This is my old friend the painted stork and a juvenile kabaragoya hanging out in the storm drains of Colombo. Here you can see the mix of verdant nature and vile artificial that characterizes the place.

I say old friend, but that's not true. The storks actually hate me because I stop to photograph them and they feel the need to move, even though I'm at 10x zoom.

The kabaragoyas (water monitors) are more ambivalent to my presence. A big kabaragoya is like a small crocodile and their bite (and reportedly whip) is septic. I move away from them. There used to be a giant, obviously pregnant momma that would cross my path but I think she's popped. I haven't seen her in a while and there's suddenly a lot of little kabaragoyas.

I sometimes wonder what these guys eat, but since the rains (and since I brought my son walking, who pays more attention) I can see. The drains are teeming with fish these days, and also a few water snakes.

I also wonder who eats them, and we could see (I think) a Brahimini Kite (what my kids call an Ea-Gull). These raptors certainly have the 100x zoom and talons to capture any of these things, though I have yet to see them swoop into the drains.

We also saw a painted stork circling, and a helicopter, which are more mundane.

Lately the lotuses have been blooming from the muck, which is a metaphor of sorts. It's something beautiful that emerges from something yuck, which is kinda how life springs eternal from the storm drains of Colombo.