Funday Times

Stamp News 256 By Uncle Dee Cee
Birds which thrive on insects

In the Birds Series released recently is a set of five stamps depicted birds belonging to the Insectivorus category. They are birds, which live on insects. Scarlet Minivet or Orange Minivet, known as ‘Dilirath Minivitta’ in Sinhala is commonly called ‘Gini Kurulla’. They usually live in pairs or family parties searching for food in the high canopy.

The male and female can be identified by the colours. The male is brilliant orange and black while the female is grey and dark brown. The birds are found everywhere in the hills and sporadically in the low country wherever there is tall forest, particularly on the borders of tanks or along river banks. Arboreal in habit, living on trees, they seldom or never descend to the ground. The members of a flock would spend their time searching for foliage for prey, which consists of caterpillars, green crickets and other insects. After looking through one tree thoroughly, they would move over to the next.

They have two breeding seasons. The main one is from February to May with a second brood in August-September. When the breeding season approaches, the parties break up and breeding pairs are formed. The nest is a neat, small bowl composed of lichens bound together with cobweb and lined with dead-leaf midribs. It is placed in a fork or on top of a branch and is well camouflaged.

White-rumped Shama or Long-tailed Jungle Robin (Wal-polkichcha) is the size of the Magpie-robin (Polkichcha) with a much longer tail. There are differences between the two. There is no white in the wings but it has a white rump, chestnut underparts and flesh-coloured legs. It is freely seen in the low country and lower hills up to about 3,000 feet. It prefers the dry zone forests for its habitat. It is more heard than seen. It has a song, which is among the finest of bird voices - rich, varied and mellow. It often sings at dusk. It feeds largely on insects but prefers jungle berries as well.

The breeding season is mainly in March to May. The nest composed of fibres, rootlets, skeleton leaves and the like, is placed in a tree hole or a hollow stump. Normally the eggs number three. Malabar Trogon (Lohawannichcha also known as Gini-kurulla) is the size of the Common Mynah, but with a long graduated tail. The female does not have the white necklace that the male sports. The head and breast are greyish brown and the wings are barred with yellow ochre.

This beautiful bird is widespread in the forested portions of the country, both wet and dry zones and prefers elevations up to about 6,000 feet. The forest loving bird is a solitary hunter though it lives in pairs. It perches upright with its long square-cut tail hanging straight down. Usually keeps very still except for a slow, secret motion of the head as it peers in all directions for its prey. Occasionally it raises and expands its beautiful broad tail at the same time uttering a curious whinnying chatter ihiiiii,ihiiii. The trogon feeds on small flying insects, beetles and moths.

The breeding season is from February to June. The eggs are laid on the floor of a cavity in a tree trunk, generally a rotten dead one. A soft whistling ‘hyoch’ call is uttered frequently during the breeding season.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Asiya Ranmahara) is popularly called Redi-hora, Lainsu-hora (white males) and Gini-hora (red males and females). It is identified by the very long tail feathers forming ribbon like streamers. Other prominent features are the blue-black head with jaunty crest, and either snowy white or bright chestnut back, wings and tail. It makes a characteristic loud ‘creech’ call while hunting.

The very active bird moving about a great deal in the course of a day’s hunting, appears fully aware of its beauty with the males, in particular, whisking their long tail-streamers about with pride. Towards evening it takes a regular bath by plunging into a pool from a convenient perch. Breeding takes place in the months April-July. The nest is a beautiful little cup composed of fine fibres and bast bound with cobwebs and is placed on a downward hanging bare branch.

Little Green Bee-eater (Punchi Binguharaya or Kurumini-kurulla) is sparrow sized but much longer due to the long tail. It loves to hunt insects while in flight. It is a very common bird seen almost everywhere in the dry zone low country. It lives in pairs and loves to perch on telegraph wires, tops and thorny bushes from which it darts out to capture the flies, small beetles, bees and wasps. When a capture is made, it returns to the perch with a graceful sweep and proceeds to batter the insect to death prior to swallowing it. The breeding season is from April to August. The nesting burrow is dug into the side of a bank or often into almost flat ground and is from two to four feet in length.

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