A 12 day visit to Sri Lanka to start the New Year seemed like a good idea, so off to Heathrow for the direct overnight flight with Sri Lankan air to Colombo. A 9 hour flight, plus time difference meant we were met by our driver, Ari at Colombo at 1pm Saturday morning. Then, a 2 hour drive east to our first residence. This was a fantastic place, way off the beaten track in thick hillside forests at a place called The Estate House, Rosyth.
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| Estate House setting |
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| dining pavilion |
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| estate house |
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| ground squirrel |
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| red vented bulbul and juvenile |
We spent the first afternoon just recovering from the long journey and me sitting on the lawn with a beer and binoculars. purple rumped sunbirds visited the garden flowers as common mynas, rose ringed parakeets, large billed crows and red vented bulbuls were both heard and seen. Getting used to all the calls was tricky so I concentrated on the birds that seemed to be most prevalent, so that later on I could eliminate these when I heard other calls.
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| black headed oriole |
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| common myna |
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| purple rumped sunbird |
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| large billed crow |
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| the forest, with flying cattle egret |
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| 2 cattle egrets giving perspective. |
The forest here held loads of birds as well as plenty of macaque monkeys, mongooses, local cattle and more ground squirrels. Latter were the most common mammals around.
The following morning, I took a walk along the lanes, chatting with locals who were all keen to share my cigarettes. Birds were to be found all along the telegraph wires, including yellow billed babblers, more red vented bulbuls, oriental magpie robins, black headed orioles and the occasional parakeet. Another bird, seen on several occasions was the brown shrike.
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| brown shrike |
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| large billed crow |
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| macaque |
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| red vented bulbul and oriental magpie robin |
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| mongoose |
After a superb breakfast we set off for the local elephant orphanage. I had visited this in 1993 but was rather disappointed to discover that it had become very tourist based. Before it had clearly been there for the elephants. Now, young elephants were chained up to be bottle fed with 100's of tourists watching. The lane they were taken down to the river had become full of touristy shops and bars, so not quite what I was expecting. However, down at the river were great white egrets, little and indian cormorants and the ubiquitous white throated kingfisher. The afternoon was spent back at the estate house enjoying their hospitality and wandering around.
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| white throated kingfisher |
The next morning we were again off for a visit to the amazing Botanical gardens at Kandy followed by a trip to the Temple of the Tooth. The gardens were superb, with more monkeys, huge numbers of fruit bats, yellow billed babblers and, at the drained lake, asian openbill, white breasted waterhen, cattle and little egret, more sunbirds and common tailor bird whilst overhead brahminy kites. The temple of the tooth was fascinating and a very peaceful place set amongst the hubhub that is Kandy. We then headed back to the Estate House for our last night and more wanderings. On this, I met several locals sitting enjoying some beer. Chatting, they pointed out that 2 of them had lost legs in the recent fighting. they showed me several of the local birds, giving me the local names for them.
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| asian openbill |
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| cattle egrets |
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| fruit bat |
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| great white egret |
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| local ex army lads on their day off |
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| Sri Lankan grey hornbill |
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| white breasted waterhen |
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| yellow billed babbler |
Back in the garden I watched more rose ringed parakeets coming into roost as well as my first endemic, a Sri Lankan grey hornbill.
The following morning we set off for a long drive south. It took 8 hours, with stops, to drive to the south east of the island to Yala. This is a National Nature Reserve I have wanted to visit since I first read about it sometime back in the early 70's. Our long drive gave views of plenty of birds en route, especially the last 10 miles as we approached the Jetwing Yala hotel, including beeaters, peacocks, waders and much more. We headed south through Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and then down the endless A2 trunk road through incredible scenery, tea plantations and plenty of poverty.
Bird list so far:
asian openbill, indian pond heron, grey heron, cattle egret, little egret, little cormorant, indian cormorant, brahminy kite, white breasted waterhen, spotted dove, rose ringed parakeet, chestnut winged cuckoo, asian palm swift, house swift, white throated kingfisher, crimson fronted barbet, sri lankan grey hornbill, brown shrike, black headed oriole, large billed crow, barn swallow, white bellied drongo, red vented bulbul, white browed bulbul, common tailorbird, white browed fantail, yellow billed babbler, common myna, oriental magpie robin, purple rumped sunbird, house sparrow.
Many of these birds were not photographable due to the sheer density of the vegetation, but not a bad start for a "non birding" holiday.
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| from the Estate House garden |
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| cattle egret |
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| as yet, not id'd |
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| little cormorant |
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| spotted dove |
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| local lane side vegetation |
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