15 October 2011

Trees of Life



These amazing trees were captured in Mathugama area. Hope you can identify those peculiar objects hanging from the palms.

I have not seen so many 'wadu kurulu' (Baya Weaver) nests in one place. A closer view is shown here. It appeared that this community has lived here for a long period of time as I saw some of the older nests on the ground.


21 comments:

rainfield61 said...

They are so unique atop the trees.

Simply fascinating.

betchai said...

wow, what a wonderful tree of life, those nests look like almost coconut fruits too.

Amila Salgado said...

I have never seen Baya Weaver colonies on coconut trees before! They look very misplaced.

Janith said...

Wow. I've never seen them on trees, only in the classroom. Awesome capture, K! :D

Amaris in Wonderland said...

Great pic! Looks like it was a beautiful day. :)

How neat! The nests are amazing. I wonder if that's where they got the idea for the homes in the movie Time Machine (2002)?

George said...

These nests are completely different from anything that I have seen before. I find them to be absolutely fascinating. I also like your picture of the trees against that pretty sky.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Rainfeld,
Yes, twas a pleasant surprise for me.

Betchai,
Yep I was wondering what those 'fruits' are hanging from the palms :)

Gallicissa,
For me this is the first Baya Weaver colony. The place was in a small plot of land surrounded by paddy fields.

Chavie,
This is my closest encounters with this specie. I had to cross a paddy field to get there and stuck up to my knee in mud several times in the process.

Amaris,
Yes, I can remember the film. The surviving 'Elois' had similar nest like houses in a cliff right?

George,
They are a stunning specie of birds with an amazing ability to weave beautiful nests.


Thanks all for your comments.

cat said...

I have never seen anything like that before.

Amaris in Wonderland said...

K, you are correct. :) They are not exact, but the shape of the houses reminded me of these nests. I just read that you were knee-deep in mud to get these pics. That kind of dedication merits bonus points! :))

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. I have not seen these type of nests in SLK. I have seen some massive weaver nests in South Africa.
Nice touch with the site and I have no problems using Chrome and I will check safari later.
Had a swell time in Nicaragua, a LOT of hiking in unmarked areas doing surveys. Very beautiful country.
Back to school and some camping before the winter. :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

Cat,
Me too. :) Thanks a lot.

Amaris,
Definitely the film director must have inspired by similar bird nests. I saw it from faraway so didn't mind the muddy experience to get a better view. Thanks for your comments.

Magerata,
You have traveled to most exotic places on earth!
Thanks for the feedback on site design. It should work well on Safari too as I got some comments from Safari users too.
Best of luck with upcoming camping..

Linnea said...

That's pretty wild! I guess those palms do more than just provide beautiful shade!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Linnea,
Yes, those palms are now a colony of birds.

Thanks for your comments.

Rajesh said...

Very beautiful.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Thanks Rajesh.

UDITHA WIJESENA said...

There are some isolated colonies in the wet zone though, building nests in coconut fronds.I have seen a large colony way back in 1981 in a village in Neluwa Hiniduma. Probably they are still there. In the wet zone they are generally close to large paddy tracts and prefer the coconut for its height, unlike in the dry zone when it is generally above a water body [not always]

Kirigalpoththa said...

Hi Uditha,

This was in a small island like patch of land surrounded by paddyfields. This isolated plot was about 50 feet in diameter. It was full of coconut palms, and as per your description a perfect location to build a colony.

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge.

Bindhu Unny said...

Never seen weaver bird nests on coconut trees. :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

Bindhu Unny,
It was quite surprising when I saw it first.
Thanks for your comments.

Harshi said...

Luxury housing scheme for the weaver birds. =D Simply amazing!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Harumi,
Thanks. Yes, it is not just an ordinary housing project.