Sri Lankan Birds

In the initial stage it is very difficult talk about the birds in all around the world therefore in the initial stage I will consider only the birds in Sri Lanka and and there also special concern focused on threatened birds. Most of the native birds available in the Kalutara district because of the spatial distribution of resources.

72 threatened bird species were identified in Sri Lanka and all of them listed below with common name, scientific name and native name and the corresponding images of them also displayed after their names according to the sequence.

Common_Name Scientific_Name 1 Ashy Prinia Prinia socialis 2 Ashy Woodswallow Artamus fuscus 3 Besra Accipiter virgatus 4 Black Kite Milvus migrans 5 Black-headed Cuckooshrike Coracina melanoptera 6 Black-rumped Flameback Dinopium benghalense 7 Brahminy Starling Sturnus pagodarum 8 Brown-backed Needletail Hirundapus giganteus 9 Brown-headed Barbet Megalaima zeylanica 10 Common Woodshrike Tephrodornis pondicerianus 11 Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus 12 Crimson-fronted Barbet Megalaima rubricapilla 13 Dark-fronted Babbler Rhopocichla atriceps 14 Drongo Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris 15 Frogmouth Batrachostomus moniliger 16 Indian Robin Saxicoloides fulicata 17 Indian Swiftlet Collocalia unicolor 18 Jerdon's Nightjar Caprimulgus atripennis 19 Jungle Prinia Prinia sylvatica 20 Kashmir Flycatcher Ficedula subrubra 21 Loten's Sunbird Nectarina lotenia 22 Malabar Trogon Harpactes fasciatus 23 Mountain Hawk Eagle Spizaetus nipalensis 24 Peregrine/ Shaheen Falcon Falco peregrinus 25 Pied Bushchat Saxicola caprata 26 Plum-headed Parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala 27 Ruddy-breasted Crake Porzana fusca 28 Small Minivet Pericrocotus cinnamomeus 29 Sri Lanka Ashy-headed Laughing -thrush Garrulax cinereifrons 30 Sri Lanka Blue Magpie Urocissa ornata 31 Sri Lanka Brown-capped Babbler Pellorneum fuscocapillum 32 Sri Lanka Chestnut-backed Owlet Glaucidium castanonotum 33 Sri Lanka Green-billed Coucal Centropus chlororhynchus 34 Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill Ocyceros gingalensis 35 Sri Lanka Hanging Parakeet Loriculus beryllinus 36 Sri Lanka Junglefowl Gallus lafayetii 37 Sri Lanka Layard's Parakeet Psittacula calthropae 38 Sri Lanka Legge's Flowerpecker Dicaeum vincens 39 Sri Lanka Myna Gracula ptilogenys 40 Sri Lanka Orange-billed Babbler Turdoides rufescens 41 Sri Lanka Red-faced Malkoha Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus 42 Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush Zoothera imbricata 43 Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus melanurus 44 Sri Lanka Serendib Scops Owl Otus thilohofmanni 45 Sri Lanka Spot-winged Thrush Zoothera spiloptera 46 Sri Lanka Spurfowl Galloperdix bicalcarata 47 Sri Lanka White-faced Starling Sturnus albofrontatus 48 Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon Columba torringtoni 49 Sri Lanka Yellow-fronted Barbet Megalaima flavifrons 50 Tawny-bellied Babbler Dumetia hyperythra 51 White-bellied Drongo Dicrurus caerulescens 52 White-browed Bulbul Pycnonotus luteolus 53 White-browed Fantail Rhipidura aureola 54 Yellow-billed Babbler Turdoides affinis 55 Yellow-browed Bulbul Iole indica 56 Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopus nanus 57 Rufous Woodpecker Celeus brachyurus 58 Lesser Yellow-naped Woodpecker Picus chlorolophus 59 Greater Flameback Chrysocolaptes lucidus 60 Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithacus 61 Rock Pigeon Columba livia 62 Velvet-fronted Nuthatch Sitta frontalis 63 Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica 64 Black-crested Bulbul Pycnonotus melanicterus 65 Pompadour Green-pigeon Treron pompadora 66 Black Eagle Ictinaetus malayensis 67 Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes 68 Scarlet Minivet Pericrocotus flammeus 69 Great Racket-tailed Drongo/Crested Grongo Dicrurus lophorinus 70 Black-naped Monarch Hypothymis azurea 71 Hill Myna Gracula religiosa 72 White-rumped Munia Lonchura striata

Biodiversity and Birds

It is very difficult to talk about the birds habitat without talking about the biodiversity. There are several biodiversity hot spots in the world, entire Sri Lanka also a such a hot spot according to the map given below.

  
When considering Sri Lanka Kalurata District is taken the first place of the biodiversity areas.
Biodiversity is a key factor for the birds availability. Basically bird availability is depending on several parameters few of them are listed below.
Land cover
Population density
Elevation
Rainfall 
Food Availability  
Proximity to Stream  
Proximity to Road 
Soil
Slope
Some Human Activities 


I will explain further about the relationship between Biodiversity and Birds in a next post. 

National Bird in Sri Lanka

National Bird in Sri Lanka is Sri Lankan Jungle fowl that is the common name of that bird it has native name and scientific name also.
Scientific Name  -  Gallus lafayetii
Native Name      -  Lanka Wali Kukula

Male bird is a handsome bird but the female bird is not pretty that much. Images and male and female birds given below respectively.

This bird is mostly available in Kalutara District - Sri Lanka (general area is shown in the map given below) and they prefers to in tea states in the Kalutara District. 

Few Photos of last Bird searching trip to the Kalugala forest - Sri Lanka

Characteristics of Birds Cont.....

Other than the System of the Birds, Status and Taxonomic group also very important of a bird.

Status can be Breeding Resident, Winter Visitor, Uncertain Winter Visitor.


Taxonomic group will consider globally and nationally that could be Least Concern (LC), Data Deficient (DD), Endangered (EN), Vulnerable (VU), Near Threatened (NT).

Birds should be identified in a common name by All the people in the world and also there should be a separate name for the scientific and research purposes and another name for the homeland that the bird lives in.Therefore all the bird have scientific name, common name and native name. Few of the images of birds given below with respect those name. Common name, Scientific name and Native name will be written respectively.

    
Ashy Prinia - Prinia socialis - Alu Priniya

Loten's Sunbird - Nectarina lotenia - Lotenge Sutikka

Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon - Columba torringtoni - Lanka Mailagoya

Characteristics of Birds

When talking about the characteristics, birds also have lot of characteristics like other creatures. I'm going to discuss few of them.

Basically bird should have a system that can be terrestrial (Bird that lives on land opposed to living in water), fresh water ( naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes,rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams), marine (general term relating to the sea or ocean).

I hope to discuss rest of the characteristics of birds later.

About Me and Introduction to Birds habitat

I'm KP Jayathilake who is an IT graduate and also I'm in the tail end of my MSc. Currently I'm working in the field of GIS (Geographic Information Systems). GIS is a very interesting subject and that could be applied for many application from different fields like engineering, conservation, management, etc.

Though I'm an IT graduate my MSc is a GIS based research project. That research is to develop a tool and database for the management of spatially distributed resources. Case study is the Birds variation in Kalutara District - Sri Lanka.

Therefore studying habitats of the birds were very interesting. There are lot of factors will be affected for the birds variation in any area. So I hope to write about the influencing factors also for the birds variation.