seen a Brahminy Kite feeding on a tortoise? And it drops the tortoise from the sky on a rock to break the shell, as a Bearded Vulture plays with a huge bone? I never seen or heard such incident, or any report on such behaviour by Brahminy kites. Anyway, I came ...
A workshop on Survival Skills for kids members of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka was held at the Mirigama scout camp from 19th-20th of June 2010. Eleven FOG kids were accompanied by five parents along with five FOGSL staff members. This was the first trip where kids spent a night out as all other fog-kids trips were one-day ...
A must watch film for birders. It is about three birders who are competing each other to record most number of birds in a calender year. The Big Year Trailer Visit the official web site of the film here. The film is based on the book named "The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession" by Mark Obmascik.
Located 90 minutes drive from the city of Melbourne, the not-for-profit ‘Phillip Island Nature Parks’ is the renowned home of Australia’s most popular natural wildlife attraction, the iconic Penguin Parade, where during every sunset hundreds to over a thousand wild Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) emerge from the sea and march across the beach to their ...
The annual field trip to the hill country for the year 2010 organized by the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) took place from 25-27th of June with the participation of 18 members. It provided unique opportunity for us to ...
FOGSL in collaboration with Naval base in Vankalai organized a briding excursion to Mannar from 4-7th November 2010 with the participation of 23 members. It was a “first in life” trip to few, while others were “going down the memory lane” to re-discover the birding hotsopts in the area. Mannar was out of ...
Latest issue of the “Siyoth- the journal of Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka” is out. It contains many articles related to Sri Lankan birds, trip reports, photo essays and observations. This 64 page magazine with plentiful color photographs of Sri Lankan birds is a must-read for Sri Lankan nature lovers. Here are some of the articles published in ...
The field workshop at Belihul Oya was held from 27th to 30th of May 2010. Our campsite was an abandoned school in Kumbalgama which was a few kilometres away from the Sabaragamuwa University.We were given a few brief lectures at the ...
After habitat loss and degradation, the leading threats to biodiversity are over-exploitation and invasive alien species. For birds, newly synthesised data using the standard classification schemes for utilisation and threat types for the IUCN Red List allow novel analyses on the importance of these threats and permit the calculation of Red List Indices (RLIs) to show trends in the status ...
In forests, tree holes are created either quickly by woodpeckers or more slowly as trees age and begin to decay. Birds like owls, songbirds and parrots, and mammals like flying squirrels and opossums, make homes in the holes of trees because they offer safe environments for sleeping, reproduction and raising young. Insects, snakes ...
Birds of Paradise is one of the most fascinating groups of passerine birds in the world. Birds in this group are especially famous for their elaborate, most extravagant plumage patterns. Altogether there are 39 species, living in New Guinea and associated Islands, and also in Australia. Naturalists had been fascinated by these birds for centuries. However, scientists knew very ...
“Are you a bird watcher, an ornithologist, an ornithophile, an aviphile, a bird lover, bird fancier, bird bander, birder, bird spotter, lister, ticker, twitcher- or what?” asks Roger Tory Peterson. Famous American bird artist and photographer Roger Tory Peterson’s article “What are you really?” first published in “Bird watchers digest” in March/April 1984, later included in the book “All things ...
Affectionately known as "KK", bustling Kota Kinabalu is the capital of Sabah and the hub of tourism in Malaysian Borneo. Visitors from around the world use KK as the center point for visiting variety of attractions Sabah has to offer including biologically rich islands, and national parks. Situated just two kilometers from the main ...
The phenomenon of Mixed Species Bird Flocks (MSBF), in forest systems has been well documented and studied in various parts of the world. These studies have resulted in unraveling the adaptive benefits of MSBF and understanding their composition, dynamics and foraging ecology. MSBF are visible, audible and therefore have potential to be key indicator for forest quality. Yet there are ...
The first weekend of April was a time when the country was griped in cricket fever with the Sri Lankan team qualifying to play the grand final on the 2nd. Yet few of us opted to go “wild” during that weekend and spent two halcyon days roaming in the Wilpattu National Park, which ...
Yes, they are smart enough to beat birds. Caterpillars that masquerade as twigs to avoid becoming a bird's dinner are actually using clever behavioural strategies to outwit their predators, a new study reveals. Dr. John Skelhorn, a lecturer in animal behaviour at the University of Exeter, said: "The caterpillars are not just blindly mimicking inedible objects in the environment and ...
