Sunday, March 27, 2011

මල් පිළිහුඩුවා/Common Kingfisher/Malpilihuduwa (Alcedo atthis)

Common resident bird of almost all fresh water bodies throughout the island while getting less common in higher hills. Lives in pairs and each pair occupy a demarcated territory which they guard from others of its own species.  Breed during first half of the year (February to June) in a burrow dug out in a bank of a stream, tank or sometime in a side of manmade well. Male birds can be distinguished from female by having all black bill while females and immatures have reddish lower mandible base.  

සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න >>


7 comments:

  1. Wow! I have spend days to take a picture about this bird, but without results :( But I do not give up! What is your secret? :)How do you work?

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  2. Hi Gabi
    Here in Sri Lanka it is not much difficult to photograph this bird if you are at right place at the right time. It is very common near streams and canals. Especially If there are some overhanging branches of near by trees or sub-merged posts on water like dead trees, this kingfisher utilized them for its 'fishing job' since it has a good Ariel view of fishes swimming underwater from there. And it usually comes back to its 'kind of place' with its prey after pouncing upon it from there. So always look for this bird in such places and according to my experience it is not much shy and you can reach closer to it without disturbing.

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  3. Aha! So I have to wait to come back... And to be patient :) Thank you!

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  4. Even though it is called the common kingfisher, I am yet to see one. The white throat seems to outnumber all the other kingfishers taken together.

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  5. True..White throat is the most common but this one also is not uncommon around almost all dry zone tanks and some wet zone areas with streams usually where some forest cover is still remain. Near Colombo it can be easily observed in Thalangama tank area [Where above photograph was taken], Bellanwila - Aththidiya, Bolgoda etc.

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  6. I see many of these in Kurunegala. How common is Blue-eared Kingfisher compared to this?

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  7. Amila
    Blue-eared Kingfisher is a VERY rare bird of Sri Lanka and several sightings of it has been reported time to time from South - Eastern foothills.

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