🐓 The Sri Lanka Junglefowl — The Proud National Bird of Sri Lanka

 

During my journey as a naturalist across the lush landscapes of Sri Lanka, I’ve encountered some incredible wildlife. But one encounter always feels special — spotting the Sri Lanka Junglefowl (Gallus lafayettii), the proud national bird of this beautiful island.

🌿 A Bird Found Nowhere Else

The Sri Lanka Junglefowl is endemic to the island, meaning it doesn’t live anywhere else on Earth. It's a true symbol of the island’s unique biodiversity.
The male is a showstopper:
✨ Shimmering orange-red plumage
✨ A bright red comb on top of his head
✨ A golden-yellow patch on the comb (one of the key differences from domestic chickens)

The females, in contrast, wear more earthy brown feathers — nature’s camouflage — perfect for blending into the undergrowth and keeping their chicks safe.

🏞️ Where They Roam

You’ll find Junglefowl mostly in dense forests, scrubby woodlands, and even near village gardens. They are quick on their feet, darting between bushes, scratching the ground for seeds, insects, and fallen fruits.
Early mornings or late afternoons are the best times to see them — often heard before they are seen, with their loud, distinct crowing echoing through the trees. 🐣

🌺 Deep Roots in Sri Lankan Culture

Long before it was officially declared the national bird in 1963, the Junglefowl already had a place in the hearts of the Sri Lankan people.
🗿 Ancient temple carvings show chicken-like birds that resemble today’s Junglefowl.
🎭 In folklore, it symbolizes vitality, pride, and the spirit of the land.

In a way, seeing a Junglefowl in the wild feels like witnessing a living connection to ancient Sri Lanka — a vibrant reminder of when the forests ruled and nature’s rhythms set the pace.

💬 Final Thoughts

Every glimpse of the Sri Lanka Junglefowl is a moment worth holding onto — a small but powerful reminder that wild beauty still thrives on this island nation. 

If you ever visit Sri Lanka, listen carefully when you're walking through the woods... You just might hear their proud call rising through the trees. 🐓✨

Some helpful tips to be an ethical wildlife photographer

 

Wildlife photography is an essential tool to inspire the desire to protect wildlife. It has the power to turn people on to the wonder of nature. But we must remember to put the welfare of the subject first. Even though there are no clear guidelines a few basic principles that can help make the way clearer.

·         Know the signs of the stress of your subject species – There is always a stress for the animals when we flock around their natural feeding and gathering places but we have to be very aware of our effects so that it can be minimized.

·         Take special care at breeding season – Special care needs during this season. We have to avoid actions that might result in driving parents away from the young allowing them more vulnerable to predators.

·         Not to destroy or alter the habitat for a better view or scene.

·         Do not feed wildlife for a better shot and honor their wildness.

·         Be transparent on how a photograph was made

Build your reputation as a wildlife photographer by doing it in a more responsible manner.

Why you should not feed wild animals?

 

Feeding wildlife can lead to cause a number of serious problems.

 

They do not need food from humans to survive, and that food is not healthy for them. They have specialized diets and they can become malnourished or die if fed wrong foods. Also animals cannot distinguish food from wrappers or foil and can get sick eating these items.

 

Increase the chances of disease transmission by gathering too many animals in one place. Also it will lead to unnecessary crowding and competition and increase the chances of having fights and injuries among animals.

 

Lose the natural fear of humans and can be aggressive. Once they learn that they can panhandle for food they can become a nuisance. This is a common problem in Sri Lanka as most of the people feed wild elephants on roadside cause to lead attacks and Toque Macaques has become a nuisance in most of the places because of human feeding.

 

Increase the chances of road accidents as they tend to stay near the road.

Yala National Park

Spotted Deer - තිත් මුවා

Spotted deer is an innocent and extremely nervous animal always on alert for a stalking predator. It is a treasure in Sri Lankan wildlife can be seen in dense jungle as well as open grasslands. Due to its alertness and sharp alarm call at seeing a predator, trackers use this as an indication to pinpoint the location of a predator.

First blog post away from the country

This is happened to me my first blog post away from my country and keeps my memory alive about the wildlife i always enjoyed in my country.. Special thanks to Thilanka for his courtesy of sending me the fresh capture from Yala.

Exclusively from Yala National Park

Portraits from Yala National Park

Some of the captures during my work at travel counter of the Yala village hotel from 23rd January to 02nd February 2010.

Camping in Udalwalawe National Park on Tai Pongal Day

A request came from Eshan, the operation’s manager at Eco Team to participate and the play the role of the naturalist of that camping tour organized on 14th and 15th January 2009. Reaching the Udawalawe park entrance by 10.30 AM in the morning met the clients, a British couple in their 60’s and came through Pan Lanka around 2.30 in the evening. The campsite was organized in “PRANSADARA” which is about 17 kilometers away from the park entrance (excuse me if I have mentioned this name of the campsite incorrectly), so we started traveling to the campsite and from the beginning itself we were able to spot so many bird species like Crested serpent eagle, Indian Roller, Changeable hawk eagle, Common hoopoe etc. including few spotted deers, land monitors etc. We had to tolerate the giant bull elephant that was blocking the road and walking along the road by taking his own time with the understanding of that we are roaming within their territory and I am sure this was a memory repeating experience for our clients.

Having a late lunch around 3.30 started our first game drive inside the park around 4.00, With the privilege of staying inside park for the night we took a quite undisturbed routes since our clients are careful observers of the animals and this rewarded us so many memory refreshing events. We were lucky enough to spot Malabar pied hornbills and Sri Lanka Grey hornbill in the same canopy. For the first time in my life we spotted a python that has taken it’s life long meal, imagine a python that swallowed a well-grown spotted deer, few yards away from the THIMBIRIYAGASMANKADA circuit bungalow. In the same time I was so unlucky at that moment not to have my camera with me unfortunately. We returned to the campsite with this unforgettable safari experience in the dusk and were treated us with a glass of coriander that usually takes at the end of tiresome exercise to get a relief for the aching body.

Dining in a thick jungle under the star studded sky with a light of a kerosene oil lamp is always going to be one of the most remarkable experience whoever who enjoys it. As usual the dinner was followed by B.B.Q. dishes, brown onion soup the most demanding soup in the camping sites followed by an array of Sri Lankan dishes as well.

Getting up to the rhythm of the bird vocalization in the morning started our second game drive in the park around 7.30, which ended up with adding sweet memories who enjoys the beauty of an untamed forest as a wildlife enthusiast.

Dreams are alive at Yala National Park

Undoubtedly all the wildlife enthusiasts dreaming to see a leopard in its natural habitats and Yala National Park keep these dreams alive by providing excellent opportunities to observe and photograph leopards in their own territory.



Joining the Safari camp organized by the Eco team at palatupana just outside the Yala National Park to host Mr. Paul, a British who works as a Team Leader for a Water Board Project in Kandy with his wife and son who are on their summer vacation I was privileged to have two safaris to the Yala national park on 28th and 29th of July one in the dusk and one in the morning.



Our first sighting of this giant carnivore was at dusk sitting under a Palu tree (a common fruit tree in the park) under very poor light conditions for about 10 minutes observation. The second sighting was on the morning safari which provided us an excellent opportunity to observe and photograph it while it was sitting on a rock. On the same safari we were fortunate to observe another leopard just few yards away from the main road inside the Yala Park.



Apart from this elusive leopard our highlights included herds of spotted deer, wild boar, jackal, black napped hare, water buffalo, sambar, mugger crocodiles, Asian elephants etc.
Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl, Malabar pied horn bill, Black crowned night heron, Lesser adjutant, spot billed pelican are some of the birding highlights.

Some Highlights of the Bundala National Park in July

Asian Elephants - Elephas maximus

Unforgettable Safari at Yala

Accepting the request at the last minute to join the camping site organized by the Eco team on 11th of February to host Mr. John and his spouse, I got the opportunity of visiting Yala National Park on the same evening which filled with full of great experience in my wildlife experience. As soon as we entered the park, the first sight was the tusker about 20 yards away from us allowing us to have a good observation on it. Our host Mr. John had five or six nice photographs of it.

While proceeding further, we spotted the most elusive leopard resting near a small pond and had a good look over 20 minutes of it. Quenching the thirst of seeing leopards another two leopards were present for us to have a good look over 15 minutes. In the mean time, we were fortunate to see another two tuskers adding the total numbers of tuskers up to three we observed during this safari. This was the first time I observed three leopards in a single visit to Yala National Park.

Mugger crocodiles, water buffalos, jackal, black naped hare, spotted deer, sambur, wild boar are some of the animals we observed during this visit and Brahminy kite, grey headed fish eagle, Malabar pied horn bills are some of the birding highlights.