Barana - Kala Wewa, Sri Lanka

 

Barana was in musth when we decided to visit the Kala Wewa area a few weeks ago. We got there around midday and had to wait a few hours until he made his appearance. Fortunately there was a herd of elephants at a water and they provided us with a number of photographic opportunities while we waited. Barana's presence was given away by the odour of the secretions from his temporal ducts that carried on the wind. We watched and photographed him for a few hours as he drank his fill at the edge of the wewa and we left him feeding on the plains.

Sloth Bear - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

 

Seeing Sloth Bears in Sri Lanka is relatively rare. I hadn't had a clear sighting for ages but that changed on my last trip to Wilpattu. We came across this bear while we were on a quiet morning drive. Fortunately there were only a handful of vehicles in the park and we were able to observe the bear without being disturbed.  We stopped the car and watched the bear walking down the road towards us. It walked about a 100 meters in our direction before it moved into the undergrowth and disappeared. 

Leopards - Wilpattu, Sri Lanka

 

Wilpattu was quiet last week with all the Covid-19 scares and fortunately, we were in the park. I'd have seen about 4 different vehicles within the park on our different drives. It was avery different experience from Yala with drivers cooperating with each other and actually tracking animals instead of being on the phone. We came across this pair of mating leopards on one of our morning drives and were able to watch them for about 15 minutes before they moved deeper into the jungle. This photograph was taken during one of their interactions.

Leopard - Kumana, Sri Lanka

 

We were fortunate to come across this leopard during an early morning round in Kumana a few days ago. It was nice to be in a park where you didn't have to deal with over crowding and noise at a sighting. We had this more or less to ourselves with a couple of other jeeps turning up as the leopard finished drinking and walked into the bush.

Brown Fishing Owl - Kuamana, Sri Lanka

 

The Brown Fishing Owl is one of the larger species of owl found in Sri Lanka. We found this owl perched on a branch by the side of the road in the Kumana national park. We had clear views of the Owl for about ten minutes before it flew off. I have seen this owl on a number of occasions but they have been perched on branches higher up in trees. This sighting was different as it was at eye level.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

This is the third jumping spider I came across at home. I hadn't realised there were so many until I pulled out the macro lens during the covid lock down and started  photographing them. Identification is not easy as there are over 75 species of jumping spider in Sri Lanka. Facebook spider interest group to the rescue!

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across another Jumping Spider at home yesterday. Ended up photographing him for about 20 minutes and got some decent shots. There are more of them on my instagram profile. The setup was similar to last time with a flash in a small softbox positioned to the left of the camera. The lens was a 100mm macro.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I found this Jumping Spider in the garden this morning. I'd been keeping an eye out for one of them to photograph and ran for the macro lens as soon as I saw it. I was able to fire off a few frames before it decided to hop away and disappear into the foliage. Overall I'm happy with this image but would have liked to have had a bit more time to photograph the spider.

Chestnut-eared Aracari - Pantanal, Brazil

The Chestnut-eared Aracari was the first bird I photographed in the Pantanal. We had just got to the place we were staying at and I saw it perched on a small tree in the garden. I grabbed the camera and took a few photographs of it before it moved on. It was a great start to what turned out to be a memorable few days.

Lesser Whistling Duck - Thalawathugoda, Sri Lanka

I'd been trying to get some decent photographs of the Lesser Whistling Duck for a while but hadn't been able to get close enough to get a decent photograph. I was at the biodiversity park in Thalawathugoda over the weekend and came across a family of ducks on one of the waterways. I lay on the ground behind some trees and waited for them to swim past.  It didn't take them too long top swim past me and let me take a number of shots. 

Purple Coot - Thalawathugoda, Sri Lanka

I took the kids out to the Diyasaru biodiversity park this morning. It was later than usual when we got there and the light wasn't great for photography. We came across this Purple Coot (Porphyrio poliocephalus) feeding along one of the waterways by the foot path. It didn't seem to be bothered by us and I fired off a few frames. 

Jaguar - Pantanal, Brazil

We had the pleasure of watching a Jaguar stalking Capybara on the banks of a the Cuiaba river a few years ago. The hunt was unsuccessful and the Jaguar proceeded to check the river for Caiman before walking back into the undergrowth. The entire sighting lasted about 30 minutes. The discipline of the guides and visitors made for a great experience. 

Brown-breasted Flycatcher - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Brown-breasted Flycatcher is another migrant that visits our garden in Colombo. It was perched on a dead branch quite close to the ground and I was able to shoot it eye level. Due to the fact that I was quite close to it, the out of focus background turned out pretty well. 

Black-rumped Flameback - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I was fortunate to be able to photograph this Black-rumped Flameback at home, in Colombo. The bird was working its way up a tree in the garden and I photographed it from an upstair window. Although Colombo is a bustling city,  it is relatively green and there are a number of birds frequenting gardens throughout the city and its suburbs.

Shikra - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

This female Shikra was photographed in Anuradhapura over the weekend. It swooped down from the canopy to pick up a lizard from the ground. It then perched on a branch close to ground level to consume its prey. I was able to fire off a couple of frames before it flew off.

Indian Pita - Pelawatte, Sri Lanka

An Indian Pita has been making its home in my in-laws garden during the last few migrant seasons. I finally got around to trying to photograph it last year. The bird is quite skittish and I had to setup a hide in the verandah to take this shot. I took the photograph while lying on the ground in order to get an eye level shot. The low angle created a nice blurry background as well.

Jaguar - Pantanal, Brazil

After spending a long day travelling along the Cuiaba river we were rewarded with this amazing sighting of a Jaguar. We were initially the only boat at the sighting and watched the cat stalking Capybara along the shore. It then appeared to look for Caiman in the shallows before disappearing into the undergrowth. 

Black-hooded Oriole - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Black-hooded Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) is another frequent visitor to our garden in Colombo. I shot this photograph a few years ago when this individual payed us a visit one afternoon. I was able to shoot from an upstair window as it perched on a branch slightly below eye level. The foliage in the background was a few meters away and that allowed me to isolate the subject at f5.6.

Sambar - Horton Plains, Sri Lanka

A male Sambar photographed on our last trip to Horton Plains in May. If you do venture into the Horton Plains national park late in the evening, you'd see large numbers of Sambar gathered on the plains to feed and if you are lucky, a Leopard. I haven't stayed in the park for years so it's been a while since I saw Sambar in large numbers too.

Common Mormon - Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Common Mormon (Papilio polytes) is a swallow tailed butterfly found in Southern and South-Eastern Asia. This photograph was taken in our garden in Colombo. A number of butterflies frequent the garden as we have planted a number of natives. I observed and photographed this butterfly mating a day or two after this shot was taken. Hopefully this indicates that the garden is a healthy eco-system!