Blue Magpie, Sinharaja. Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Blue Magpies are one of 33 endemic species of birds endemic to Sri Lanka. When I first began to visit Sinharaja 29 years ago they were very difficult to see. I needed 8 trips before I saw my first Blue Magpie. Now they have become habituated to people and are easy to photograph. A flock visits Martin's Simple Lodge and another frequents the research center. This bird was at one time perched 2 feet above my friend Tom Owen Edmunds. I chose this image as it is slightly abstract. Soon after this image was taken a Sinharaja Bird Wave came by. We watched it for 1.5 hours and recorded an astonishing 22 speceis of birds which joined it, including the flock of Blue Magpies. The Sinharaja Bird Wave is the largest, the longest studied and best for viewing of the bird waves found around the world.

You can download free, a 44 page book (pdf) on the Endemic Birds of Sri Lanka from http://www.jetwingeco.com/index.cfm?mid=6&id=6