Saturday, June 7, 2014

BIRDS – TO ALL WATCHERS

Email forwarded by Dr. Lalith Perera.

Is there something atavistic about an earthbound creature’s fascination with flying? Could this be why birds have such a grip on our imagination? Think of it – Shakespeare’s starlings and jackdaws – Rossini’s thieving magpie – Lewis Carroll and the dodo….The Owl and the Pussycat …Messiaen’s extraordinary  musical aviary … we’re  always  adding to the list. Somehow, it seems, our minds are refreshed and perplexed by birds. Although profoundly different we seek out similarities with their behaviour; then, perversely,  we decide to envy their singularity; we  ponder their  savagery, then wonder if we should follow their example; even as we hunt them,  we marvel at their resilience – windblown scraps flying against a howling gale, or sandmartins snuggling together in deep domesticity. ThE evening’s edition of Words and Music is an exploration of all things featherbrained – an all too human swoop from Wallace Stevens’ blackbird to the singing crows in Disney’s Dumbo; from the ambivalent sweetness of the dove you can hear in Du Fay or Penalosa to the slight and sensual figure of a wading girl that James Joyce transforms into a seabird.   Whether a lark ascending makes your heart leap or whether you’re stirred by the brassy lure of a buzzard, prepare to take wing.
Happy bird watchers.
Over to you.

Lalith

A dancing pea-cock, Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka.

View 'en face'.

View from the rear.

Side view.

An admiring pea-hen?
This courtship dance took more than 10 minutes. The pea-cock was turning round slowly and a shivering went through the outstretched fan on and off. The pea-hen was relatively immobile and seemed disinterested on and off.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

'Spoon-bills', Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka.


Dredging up the mud near the shoreline of a water reservoir,  in search of grub,  these Spoonbills were having a glorious day.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Brahminy Kite - Haliastur indus, Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka.

This bird is very often seen circling the clear sky in pairs wheeling in the high thermals. They make a high piercing cry of 'whee whee whee' heard all over the countryside. They swoop down on birds' nests to grab the youg chicks. Crows usually attack them in groups and drive them away protecting their young.