2008 Tour Narrative
Our 2008 tour of Sri Lanka, “the teardrop of India,” started with a morning in our hotel garden, where most of the common garden birds were seen. After lunch we proceeded to Kitulgala, where we spent two nights. The rainforest there is very good for lowland endemics, and we had superb views of most of them, including Green-billed Coucal, a male Serendib Scops Owl at its day roost, Chestnut-backed Owlet in daytime, Crimson-backed Flameback, Sri Lanka Magpie, Spot-winged Thrush, and an Indian Pitta.
Our next destination was Ratnapura, from where we visited the Sinharaja rainforest on two days. In this forest we completed our tally of all the lowland endemics, including superb views of Sri Lanka Junglefowl, three Sri Lanka Spurfowl walking across the road, three Red-faced Malkohas, a pair of Ceylon Scaly Thrushes, a flock of White-faced Starlings. and a flock of Ashy-headed Laughingthrushes. We also had superb views of Malabar Trogons and of a male Sri Lanka Frogmouth on a nest.
After three nights in Ratnapura, we went on to the dry country and the southeastern coast. We took jeep drives in three national parks, Udawalawe, Bundala, and Yala. We also spent time exploring tanks (man-made reservoirs), lakes, lagoons, marshes, salt pans, and mud flats. In these areas we had superb views of Spot-billed Pelican, Yellow and Black Bitterns, Watercock, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Indian Thick-knee, Great Thick-knee, Small Pratincole, Gray-bellied Cuckoo, Blue-faced Malkoha, Indian Scops Owl, Malabar Pied Hornbill, White-naped Woodpecker, Brahminy Starling, and many other species.
We moved on to spend two nights in the high hills at Nuwara Eliya, and paid a half-day visit to Horton Plains National Park. Here we had superb views of a courting pair of Sri Lanka Whistling Thrushes and a couple of Sri Lanka Bush Warblers. In Nuwara Eliya and the Horton Plains we “cleaned up” all the hill endemics. We also had wonderful views of other specialties such as Pied Thrush and Kashmir Flycatcher.
We then climbed down to Kandy, where we visited the Udawattakele forest and had superb views of Brown Fish Owl and other wet-zone forest birds. After a night in Kandy, our next destination was Polonnaruwa, an ancient capital in the north-central dry zone. En route we made a brief visit to a forest in Sigiriya, where we saw several dry-forest birds. After a night in Polonnaruwa, the next day we visited the ancient ruins there, and then returned to our hotel near the airport.
By the end of the tour we had encountered all the Sri Lanka endemics, most of the other Indian Subcontinent endemics, and many other Asian birds, bringing our total up to 224 species.
- Deepal Warakagoda
Updated: August 2008