On page 17 of the weekly magazine "Tamilan," I came across a delightful note written by M. Akash, a reader from Batticaloa Teachers College, concerning the death sparrow that was causing fear in Yappamai town last Sunday, March 24, 2024. I'll go into great depth about the death weapon that was discussed in that article in this piece.
This bird is a Spot-bellied Eagle Owl, called "Shakuruvi" in Tamil, "Ulama" in Sinhala, and "Devil's Bird" in English.
It weighs between 2.5 and 3 kg and is 16–17 inches tall when seated. It only exists in Sri Lanka. resides in Tamil Nadu. However, no sighting reports have surfaced. A rare and endangered bird found in the southern woodlands, the hill forests of Sivanolipada, and the Singaraja forest. I was thrilled to hear that the residents of the Badulai Yappamai region are being scared by this bird. For many who feared the bird had vanished entirely, Akash's revelation would have provided comfort.
This bird has been calling to the people of Sri Lanka since the king's reign, not just the residents of Yappamai village. Thus, there are various legends regarding the bird's ancestry. This bird is a member of the owl family. From a different angle, owls are viewed by many in our society as a dangerous and mischievous bird. Dragonflies are also connected to bats.
In a similar vein, Sakuruvi is also seen incorrectly. This bird has a large body. a hiding-place bird of the night. It is nighttime when hunting occurs. Peruchali, wild poultry, kiri, tree squirrels, and wild cats are among their diet. It kills its prey in one swift motion by grabbing it with its razor-sharp claws and dragging it to a tree branch. The lofty branches of trees are their home. People detest this bird, which is nocturnal despite its deathly cry, and refer to it as a "death knell."
With its terrifying, spine-tingling, death-crying high-pitched sound, this bird has earned the moniker "bird of terror."
It creates a terrible sound. It starts with a minute-long 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee The scream of a woman strangled by standing behind her neck, the scream of a woman throbbing with labor pains, or the scream of a drugged lady staring at a killer standing in front of her with a knife are all comparable to the voice of this bird, according to those who heard and were shocked.
In his book Tales from Indian Jungle, Jim Corbett, a hunter and author who once killed lions and protected the villagers in India during British control, wrote that he heard the terrifying cry of the chaffinch in the forest. There are no words to express how unbearably loud that scream was. Jim Corbett puts it best: "It can only be described as the death knell of a man in pain."
RL Spital was a physician who resided in colonial Sri Lanka. He traveled throughout this nation's kingdoms, gathering information as he went, writing and publishing books. The first person to research and learn about the Vedder way of life in Sri Lanka was Spittal. He introduced it, in particular, to the English-speaking community. At the age of 87, he passed away in Colombo in 1969 after being born in Tangalle. According to the capabilities available at the time, he could not prove that this was the bird that gave the distress call, despite writing page after page about the chaffinch in his book Faroff Things titled Devil Bird.
According to Spittel, he saw five or six British people shoot the bird down. He also heard of a surveyor shooting and cooking a sparrowhawk, which scared his servants into running for their lives. He explained that he had prepared and consumed it to reassure his terrified servants and to demonstrate his kindness.
Spital reported that he had alerted a land surveyor about a downed sparrow cub that had been brought by some workers. He said that two or three sparrows had attempted to save the baby by calling out to it loudly, and at one point they had attempted to scare it by pretending to sound like a bear about to attack.
Not just in Yappamai but also in the eighteenth century, there was a superstition that the hamlet would perish if Chakuruvi arrived and raised her voice. It is explained by the name "Sacharuvi" that this bird portends death.
This sparrow is known as 'Ulama' in Sinhala. Uluga is the Pali word for owl. In Latin, owls are called ulula. Old German Ula, English-Saxon Ule, and English Owl are the names for owls. According to author James de Lenarole, Maruvi Ulama should be used instead of Ulalena in Sinhala.
A gardener was riding home on his horse in the early days of the tea plantations after having dinner at a friend's house. He later described how the horse's ears perked up and it started to run at full speed as a startling, bone-chilling, piercing sound echoed over the mountain ranges. He claimed that it appeared to be a girl's death and that he had the impression that Akural was after him.
Another story centered on an alcoholic husband, and the couple had a son. The husband insists that he is not the father of the child. One day, in a frenzy, he handed the meat to his wife and asked her to cook it. When she returned from the garden for curry leaves and ginger, the dog carried away the steak. When she laments that this has happened, the husband who goes out saying that it is okay, I am taking it, kills the child and brings it in pieces of meat. While cooking and serving it, she sees the child's finger and asks, "Where is the child?", and runs into the forest with the spoon on her head. The old people of the town believed before she died that she herself later became Sakaruvi and that she would release that sadness in rage, weeping and shouting.
Such is the narrative of another village in Sinhala. In addition, a brother and sister pair of young guys go hunting in the wilderness. Because the younger man has not caught anything, the elder guy, envious of the younger man, kills him, chops him up into pieces of meat, and delivers them to his mother to prepare at home. He grabs his little brother's finger towel and places it on his mother's plate while everyone else is eating. Upon discovering the death of her younger son, she flees into the wilderness and transforms into a bird.
When referring to the Chakuruvi, former Sri Lankan President Sir Emerson Tennant states that it is actually a night hawk and not an owl. He described the sound of its call as terrifying, like the squeal it would make when a boy is being tortured, the death wail it might make when it is strangled, or the sound it might make when it is grabbing a penned hen. He describes the sound he heard as being beyond description, indescribable, and similar.
The common prey bird is something we should value and preserve. The treasure we possess is the death knell it raises. Yappam is a place where tourists can go merely to hear its voice. Important information that I would like to share is that this bird may be seen in the Dehiwela Zoo. I took the picture you see here at the Dehiwela Zoo. It was positioned in a shadowy nook. That is how things will be during the day. It will suffice to descend only after dusk and leap inside the cage. To keep them safe from hunting, it is kept by itself rather than with other birds.
I was taken to observe the bird by the zoologist. The man stated, "I have never heard anyone say that it uttered its signature vocalization while in the cage." He added that it has never been ill and that it refuses to contact with people. We still don't know things like where it lays and hatches. He said that we serve medium chickens as food when asked what sort would be provided.
The chicks won't harm the prey even if they are left in the cage overnight. The staff has informed that the hawk only goes on its nightly hunt once the noises have subsided, which is around 10 o'clock. There are also rabbits served as food. This bird can grab one to two kilograms of prey in the jungle and transport it to the limbs of trees.