Portions of genius

Black Bittern (Kalu Koka/Karuppu Nari)

Black Drongo (Kalu Kauda)

Black Bulbul (Kalu Kondaya/Karuppu Konde Kuruvi)

Eurasian Curlew (Maha Watuwa/Kuthirai Malai Kottan)

Oriental White-Eye (Mal Kurulla/ Pu Kuruvi)

Spot-Bellied Eagle Owl (Ulama)

Streaked Weaver (Wadu Kurulla)

Whimbrel (Maha Watuwa/Kuthirai Malai Kottan)

Blue Faced Malkoha (Nil Mal Koha)

Tawny-Bellied Babbler (Parandel Kurulla)

Pheasant-Tailed Jacana (Pan-kurulla/Miwa Manal Pura)

Black-Capped Kingfisher (Pilihuduwa/Meen Kotti)

Rufous-Backed Shrike

Painted Stork

White Rumped Munia (Wee Kurulla/Nellu Kuruvi)

Bird photos often feature "birds-on-sticks" that make an easy impression. But the challenge is to get people to notice the quiet and the unexpected; the bright yellow cap on the head of the Streaked Weaver during the breeding season or the buff parting on the black head of the Whimbrel. This is exactly what Sunil Gunaratne does in his book, Portraits - Birds of Sri Lanka.

As you stare at the photos - some of which are featured here - you begin to understand why so many people are passionate about birds. It's easy to imagine how magical it might be to observe the Black Bittern as it stands stock still like a statue, on the fringes of a swamp or the shy Eurasian Curlew probing for worms on the shores of a lagoon.

Watching a Flycatcher building his nest on a low branch of a tree you realize how true the words of Robert Lynd, are - "There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before".

From now on, what's the bet, that if you have to choose only one animal to photograph, it would be a bird, because as William Blake said "when thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head".

Aditha