Birds of Panadura

Mind out of the gutter now :) I went for a birthday party in Panadura, and had the luck to see quite a few garden birds and also the luck to get a few shots off, since I happened to have the cam along. Missed a few too, including a lovely sunbird that wouldn't sit still long enough. Selected the best three subjects for publication.

The first is what I belive is a White-Bellied Drongo. The belly shots are blurred and the wiki doesn't have a photo, but the description tallies.

"One Sri Lankan race, Dicrurus caerulescens leucopygialis, has the white on the underparts restricted to the vent area and undertail coverts."

There are also a large number of these birds at my office at Malabe so I have had plenty of opportunities to study them. Very active and don't stay still for long, which is why I haven't got many pics of them here. Must give it another go. This particular example posed on a branch quite high up, and was quite difficult to get. I'm quite pleased with this shot, which was the only decent one of about 5! Besides, the others came out as silhouettes, as there was a cloudy sky behind presenting a white backdrop.

The second was a Black-Hooded Oriole. What a showoff! :) Gave me plenty of shots, and after I came back and sat down, came back for a repeat performance! I think I'll upload this to the wiki.




"The Black-hooded Oriole, Oriolus xanthornus, is a member of the oriole family of passerine birds and is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia."

"The male is striking, with the typical oriole black and yellow coloration. The plumage is predominantly yellow, with a solid black hood, and black also in the wings and tail centre."

The last is a sunbird of some sort. According to my "Birds of Sri Lanka", it might possibly be a female Long Billed Sunbird, aka Loten's Sunbird, tho Wiki doesn't agree with the description of the female.

According to "Birds of Sri Lanka"

"Female has brown upperparts and light underparts"

I've crossed out the Purple-Rumped Sunbird, since there is a picture of that and the face coloring is different. It's also likely to be the Long-Billed as there was another bird that looked like a male Long-Billed, tho I couldn't get a picture of him. If anyone one can clarify, pls leave a comment. :)