The Sri Lankan jungle fowl has the honour of being the countries national bird, and as such it has appeared on postage stamps there through the ages. 

It was known during the colonial period as the Ceylon Jungle Fowl, and  has also been referred to as Lafayette’s jungle fowl.  The Sri Lankan Jungle Fowl is endemic to the island, it is a member of the Galliformes ( these are heavy birds such as turkeys, chickens, quail, pheasants etc) bird order. It’s is a close relative of the domesticated chicken. 

The Sri Lanka junglefowl is an omnivore, meaning it eats meat and vegetation. They spend most of their time foraging for food by scratching the ground for various insects, seeds, frogs, fruit etc. It is common in forests and scrub lands it is often spotted at sites such as The National Parks.

We were fortunate to see these lovely birds in Wilpattu, Wasgamuwa, Yala and Udawalawe. However they are very skittish and gaining a decent photo became quite a challenge. They are known as shy bird, predominantly a ground bird, but when they are frightened they fly up into trees. 

The Sri Lankan junglefowl is like many beautiful birds sexually dimorphic. By this I mean the male and female are totally different in appearance . The  male is much larger than the female, with more vivid plumage and a wattle and comb. The male has an orangey -red body plumage, and dark purple to black wings and tail. The feathers of the mane descending from head to base of spine are golden, and the face has bare red skin and a wattle. The comb on the top of its head is red often with a yellow centre. It is a stunning bird. Where as the female is much smaller with a dull brown plumage which has white patterning on the lower belly and breast. It’s colours are ideal for camouflage whilst it is nesting. It nests in hidden, scraped places on the ground or on a pile of vegetation just off the ground.

It is quite a noisy bird. We found we could often hear it even when we couldn’t see it. While foraging on the ground  the male makes short calls, it also makes a high pitched rooster like crow at dawn. During mating season it is extremely vocal, not only to attract a hen but also to warn off other rivals.

Because of its beauty we got quite excited every-time we saw one….like a lot of things in Sri Lanka it was stunningly colourful.