The Treasury has allocated Rs 200 million to the Wildlife Conservation Department to prevent the increasing number of elephant deaths due to train accidents.
The Treasury had released the money on the directives of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had reportedly directed Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundara to lend his fullest co-operation to the project.
The number of elephants killed on account of being hit by trains last year is the highest number recorded so far, according to Wildlife Conservation Department's Elephant Conservation Unit Deputy Director W S K Pathirana.
"Fifteen jumbos, including a number of female elephants and calfs were found dead on rail tracks bordering national parks last year," he said.
"Overgrown shrubbery that have spread up to railway tracks have been the main cause for these accidents," he explained.
"The animals face fatal collisions as they get trapped between the shrubbery and steep embankment on either sides of the track," he explained.
"They go in search of food - leaves, twigs, flowers, grass and water at night. Most elephant-train accidents take place during late hours between 6 pm to 5 am," he added.
He said the Wildlife Department has commenced clearing the railway tracks in Kanthale where elephant deaths are frequent.
The department has started the activity with Sri Lanka Railways.
A 10-mile stretch of track is to be cleared to provide safe passage for the elephant under the project, he said.
Meanwhile, elephant conservators thanked the President stating that this is the first time that any government has allocated so much funds to resolve the human-elephant conflict.
Steps will be taken under the project to fill more stones between the sleepers of the tracks to prevent the elephants from getting stuck between them, they said.
Elephant Conservation Deputy Director Pathirana said they had discussions with Transport Minister Kumar Welgama about using 'night vision' cameras to monitor the movements of elephant herds as the trains wend their way through accident prone areas of the forest.
Minister Welgama has agreed to install infra-red night vision to facilitate the process of monitoring elephant movement at night as a pilot project, he said.
Source:http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/01/24/news18.asp
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sri Lanka environmentalists protest giving away elephants from Pinnawala Orphanage
Environmentalists of Sri Lanka protest the donating of elephants from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage to third parties.
Environmentalist Sanjeewa Chamikara said the programme carried out by the government to hand over elephant calves from Pinnawala Orphanage to businesspersons should be immediately stopped.
The first elephant calf was born in 1985 at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. Since its inception in 1975, 67 elephant calves have been born in the Orphanage and 12 of these calves have been given to various people in 2011 alone.
Environmentalist Nayanaka Ranwella added that while only 67 calves were born in the Orphanage, 85 calves had been given to the private sector for adoption.
The orphanage originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned elephants found injured in various accidents in the jungle has its own generation born in captivity now.
Pinnawala orphanage which shelters the largest herd of captive elephants in the world is a major tourist attraction in Sri Lanka.
Source:http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12/Jan22_1327219954KA.php
Environmentalist Sanjeewa Chamikara said the programme carried out by the government to hand over elephant calves from Pinnawala Orphanage to businesspersons should be immediately stopped.
The first elephant calf was born in 1985 at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. Since its inception in 1975, 67 elephant calves have been born in the Orphanage and 12 of these calves have been given to various people in 2011 alone.
Environmentalist Nayanaka Ranwella added that while only 67 calves were born in the Orphanage, 85 calves had been given to the private sector for adoption.
The orphanage originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned elephants found injured in various accidents in the jungle has its own generation born in captivity now.
Pinnawala orphanage which shelters the largest herd of captive elephants in the world is a major tourist attraction in Sri Lanka.
Source:http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12/Jan22_1327219954KA.php
Environmentalists’ support sought to identify birds
The residents of Wennappuwa, Lunuwila are seeking the support of wildlife authorities and environmentalists to identify and take care of an isolated bird family of an unknown and uncommon bird species.
The isolated bird family consisting of eight baby birds and parents were saved from crows by residents last Saturday. Of them, two baby birds had died.
The mother bird and six youngsters had been provided protection in a cage by the residents.
The male bird was seen hovering around the area where the other birds are caged. The length of the female bird is around two and a half to three feet. Its height is around one foot.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Tea plantation takes a deadly toll on - Sinharaja Forest
Sri Lanka was blessed with vast stretches of lush green forests which
were subsequently cleared on a massive scale throughout the British
Colonial Era, primarily for cultivation of cash crops such as Tea,
Coffee, Rubber and Cardamom. As a result, wet zone forests were
fragmented leaving little of the original cover in viable continuous
forest spans out of which Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya (KDN) forest
complex is considered the most significant.
Although it has been 63 years since independence, we have failed to ensure the security of our wet zone forest ecosystems burdening the Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora compiled once in three years by the IUCN. Regrettably, information rendered by the red list and other records have not been incorporated in the process of policy making. Demeaned to mere records, these vital sources of information stand detached from the policy statements.
Sinharaja forest provides a prime example to this plight. Since late 80s the Forest Department, which has been entitled with the custody of the Sinharaja forest has been too preoccupied with the struggle to promote tourism in order to boost the treasury that protecting biodiversity has been allowed to drift into oblivion.
The first attempt to conserve the Sinharaja Forest was its declaration as a Protected Area by Gazette Notification bearing No 4046 dated May 8, 1875 published under the Waste Lands Ordinance during the British colonial era itself. A 2,428.1 hectare span of the Sinharaja forest was declared as a Protected Area. On May 21, 1926 this was further extended by 3,724.6 hectares. During the period from 1972 to 1977 roads were built into the forest from Waturawa, Mulawella, Athwelthota-Kalukadawa and Kudawa and logging operations were carried out in order to supply for the Plywood Corporation. By the time it was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1988 these logging operations had been terminated as a result of relentless protests of the environmentalists.
A span of 11,187 hectares of the Sinharaja Forest was declared a National Heritage Wilderness Area by Gazette Notification bearing No. 528/14 dated 21.10.1988 published under the National Heritage Wilderness Area Act number 4 of 1988. This stands as the sole declaration made under this Act up to date. Next, in 1989 it was inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO under Natural Criteria ix and x, the first to be declared as a World Heritage Site on the island.
Sinharaja Forest is a unique ecosystem. It is comprised of a canopy typical to Tropical Wet Evergreen Rainforests and three unique climax vegetation types: Hora community, Na-Dun community, Milla-Diya para-Hedawaka-Welipanna community. A unique plant community composed of the two endemic species Rath Dun (Shorea gardneri) and Yakahalu (Shorea trapezifolla) exist in Sinharaja Watte and Enasal Watte owned by the State Plantation Corporation. These areas, situated outside the Protected Area, are vulnerable to clearing for plantation of tea.
Four hundred and ninety five (495) of the 926 endemic flowering plants of Sri Lanka as well as 13 of the 25 endemic plant Genera are recorded from the Sinharaja Forest. Fifteen point endemic species of flora occur in the forest while 340 woody plants are recorded, out of which 192 are endemic to the country. The overwhelming faunal diversity of the Sinharaja forest encompasses 448 species that belong to the animal groups of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and butterflies. Out of these, 137 species (31%) are endemic to the country.
Sinharaja forest accounts only for 0.17% of the total land area of Sri Lanka. Notwithstanding, it shelters 44% of the terrestrial animals of six animal groups as mentioned above, recorded from Sri Lanka. Forty-four per cent of the endemic fauna of Sri Lanka are reported to inhabit the forest. Sinharaja records all 33 endemic bird species of Sri Lanka. Among the 20 recorded point endemic species of animals are 11 amphibians, five reptiles, one mammal (Kunuhik meeya - Crocidura hikmiya), two fresh water crabs (Ceylonthelphusa savitriae and Perbrinckia rosae) and one spider species (Onomustus nigricauds). These provide ample evidence to the invaluable biodiversity significance of the forest.
Five of the 11 point endemic Amphibians are Critically Endangered according to the IUCN red list (2007); Sinharaja shrub frog (Philautus simba), Cheeky shrub frog (Philautus procax), Papillated shrub frog (Philautus papillosus), Handapan Ella shrub frog (Philautus lunatus) and Morning side tree frog (Polypedates fastigo). As per the IUCN red list (2007), the rest are Endangered.
According to the veteran Zoologist P. B Karunarathne, Deraniyagala’s shield tail (Rhinophis tricoloratus), a point endemic fossorial snake, is a common inhabitant of the forest. The four tetrapod reptiles endemic to the Singharaja forest; Erdelen’s horned lizard (Ceratophora
erdeleni), Karunaratne’s horned lizard (Ceratophora karu), Desilva’s lizard (Calotes desilvai) and Rakwana bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus subsolanus) are Critically Endangered according to the 2007 IUCN red list.
Most of the point endemic amphibian, reptile and crab species are precariously confined to the unprotected areas of Morningside and Handapan Ella (Rakwana Mountain Range). These forests, owned by the State Plantation Corporation and the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Commission are being rapidly cleared for potato and cardamom plantations.
According to the Cabinet Paper bearing number PS/CS/26/2004 dated July 22, 2004 all the forest lands in the custody of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Commission that adjoin the Sinharaja National Wilderness Area or situated within 0.5 km from the boundary have been prescribed to be ceded to the Forest Department in agreement with section 22 (1) e and 44(a) of Land Reclamation Law of 1972. However, the documents pertaining to this stipulation have lain dormant for seven years at the Environment Management Division of the Ministry of Environment.
As stated in this Cabinet Paper 2,508.4 hectares of virgin forests are prescribed to be combined with the protected area. Enasal watte, Kurugala watte, Beverly watte and Hemagiri watte of Matara District, Mura kele watte, Fab watte, Iluba kanda watte, Morningside watte, Canter watte, Gaze watte, Gonhela watte, Abbey rose watte, Backware watte, Konduragala watte and Dambahena watte of the Ratnapura District along with Homadola watte, of the District of Galle are recommended to be linked to the protected Area. These forest lands have been leased to many plantation companies by the Land Reclamation and Development Commission. Adding to the burden caused by plantation of Tea, Cardamom and Potatoes, clearing for Developmental Projects such as construction of hotels poses a detrimental impact on the forest cover.
Many exclusive forests in the environs of the Sinharaja forest have not been granted proper legal protection. Seven proposed protected areas including Morapitiya-Renakanda, Delgoda, Panagala, Warathelgoda and Thibbotuwawa are connected to the Sinharaja Forest. It is required to attach all these proposed areas to the protected Wilderness Area in order to guarantee the preservation of biodiversity.
Upon implementation of such conservation strategies, it is essential to declare the area within one kilometre or a mile from the boundary as a buffer zone under the National Environmental Act. In the case of the National Parks in the Dry Zone the areas within a mile from the boundary have been declared buffer zones (Environment sensitive area) and thus it is mandatory for any development activity located within to obtain Environmental Recommendation subject to the EIA process. But astonishingly, the Sinharaja forest, the most significant forest system in terms of Biodiversity had been treated unfairly with a hardly commendable allocation of a rather scanty buffer zone or sensitive area of 100 m from the boundary.
We wish that the Ministry of Environment would take necessary policy decisions in order to address these crucial issues in order to sustain this magnificent repository of biodiversity for generations to come.
Source:http://www.nation.lk/edition/columns/green-nation/item/926-tea-plantation-takes-a-deadly-toll-on-sinharaja-forest
Although it has been 63 years since independence, we have failed to ensure the security of our wet zone forest ecosystems burdening the Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora compiled once in three years by the IUCN. Regrettably, information rendered by the red list and other records have not been incorporated in the process of policy making. Demeaned to mere records, these vital sources of information stand detached from the policy statements.
Sinharaja forest provides a prime example to this plight. Since late 80s the Forest Department, which has been entitled with the custody of the Sinharaja forest has been too preoccupied with the struggle to promote tourism in order to boost the treasury that protecting biodiversity has been allowed to drift into oblivion.
The first attempt to conserve the Sinharaja Forest was its declaration as a Protected Area by Gazette Notification bearing No 4046 dated May 8, 1875 published under the Waste Lands Ordinance during the British colonial era itself. A 2,428.1 hectare span of the Sinharaja forest was declared as a Protected Area. On May 21, 1926 this was further extended by 3,724.6 hectares. During the period from 1972 to 1977 roads were built into the forest from Waturawa, Mulawella, Athwelthota-Kalukadawa and Kudawa and logging operations were carried out in order to supply for the Plywood Corporation. By the time it was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1988 these logging operations had been terminated as a result of relentless protests of the environmentalists.
A span of 11,187 hectares of the Sinharaja Forest was declared a National Heritage Wilderness Area by Gazette Notification bearing No. 528/14 dated 21.10.1988 published under the National Heritage Wilderness Area Act number 4 of 1988. This stands as the sole declaration made under this Act up to date. Next, in 1989 it was inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO under Natural Criteria ix and x, the first to be declared as a World Heritage Site on the island.
Sinharaja Forest is a unique ecosystem. It is comprised of a canopy typical to Tropical Wet Evergreen Rainforests and three unique climax vegetation types: Hora community, Na-Dun community, Milla-Diya para-Hedawaka-Welipanna community. A unique plant community composed of the two endemic species Rath Dun (Shorea gardneri) and Yakahalu (Shorea trapezifolla) exist in Sinharaja Watte and Enasal Watte owned by the State Plantation Corporation. These areas, situated outside the Protected Area, are vulnerable to clearing for plantation of tea.
Four hundred and ninety five (495) of the 926 endemic flowering plants of Sri Lanka as well as 13 of the 25 endemic plant Genera are recorded from the Sinharaja Forest. Fifteen point endemic species of flora occur in the forest while 340 woody plants are recorded, out of which 192 are endemic to the country. The overwhelming faunal diversity of the Sinharaja forest encompasses 448 species that belong to the animal groups of fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and butterflies. Out of these, 137 species (31%) are endemic to the country.
Sinharaja forest accounts only for 0.17% of the total land area of Sri Lanka. Notwithstanding, it shelters 44% of the terrestrial animals of six animal groups as mentioned above, recorded from Sri Lanka. Forty-four per cent of the endemic fauna of Sri Lanka are reported to inhabit the forest. Sinharaja records all 33 endemic bird species of Sri Lanka. Among the 20 recorded point endemic species of animals are 11 amphibians, five reptiles, one mammal (Kunuhik meeya - Crocidura hikmiya), two fresh water crabs (Ceylonthelphusa savitriae and Perbrinckia rosae) and one spider species (Onomustus nigricauds). These provide ample evidence to the invaluable biodiversity significance of the forest.
Five of the 11 point endemic Amphibians are Critically Endangered according to the IUCN red list (2007); Sinharaja shrub frog (Philautus simba), Cheeky shrub frog (Philautus procax), Papillated shrub frog (Philautus papillosus), Handapan Ella shrub frog (Philautus lunatus) and Morning side tree frog (Polypedates fastigo). As per the IUCN red list (2007), the rest are Endangered.
According to the veteran Zoologist P. B Karunarathne, Deraniyagala’s shield tail (Rhinophis tricoloratus), a point endemic fossorial snake, is a common inhabitant of the forest. The four tetrapod reptiles endemic to the Singharaja forest; Erdelen’s horned lizard (Ceratophora
erdeleni), Karunaratne’s horned lizard (Ceratophora karu), Desilva’s lizard (Calotes desilvai) and Rakwana bent-toed gecko (Cyrtodactylus subsolanus) are Critically Endangered according to the 2007 IUCN red list.
Most of the point endemic amphibian, reptile and crab species are precariously confined to the unprotected areas of Morningside and Handapan Ella (Rakwana Mountain Range). These forests, owned by the State Plantation Corporation and the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Commission are being rapidly cleared for potato and cardamom plantations.
According to the Cabinet Paper bearing number PS/CS/26/2004 dated July 22, 2004 all the forest lands in the custody of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Commission that adjoin the Sinharaja National Wilderness Area or situated within 0.5 km from the boundary have been prescribed to be ceded to the Forest Department in agreement with section 22 (1) e and 44(a) of Land Reclamation Law of 1972. However, the documents pertaining to this stipulation have lain dormant for seven years at the Environment Management Division of the Ministry of Environment.
As stated in this Cabinet Paper 2,508.4 hectares of virgin forests are prescribed to be combined with the protected area. Enasal watte, Kurugala watte, Beverly watte and Hemagiri watte of Matara District, Mura kele watte, Fab watte, Iluba kanda watte, Morningside watte, Canter watte, Gaze watte, Gonhela watte, Abbey rose watte, Backware watte, Konduragala watte and Dambahena watte of the Ratnapura District along with Homadola watte, of the District of Galle are recommended to be linked to the protected Area. These forest lands have been leased to many plantation companies by the Land Reclamation and Development Commission. Adding to the burden caused by plantation of Tea, Cardamom and Potatoes, clearing for Developmental Projects such as construction of hotels poses a detrimental impact on the forest cover.
Many exclusive forests in the environs of the Sinharaja forest have not been granted proper legal protection. Seven proposed protected areas including Morapitiya-Renakanda, Delgoda, Panagala, Warathelgoda and Thibbotuwawa are connected to the Sinharaja Forest. It is required to attach all these proposed areas to the protected Wilderness Area in order to guarantee the preservation of biodiversity.
Upon implementation of such conservation strategies, it is essential to declare the area within one kilometre or a mile from the boundary as a buffer zone under the National Environmental Act. In the case of the National Parks in the Dry Zone the areas within a mile from the boundary have been declared buffer zones (Environment sensitive area) and thus it is mandatory for any development activity located within to obtain Environmental Recommendation subject to the EIA process. But astonishingly, the Sinharaja forest, the most significant forest system in terms of Biodiversity had been treated unfairly with a hardly commendable allocation of a rather scanty buffer zone or sensitive area of 100 m from the boundary.
We wish that the Ministry of Environment would take necessary policy decisions in order to address these crucial issues in order to sustain this magnificent repository of biodiversity for generations to come.
Man and animal under cover of darkness
They drove through Yala in the still of the night experiencing a strange silent world so different to the dusty scrub jungle by day. “47 days of filming at night brought its rewards: 106 leopard sightings in 46 nights, 11 of sloth bears, five of rusty spotted cats, 14 of cobras and seven of pythons along with countless elephants arriving to water at Gonagala and Heenwewa tanks.”The mission was a film to bring Yala’s amazing wildlife, to the spotlight. But unlike the many wildlife films done before, this one made for the National Geographic Channel, titled ‘Night Stalkers’ would focus on Yala’s top predator, the leopard and its behaviour under cover of darkness.
For Chitral Jayatilaka, head of Eco-tourism and Special Projects at John Keells, accustomed as he is to the wild, it was a rare privilege. Ten years ago, the BBC film ‘The Leopard Hunters’ done with the late Dr. Ravi Samarasinghe and Jehan Kumara had brought Yala’s leopards to a world audience and to help make such a film on the big cats’ behaviour at night, was for Chitral, a dream realised, another step in the larger mission to conserve this awesome wealth through knowledge and awareness.
It all began in May 2010 when Chitral was contacted by Thomas Stephens, a young producer at Ammonite, UK, about making a leopard documentary at Yala focusing on the big cat’s behaviour at night.
“I invited Tom to visit Sri Lanka in early June for a recce and drove him to Yala. Enroute, we met the Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation and presented our plans of filming these elusive cats at night. The three-day recce was a great success, with many leopards seen, and the experiment of staying out at the park one night after closing time with the kind assistance of the DWC worked well in spotting several large males at night. Tom was convinced that Yala was indeed the place to make his movie designed for Nat Geo Wild,” says Chitral.
Four weeks of meticulous planning followed, custom-designing filming doors fabricated in Tissa, seats removed to house two thermal cameras and modified desktop computers on board the jeeps. The Nature Trails team at Chaaya Wild awaited the arrival of the Ammonite crew led by Martin Dhorn.
“On July 7, we were all set for our first night of filming. Kalu, our faithful driver carefully selected for the filming jeep, needed reassurance in driving through night vision. I took on the wheel of the Tata myself; driving up to the main gate was easy, but negotiating the jeep through the narrow gates certainly tested my night vision driving skills,” says Chitral.
“We headed straight up towards the Yala junction when the spotter jeep picked up one of the ‘Suduwelimulla Cubs’ ahead. I gently manoeuvred the jeep into position and spotted the cub seated on the drain by the road, relaxed though watching the jeep.
“Thirty minutes later, to our total surprise, the cub stood up, stretched and began walking straight up to the filming jeep. Tom whispered to me, “Back up CJ, he’s too close…” and I did, looking through Yukon night vision goggles; another first – reversing a jeep through Infra Red vision.”
Over the weeks that followed, they had numerous sightings and were able to capture remarkable images of the big cats as they moved freely at night —a leopard family, father, mother and two cubs, leopards mating by the roadside and a young leopard’s chase for prey up a tree- unsuccessful as it turned out and much more of the interaction too between the leopards and other animals at Yala including a rare sequence of a female leopard’s battle to protect her kill from wild boar, buffalo and crocodile .
Adds Chitral, “I felt as if I sat on the top of the world when we drove into the ‘Buttuwa’ plains one September night for a final still image of the crew that completed this amazing task. A 30-second long exposure, we stood motionless until Tom said he was happy with the symbolic image that marked the completion of Night Stalkers.”
Fourteen months later, the completed documentary aired in the US and UK has had rave reviews. Yala’s leopards’ cover of darkness had been broken with the aid of state of the art technology and a team of men determined to observe, document and share the secret lives of leopards at night.
The film was shown last week to a group of conservationists and journalists and hopefully will be aired on local TV soon.
Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/120115/Plus/plus_18.html
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Green-billed Coucal: threatened with extinction
by K. G. H. Munidasa
One morning a previous week I was up at six and seated in the verandah with the pair of binoculars in my hand.
The first bird to call was the Indian Pitta or "Avichchiya", and then a White-breasted Kingfisher in the distance. Next the Orange-breasted Blue-Flycatcher broke into song at 6.30 in the back yard, as usual.
In spite of the overnight rains, the day turned out to be bright and many birds began to vocalize around the house. As the rays of the sun touched the tree tops, I focused the binoculars on the Champak "Gini-Sapu" tree standing hardly 30 yards from the verandah. A pair of Pompadour Green Pigeons were already there searching for ripen pale-brown fruits, relished by many birds which regularly visit the garden.
Barbets
There were several Brown-headed and Yellow-fronted Barbets, busy selecting the fruits of their choice, and a solitary Crimson-breasted Barbet or Coppersmith. Soon a pair of Green Imperial Pigeons and a Ceylon Grey Hornbill arrived, dispersing all other feasters.
My attention was drawn to an unfamiliar bird-call in a tree fifty yards away to my right. It was an Ebony or "Kuluwara" with clusters of dark green leaves, growing adjacent to a leafy Jak tree.
The call poo-hoop characteristically similar to that of the commoner Common Crow-Pheasant, familiar bird in most home gardens in the low country, continued for about ten minutes. I failed to spot the strange caller however much I tried, and finally saw a black bird with bright chestnut back flying off from the opposite direction.
I jotted down a note in my field book and set about referring the bird literature in my book shelf. After perusing the observations of many an authority on the subject of Lankan bird species. I could fix my chance sighting only on the Green-billed Coucal or "Batta Attikukula", an endangered species.
If I would quote the Annotated Checklist (1978 Revised Edition), the Ceylon Coucal Centropus chlororhynchus Blyth has been first described from Avissawella in Western Province, Sri Lanka in 1849. The Author, W. W. A. Phillips adds "Local but resident, in small numbers, in the jungles and dense bamboo and cane-brakes of the Wet Zone, and intermediate areas and ascends the Hills on the south-western slopes to altitudes of 2,500 feet."
Records
According to the Ceylon Bird Club records, Green-billed Coucal is a very sly and elusive bird far better known by its calls than by sight, whose range is rapidly dwindling, and if no remedial measures are taken there can be no doubt that its days will soon be numbered.
Similar to the common species, only rather smaller and slighter, the gloss on the breast, hind-neck and upper back purplish and bronze; the wings darker chestnut.
The feathers on the crown are longer and looser. Bill pale apple green and the irides deep red or dull crimson.
Thy cry is a sonorous-hooo-poop, hooo-poo-poop- the poop being lower-pitched.
Up to end of the last century this rare species has more often been recorded from the Sinharaja Man and Biosphere Reserve, Peak Wilderness (Adam's Peak) Sanctuary, Gilimale Forest, Ingiriya Forest Reserve (Bodhinagala), Hakgala, Kanneliya and Hiniduma to mention a few.
Instances of breeding or nesting of the Green-billed Coucal was not recorded from any of these localities until 1997, when a party of club members who visited Sinharaja in September that year came across a nest and a fledgling of this coucal at a place called Mulawella, outside the main forest.
The nest was reportedly placed within the crown of a small tree covered with creepers amidst thick growth of bamboo (Batta), about 10 to 12 feet from the ground, not properly hidden in the foliage.
The young coucal had left the nest and was waiting on a nearby branch.
Its tail was very short and the back was black as in the young of the Common Coucal.
However, a bit of purplish sheen visible on neck suggested that it was not of the latter species. As they watched an adult Green-billed Coucal came up and fed the young.
In April 1998, another party recorded a pair with a young at a forest patch in the Sinharaja.
The adults perched separately, 6-8 feet from the ground. On closer approach the young crept into the forest, led by the adults, and made a "Chewick" - "Chewick" note.
Source:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/01/01/spe08.asp
The first bird to call was the Indian Pitta or "Avichchiya", and then a White-breasted Kingfisher in the distance. Next the Orange-breasted Blue-Flycatcher broke into song at 6.30 in the back yard, as usual.
In spite of the overnight rains, the day turned out to be bright and many birds began to vocalize around the house. As the rays of the sun touched the tree tops, I focused the binoculars on the Champak "Gini-Sapu" tree standing hardly 30 yards from the verandah. A pair of Pompadour Green Pigeons were already there searching for ripen pale-brown fruits, relished by many birds which regularly visit the garden.
Barbets
There were several Brown-headed and Yellow-fronted Barbets, busy selecting the fruits of their choice, and a solitary Crimson-breasted Barbet or Coppersmith. Soon a pair of Green Imperial Pigeons and a Ceylon Grey Hornbill arrived, dispersing all other feasters.
My attention was drawn to an unfamiliar bird-call in a tree fifty yards away to my right. It was an Ebony or "Kuluwara" with clusters of dark green leaves, growing adjacent to a leafy Jak tree.
The call poo-hoop characteristically similar to that of the commoner Common Crow-Pheasant, familiar bird in most home gardens in the low country, continued for about ten minutes. I failed to spot the strange caller however much I tried, and finally saw a black bird with bright chestnut back flying off from the opposite direction.
I jotted down a note in my field book and set about referring the bird literature in my book shelf. After perusing the observations of many an authority on the subject of Lankan bird species. I could fix my chance sighting only on the Green-billed Coucal or "Batta Attikukula", an endangered species.
If I would quote the Annotated Checklist (1978 Revised Edition), the Ceylon Coucal Centropus chlororhynchus Blyth has been first described from Avissawella in Western Province, Sri Lanka in 1849. The Author, W. W. A. Phillips adds "Local but resident, in small numbers, in the jungles and dense bamboo and cane-brakes of the Wet Zone, and intermediate areas and ascends the Hills on the south-western slopes to altitudes of 2,500 feet."
Records
According to the Ceylon Bird Club records, Green-billed Coucal is a very sly and elusive bird far better known by its calls than by sight, whose range is rapidly dwindling, and if no remedial measures are taken there can be no doubt that its days will soon be numbered.
Similar to the common species, only rather smaller and slighter, the gloss on the breast, hind-neck and upper back purplish and bronze; the wings darker chestnut.
The feathers on the crown are longer and looser. Bill pale apple green and the irides deep red or dull crimson.
Thy cry is a sonorous-hooo-poop, hooo-poo-poop- the poop being lower-pitched.
Up to end of the last century this rare species has more often been recorded from the Sinharaja Man and Biosphere Reserve, Peak Wilderness (Adam's Peak) Sanctuary, Gilimale Forest, Ingiriya Forest Reserve (Bodhinagala), Hakgala, Kanneliya and Hiniduma to mention a few.
Instances of breeding or nesting of the Green-billed Coucal was not recorded from any of these localities until 1997, when a party of club members who visited Sinharaja in September that year came across a nest and a fledgling of this coucal at a place called Mulawella, outside the main forest.
The nest was reportedly placed within the crown of a small tree covered with creepers amidst thick growth of bamboo (Batta), about 10 to 12 feet from the ground, not properly hidden in the foliage.
The young coucal had left the nest and was waiting on a nearby branch.
Its tail was very short and the back was black as in the young of the Common Coucal.
However, a bit of purplish sheen visible on neck suggested that it was not of the latter species. As they watched an adult Green-billed Coucal came up and fed the young.
In April 1998, another party recorded a pair with a young at a forest patch in the Sinharaja.
The adults perched separately, 6-8 feet from the ground. On closer approach the young crept into the forest, led by the adults, and made a "Chewick" - "Chewick" note.
Source:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2012/01/01/spe08.asp
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