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Taking a respite

These little ones were seen at the Ganelanda Purana Vihara, Thalawathugoda. They had come to attend the Gemunu Daham Pasela which is nearby. Our photographer, Thilak Perera captured this serene moment while the quartet was taking a break from their religious lessons.

Back Cover

The Oriental Darter

The Oriental Darter is like all other anhingas, a cormorant-like species that has a very long neck. The structure of the neck is as in other species of darter with strongly developed muscles about a kink in the neck at the eigth and ninth vertebrae that allows it to be flexed and darted forward with rapid force to stab fish underwater.

The edges of the commisures of the mandible tips have minute inward pointing serrations that hold impaled fish.

The adult plumage above is black and the wing coverts and tertials having silvery streaks along the shaft. The crown and neck are brown shading to black towards the back of the neck. The underparts are blackish brown.

A pale line over the e

The legs and webbing on the foot are yellow in immatures and dark grey in older birds.[citation needed] The sexes are not easily distinguishable but males tend to have black speckles that coalesce on the white throatYoung birds have a pale brown neck and appear whitish on the underside and lack the white streak along the side of the neck.

The Oriental Darter is found mainly in freshwater lakes and streams. Our back cover picture depicts this bird attempting to fly and was captured while resting Susantha Wijegunasekara in Yala. The bird was seen on the banks of the Sithulpawwa Oya