Here is the long overdue second part of my Sri Lanka bucket. I think we could all do with some sunshine and tranquility.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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January 2017, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
One morning I decided to check out Koggala lake which is about 20 minutes by tuktuk (three wheeled vehicle) from where I was staying in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province. It is the island’s largest natural lake and is dotted with small islands, fringed with mangroves and teems with prawns. Supposedly there are marsh crocodiles inhabiting the waters, but if so, they remained out of sight. I did see scores of luminous, tentacled jellyfish in certain areas, but they were impossible to photograph from the boat.
The first bird I saw was this grey heron (Ardea cinerea cinerea), it took me a second or two to notice the little cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger) perched by his side.
When visible, as they are in the photograph below, the yellow feet make identifying the little egret (Egretta garzetta garzetta) very easy.
Sri Lanka has four resident species of egret, the great egret (Egretta alba), the intermediate egret (Egretta intermedia intermedia), the little egret and the cattle egret (Bubulcus coromandus). The Intermediate egret has black feet and is larger than the little, but if the bird is alone, size is sometimes hard to determine and if the egret is wading, the color of the feet can’t be seen. The little egret has a long, pencil thin, black bill, while the Intermediate has a heavier bill which is yellow except during breeding season when it turns black.
The cattle egret’s breeding plumage is a golden-buff on head, neck, face and breast, but the rest of the time he’s pure white, with black legs and a yellow bill. I found it easy to identify the cattle egret based on his choice of companion, but the species also has a shorter neck, stockier build and puffier throat than any of the other species on the island and although it’s not visible in the photograph, their bill hooks down slightly at the tip.
A couple of times when I was swimming in what I call the “pool” namely the area that is almost encircled by rocks, an egret would fly over, swoop down and capture some tasty morsel or another, a behavior called plunging. It obviously wasn’t a cattle egret as fish are not part of their diet. From Heron conservation on the little egret:
Over deeper water it can feed by flying – Dipping, Foot Dragging, Jumping, and Hopping from one spot to another (Hirschfeld 1991).
I managed to get a photograph of the bird in the next image by pure happenstance. I was aiming for a long distance shot of the tree canopy and I only noticed this kite perched atop a very tall tree after I had uploaded and enlarged the image. As I had to severely crop the photograph, the image it not very clear, but it’s definitely a brahminy kite (Haliastur indus) which is a member of the family Accipitridae. Primarily a resident of the lowlands, the Brahminy kite inhabits coastal plains, estuaries, rivers, lakes, swamps, marshes, reservoirs, rice fields. It feeds on both dead and live prey.
My guess is that these are terns of which SL has quite a few varieties.
I’m pretty confident that this is a black-winged stilt, but I can’t for the life of me figure out where he has hidden his other leg.
We stopped at one of the islands to visit a Buddhist monastery and temple and while we were walking up the stone steps we heard the unmistakeable whoops of a monkey. I was thrilled because I had yet to see a single primate. A troop of macaques troop through my sister’s garden on a frequent basis, but they had been absent for some weeks. I kept looking up at the canopy hoping for a glimpse, but while I kept hearing the calls, I couldn’t pinpoint their origin. My friend, said that he could distinguish quite a few individuals. Finally he pointed me in the right direction and I saw this magnificent purple-faced langur (Trachypithecus vetulus) which is also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey.
This is a long tailed, arboreal species that is endemic to the closed canopy forests of Sri Lanka. There are four subspecies of the purple-faced langur and they all appear on the IUCD red list. There has been massive deforestation in Sri Lanka so what little closed canopy forest remains is often in isolated pockets.
The subspecies I saw is the southern purple-faced langur (T. vetulus vetulus). They are supposed to be exceedingly shy, but once the rest of the group had been warned, this male was happy to loll about. Sometimes he watched us and at other times he paid no attention at all.
The glory lily or flame lily (Gloriosa superba) is a vine native to Asia and parts of Africa. While beautiful, it is highly toxic, indeed every part of the plant is poisonous. Reminds me of those brightly colored reptiles and amphibians whose intensity of hue warns potential predators of their toxicity.
The lovely tree below grows in my sister’s garden. It is a crepe/crape jasmine (Tabernaemontana divaricata) which is a member of the oleander family and is not a “true” jasmine. Like many members of the oleander family, it’s leaves release a milky sap when broken.
The cropped version of the photo shows the pretty five-petaled pinwheel blossoms that grow in clusters. These flowers are highly prized in Sri Lanka and are frequently used as offerings at shrines.
The crown flower (Calotropis gigantea) is also known as the giant milkweed and is native to much of Asia and tropical Africa. It’s a large evergreen shrub with clusters of waxy flowers. To get an idea of it’s size you can refer to the photo of the cattle egret and the cow from last week’s bucket as they are completely dwarfed by it. This plant seems to be quite common in the Southern province, especially in disturbed areas. That butterflies are attracted to it comes as no surprise considering that giant milkweed is it’s other name and like other milkweeds, the crown flower is poisonous.
I saw quite a few butterflies during my visit, but this was the only viable, if fuzzy shot that I managed to get. IRL it was a lovely blue and based on the color and markings I’m tentatively identifying it as a blue tiger (Tirumala limniace). I know that many of our readers are pretty knowledgeable in this area, so please feel free to correct me
The wonderful trees in the photograph below are everywhere on the beaches of the Southern province and many have vivid orange fruits hanging from them. The trees are a variety of Pandanus which is commonly known as the screw pine or Umbrella tree. There are hundreds of varieties of Pandanus in Asia, Oceania and the Pacific islands including Hawaii and many are strikingly similar. I spent a lot of time researching this species and it’s numerous varieties until I finally gave up in frustration. For anyone interested in the various varieties, their descriptions and their many and varied uses Plantnet-project.org gives a comprehensive overview.
Some varieties of Pandanus have edible fruit and some do not, but the one pictured below looks luscious.
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), is a member of the fig and mulberry family. Not only is the fruit the largest tree-borne variety, but a single tree can produce 100-200 of them a year, making them a potentially valuable resource in the fight against famine.
In Sri Lanka both ripe and unripe Jackfruit is used for culinary purposes. When unripe the fruit is used in curries and other savory dishes. Ripe Jackfruit is far sweeter and is used to flavor desserts or to eat alone. It can also be seeded, fried and made into chips
The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe; it is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture.[10]
I can’t end this bucket without mentioning the king coconut (Cocos nucifera var. aurantiaca) which is indigenous to Sri Lanka. Unlike green cocoanuts, this lovely golden variety has very little meat, but plenty of the delicious water or “milk” for which it is famed.
I’m going back to Sri Lanka towards the end of March and plan to stay there for three months. It will be very different this time, as neither my family nor my friends are going to be there, so I am a little out of my comfort zone. Still, I plan to see a lot more of the island and it’s astonishing biodiversity. I am also going to volunteer with an organization called WeCare which provides desperately needed veterinary services for the enormous population of Sri Lankan street dogs. I saw some terrible suffering during my visit and had planned to see if I could find a spaying and neutering program that needed help and then on my last day I heard about this group of British vets who had started this amazing program. It’s obviously meant to be.
Thanks as always for reading.
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