10 June 2009

The Maiden Flight


This little bird was seen on his (Let’s call it ’he’) maiden flight from his nest. In fact I had the chance of seeing the little bird from the time he was fed daily by his parents.

The nest was found inside a house in Pepiliyana and the parents selected this unique place as it was totally protected from rain and other natural adversities. There was a kitul tree planted inside the house and the parent birds have built the nest long time ago. This is either the third or fourth batch of children.

I think they belong to the humming bird category (Peni kurulla). I hope Our Birder would be able to enlighten me on the exact type.

It was great watching the daily labors of the bird mother to feed the little one. The father too visited there quite a few times. By the time the bird came out of the nest he was as big as the mother if not bigger.

After some initial struggle he managed to fly away and join his new world!

15 comments:

Rajesh said...

Nice snap. It is always a engrossing sight to watch their activity.

Amila Salgado said...

This brat of a bird is a Purple-rumped Sunbird. Good capture!

Harshi said...

Wow.. that's such a cute birdie.. ^__^ We have lotsa lil ones hanging about sometimes, and some of them look a lot like this one. But the ones I've seen are really small *like 2-3 inches in height* so can't figure out whose the kid and whose the parent! =D

Nice pic by the way. I also found a couple of links about birdies, I'll add them here
Wiki - Hummingbird, Sri Lankan Bird guide

In the latter, they've posted the shape of bird in black, for the ease of identification, when you click on the shape, it'll give more details with pics of birds *not photos but colored sketches*

Harshi said...

I just looked up the name given by the birdie expert (Gallicissa), and the one in your pic might be a female of that species.. cuz of its color combination, check the link here

Anonymous said...

Lovely Bird! The owners of the house are lucky to have such a gift of nature inside their own home aren't they? :D I've seen baby "Kondayas" and they're certainly fatter than their parents! ;)

Taking about birds that live in houses, I remember some years back our neighbor (and quite a lot of houses in Sri Lanka) had a pot with a hole in it for "Ge-Kurullo". But I haven't seen a Ge-Kurulla in ages! Wonder where they've gone? :(

rainfield61 said...

He was staring at you, don't you know? You better disturb him less.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Rajesh,
Thanks. Yes it was very interesting to watch their behaviour and especially how the bird mother feed the little one.

Gallicissa,
Thanks a lot! I knew you are the best person in this trade. Yes it was a one heck of a little brat :)

Harumi,
Thanks a lot for all the links on ornithology. I’ll definitely be a better bird watcher next time :)
Yep. He seems to be a ‘she’. No doubt. :)

Chavie,
Yep. The owners of the house love to have them as they are so innocent and no trouble what so ever from them.
I too have observed the same fact about ‘Ge kurullo’. I remember seeing flocks of them in my parent’s house but virtually none is seen these days.

Rainfields61,
Yes she was staring! Infact she was quite intelligent for her age. She was very photogenic but didn’t like to be posing even on this very important day of her life :)

Thanks all for your comments!!

Femin Susan said...

Absolutely fantastic post! Good job!
Great! Keep up the great posts…..

betchai said...

it is indeed great watching the bird being taken care of parents, what a joy to watch. i love her pose on that picture, so expressive.

Harshi said...

You're welcome.. Yep, I too wanna become a better bird watcher since we usually take them for granted. And like Chavie says there may come a day we might never see these birdies hanging about.. I remember those pots with a hole too, and we used to have a 'ge kurulla' (house sparrows I think) family some years back.. and also a family of wadu kurulla (Baya weaver as per wiki)I've also seen how they build their homes.

It's such a pleasant sight to see a part of the unspoilt nature within your home.. ^__^

Kirigalpoththa said...

Femin Susan,
Thanks a lot for your encouragement!

Betchai,
Yep. She looks very proud and why not! Thanks for your comments!

Harumi,
Yep. My aunts place had a wehi lihini nest from the time the house was built. Still birds are coming for nesting.It is now more than 10 years. It is great to have them within your home.

The nest of this bird (Purple-rumped Sunbird) also quite well made although they can't beat wadu kurulla.

tks a lot for your comments!

Harshi said...

Really? wow.. that means they've welcomed generations of birdies..! that's so wonderful. ^__^

yep, most birds are born with that talent, and it's really amazing how they know so much innately, when we humans have to learn everything from scratch! =D

Kirigalpoththa said...

Harumi,
Yep. It is quite an amazing thing to see that generaions of birds come to the same nest. Could be genes :)

Chavie said...

Comment made on 2009-06-11T11:45:18.042+05:30


Lovely Bird! The owners of the house are lucky to have such a gift of nature inside their own home aren't they? :D I've seen baby "Kondayas" and they're certainly fatter than their parents! ;)Taking about birds that live in houses, I remember some years back our neighbor (and quite a lot of houses in Sri Lanka) had a pot with a hole in it for "Ge-Kurullo". But I haven't seen a Ge-Kurulla in ages! Wonder where they've gone? :(

Wadu Kurulla said...

Cute bird...