Hiking and Birding - Sri Lanka - part 1

Part 1 - Doing the Tourist Stuff

This trip was KE Adventure Travel walking holiday, Sri Lanka Tracks and Trails so the chances for birding were restricted. Having said that, we did manage to squeeze a bit in here and there...

After the usual "pleasures" of long distance flying (including a mad dash at Dubai airport to make our connection) we arrived at Colombo Airport. It's worth noting that you can change money at one of the bank "stands" just outside the exit at very reasonable rates. After a few minutes we managed to locate our guide/driver for the tour, Nuwan Athapattu.

While waiting for him to bring the minibus round (and fighting off all the offers of taxis) I realised that this was going to be a good holiday for wildlife. In the bushes behind the taxi stand a Palm Squirrel was scampering around while a male Purple-rumped Sunbird quietly fed above it. Next we got a jaw-dropping introduction to driving in Sri Lanka. After a while you get used to the apparent insanity of the other road users...

We headed for Dambulla, stopping for a welcome fruit juice at Suraketha, a kind of tourist truck stop. While there, two birds came and posed for us, a Little Cormorant and an Indian Pond Heron. We also picked up Cattle, Little and Great Egrets on the way. I'll rarely mention Egrets, Pond Herons, Spotted Dove, Common Pigeons,  Common Mynahs, House Crows and Large-billed Crows, they were everywhere.

Little Cormorant

Our first hotel, Pelwehera Village Resort had rather mixed reviews on Trip Advisor but apart from a slight smell of damp in the room it was fine. On arrival the manager rather proudly pointed out a beautiful female Asian Paradise Flycatcher. The male wasn't long in showing itself either. The hotel grounds held some nice mature trees with paddy fields stretching out beyond the fence - we were looking forward to a pre-breakfast patrol...

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Stepping out into the gardens at dawn the next day I was greeted by a small flock of friendly Yellow-billed Babblers and another Palm Squirrel. (Here I'm going to concatenate two mornings worth of birds). Up in the trees were a Small Minivet, Common Iora, Black-hooded Oriole, Red-vented Bulbul, Purple-rumped and Loten's Sunbirds and the Asian Paradise Flycatchers. Sitting on the boundary fence was a single Green Bee-eater and a White-throated Kingfisher.

Small Minivet

Purple-rumped Sunbird (f)

Ferocious Small Jungle Beastie

The paddy fields were full of Cattle Egrets, Indian Pond Herons and Black-headed Ibis. Standing on the bunds were a couple of Red-wattled Lapwing. In the scrubby margin next to the fence I picked up Plain Prinia, Zitting Cisticolla and a White-rumped Munia. We also took a stroll to a small tank (reservoir - they're small to very large lake sized) across the main road and added Purple Swamphen, Pheasant-tailed Jacana and a flyover Grey-headed Fish Eagle to the list.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana (a long way off)

After breakfast (fish curry and hoppers must be my perfect breakfast) we headed to the ancient capital of Polonnaruwa. The ruins and rock-cut Bhuddas are fantastic and set in extensive parklands with a huge tank on one side. As we were being guided around the place, birding was a bit restricted, new birds were Spot-billed Pelican, Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Brown-headed Barbet. In the evening we were taken up to the Dambulla Rock Temples and added Indian Swiftlet, Alpine Swift and House Swift.

White-bellied Sea Eagle

Macaques

Duelling Butterflies

Inside the Cave Temples

View from the Cave Temples (obligatory sunset shot #1)

We left Dambulla to visit Sigiriya - great ruins, cave paintings and fantastic views from the top with Barn Swallows swooping around. In and around the tanks below there were Little Grebe, the only Darter we saw in the whole trip, Paddyfield Pipits, Scaly-breasted Munia and the first of many Oriental Magpie Robins. The real star though was a mammal, a Grizzled Giant Squirrel, they really are pretty large for a squirrel.

The Lion's Paw - Sigiriya

Grizzled Giant Squirrel

Langur Monkey

In the afternoon we headed off to Kandy. While most of the party headed off to the Temple of the Tooth, Erica and I took a stroll along the lakeside. Here we found a small roost of Black-crowned Night Herons, along with the usual Indian Pond Herons and a single roosting Spot-billed Pelican which opened one eye and glared at us. Little Egrets and a juvenile Night Heron stalked along the water's edge next to our feet. both Little and Indian Cormorants were common and we added our first (and last) White-breasted Waterhen.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Little Egret

Spot-billed Pelican (doesn't look happy)

Indian Pond Heron

Water Monitor

Sweet!

Gollum lives!

There were hundreds of Large-billed and House Crows around the lake, with some of the former sitting on the edge of the water, apparently fishing. As evening fell a tree near our hotel became a deafening roost of Common Mynahs.

Coming next - part 2 - Into the Hills