කැහිබෙල්ලා/කන්කෑරැස්සා[Kahibella]/Blue Magpie (Urocissa ornate)

An endemic bird inhabits only primary forests and near by home gardens in wet zone and foot hills. Uncommon and declared as a vulnerable bird in IUCN red list of threatened fauna and flora of Sri Lanka (2007). However feeding flocks consisting of up to 6-10 birds are not uncommon in buffer zone villages of Peak Wilderness (Sri Pada sanctuary) and Sinharaja forest. Though gregarious, pairs or solitary individuals are sometimes met with. It feed on insects [grasshoppers, leaf insects, beetles, etc.], caterpillars, shrub frogs, lizards and also some plant matter such as fruits. It is very noisy bird especially while hoping from branch to branch at all levels of trees from ground to canopy in search of foods. It is referred by a very interesting name of Kankaarassa by villagers in some areas around peak wilderness (Udamaliboda, Dikelikanda..etc) due to its  loud crakrakrakrak  call. Breeding season is from January to March and usually nest builds at the top of slender trees in forest and sometime even in home gardens. Once I have found a nest with eggs about 4-5 m above ground in top of small tree growing near a stream in a village. Group of three birds used to visit that during my observation period (only 2 days). Nest is some what similar to crows nest