Blue Eyed Birder: Sri Lanka with Bird's Wildlife & Nature

The following morning we were at the gates of Yala NP with a huge phalanx of other vehicles before 6am and soon enough the procession of jostling Jeeps was allowed in, primarily to show tourists Elephants and if possible a Leopard. We wanted both of these too but there was so much more to find.

The next few hours were simply outstanding with new birds in all directions. The nature of Yala sometimes meant that you could not stop for more than a few seconds before another vehicle pulled across in front of tried to go round but we all did our best and most of the crew got to see much of what we found. There were Herons and Egrets all around along with vibrantly coloured Painted Storks and sad looking Openbills, Spoonbills and Black-headed Ibis. A single Asian Woolley-necked Stork drifted over and we got luck and connected with one of the only Black-necked Storks in the park. It was a huge bird, towering above the nearest Grey Heron but incredibly agile as it chased fish between the Mugger Crocodiles.

Elephant Rocks

Black-necked Stork

Asian Open-billed Stork

Painted Stork

Great White Egret

Indian Pond Heron

Asian Open-billed Stork

Eastern Cattle Egret

Great White Egret

Black-headed Ibis

Asian Wooley Necked Stork

Painted Stork

There were waders scattered around the marshy pools and mud flats and we saw familiar Greenshanks, Redshanks, Wood, Green and Common Sandpipers, Little Ringed and Kentish Plovers amongst sandy Tibetan Sandplovers, elegant long legged Pacific Golden Plovers, Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilts and both Red-wattled and Yellow-wattled Lapwings. The latter two were on the drier areas and were obviously breeding there.

Tibetan Sandplover

Kentish Sandplover

Pacific Golden Plover

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

Red-wattled Lapwing

Enormous Great Thick-knees were dotted around the margins with their preposterous slightly upturned bills while a couple of more familiar looking Indian Thick-knees were also seen along with a dinky ash-brown Small Pratincole.

Great Thick-knee and a fluffy chick

Great Thick-knee

Great Thick-knee - one of my favourites from the trip

Small Pratincole, W W B Terns and a Black-winged Stilt

Small Pratincole, Pacific Golden Plover & W W B Terns

Small Pratincole & White-winged Black Terns

Lesser Whistling Ducks would take off at the last minutes being almost invisible on the deck and flocks of Garganey dozed on the banks where White-winged Black and Whiskered Terns roosted.

Garganey

A young White-bellied Sea Eagle was waiting for its incoming parent on a huge stick nest but there were fewer raptors than I imagined but we did see Changeable Hawk-Eagle and Crested Serpent Eagles, Brahminy Kites as well as our first Osprey of the trip.

White-bellied Sea Eagle

Our driver pointed out an Indian Nightjar sitting on at least one chick not far from the Jeep but fully in the sun and just 20 feet from a large Land Monitor and the sandy areas held Jerdon’s Bush-larks, and Ashy-crowned Sparrow-larks and Oriental Skylarks circled and sung above us with Paddyfield Pipits a little lower down.

Indian Nightjar

Land Monitor

Paddyfield Pipit - they looked quite short-tailed

Jerdon’s Bush-lark - very short tailed

There were plenty of small birds too but you had to be quite quick to get onto them and many were new to us. Coppersmith Barbet ‘booped’ at the top of a bush where Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters hawked and parties of Small Minivets glowed within but it took a little more effort to see the Sri Lanka Wood-shrikes (endemic #29). A couple of Hoopoes were singing and one even perched up for a short while for us before flopping across in front.

Hoopoe

Sri Lanka Wood-shrike (endemic #29)

Small Minivet

Getting closer to a Junglefowl picture!

And I never thought I would get to see a displaying Peacock

Asian Green Bee-eaters seemed to glow regardless of whether they were in the shade or sunlight and Brown Shrikes of both races were seen watching for prey from overhangs. The usual assortment of Bulbuls and Babblers were found along with the beady looking Yellow-eyed Babblers and a couple of obliging Plain Prinias. I was looking for Marshall’s Iora and saw a few Commons before seeing an olive backed one but it was gone too quickly but was more successful at getting a couple of people onto the male White-rumped Shama. Purple Sunbirds were somewhat more obliging and played chase around the Jeep in energetic song flights and we even got lucky and had a Green Faced Malkoha pop up right alongside and then re-emerge for the second Jeep.

Asian Green Bee-eaters

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Chestnut Headed Bee-eater

Plain Prinia

Yellow-eyed Babbler

Purple Sunbird - female

Purple Sunbird - male - like a less bendy billed Loten's

White-browed Fantail on its little nest

A Brown Fish Owl hid in the middle of a tree and was somewhat less obliging than the fabulous Malabar Pied Hornbills with their over side head gear and powerful flights. We saw several groups as they clambered around fruiting trees and were probably one of the highlights of the day.

Malabar Pied Hornbill

In between all of this we managed to stop at the beach for breakfast and some of us headed down to the sea to dabble a toe in the warm Indian Ocean. The drag of the current was intense and we had to be careful! We scanned the shining sea but all I managed to find was a small party of Caspian Terns fishing.

Just for Steve Bird - the first House Sparrows of the trip

As usual it was not just about the birds though and we managed to find ten mammals with huge Water Buffalo, Asian Elephants, the Sri Lanka race of Wild Boar, Golden Jackals, Ruddy Mongooses, Spotted Deer, towering Sambar and Tufted Grey Langurs.

Tufted Grey Langurs - jump across!

Water Buffalo

Spotted Deer & Golden Jackal

Ruddy Mongoose

Sri Lanka Wild Boar

Water Buffalo

Asian Elephant

With just forty minutes before the midday compulsory exit time screaming Wild Boar, alarming Spotted Deer and Peafowl and barking Langurs alerted us to a nearby Leopard. It was one of those ‘television moments’ reminding me of the classic Indian Tiger hunt sequences with all the same species alarming. Only Saman saw this one briefly but then just a few minutes later another big male walked behind the Jeeps and out of view. Some interesting manoeuvring and we all watched him walk back out and across our view. Simply epic.