Tuesday, August 19, 2008

‘Sri Lanka Birds’ in the month of July

‘Sri Lanka Birds’ web based data entry system completed another successful month by the end of July. A short summary of the results obtained during the month of July is given in this report.

A total of nine new members registered in the ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ system during the month of July. The total membership of the system was reached 163 at the end of the month. We warmly welcome new members to the ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ community.

The number of observations for the month of July was 1075. A total of 153 species were recorded in the system during this period. Only 19 of the 26 definitive endemic species and all seven proposed endemic species were recorded during the month of July. Although the month is considered as a non migratory period, eight migrant species were recorded during the month. Record of Lesser Frigatebird at Thelwatta and Red-necked Phalarope at Bundala were noteworthy observations.

A total of 11 nesting records were entered in the system during the month. Observations of nesting were of eight species, i.e. Baya Weaver, Streaked Weaver, House Crow, Scaly-breasted Munia, White-browed Fantail, Little Cormorant, Intermediate and Great Egrets.

As in previous months, Red-vented Bulbul (38) was the mostly recorded species during the month of July. Next four mostly recorded species (and number of observations) were Spotted Dove (36), White-bellied Drongo (31), White-throated Kingfisher (30) and House Crow (28).

A total of 27 locations were visited during July by our members. Highest number of observations was made at Dunuwila (181). Sinharaja forest reserve was the most visited area while a total of 198 observations came from five different locations in the reserve.

Member Rahula Perera made the highest number of Observations (467) during the month of July as in the last month. Members Newton Jayawardena (274) and Susantha Sanjeewa (142) contributed to the system by recording next highest number of observations for the month.

Current statistics describing the number of field visits, number of observations and bird species, as well as the number of users registered in the system, are displayed on the login page of ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ - www.worldbirds.org/srilanka .

We would like to thank all the members for entering their valuable observations into Sri Lanka Birds. We highly appreciate the contributions of members towards conservation of birds through this initiative.
Administrator of “Sri Lanka Birds”
Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka

Monday, August 18, 2008

FOGSL exhibition at Kandy

FOGSL mobile exhibition on Birds and Biodiversity was held at the "Sisu Nena Pola" Education exhibition and Trade Fair at Gatambe, Kandy. The event was held at the Mahanama College ground from 12th to 17th August. As part of the programme, seminar was conducted for the school children of the area at the auditorium of the Plant Genetic Resource Center (PGRC). Prof. S. W. Kotagama conducted the seminar on the theme 'Environmental Issues' on 13th August.