I forgot to blog this earlier; I had my first Indian Pitta for this migratory season on the 30th October in my garden. I usually keep a corner of my garden with thick undergrowth to invite it and it accepts my invitation every year! This pretty terrestrial bird calls at dawn and dusk around 6.00 O’clock. Consequently, one of its popular local Tamil names is 'Aarumani Kuruvi', which translates to ‘The 6.00 O’clock bird’. According to local folklore, the beautiful feathers of the Indian Peafowl aka Peacock were originally belonging to the Indian Pitta. The Peacock had ‘borrowed’ it for a wedding and had 
never returned. Hence the reason the Pitta calls everyday to remind the peacock to return its feathers!
It must be noted that there are various versions to this story; one saying that the peacock stole it, while the Pitta had put it aside for bathing! However, the version mentioned in the ‘Aspects of Sinhala Folklore’ by Prof. J.B. Disnayaka is that the peacock borrowed it and I am happy to borrow that version
Anyway, what a beauty it would have been its original plumes!
10 comments:
I wish I'd known about your blog when I was living in deepest uva province, the wildlife there was incredable, and my ignorance vast. Still I can look at the pictures here and remember.
Bea,thanks for your nice comments!
You are right; Uva province abounds with wildlife and natural beauty. Uva is recognized as a unique avi-faunal zone by FOGSL due to the prescence of several restricted-range birds not found/rarely found in other provinces in Sri Lanka such as Painted Francolin, Jungle Bush Quail, Yellow-legged Green Pigeon and Scaly-bellied Woodpecker!
Hello, I found you through st's blog so thought I'd check out your blog. You take beautiful pictures. They are amazing.
Oldcrow61, thanks for your comments. I checked out your blog and must say I like it too.
I had the scaly bellied woodpecker in my garden,along with numerous other things, my absolute favourite were the hornbills, they were just so much fun to watch, and I was kinda resdpectfully fond of the cobra.
It's nice for me to see beautiful birds like that from different parts of the world.It gives me something to look forward to seeing in the future.
bea, Scaly-bellied Woodpecker is a good one to have in your neighbourhood! I bet you must have had both the Hornbills in your garden. Oh! I too have a resident Cobra in my garden!. I meet it once in a while during my owling sessions. And my mother doesn't like it!
larry, thanks!. I too share your sentiments.
We first met Amila on a trip to Sinharaja in February 2002 and we were impressed with his knowledge and committment to the wildlife in Sri Lanka. It has been a pleasure to read his comments as they brought back lots of happy memories and we would recommend him to anyone thinking about a trip to see the bird and animal life in Sri Lanka. As well as his expertise and knowledge he also has a great sense of humour which makes even the bad times GOOD
Hi Lyn and Peter,
Great to hear from you!
Thanks a lot for this.
It was pleasure having you two and the rest travelling with me. I enjoyed your company!
With well over 22 visits to Sri Lanka each visit over 3 weeks or so, you are True Ambassadors to Sri Lanka!! Please let me know when you are back. I will drop by to do some birding with you at the Brief garden.
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