After our 5 hour drive from the highlands you'd think we'd be ready to check into the hotel and switch off but quite the opposite. Thili had been in communication with the 'village boys' who were biking around scoping out some owls on our behalf. We walked around this old Dutch-built canal bordered by houses on one side and giant trees on the other. A perfect shady hideout for Brown Fish-Owl. Lo, there it was, giving us a wink!
I've dreamt for long about seeing one of these beasts, after seeing it in my European field guide (they reach as far west as Turkey). If anything could top this moment it would be a duo of
Jungle Owlets, waiting for us in some nearby trees.
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| Thank you village boys! |
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| Already anticipating the next target... |
We handed them some 'extra' appreciation and headed not to the hotel but to yet another spot...could this day become more epic? A huge crocodile-infested marsh just outside of Bundala Ramsar Wetland. It was a chance to preview the site a couple of days before our main visit. In just about 30 minutes, we found some Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, a hyperactive Yellow Bittern, a Stork-billed Kingfisher and amazingly, Thili spotted a Black Bittern in a roadside ditch! Quite random.
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| Stork-billed Kingfisher |
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| Yellow Bittern |
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| Black Bittern in a roadside ditch! |
Clearly saving the best for last, Thili took us to a palm-shaded farmstead with some of the cutest kids who waited with us for the evening show, the exchange of incubation duties of a pair of rare and beautiful
White-naped Woodpeckers.
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| White-naped Woodpeckers evening nest exchange - just like the woodpeckers back home! |
Back at the Hibiscus Garden Hotel, we were just about ready to hit the sack but yet still the was birding to be had - a stunning
Indian Pitta in the parking lot.
In the morning our jeep driver was there bright and early before dawn for our game drive in Lunugamvehera National Park, which is similar to the more tourist-infested Yala in habitat. There wasn't a vehicle in sight. This park has more birds and just as many bears and leopards but there is less chance of seeing one because of the lack of cell phone interactions between jeep drivers. We basically had the park to ourselves.
The birding was excellent with lots of water around, especially forest streams and a large reservoir. Interesting mammals were scarce with the exception of three locally distributed Stripe-necked Mongoose with their imposing red eyes.
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| Stripe-necked Mongoose |
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| Oriental Honey-buzzard |
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| We found 2 different Brown Fish Owls in broad daylight! |
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| Grey Langurs |
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| Spotted Deer |
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| Oriental Darter |
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| Land Monitor |
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| Sirkeer Malkoha |
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| White-bellied Fish Eagle |
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| Mugger crocodile |
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| Greater Flameback - truly an epic hunt! |
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| Asian Paradise Flycatcher |
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| Malabar Pied Hornbill |
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| Indian Peafowl |
Back at the Hibiscus Garden Hotel, we wiled way the afternoon by the pool whilst periodically being distracted by more birds.
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| Red-vented Bulbul: common but beautiful |
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| Asian Koel |
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| Purple-breasted Sunbird |
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| Pale-billed Flowerpecker |
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| My first peacock: an iconic life moment |
The next day we went to Bundala Ramsar Wetland proper, and found out that the birding outside of the reserve is actually better. Our premature celebration of a Black-capped Kingfisher was a false alarm but we were up to our waists in Watercocks. A colleague of Thili's was also there with a large group of middle-aged to elderly Australian birders. He confided to us hilariously that he was annoyed by these Australians who "never stop talking."
In any case, when a
Black Bittern landed in front of us we felt the universal birder's duty to flag them over from way down the road. Luckily all of them hobbled over in time to see it but on top of that a
Yellow Bittern joined the party and, unbelievably, a
Chestnut Bittern all at once!
Pure jubilation erupted.
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| Watercock and White-breasted Waterhen |
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| Purple Heron |
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| Yellow Bittern |
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| Chestnut Bittern |
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| Greater Thick-knee |
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| Clamorous Reed-warbler |
Stoked by our Holy Trinity of Bittern bonanza, we headed to some coastal mudflats chocked with shorebirds. I tend to brush shorebirds to the sideline since they are mostly widespread and I have regarded them as mostly list-boosters but to be honest who can deny that they love a good bout of shorbirding in another country? This time the showstopper was the Small Pratincole, an absolute stunner.
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| Black-tailed Godwits |
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| Shorebird medley |
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| We thought this was a Bar-tailed Godwit but concluded it must be a different subspecies of Black-tailed |
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| Lesser Sandplover and Little Stint |
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| Spot-billed Pelican |
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| Eurasian Spoonbill |
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| Painted Stork |
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| Jerdon's Bushlark |
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| Greater Thick-knee |
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| 'Philippine' Brown Shrike |
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| Sri Lanka Junglefowl |
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| A vagrant for Sri Lanka: Bay-backed Shrike! |
The second half of the day was spent exploring some fascinating religious sites. It was a very large area which we explored barefoot, bearing bowls of fruit for the Buddhist temple. It was a large complex with Hindu and Buddhist temples mixed together. As the sun disappeared, we joined a crowd gathered around the door of the Kataragama temple for the Puja service, the 'gods' feeding hour' to hand off our bowls of fruit with some small bills tucked into a banana leaf in the middle. to the monks. One interesting monk gave us a blessing and told us some stories of when he used to live in the same neighborhood as Ramata in London and knew every street and postcode by heart.
Our third day in the area was the much anticipated Yala National Park. We left well before dawn but were not the only ones with that idea - it seemed to be a race to get in line for the permits. We couldn't resist stopping for a much-obliging Jerdon's Nightjar perched on a wire though!
Yala is an absolute racket for tourists. The sound of the diesel engines of the 4x4's was incessant all day long and they would race around and overtake you. Tourism is so popular these days that all the famous places have become overcrowded. We basically would drive around and wait for a phone call, then race all the other jeeps in a cloud of dust and diesel fumes to where something had been spotted.
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| Golden Jackal |
Well I can't say this was my ideal method of finding a bear or leopard, our two greatest dreams, it certainly was an effective one.
Early in the morning we checked out a secluded section of the park and while I was distracted with a Rufous Woodpecker, a Sloth Bear walked across the road. Only the driver and Thili saw it before we could twist our bodies.
Maybe 3 hours later we got that phone call that a bear had been spotted. It was a 'bear jam' similar to Algonquin Park at the height of summer but with much more dust. We could briefly view the Sloth Bear digging in the dusty soil for a brief minute before disappearing into the bush, completely ignoring the 10 or so 4x4 vehicles jamming up the road.
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| SLOTH BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIIIIIIFFFFFERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!! |
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| A 'bear jam' just like in Algonquin! |
Soon it was not the bear stealing the show but Ramata, who got several looks from some of the young guides and even a couple of winks! I can't blame them.
Leopards eluded us for most of the day but we were pretty determine, especially since this area is supposed to have the highest density of them anywhere in the world and this day was our one shot at getting one. Plus, it's one of my favourite animals. In the meantime though, there were birds to entertain us...
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| Orange-breasted Pigeon |
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| Little Green Bee-eater |
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| Crested Tree-swift |
While photographing the Little Green Bee-eater, our driver got a call about a leopard just around the corner from us. We waited by a tree and eventually it peered from behind some foliage in the crotch of a big tree and gave us a yawn, before walking way. The lighting was pretty bad but at least we got a long-enough look. It was a beautiful animal to view in the binoculars and we feld very lucky indeed.
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| Our dream catch - Asian Leopard!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Thili!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Two vehicles turned into a jam pretty quickly |
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| The watering hole where we barely missed a leopard - this water buffalo didn't seem to care |
The whole park was pretty dry on account of the dry season, so we figured we'd stake out a couple of watering holes. While we waited at one for about an hour, I fell asleep. I guess Thili figured we were bored so he and the driver decided to move on. I honestly would have objected because I knew we were doing the best possible strategy by waiting at that watering hole, with a perfect vantage and perfect light, it was only a matter of time. But I was half asleep by that point so I said nothing. Too bad only a few minutes later a leopard came down to drink in open view. We forced ourselves to have no regrets, because seeing one period is a privilege period. And on top of that, a Sloth Bear - what more can you ask for?
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| The dry season was evident everywhere |
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| Wild Boars |
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| Brahminy Kite |
Realizing that the leopard wasn't coming back, and that the park was about to close and wanting to avoid fines, we ended off the day perfectly with a beautiful observation of a family of elephants bathing in a large watering hole. Two youngsters were up to shenanigans while a tiny baby elephant struggled to not get trampled underwater by the big ones, using its trunk as a snorkel - it was quite silly and entertaining to watch!
What a day!
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