Spotted Dove Hatchlings no more than a day or a two old. Catching sight of them turned out to be very difficult. The wooden rafter blocks them from view. And when mama bird is also in the nest they are completely obstructed. In fact I didn’t know the eggs had hatched until at least a day after the event.

The nest is a clumsy affair but the location has been chosen wisely. There are two shikras in the neighbourhood and hatchlings like this would be easy prey for them when the mother bird is away. But because this nest is almost inside the house the Shikras are likely to keep away. The same cannot be said about cats though. Yet this rafter is two high for our lazy cats to reach.

This spotted dove has built her nest amongst the rafters in my Verandahs. They are a close relative of pigeons so it’s no wonder that the spotted doves are not shy of humans.

In dry weather the roofing sheets which are just a few inches above or head become too hot to touch, yet she doesn’t mind. Maybe it’s beause they help keep the eggs warm when the goes away to gather food. But then her husband takes over the egg warming job.

King Fisher’s are usually found close to water but this one was spotted at the Araliya Bungalow in Walahanduwa. A Kingfisher will perch on a wire or a tree branch and wait patiently for hours till a worm, a small fish or a frog emerges from it’s hideout. Then he will dive in an a sudden blur of color and grab the victim before it has a chance to dive back into cover.

This peacock was admiring it’s reflection on the side of the car for quite some time before settling on it’s roof to wait for lunch. Lunch was rice and curry! Though it’s unusual, sometimes wild peacocks do find themselves strongly attached to humans and don’t fly away even when the children play roughly with it. This bird hasn’t yet grown the majestic set of tail feathers that peacocks are famous. It lives with the family of a care taker at a small estate in Seru Kele.