Sri Lanka Spurfowl

The Sri Lanka spurfowl is a secretive pheasant-family bird endemic to the island's dense rainforest, about 37 cm long. Both sexes have brown upperparts, wings and tail and several spurs on the legs. The male has crimson legs and facial skin and bold black-and-white plumage on the head and back, with white spotting on the wings. The female has chestnut underparts, a plain brown back and a more prominent crest (Wikipedia, species account).

Despite its size it slips through undergrowth and is hard to see; often the only sign is its ringing call, a series of three-syllable whistles. It scratches in forest-floor leaf litter for invertebrates and also eats seeds, fallen fruit and spiders, and nests on the ground in a scrape. Wikipedia names Kitulgala and Sinharaja as places to look. Nationally Near Threatened (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).