Black-winged Stilts - Yala, Sri Lanka

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

Black-winged stilts are common waders found in most Sri Lankan tanks. Their distinct red legs and black wings make identification straightforward. I hadn't actually photographed this species before our last trip to Yala and was quite keen to get a few shots of them in flight.

More photographs inside.

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

We stayed at a house outside the park during our time in Yala. Just before leaving for Colombo, I walked down to the bottom of the garden and found a number of Black-winged Stilts in the tank adjacent to the property. The photographs on this post were shot during the 30 minutes I spent at the tank.

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

Males of this species are said to have a black back with a greenish gloss while female's backs have a brown hue. Immature birds are grey in colour  instead of black and have a sandy hue on their wings. The Black-winged Stilt belongs to the avocet family and mainly feed on insects and crustaceans.

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) - Yala, Sri Lanka

These photographs were taken with the canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. If I were to take these shots again, I would probably get lower down to the ground and shoot at a similar level to the birds as they fly past.






  

Fungus-eating Ladybird - Sydney, Australia

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

Over the weekend I found a tiny ladybird on one of the plants on our balcony. Since I hadn't photographed the species before I grabbed the macro lens, extension tubes and a flash and started shooting. I came up with a number of decent images.

More photographs inside.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

The fungus-eating Ladybird, identified by the yellow and black markings on its body, is about 4mm in length. There are a number of yellow and black Ladybirds and I spent some time online trying to identify the correct species. Fortunately each species has a distinct black and yellow pattern on its back which simplified the task.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

As the name suggests, this species feeds on fungus and black mold on plants. It is fast moving and is known to take flight or drop when it is threatened. It is not a welcome garden pest as it is said to spread mould spores form plant to plant as it moves through the garden.

Fungus-eating Ladybird -  Sydney, Australia

I used the 7D and the 100mm Macro lens for all these photographs. For lighting I used a Canon 430 EX II fired from various positions off camera. I tried a couple of shots with the flash on the camera and found them to be a bit flat and boring. The off camera flash created a bit more depth and, in my opinion, produced better results.

Zoom Zoom Zoom

The wheel of a Mazda

I thought I'd take a break from the usual bird and butterfly shots and add a bit of variety to the blog, so here's a shot of the wheel of a Mazda. I had a few minutes to kill and the camera was with me. This resulted in the shot above. I liked how the Mazda logo was positioned and I felt all the leading lines made a strong composition.  I wanted the image to be a black and white one and exposed the image accordingly. Read on for more lighting information.

I actually didn't use any strobes to light the wheel. The shot was taken around 10.00 in the morning with the light coming from camera right. The wheel was slightly turned and this allowed the light to only hit the face of the wheel and keep the insides and grooves in shadow.

Do drop a comment if you have any suggestions on how this shot could be improved.

Black-rumped Flameback - Part 2

A Black-rumped Flameback photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Out of all the birds found in Sri Lanka, the Black-rumped Flameback is one of the most striking in terms of colour.  It's bright red back makes it relatively easy to identify. However it can be mistaken with the Greater Flameback. More info on this species can be found in one of my previous posts at http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2009/11/black-rumped-flameback.html

We are fortunate to have a pair of these birds visit our garden on a very frequent basis. These images were all captured at home.

More images inside.

A Black-rumped Flameback photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

A Black-rumped Flameback photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

A Black-rumped Flameback photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

A pair of Black-rumped Flamebacks photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

• Black-rumped Flameback part 1
• Black-rumped Flameback part 2

Indian Robin

A male Indian Robin

The Indian Robin is a common bird found in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The males of the northern (Indian) population have a brown back which gradually reduces in extent southwards, with populations in the southern peninsular having a completely black back. More info and images after the jump.

A male Indian Robin

The Indian robin resembles a smaller version of the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis) in shape and habits. The males found in Sri Lanka have backs which are black in colour with rufous undertail coverts. It also shows a white patch on the wings when in flight. The female is dark brown in colour. It is a common resident garden bird in the dry lowlands of Sri Lanka and is also seen in the mid hills but it is rare and scattered in the wet zone.

A male Indian Robin

The Indian Robin feeds on insects but is known to take frogs, especially when feeding young at the nest.  The breeding season is generally from September to December but varies depending on region and usually begins with the rainy season. During this season, males sing and display by lowering and raising their tail feathers while strutting around the females. Males guard their territory and drive away other males and protect their territory by flying with slow wing beats from perch to perch. 

A male Indian Robin

Nests are built between rocks, in holes in walls or in a tree hollow. Nests are lined with animal hairs and it has been  noted that many nests have pieces of snake sloughs. The eggs are oval in shape and are fairly glossy. A clutch usually consist of 3 - 4 eggs. Only the females incubate the eggs which hatch in 10 - 12 days. Both the male and the female feed the the young. The same nest may be reused in subsequent years.

A male Indian Robin

These images were taken in Anuradhapura and Kandy. I used the 7D and the 100-400mm lens to capture them. The birds were not shy and allowed me to get quite close to them . 

  

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.

White-rumped Munia

The White-rumped Munia or White-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura striata), sometimes called Striated Finch in aviculture, is a small passerine bird from the family of waxbill "finches". More info inside.
The White-rumped Munia is about 10-11cm in length with a stubby grey bill and a long black pointed tail. Adult birds are brown above and on the breast and lighter below. Sexes are almost impossible to distinguish in all subspecies.

The bird is a resident breeder ranging from South Asia, to Southern China, East to Taiwan and South to Sumatra. It frequents open woodland, grassland and scrub and adapts well to agricultural land use. It is a gregarious bird which feeds mainly on seeds, moving through the undergrowth in groups. The nest is a large domed grass structure in a tree, bush or grass into which 3-8 white eggs are laid. It is a common and widespread species across a large range and is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.
Source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-rumped_Munia

I photographed this bird in our garden. It was having a drink in the bird bath when I noticed it and luckily the camera, with the 100-400mm, was with me. I had to push the ISO to 1600 as it was late evening and the light wasn't good. The fact that the birdbath was in the shadow of a tree didn't help matters either. I'm pretty happy that I managed to capture a sharp image of the bird using a shutter of 1/40, handheld.

Superb Fairy-wren

The Superb Fairy-wren is the most widespread of the ten species of fairy-wren found in Australia. Their range extends along the south eastern coast of Australia from Brisbane to Adelaide. It was once an abundant species and was once common in urban areas. More images and info inside.

The Superb Fairy-wren males defend a territory of between 0.5 and 2 ha. They live in family groups with the young of the previous years remaining in their parents' territory and contributing to the care of the younger siblings. During the non-breeding period the males moult into brown plumage similar to the females except for the tail which remains blue. The males also have a black beak while females and juveniles have chestnut coloured beaks.

Fairy-wrens have been described as the "least faithful birds in the world" because DNA fingerprinting has revealed that more than three quarter of the young within a "family" group are sired by males form outside the group. Females prefer "high quality" males and therefore, 4% of the males in an area sire 50% of the offspring. The attribute of the male Superb Fairy-wrens most related to their attractiveness to females is the duration they hold their bright blue breeding plumage. Older males are more attractive than younger males. Some "top quality" males moult directly from breeding plumage to breeding plumage.

I spent a fair amount of time trying to photograph these birds. They move around a lot in the undergrowth and therefore it is pretty hard to actually lock focus on them. To get a crisp image of them a relatively fast shutter speed has to be used. I could have increased the ISO but I wanted to produce images which had minimal noise. I guess using a hide would have been an option but I never had a hide or a substitute for one available.

 

The last two images show the actual colour of the Superb Fairy-wrens breast. It is a very dark blue but is often mistaken for being black.

 

I will update this post with images of a female Superb fairy-wren when I actually capture one!

Black-rumped Flameback

 A Black-rumped Flameback photographed in Colombo, Sri Lanka

More images of this woodpecker can be found at http://devwijewardane.blogspot.com/2010/05/black-rumped-flameback-part-2.html

Out of all the birds found in Sri Lanka, the Black-rumped Flameback is one of my favorites. It is also one of the most familiar birds found on the island. More details inside.

Click here to see techs.

The Black-rumped flameback (also known as the red backed woodpecker) is an unobtrusive bird which frequents residential areas. However, its call, which rises and then falls in pitch and accelerates, may give away its presence. The red back and the black and white head and neck are distinctive and can only be confused with the Greater Flameback. The Greater Flameback has an Ivory coloured beak and does not have the two white stripes around the eye. The Black-rumped Flameback has a black throat while the Greater Flameback's throat is white. The Black-rumped Flameback, like all other woodpeckers, has a stiff tail which it uses to support itself against tree trunks. It also has zygodactil feet with two toes pointed forward and two pointed backward. It is a large species measuring in at 26-29cm in length and uses its long tongue to feed on insects.

A pair of Black-rumped Flamebacks frequents our garden in the heart of Colombo. We've had regular visits from these birds for years. The image above was taken from a bed room window at home. I was able to spend around 40 minutes photographing these birds as they hopped along the branches foraging for food just 20 meters away from where I was.

• Black-rumped Flameback part 2
• Black-rumped Flameback part 3

Black-shouldered Kite

Images have to be viewed large.

Over the last two years I have visited several national parks in and around Sydney with the hope of capturing a decent image of this raptor. Needless to say, I have had very limited success. This weekend I finally managed to spend 45 minutes photographing these beautiful birds of prey. More photographs and info inside.

 

We spent the long weekend at a friend's farm in the northern Hunter region about 4 hours drive north west of Sydney. The area where the farm was located was quite hilly and the slopes were covered in rocky bush land. The valleys were divided into numerous paddocks which were used for grazing and to grow Lucerne. This was ideal habitat for Kites and other raptors as there was an abundance of prey.  I had noticed several Nankeen Kestrels on the drive in and couldn’t help but feel optimistic about finally getting a decent shot of a Black-shouldered Kite.

 

I made an early start on Sunday morning hoping to get an hour and a half of photography done before breakfast. While photographing Superb-fairy wrens (a future post) in a Lucerne field I noticed a white bird perched on a branch about 30 meters off the ground. Initially I thought it was a cockatoo but when I zoomed in on it I realised that it was a Black-shouldered Kite. I promptly forgot about the wrens and started taking shots of the Kite instead. Unfortunately the Kite was facing me and I was unable to get a decent side on shot of the Kites black and grey wings. However the bird was well lit as the sun was coming in over my right shoulder. Ten minutes after I started photographing the kite it was joined by a second Kite.

 

The two spent about half an hour on the branch and I was able to capture a number of images of the birds stretching and in flight. Finally, to top things off, the first bird changed positions and I was able to capture a number of images of the bird where its wings were clearly visible.

Unfortunately I was unable to photograph any Wedge-tailed eagles over the weekend. Maybe next time…

Cherries?