Sri Lanka men's national volleyball team Details

Sri Lanka men's national volleyball team Details

The game consists of two disciplines, Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, and is a dynamic sport played by two teams on a playing court divided by a net. Continuous rally scoring maintains spectator excitement and game excitement.

Volleyball is played indoors with six players per side. Beach Volleyball is played outdoors on sand with two players per side.

New rules, an attractive look, "libero" defensive players, vibrant ball colours and interactive coaching have brought a new era to the game, making it more dramatic and entertaining than ever before.

There are different versions of Volleyball available for specific circumstances in order to offer the versatility of the game to everyone. The object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponents' court and to prevent the same effort by the opponents.

The team has three hits for returning the ball (in addition to the block contact). The ball is put in play with a service: hit by the server over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out" or a team fails to return it properly.

In Volleyball, the team winning a rally scores a point (the rally point system). When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and the right to serve, and its players rotate one position clockwise.

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Bird of sri lanka-Ceylon Small Barbet

Crimson-fronted Barbet or Ceylon Small Barbet or Small Barbet (Megalaima rubricapilla) is an Asian barbet endemic to Sri Lanka. The Malabar Barbet endemic to the Western Ghats of India used to be treated as a subspecies of this species. Barbets and toucans are a group of near passerine birds with a worldwide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills.

The Crimson-fronted Barbet is an arboreal species of open woodland which eats fruit and insects. It nests in a tree hole, laying 2-4 eggs. This is a small barbet at 15 cm. It is a plump bird with a short neck, large head and short tail. The adult Crimson-fronted Barbet has a mainly green body and wing plumage, a blue band down the side of the head and neck, and a black crescent behind the eye.

English Name: - Ceylon Small Barbet
Sinhala Name: - Oluwa Rathu Kottoruwa
Scientific Name: - Megalaima rubricapilla 

Bird of sri lanka-Crimson-backed Flameback

The Greater Flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus, also known as Greater Golden back, Large Golden-backed Woodpecker or Malherbe's Golden-backed Woodpecker, is a woodpecker species. It occurs widely in tropical Asia, from the Indian subcontinent eastwards to Indonesia and the Philippines. The Greater Flameback is a large woodpecker, at 33 cm in length. It is of typical woodpecker shape, has an erect crest and a long neck. Coloration is highly variable between subspecies; it always has unmarked golden-yellow to dark brown back and wings. The rump is red and the tail is black. The under parts are white with dark markings (chevrons, stripes, or bands), or light brown. The head is whitish with a black pattern, or it is yellow, brown or red. The straight pointed bill is long (longer than the head) and – like the legs and four-toed zygodactyl feet (two toes pointing forward, two backward) – lead-grey. The eyes' irides are whitish to yellow.

The adult male Greater Flameback always has a red crown. Females have a crown color varying between subspecies, such as black spotted with white, yellow, or brown with lighter dots. Young birds are like the female, but duller, with brown irides.

The endemic Sri Lankan Crimson-backed Flameback; Chrysocolaptes stricklandi has very dark and rufous wings and a dark hind neck. It is sometimes considered a Greater Flameback subspecies.

English Name: - Crimson-backed Flameback 
Sinhala Name: - Maha Rathu Kerala
Scientific Name: - Chrysocolaptes stricklandi 

Bird of sri lanka-Red Rumped Swallow

This bird has been recently recognized as a distinct species and added to the Sri Lankan endemic list. Sparrow sized and stockier than our other swallows, it is unmistakable with purple-blue glossed upperparts and rusty under parts and rump. Both sexes are alike. Young are duller.

The species is well distributed throughout the Island up to about 1500 metres elevation. The birds associate in pairs or more often in scattered groups and spend their time flying after the insect prey they feed on. The usual habitat is open areas such as paddy fields, roadsides, grasslands, grass covered hillsides etc. The flight is typical swallow type with the wings being open and shut at the wrist joint. The birds flutter the wings rapidly and then glide gracefully before fluttering the wings again. The flight is however not as fast as the other swallows’. This species commonly associates with other swallows as well as swifts. They fly high as well as within a few feet from ground level. When not flying the birds sit in an open perch like a bare twig or power cable and preen them. The call is a pleasant muffled t’lee easily recognized when once heard. The birds also utter a loud twitter accompanied by a shuffling of wings.

The nest is made out of mud pellets and stuck to the underside of a disused flat roof, cave, bridge or culvert generally about three metres from ground level. It is a bottle gourd shaped structure with a long entrance on one side. The nest chamber is within the half dome and consists of feathers and fibre. Both sexes collect mud from the ground, mix with saliva and mould it to worm-cast like pellets and use these to build the nest. The two or three eggs are pure white in colour. The young continue to use the nest for roosting for sometime even after fully fledged. The adults too often use the same nest to breed again. The breeding season is generally from March to July but some birds nest again later in the year.

English Name: - Red Rumped Swallow 
Sinhala Name: - Bada Rathu Wahi-lihiniya 
Scientific Name: - Hirundo hyperythra 

Bird of sri lanka-Ceylon Wood Shrike

The Ceylon Wood Shrike; Pondicerianus affinis is a nondescript, sparrow sized bird of mostly grey plumage. The male has a dark mask across the eye. A prominent feature which stands out in this drab plumage is a white rump bordered below with black upper tail coverts. The female is browner with a less prominent mask. The Wood Shrike is a common bird in the low country dry zone and ascends the hills to about 1200 metres especially on the dryer, eastern side. It is scarce and local in the wet zone.

This bird generally moves about in pair’s frequent scrub as well as large trees flitting about looking for the insects on which it feeds. The Wood Shrike generally avoids heavy forest. The bird would hardly be noticed if not for its distinctive, pleasant call which sounds like ‘twee-twee-twee-twee, twy, twy, twy, twy’ uttered rapidly on a descending scale.

The Ceylon Wood Shrike breeds during the early part of the year building a well camouflaged small cup like nest stuck to the top of a horizontal branch or in a fork between two smaller branches. The nest is very difficult to spot unless the sitting bird is seen as it is well covered on the outside with cobweb and flakes. The young too are obliterating coloured to resemble a lichen covered outgrowth of a branch and are very difficult to spot. The nest is generally placed about 3 to 5 metres from ground level. They lay two to three eggs which are buff or greenish white in ground colour blotched all over with purplish-grey and brown. It usually moves about in pairs frequenting scrub as well as large trees flitting about looking for the insects on which it feeds. The Wood Shrike generally avoids heavy forest. The bird would hardly be noticed if not for its distinctive, pleasant call which sounds like ‘twee-twee-twee-twee, twy, twy, twy, twy’ uttered rapidly on a descending scale.

English Name: - Ceylon Wood Shrike 
Sinhala Name: - Wana Kowulaspatiya
Scientific Name: - Pondicerianus affinis 

Bird of sri lanka-Yellow-eared Bulbul

The Yellow-eared Bulbul, Pycnonotus penicillatus, is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in the highlands of Sri Lanka. This is a bird of jungle and wooded farmland. Despite its restricted range, it is quite readily found at sites such as Horton Plains and Victoria Park in Nuwara Eliya. It builds its nest in a bush; two eggs is a typical clutch. The Yellow-eared Bulbul is about 20 cm (7 inches) in length, with a long tail. It has olive upperparts and yellowish under parts. The crown of the head is grey, and there are yellow ear tufts and a yellow patch below the eye. There is a white tuft in front of the eye and the throat is also white. This is another endemic Bulbul. It is about the same size as a Red-vented Bulbul but fuller plumaged. The distinctive black and white head markings and yellow ‘ear tufts’ makes its identification easy. Both sexes are alike in appearance.

This is primarily a hill bird found only above 1000 metres but is not really common below 1300 metres. Above this elevation it is a familiar and pleasing sight in our hill stations. It inhabits forest, well wooded areas, gardens and orchards. The species usually moves about in pairs but parties congregate where food is plentiful. It is a very active bird which moves about looking for the insects and fruit on which it feeds. It is very fond of the fruit of the wild yellow raspberry which grows in the hills. The call is a pleasant, musical weet, wit wit, wit wit, usually uttered on the wing which is easily recognizable when once heard. A low crr, crr alarm call is also uttered.

The breeding season is from March to May with a secondary season from August to October. The nest is more substantial than most other bulbul nests, being larger and more solid. It is constructed with moss, lined with fine ferns, rootlets and placed in a small tree or bush about three to five metres from ground level. Two eggs are usually laid which are white or pale pink in ground colour heavily blotched with reddish purple or reddish brown and underlying markings of lavender.

English Name: - Yellow-eared Bulbul 
Sinhala Name: - Kaha Kondaya 
Scientific Name: - Pycnonotus penicillatus