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From flaming red to pale blue to bright yellow, they range in a multitude of vibrant colours that draw your eyes in an instant. Some are majestically surveying their surroundings, some seem to be lost in thought, while others are busy in their nests feeding the young. Who am I talking about? Birds, of course. To be specific, birds that have been captured and thus preserved, through the lens of a camera by Sunil de Costa.

After two successful exhibitions on waterfalls and on sunsets and sunrises, Mr. Costa will hold his third, titled ‘The Feathers’, a three-day exhibition of photographs, featuring birds, caught on camera over five years. There will be 147 photographs of 70 species of birds on display, including endemic birds to Sri Lanka.

“I became a bird-watcher quite unexpectedly,” says Mr. Costa, explaining that he was introduced to it in 1996, when he was serving as the magistrate of Anuradhapura, when he helped out a couple of friends in their own bird-watching activities. As curiosity turned into a love of bird-watching, the next and obvious step was to photograph them.

The selection on display is a testament to how far and wide he has travelled in his photographic work. There are birds from Yala, Wilpattu, Kumana and Uda Walawe, places that are familiar to many a bird-watcher, as well as birds from Kalawewa, Navadankulam, Bundala and Sinharaja, the not-so-known places, when it comes to bird-watching.

Offering some advice to like-minded photographers and bird-watchers, Mr. Costa says that for a start the wetland sanctuaries of Attidiya and Muthurajawela are the best, since they contain many popular birds such as Pond Heron, Purple Heron, Purple Coot, etc. Mahakanadarawa, Huruluwewa and Kebitigollewa in Anuradhapura are also places to keep in mind.

His extensive photographing of birds has made Mr. Costa quite knowledgeable about them. “Sri Lanka boasts of an impressive range of habitats and 430 bird species of which 26 are endemic. Out of this 430, the island has 232 resident species and a further 198 species have been recorded as migrants to the country,” he says. Their most distinguishing characteristic is their feathers, which led him to choose it as the title of the exhibition. “I have shot hundreds of those birds, and I am proud to present a few from my collection,” says this nature enthusiast.

Sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka, ‘The Feathers’ will be opened on July 29 by Dr. Lester James Peries. Continuing till July 31, it will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt, Colombo 7.