Common Evening Brown (Melanitis leda)

Very common butterfly found all over the island. It has a crepuscular habit and can be seen on the wing at dawn and dusk, though sometime active even day time in shady places. Under side of wings vary with season and wet season form is much darker than dry season form as shown in above figures. Common Evening Brown larva feeds by night on varies type of grasses [Arundo donax,  Eleusine indica (බැල තණ/වල්මල් කුරක්කන්/Goose Grass), Cenchrus ciliaris, Imperata cylindrica (ඉලුක්/Blady Grass/Spear Grass/Cogon Grass), Ischaemum timorense  Leersia hexandra (ලෙව්/Bareet Grass), Panicum maximum(ගිනි තණ/Guinea grass) Setaria barbata ] and paddy (Oryza sativa) of the family Poaceae. Its larva also fed on Carpet grass/පොටු තණකොළ (Axonopus compressus) only when offered in the lab.

කොන්ඩ කුරුල්ලා[Konda kurulla]/Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)

Very common breeding resident occurs in home gardens, cultivation  forest edges and scrub lands throughout the country but avoids deep forests. Red-vented Bulbul lives as pairs but some time gathered as small flocks. Its main food consist of varies berries and insects. It is a prolific bird which breeds several times of the year while main breeding seasons are from March to May and again August to September. The nest is a cup made up of small twigs, fibers, rootlets bound together by cobwebs where it lays 2-3 eggs.

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Marsh Dancer (Onychargia atrocyana)

An uncommon damselfly found in surrounding vegetation of paddy fields, tank edges etc. in wet zone lowlands and lower hills.

ඇපල/කපු කිනිස්ස[Epala/Kapu-Kinissa] (Triumfetta pentandra)

An indigenous herb common in grasslands and roadsides of dry and arid zones. 

කවුඩා[Kawuda]/White-bellied Drongo(Dicrurus caerulescens)

Common breeding resident from lowlands to mid hills. It occurs as two races D.c. insularis (White-bellied Drongo) is the dry zone form which is common in dry lowlands and drier hills and D.c.leucopygialis (White-vented Drongo) common in wet zone and near by hills. It inhabits well wooded country, tea and rubber plantations, and home gardens but avoids deep forests. White-bellied Drongo lives as solitary birds or as pairs. It feeds on flying insects catching on wing from sallying out a fence post or telegraph wire probably to come back to same perch with its catch. It has a habit of imitating other birds such as Shikra, Magpie- robin etc. and mewing of the cat. It breeds from February to March.

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Three-spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda silhetana)

Three-spot Grass Yellow is a very common insect found in the low country wet zone and hills while becoming rare towards the North of the country. The larva feeds on Archidendron clypearia subsp. subcoriaceum (මිමිණි මාර), Entada zeylanica, Albizia chinensis, Albizia lebbeck, Albizia odoratissima, Archidendron bigeminum (කලටිය), Caesalpinia bonduc (කුඹුරු/කුඹුරු වැල්/කළු වවුලැටිය/Grey Nicker), Caesalpinia hymenocarpa, Cassia fistula (ඇහැළ/Indian Laburnum/Shower of Gold), Entada rheedei (පුස් වැල්), Falcataria moluccana, Senna alata (රට තෝර/Candle bush/Candle stick/Rinworm shrub), Senna surattensis (Scrambled-egg-tree), Calliandra surinamensis and Acacia decurrens of family Fabaceae. 

ගන්වෙද/වල් තිප්පිලි[Gan-veda/Val-tippili] (Croton hirtus)

An introduced herb native to tropical South America. Common in wastelands, road sides and as a weed in cultivation.

Kaha-yatimal Kirala/Yellow-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus malabaricus)

An uncommon breeding resident found usually in very dry habitats of dry lowlands. It is common in coastal belt from Puttalam to Jaffna peninsula and in Hambantota district. It also occurs in Eastern province and there are recent breeding records from Udawalawe and Anuradhapura too. It lives as small flocks or pairs in arid wastelands, fallow fields, dry paddy fields, stony pastures etc. Yellow-wattled Lapwing feeds on grasshoppers, ants, termites, beetles and other such ground dwelling insects. It breeds from May to July, laying four eggs arranged in cross-formation on stony ground among clods, stones, etc. well camouflage with the surrounding. It flies often low and in flight feet project beyond the tail. 

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Asystasia variabilis

An indigenous common herb found in waste lands, forest edges, along borders of paddy fields etc. in wet lowlands and hill country.  An indigenous herb common under shade along streams and footpaths in wet lowlands to mid country secondary forests. Flowering from August to March.*

* Text and species name of the initial post was changed according to the Jep de Vlas's comment below and correct identification given in the subsequently published his second book on flora of Sri lanka.

Tailed Jay/Green Jay (Graphium Agamemnon menides)

Tailed Jay is a common butterfly found in all elevations of the country throughout the year. However it is much common in the wet zone. It flies very fast and only stops a very short time at each flower. Also when disturbed it take off vertically to considerable height before fly away. So that Tailed Jay is considered as a very difficult butterfly to photograph. The larva feeds on various plants of family Annonaceae such as Annona muricata (කටු අනෝදා/කටු ආත්තා/රට අනෝදා/Soursop), Annona reticulata (අනෝදා/වැලි ආත්තා), Annona squamosa(සීනි ආතා/අනෝදා/Sugar Apple), Annona glabra (වෙල් ආතා/Pond Apple/Alligator Apple/Monkey Apple), Annona cherimola, Uvaria zeylanica (පාලඟ/පලු කන්),Uvaria macropoda, Uvaria narum, Uvaria semecarpifolia, Uvaria sphenocarpa, Artabotrys zeylanicus (කලු බඹර වැල්/පටික වැල්/යකඩ වැල්), Artabotrys hexapetalus, Polyalthia korinti (මීවැන්න/උල් කෙන්ද), Polyalthia longifolia (දේවදාර/ඊ පෙත්ත/ඕවිළ/ඕලිල), Polyalthia suberosa, Polyalthia cerasoides, Miliusa indica (කෙකිළි මැස්ස/කුකුළු මැස්ස), Miliusa tomentosa, Goniothalamus gardneri and Xylopia championii. Tailed Jay larva also feeds on සපු/Champak (Michelia champaca)  and  Persea americana (අලිගැට පේරAvacado/Alligator pear). 

ඇත් උඳුපියලිය[Et-Undupiyali]/Asian ticktrefil (Grona heterocarpos [Desmodium heterocarpon])

An indigenous herb found in grasslands, roadsides and waste lands in moist low country and lower montane areas. Very common plant flowering from May to September and again in November. Sometimes white flowers occur instead of usual purple. 

Spot-billed Pelican/තිත් හොට පැස්තුඩුවා/ඔටුමානා[Thith-hota Pasthuduwa/Otumaana] (Pelecanus philippensis)

Spot-billed Pelican is a common breeding resident in tanks, lagoons and marshlands of the low country dry zone. Birds originally released from National Zoological Garden of Dehiwela have established a breeding colonies in and around Colombo marshy areas in the wet zone also. It lives as flocks from two or three birds to a hundred or more. It spend much of its time in fishing, usually as a flock. The breeding season is from March to May and the nest is a large platform of sticks and reeds, placed on trees growing in flooded areas or swamps. Usually several nests can be seen in a single tree together with other storks, herons, egrets and cormorants. It is a strong flier and sometime flies great heights, usually forming V formation. Although it is common in Sri Lanka Spot-billed Pelican is considered as a globally endangered species.

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Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites)

Common butterfly found in everywhere from lowlands to about 1000 m a.s.l. Grey Pansy is a migratory species and Ormiston noted that it appears up-country usually in October, before the regular flights begin, and the swarms only lasts a few days (Ormiston W., 1924). The larva feeds on Yamazakia pusilla, Limnophila repens (අඹවිල),  Hygrophila auriculata (ක‍ටු ඉකිරි/නීරමුල්ලිය), Lindernia anagallis, Lindernia crustacea, Lindernia antipoda (විල/Sparrow false pimpernel) and Limnophila indica. Its larva also fed on Strobilanthus diandra (නෙළු) when offered in the lab.

Brown-breasted Flycatcher (Muscicapa muttui)

Brown-breasted Flycatcher or as it was previously known as Layard’s Flycatcher was initially discovered by E. L. Layard around 1854 from Pt. Pedro of Sri Lanka. While quoting Layard, W.V. Legge in his monograph on Sri Lankan bird - A History of the birds of Ceylon- mention that after describing the specimen brought to Layard: “ I name this new species after my old and attached servant Muttu, to whose patient perseverance and hunting skill I owe so many of my best birds. This one he brought to me one morning at Pt. Pedro during the month of June.”(Legge W.V. 1880) That is how it got its 'Tamil' zoological name Muscicapa muttui.

                Brown-breasted Flycatcher is a rather uncommon winter migrant to the wet zone lowlands to the lower hills while local and rare in dry lowlands and mid hills. It is a solitary bird often found in the vicinity of streams in forests and well-wooded areas. It can be easily distinguished by superficially similar Asian Brown Flycatcher by Flesh colored lower mandible, legs and feet with white throat with dark moustachial stripe in contrast with dark brown legs and dark tipped pale lower mandible of Asian Brown Flycatcher. It flies out and catches small flying insects usually returning to the same perch or to a neighboring one since it is very attached to its territory.

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Dark Grass Blue (Zizeeria karsandra)

An uncommon butterfly found in grasslands from sea level to about 1500m elevations.  It can be easily distinguished from bit similar Lesser Grass Blue(Zizina Otis) by the presence of a spot in the cell on the under side of the fore wing. Its larva feeds on Amaranthus blitum, Amaranthus viridis, Amaranthus spinosus (කටු තම්පලා/Spiny amaranth/Prickly amaranth), Coldenia procumbens, Sauropus bacciformis (බිං දෙළුම්/ඇත් පිටවක්කා), Glinus oppositifolius (හීන් අල), Tribulus terrestris (සෙම්බු-නෙරෙන්චි/ගොකටු) and Hypertelis cerviana plants.

පලා කොකා/කඩොල් කොකා[Pala Koka /Kadol koka]/Striated Heron/Little Heron/Little Green Heron/Green-backed Heron (Butorides striata)

An uncommon breeding resident from lowlands to lower hills inhabiting mangroves, marshes, dense vegetation of tank edges and river banks,  lagoons, salt-pans etc. It feeds on small fish, prawns and aquatic insects.  Striated Heron lives mostly as solitary birds and can be seen usually during dawn and dusk. It breeds from March to July in a nest placed low in a tree. 

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Pale 4-Lineblue (Nacaduba hermus)

Rather rare butterfly found in the mid country. Its larva feeds on Symplocos cochinchinensis (බෝඹු/වල්-බෝඹු) and Connarus monocarpus (රදලිය)

දුම්බොන්නා [Dumbonna]/Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis)

Indian Roller is a common breeding resident in dry lowlands up to lower hills, while uncommon and local in wet lowlands. It is common mostly in coconut plantations, chena cultivation and such open areas, usually as solitary birds or in pairs. It is known as Dumbonna among Sinhalese people meaning Smoke-drinker since it has a habit of flying over the grass and shrub fires usually when burning jungles for chena cultivation to catch grasshoppers, beetles and other flying insects disturbed by the fire. Indian Roller spend much of its time sitting on a telegraph wires, fence posts or any such vantage points and flying down to catch its prey, which consists of grasshoppers, beetles, lizards and such little animals. It breeds from January to June laying 2-4 white eggs in a tree hole of a dead tree or in a rotten palm trunk. 

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වල් ඌරා[Wal Ura]/Indian Wild Boar/Wild Pig (Sus Scrofa)

Wild boar is distributed throughout the island wherever dry zone scrub lands or wet zone forests provides it with enough cover, from coastal lowlands to the higher hills. It occurs in herds sometime up to around 30 or more individuals in dry zone national parks while rather small herds or solitary animals occurs in wet zone forests. It is an omnivorous mammal and scavenge on carcasses of dead animals, kill and eat snakes, worms, eggs and young of ground-nesting birds and also feeds on fallen fruits and uprooted rhizomes etc. It causes lot of damages to the chena cultivation, paddy fields, home gardens and other plantations during its night time forays in search of food. Wild boar is a prolific animal and breeds at least twice annually and W.W.A. Phillips noted that it is always the last of the larger mammals to be ousted from a district where the forest is being opened up (Phillips W.W.A, 1984).  Generally the herds are composed of sows with their young of all ages and the older adult males live solitary or form small parties on their own and join the herds of females only to the mating. They feed usually early morning and late afternoon while lying up in a shade during heat hours of the day. It also feeds during night. Leopards, crocodiles and pythons can be considered as its enemies other than Man. Leopards mostly take young piglets whenever the opportunity occurs and there are instances of desperate fights between leopard and old boars sometimes end up with leopard being killed. 

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Pointed ciliate blue (Anthene lycaenina laycaenina)

Pointed ciliate blue can be easily distinguished from other similar species by pointed fore wings and two ‘tails’ of the hind wings.  It flies all over the island but common in the southern half of the island up to about 500m a.s.l. Its larva feeds on Senegalia caesia (හිඟුරු-වැල්), Lepisanthes tetraphylla (දාඹු), Pongamia pinnata (මගුල් කරඳ) and Abrus precatorius (ඔළිඳ/Crab's Eyes/Indian Liquorice)