Common Indian Tree Frog - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Common Indian Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Tree Frogs are quite common in Anuradhapura and have an annoying tendency to crawl into houses and take shelter in bathrooms. I've come across a number of them on several trips to the area but hadn't photographed them until our last trip in July.

More photographs inside.

Common Indian Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Common Indian Tree Frog, also known as the Chunam Tree Frog, is found throughout South Asia. They have been identified as an endangered species by the IUCN. Measuring in at around the 7-8cm mark, these frogs are usually a shade of brown, yellow or grey with darker spots or markings. It's fingers are nearly un-webbed where as the toes are two thirds webbed.

Common Indian Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

These frogs are known to have day roosts which are used on a regular basis. They have a habit of wiping their skins with a secretion consisting of mucus and lipids to help reduce the loss of moisture. In warmer areas these frogs are known to secrete directly from the skin and adopt a lighter skin colour.

Common Indian Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. Since these photographs were taken at night I had to use an off camera 430 EX II for additional light. Fortunately the Frogs in these photographs did not move around too much and made things a bit easier for me.

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.