Singing Ceylonese Robin-Magpie

by Sarah Sever

Title

Singing Ceylonese Robin-Magpie

Artist

Sarah Sever

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Art, Paintography

Description

Right at the entrance of the national Park, the Oriental magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis ceylonensis) whistled on and off in his shrill voice; either announcing our safari jeep or welcoming us to the forest - I would like to think the latter.

A common bird in most of southeast Asia, this particular subspecies is only found in India and Sri Lanka. This tiny 7" bird likes to hide in bushes or perch on internal branches, and boldly appears during the mating season.

Popular belief has it that Robin-magpies steal small trinkets from human homes, with mention even in Rossini's opera La Gazza Nadra (The thieving magpie)and even Tintin's The Castafiore Emerald !

I've always found him a bit challenging to photograph, as they are small, move quickly and extremely wary of humans in their urban environment. Whilst here in the forest, they sat on the outer branches and held their positions for long, singing in their shrill voices - AND were mildly bothered by the human presence.

Seen here is a male adult with his well-groomed plume of glossy blue-black. I loved his glimmering eyes though! Perfect specimen, if I may daresay!

It's said if this is the first bird you see on Valentine's Day, you would marry a sailor! Yep, I love folklore! Good luck to you ladies :-)

*Photo-Art: digital painting of my photo.*

Uploaded

December 4th, 2016

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