Common Kingfisher - Thalangama, Sri Lanka

 

Common Kingfisher photographed at Thalangama this morning. The bird was far away and I had to crop the image a fair bit. It was pretty quiet from a birding perspective but Cinnamon bitterns have made an appearance.

Brown-headed Barbet - Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

The barbets are regular visitors to our garden, specially when there is fruit on the trees. I photographed this guy from about 10 feet away. I was on a balcony and was glad that I had a clear line of sight to it and sufficient space between the bird and the background to get a nice blur.

Jumping Spider - Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

Covid lockdowns have resulted in the macro lens being brought out more often than usual. This shot of a jumping spider was taken at home when I found it perched on a branch at eye level. Lighting was form high camera right using a speed light defused with a small soft box. 

The Herd - Kala Wewa, Sri Lanka

We watched these elephants having a bath and rolling around at the waterhole for a few hours and they provided us with plenty of photographic opportunities. The herd was not bothered by our presence as they didn't seem to change their behaviour which included lying down in the waterhole. There were more elephants in the herd but they are out to the right of the frame. They too kept approaching the waterhole periodically.

 

Corridors - Dambulla, Sri Lanka

 

I came across this little stupa at the end of a corridor near the entrance to one of the caves. I thought the row of windows made the composition a bit more interesting. Thoughts?

Statues - Dambulla, Sri Lanka

Dambulla on a quiet day is great experience. These statues were in the second cave (from memory) and I was fortunate to be able to take my time photographing them as there weren't too many other people around. A tripod is essential and flash photography is not allowed. The main statues are lit but the paintings on the walls are in relative darkness.

Raja Maha Viharaya - Dambulla, Sri Lanka

 

The cave temples in Dambulla are on almost every tourist route within Sri Lanka and they deserve to be. The artwork and statues are stunning and are a welcome reward after the climb up to the caves.  I visited the temple early one morning with the aim of photographing it without other visitors walking across my frame. I got to the temple and found that my lens was broken and wouldn't zoom out more than 70mm.  Fortunately I had taken a few photographs the previous day.

Sentinel - Lahugala, Sri Lanka

 

While driving through Lahugala, we came across this stunning tree in the middle of a dried up lake bed. Fired off a few frames with a telephoto lens and decided to process it as a black and white image as I felt the contrast between the tree and the clouds and surroundings made the image "work".

Buduruwagala - Wellawaya, Sri Lanka

 

We stopped at Buduruwagala on our way to Arugam Bay a few weeks ago. I hadn't been there in a number of years and was a bit disappointed to see that the area had changed. I guess it was inevitable given the increasing number of visitors to the area. The statues though are still stunning and well worth a visit. 

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.

Black Eagle - Galaha, Sri Lanka

The Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis) is seen regularly around the Galaha area near Kandy, Sri Lanka. I've been trying to photograph it while perched for about 20 years but have had no luck so far. This weekend was no exception. We saw the birds at quite a close range but unfortunately they didn't perch on any of the trees in the area. This photograph was taken when the birds swooped down on one of it's many circuits of the area.

 

House Fly - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across this house fly in the garden over the weekend. It was relatively easy to photograph as it stayed still on the leaf while I lit it from different angles and fired off a number of frames. The hardest part of this shoot was waiting for the breeze to die down and the leaf to be still. Got there in the end.

Snail - Colombo, Sri Lanka

I came across this little snail in the courtyard at home. Fortunately they are a lot easier to photograph than jumping spiders! I fired off a few frames and then took him out to the garden. I'm not sure what species of snail this is but it might belong to the macrochlamys family. If you know what species this is, please let me know via the comments?

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.

Moonstone - Lahugala, Sri Lanka

The moonstone at the Lahugala temple is unique as it is the only moonstone in the country that has a human figure included in the carving. The human figures can be seen on the backs of 4 of the  elephants. The people of this area were supposed to have been known to tame elephants and it is said to be in recognition of this that the human figure was included. This is just a folk tale as far as I am aware.

Hindagala Raja Maha Viharaya - Hindagala, Kandy

The Hindagala Rajamaha Viharaya, located close to the university of Peradeniya, has been dated back to the 7th Century AD. The temple is known for its paintings that can be seen on the outer facade of the temple. However, the oldest paintings are within the cave itself. 

Kadurugoda Viharaya - Kandarodai, Sri Lanka

Kadurugoda Viharaya is an ancient archeological site dating back to the Anuradhapura period. Although about 20 stupas are currently visible at the site, remnants of 56 are said to have been found in the area. The stupas have been made with coral stone and do not have the square section found on top of the domes of other temples.

Green Tree Ant - Colombo Sri Lanka

 

I found this Green Tree Ant on an indoor plant at home. This resulted in  the macro lens, a flash and a small diffuser being pulled out and the poor ant being photographed for about half an hour. I'd never refuse a bit of entertainment during the lockdown!