Birding Blog Carnival - Reminder

Blues & related forms- Part 1

I have decided to take all Blues and related forms seriously. They are butterflies belonging to the family Lycaenidae, the second largest buttefly family in the world with over 6,000 species, which is nearly 40 % of the known species of butterflies. With 85 species, they represent over 1/3 of the total number of species of butterflies in Sri Lanka. Also referred as Lycaenids by the serious types, these butterflies are characterised by their metallic colours; mostly blue in the upper sides, quick flight and sun-loving nature.

Blues can pose serious ID challenges similar to LBJs in birding due to their diminutive nature and subtle inter species differences; often a few tiny spots marking the difference between similar looking ones. Therefore, when confronted with these tiny flying puzzles, most naturalists resort to a convenient escape route to loosely lump them all as 'Blues' or 'Lycaenids' without putting the effort to narrow down to species level. To be honest, I was one of these until very recently.

I have now started to use the same method that I use to learn dragonflies and damselflies to ID this tough group of butterflies. That is to macro photograph them first, thereafter look them up in various sources to identify them myself & finally to get my IDs verified by experts. Isn't it such a cute method ? Although the photography part could be daunting at times, I find this method to be the best one to learn such tough groups of insects properly.

Here I list a few Lycaenids photographed at various locations including at my home garden. I’d like to thank the entomologist Michael van der Poorten who is working on a book on butterflies of Sri Lanka for taking the time to confirm my identifications of 6 of these and correcting one misidentification.

Oh! And I also share here my geek score. Isn't this a fitting occation do so ? How about yours?

30% Geek

Tiny Grass Blue Zizula hylax

Tiny Grass Blue Zizula hylax Common Hedge Blue Actyolepis pushpa felderi Metallic Cerulean Jamides alecto Common Cerulean Jamides celeno Plains Cupid Chilades pandava African Babul Blue Azanus jesous Lesser Grass Blue Zizina otis Yamfly Loxura atymnus Common Pierrot Castalius rosimon

Birds in my local patch

Large areas of my local wetland patch where I have been birding since childhood have now been reclaimed for development to meet the growing needs of humanity. The remaining pockets still offer good hope and draws birders (okay, just me & my visitors) regularly. The owner of this private wetland is a friend of mine and he has assured me that the core wetland area rich in birdlife will be spared. I am sharing here a few bird photos taken at this 'wetland in peril'. Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis– One of the 4 Kingfishers in the area and a regular at this site. According to the owner of the wetland there existed a 5th species of Kingfisher in the area “a small and reddish hued one, which preferred densely wooded inland areas as opposed to open water bodies” According to him, it has gone locally extinct due to clearance of vegetation in the area. This is Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher (aka. Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher) Ceyx erithaca; a real avian gem. A late naturalist friend of mine; Roshan (aka rotiya) had told me of a sighting of one of these in this area about 15 years ago. Although I have not been fortunate to see it in this area, I still maintain some feeble hope that it exists in very small numbers as certain patches seem just 'right' for it.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus– a Regular migrant that I am never tired of observing.

Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis (aka Lesser P K) – A pair of these visit a few preferred spots at late afternoons and sits for long giving prolonged views. Quite a photogenic bird.

Purple Heron Ardea purpurea– A nest and roost colony of these comprising easily over 40 individual birds is the biggest concentration of this bird seen by me anywhere.

Plain Prinia Prinia inornata– A rather common bird seen regularly. This one started calling close to me claiming its patch and posed for some photos. This is the endemic sub species insularis, which is "dark, large, heavy-billed & short-tailed"

White-browed Bulbul Pycnonotus luteolus– A common scrubland bird, which is endemic to Sri Lanka and Southern India.

Lesser Whistling-duck Dendrocygna javanica A rather common wetland species that are found in flocks numbering over 50 at times in my local wetland patch. Large number of 'whistling' flocks of these flying over my house at dusk used to be a common thing in the past but sadly not anymore.

Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis –This as well as the species below have their resident populations augmented by migrant populations from late October –April during which time their sightings are more regular.

Black Bittern Dupetor flavicollis –Not as common as the preceding species. Sightings are mostly in late afternoons. It is in its element by dusk, when it shows up well in the open; often affording prolonged views.

Purple Swamphen Porphyrio poliocephalus– A rather common resident found in fair numbers.

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Merops leschenaulti– A small breeding population is found in the area, which I am quite proud of. Always a pleasure to watch. If I ever get around doing a Checklist for the birds in my patch this would clearly be my front cover bird.

Dragons in my garden Part 2

This is a follow up to an earlier post done on dragonflies found in my home garden. Here I list 10 species.

1. Sombre Lieutenant Brachydiplax sobrina

2. Marsh Skimmer Orthetrum luzonicum

3. Paddyfield Parasol Neurothemis intermedia intermedia

4. Amber-winged Glider Hydrobasileus croceus

5. Sri Lanka Forktail Macrogomphus lankanensis (endemic species)

6. Pied Parasol Neurothemis tullia tullia

7. Spine-legged Redbolt Rhodothemis rufa

8. Variegated Flutterer Rhyothemis variegata variegate

9. Green Skimmer Orthetrum sabina Sabina

10. Scarlet Basker Urothemis signata signata

This post is my maiden contribution to the Circus of the Spineless # 32 hosted by Deep-sea News

Ken Lee

Java Jones sent me this audition of a Bulgarian Idol hopeful; Valentina Hasan, which absolutely had me in stitches. It has definitely raised the bar for public humiliation on Reality TV shows to a shocking new level! Hasan’s outrageous rendition of Mariah Carey’s “Without you” as “Ken Lee” (can’t live) was performed in February, 2008. Although she failed to get selected to the next round of the competition, her "Ken Lee" has become a "hit" thanks to several video sharing websites most notably, YouTube where 2 videos of her original audition have received over 5.2 & 3.6 million views respectively in the first month! (The first of this can be viewed when you search “Without you” and the second one when you search “Ken Lee” in YouTube’s search bar). The total views of those two combined is nearly as many views as Carey’s “Without you” has received over a year in YouTube! Even my favourite Air Supply version is yet to receive a million views over a similar period!

Would anybody like to guess what Simon Cowell would have said on this performance?!?!

To prove how much of a "hit" Ken Lee has become, there is now a dedicated website for all the Ken Lee fans worldwide named kenleeworld.com! Its YouTube page KenLeeWorld brings together all the super cool remixed versions of "Ken Lee" and hilarious parodied renditions done by Ken Lee Fans world over. My top favourite is this dance remix version of Ken Lee.

I must confess that English is a difficult language to learn and it is not a big crime to make mistakes. It is my second language and I am aware that I do silly mistakes in my writings in this blog. I correct them whenever possible but there are times when I'd overlook things. So, I’d like to take this opportunity to request my blog readers to comment on any obvious language errors - spellings, grammar & puctuation in my writings via e-mail to: gallicissa AT gmail.com. No, I will not be crestfallen like some of those Idol hopefuls whose moms have supported their delusions of talent so much over the years that they can't fathom that they aren't the next Sarah Brightman or Steven Tytler!!

Flying Penguins

Watch this truly amazing footage captured by the BBC of Flying Penguins, which sheds new light on the Darwin's Theory of Evolution. This was shown to the worldwide audiences for the first time a little over a week ago.

Isn't it awesome?

Watch the one below to see behind the scenes to see how this ‘rare footage' was actually captured.

I found this first in this post in Laura's Birding Blog.