Sri Lanka It's Happening

June 2, 2004

It was the sparrow's nest that attracted the Koel the other day. She probably found this particular nest a cause for confusion.

Sparrows are extremely attached to humans. Instead of dwelling deep in the forest they choose to live in inhabited areas. Many sparrows build their nests right inside cattle sheds and even houses. Their favourite no doubt would be the granaries that store rice where they feast on the spilled grains.

In Sri Lanka it's traditional to hang an inverted pot on an exterior wall of the house, for the sake of the sparrow. You find that practice even in the suburbs of Colombo. We have two such pots and two families of sparrow have moved into them. It was one of these that were attacked by the Koel.

In my sister's house in Great Western, there are three families of sparrow living inside the house. Two have built their nests in the small gap between the curtain and the wall, as a result my sister can never close these windows. The third pair is some what lazier than the others, they just prefer to perch on top of a lampshade. This couple apparently has a stormy marriage, sometimes they argue and perch on top of two separate lampshades.

Though sparrows occaisionaly wonder inside our house, they don't seem inclined to move in permanently. We did have a pair of Bul-buls build a nest inside a lampshade a few year ago.. However when the first egg was laid it fell off and they abandonded the house and moved to one of the nearby trees.

The image above was snapped with a camera phone, better pictures will be put up shortly.

Posted by raditha at June 2, 2004 1:59 AM