The Sparrowhawk  Accipiter nisus is a well known bird to UK birders and the public in general and is a bird that is  doing very well incidentally.  In this part of Asia, and also in West Africa as well,  the Sparrowhawk is replaced by a very closely related species in the same family, Accipiter badius or Shikra and it is a common bird of prey here in Sri Lanka.  This morning I sat overlooking the coconut grove with my camera trained on to the Indian Roller's favourite perching post as I wanted to improve the in-flight shots that I took on Sunday.  I had been there for quite a while and my confidence in the arrival of the Roller had started to wain.  A White Throated Kingfisher had just landed in one of the young coconut palms and Myna Birds and Babblers were feeding in various parts of the garden.  I had my camera focused on the Kingfisher when suddenly there was much screaming and panic with all of the birds scattering in all directions.  A Shikra was on the attack and made an attempt to grab one of the Myna Birds, this time the bird of prey was not successful but it was thrilling to see the attempt and to also note how vigilant and alert all the smaller potential prey species were.  They saw the hawk several seconds before I did and I suppose those valuable seconds are the difference between life and death.   The bird of prey lunged in for the kill, swiftly veering left and right before landing on a post not too far away.  I quickly swung the camera in to action and was very pleased with the result.  I think that this is a juvenile female bird.

The butterflies are incredible here at the moment, the air is literally full of them at any time of the day but during the heat of midday, particularly.  I had some great fun trying to photograph them in flight today and ther results are spectacular.