| Protected areas are an essential part of the global response to climate change. They are helping address the cause of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They are helping society cope with climate change impacts by maintaining essential services upon which people depend. Without them, the challenges would be even greater, and their strengthening will yield one of the most powerful natural solutions to the climate crisis. |
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‘Natural Solution’
Regional variation in the composition and structure of mixed-species bird flocks in the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
Keywords: Bird communities, biogeography, mixedspecies flocks, Western Ghats.
Mixed-species bird flocks are attractive models for the investigation of geographical variation in animal communities, as they represent a subset of the avifauna in most forested regions of the world. Yet studies of the regional variation in flock size and the composition of flocks are few,.......... [More......]
Wader ringing studies at Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka: three years of the National Bird Ringing Programme
Keywords: Ringing, banding, Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka, waders, shorebirds
Sri Lanka has long been recognised as a key site for migratory waders in the Indian Ocean Region, especially for those species that breed in the northern latitudes of the eastern Palearctic. However, [More......]
Australian Curlew Sandpiper on passage through Sri Lanka
Keywords: Shorebird, conservation, ringing, banding, Curlew Sandpiper, migration Sri Lanka.
On 20 August 2005, a Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea carrying a yellow flag was observed at the saltpans in Bundala National Park, Sri Lanka (6°11.195'N, 81°14.589'E). The bird was 300 m from the observers, and was located with a 30 × 60 telescope [More......]
Pioneering shorebird research in Sri Lanka: launch of the National Bird Ringing Programme
Keywords: Shorebird, conservation, ringing, banding, ageing criteria, training, Sri Lanka.
We report on the first steps of a new project to establish a network of sites for shorebird research and conservation in Sri Lanka. These include the first training course conducted in April 2005 in the Bundala National Park in which 16 members of staff of the Department of Wildlife and Conservation learnt shorebird study skills including mist-netting, recording biometrics and ageing, under the National Bird Ringing Programme. We describe the methods we developed for ageing Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints and Redshanks. [More......]
The mass migration of Bridled Terns (Sterna anaethetus) off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Observations on the annual mass migration of Bridled Terns off the coast of Sri Lanka over a period of thirteen years is documented and data is presented which suggests that this phenomenon could be a post-breeding dispersal. [More......]
A note on neck Feathering in Stilts.
A distinguishing feature between the nominate Stilt and the Australian species is differences in lengths of the hindneck feathers. This study examines the neck feathering of both the nominate and Australian species. [More......]
The Rufous-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) in Sri Lanka
This gives an account of the first Rufous-necked Stint recorded in Sri Lanka. The bird, which was in breeding plumage, was sighted in the Bundala salt-pans. [More......]