COLOMBO When Uditha Hettige started out doing field excursions in 1990, in search of Sri Lanka’s rich bird life, he would visit Bodhinagala Forest Reserve in the country’s west each week. Overnighting at a nearby school, he recalls just how common it was to hear the call of species like the Sri Lanka frogmouth […]
COLOMBO When it comes to super dads in the animal kingdom, the striking-looking waterbird known as the pheasant-tailed jacana is in a universe all its own. From incubating the eggs to taking care of the young, the male of the species excels. And in a reversal of the typical roles that play out in […]
COLOMBO Crows have long had a reputation as a nuisance and a pest, even though it’s widely recognized that they’re among the most intelligent of birds. In Sri Lanka, that reputation goes back some 2,000 years, to the Jataka morality tales from Buddhist tradition. One of the tales tells of a “greedy crow” that […]
As symbols, messengers or metaphors, birds have long figured in literatures and cultures. Over 180 species have become extinct globally and there is increasing aware.