Parakeet-flower/Parakeet heliconia (Heliconia psittacorum)

Native herb of tropical South America,southern Caribbean islands to eastern Brazil. Introduced as an ornamental plant and cultivated in home gardens. Also naturalized in many places from lowlands to hills. Flowering probably throughout the year.

Tamil Treebrown (Lethe drypetis)

Rather uncommon butterfly  inhabiting hill country forests with bamboo undergrowth. Larva feeds on Bambusa multiplex, Bambusa vulgaris, Davidsea attenuata(බට) and Dendrocalamus giganteus.

Passion fruit vine/Banana passion fruit/Sweet cup(Passiflora edulis)

An introduced climber cultivated in gardens and plantations. Also naturalized along forest margins and disturbed places up to about 2200 m elevations. Probably a native plant of Brazil. Flowering from September to April. Fruits edible and used for beverages. 

Hylodesmum repandum [Syn: Desmodium repandum]

An indigenous herb occurs in shaded places of forests and forest edges in the montane zone up to about 2000 m a.s.l. 

මොණර පෙතන්[Monara-pethan]/Umbrella-dracaena (Dianella ensifolia)

Common herb in mid-hills to montane region up to about 1500 m elevations. Flowering in April and flowers open in the afternoon. Probably an indigenous plant also occurs in Africa, Australia, tropical Asia, Madagaskar, Mauritius, Southern China, Thaiwan, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and pacific islands. Berries shining blue when ripe. 

අලු ප්‍රීනියා/ අලු හම්බුකුරුල්ලා[Alu Prinia/Alu Hambu Kurulla]Ashy Prinia(Prinia socialis brevicauda)

Common breeding resident inhabiting grasslands, paddy fields and scrubs throughout the island. Much common in the dry zone. It lives as pairs and feeds on small insects, spiders, etc. The breeding season lasts from February to June and August to October. 

සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න >>

මිරිස් [Miris]/Chilli/Red pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Native plant probably of Mexico to Colombia. Now widely cultivated in plantations and home gardens. Occasionally escaped.

Acranthera ceylanica

An endemic perennial herb occurs in moist shady places, often near streams in lower montane zone.

Queen-of-the-night/Lady-of-the-night/Night blooming Jasmine(Cestrum nocturnum)

Native shrub of Mexico. Introduced and often cultivated in home gardens for its scent. Sometimes escaped and naturalized. Flowering in June, November and probably in other months of the year during the dry season. Flowers opening during the night.

Mexican sword-plant (Aquarius palifolius [Syn: Echinodorus palifolius])

An introduced marsh herb cultivated, escaped and probably naturalized along pond margins, marshy areas and ditches around Colombo*. Mexican sword-plant is a popular aquarium plant native to South America.

*Naturalized populations observed at Thalangama tank, Kotte marshes and Bellanwila-Attidiya sanctuary. 

Gaudy Baron/Elahera Butterfly(Euthalia lubentina psittacus)

Rather uncommon butterfly though widely distributed throughout the island in all climatic zones from sea level to about 1500 m altitude. Both males and females settle on wet earth to absorb minerals and feeds on rotten fruits (which is unusual since in most other butterflies it is only males do mud puddling.) Woodhouse* remarks that it is also known as the Elehera (ඇලහැර) among 'Kandy collectors'  since it is always found in that area during March and September. Larva feeds on varies පිළිල species such as Dendrophthoe falcata, Macrosolen capitellatus, Taxillus incanus, Taxillus tomentosus, Taxillus cuneatus and Tolypanthus gardneri of the family Loranthaceae

* Woodhouse L.G.O. (1950) The Butterfly Fauna of Ceylon, Ceylon Government Press, Colombo, 2nd (Abriged) Edition.  1950.

Cyathea sinuata

An endemic tree fern occurs in forest understorey from wet lowlands to mid country.  

Henckelia communis[Chirita zeylanica]

Rather common endemic herb occurs in rocky areas in and along shaded stream beds of  undisturbed montane forests of the wet and intermediate zones (Above 750m a.s.l.). Flowering in March and June to August (Probably irregularly throughout the year)

Slender-billed Oriole (Annotated checklist of vagrant Orioles (Family: Oriolidae) of Sri Lanka)

      Birds that appear outside their normal range are known as vagrants. This post listed up to date published sight records of the single *unconfirmed vagrant of the family Oriolidae (Orioles ) in Sri Lanka.

      1) Slender-billed Oriole (Oriolus tenuirostris)

Single sight record at Bundala available according to the Kotagama S. & Ratnavira G (Kotagama S. & Ratnavira G. 2010: 274 Quoting CBCN 2002, Dec: 250). A sight record of single bird on 31^st December 2003 at Bundala national park is listed in Appendix 2 (http://www.ceylonbirdclub.org/Appendix-II.pdf) of CBC under the criteria of the report ‘lacks sufficient diagnostic detail or, where necessary, sufficient comparison with ‘confusion’ species or subspecies; and there is therefore doubt as to the identification of the bird concerned’. Neither 2002 nor 2003 annual reviews of CBC notes contain both sight records mentioned above (Siriwardana, U., 2003 & Warakagoda, D., 2004)

References:
Kotagama, S., Ratnavira, G. 2010. An illustrated Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Colombo.
Siriwardana, U., 2003. Report from the Ceylon Bird Club for 2002. Loris, 23(3&4), 36-39.
Warakagoda, D., 2004. Report from the Ceylon Bird Club for 2003 Loris, 23(5&6), 36-41

*Species for which there are only one or two sight records exist categorized here as unconfirmed vagrants. Problematic records without sufficient details are also included. 

බෙරු දියනිල්ල[Beru-diyanilla]/Peruvian primerose-willow(Ludwigia peruviana)

Native plant of tropical and sub-tropical America. Introduced and naturalized in wet places such as stream banks, flood plains, disturbed places, etc. from 150 to about 1500 m elevations. Very common.

බෝඹු/වල්-බෝඹු [Wal-Bombu/Bombu] (Symplocos acuminata [As Symplocos cochinchinensis inRFOC)

An indigenous shrub or small tree occurs in the wet zone from sea level to about 2100 m a.s.l., often in secondary vegetation. Also in rain forest understorey. 

Common Lascar (Pantoporia hordonia sinuata)

Locally common butterfly flies in wet and intermediate zone from lowlands to about 1400 m elevations. It has a slow flight which somewhat resemble to the flight of a dragonfly which too has similar colors (i.e. Variegated Flutterer). Larva feeds on leaves of Senegalia caesia (හිඟුරු-වැල්), Albizia chinensis (කබල් මාර/හුලං මාර) and Acacia pennata (ගොඩ හිඟුරු). As per Ormiston* it is especially common in May and June.

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* Ormiston  W. (1924) The Butterflies of Ceylon, H.W.Cave & Co., Colombo 1924, AES Reprint New Delhi, 2003

Four leaf devil pepper (Rauvolfia tetraphylla)

Native shrub of tropical America. Introduced and cultivated for medicinal use. Escaped and also naturalized in shaded places in the low country. 

දත් කැටිය/වල් ඒකාවේරිය [Dat-katiya/Wal-Ekaweriya] (Ophiorrhiza mungos)

An indigenous herb common in damp places of primary and secondary wet lowland forests. 

Black-headed Cuckooshrike/කලු-හිස් කොවුල්සැරටිත්තා/කලු-හිසැති කොවුල් ඇස්පටියා[Kalu-his Kowulsaratiththa/Kalu-Hisathi Kowul Aspatiya](Coracina melanoptera sykesi)

An uncommon breeding resident inhabiting open forests and scrub lands with scattered trees from lowlands to mid hills. It lives usually as solitary birds or as pairs though sometime encounters as small flocks. It feeds on caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers. etc. actively searching trees in the canopy. The breeding season lasts from March to May The nest is a small shallow saucer  composed of rootlets, leaf midribs etc. plastered with cobwebs and placed on a fork of a tree, where it lays 2 eggs.