On Holiday & Birding in Sri Lanka

Some more, in fact quite a lot more, bird pics from Sri Lanka to bring a taste of the exotic to those of you currently shivering a bit to the north of the equator! Its maybe worth mentioning that this was a holiday for me and Gabz, not a birding trip. Apart from one visit to the Wilpattu reserve these are all shot within a few metres of our hotel, Ranwelli holiday village and like anywhere on the sub continent its clearly a hotspot for all kinds of birds, animals and flowers ..... there's also millions of people and they all seem to have at least 2 dogs so if you want to birdwatch do some research and my advice is to stick to the 20 or so national reserves! 

 

Anyway, back to the birds, and in no particular order .............

 

This is a female Asian Koel, incredibly shy birds and this was shot across the river and cropped to hell!

 

 

Equally shy and typically elusive during daylight hours I was lucky to look up and see this Black Crowned Night Heron standing stock rigid during a riverside walk.
















 Into the light and although not shot in the best of light this Blue Tailed Beeater strikes a typical post as it waits for passing bugs!

Another bug, this time in the 'Blogger' system, is currently preventing the resizing of anything more than 2 or 3 pics per post but until its sorted just click on them to enlarge.

There were plenty of terns passing south the whole time we were there, not all of them positively id'd as many were immature / going into winter plumage and decidedly tricky! These are definitely Great Crested Terns (pic right) but what about the 2nd one? Saw many similar to this and still not sure but I'm thinking Roseate Terns

A short walk out of the hotel and I found a small haven of semi jungle area by the river, I was soon disturbed by barking dogs from the nearest habitation of course but not before I'd spied a couple of woodpeckers across the river. They turned out to be Greater Flamebacks .... shame I couldn't get closer and at some 200 metres away this is just about maximum range for my lens. Still a reasonable ID shot though!











Indian Mynah birds were by far and away the commonest small bird ..... quirky, comical and of course great mimics. Sadly many of these end up in gilded cages for this ability, but I guess there's enough of them so hardly endangered as a species. Quite a good article here on them - Mynah birds









Have to say I'm not a great fan of crows, intelligent they may be but they do predate nests on a huge scale all over the world. Having said that the House Crows in Sri Lanka were quite fun to watch ..... they scavenge on anything edible of course but they also pick up anything shiny, presumably for nest decoration, and one of these blighters flew away with a packet of my tobacco! Would have made for a classic picture but I was so shocked .... I ran after the offending corvidt until he dropped it (contents spilled of course!)




The other common species of crow over there were Thick Billed or Jungle Crows which seemed to dwell mainly on the beach.

 

 
There was a pair of Brahminy Kites that flew over the hotel every day, usually mid afternoon, and seemed to be feeding on the sea. I saw them stooping and carrying off big fish on at least 2 occasions whilst we were on the beach .... both times my camera was back in the hotel room of course!

I expected to see more waders on the beach than I did but apart from a few groups of migrating Whimbrel and the occasional Common Sandpiper all I had were Red Wattled Lapwings but like many of the common birds in Sri Lanka this was of course a new bird for me and very photographable, especially in flight. (pics right & below)



Here's a couple of pictures of a Common Sandpiper, (above and left) one of the most globally widespread of waders in typical pose and location (above) but less typical in the 2nd pic .... almost looks like its about to nest on the beach!






Away from the hotel was a different story. I've already posted on our trip out to the Wilpattu reserve (Wilpattu Safari) and commented on the limited photographic opportunities for birds but here's a couple of distant shots I've had to significantly crop to make a picture, at some cost to image quality alas.


The first shows a group of Pheasant Tailed Jacanas involved in some kind of squabble and the second features from left to right, Black Headed Ibis, a familiar Black Winged Stilt and a Lesser Adjutant Stork. When I scanned more pics I was able to identify other waders such as Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper but no way could I make them into pictures.

















There were lots of storks and allied water birds at Wilpattu and wish I'd had time to get to grips with them but maybe another time if I get the chance. The jeep did pass close enough for me to get this reasonable picture of  a Woolly Necked Stork as the Germans in the back seat gazed at a herd of deer.





Back at the hotel and this pic is just so typical of a bird I tried so hard to capture, a White Breasted Waterhen .... they were always walking away from me!








And finally, I've babbled on for far too long so I may end up looking like one of these ........ Yellow Beaked Babblers!



Sri Lankan odds and ends (plants and trees)

Ok, this is the first of a 2 or 3 Sri Lankan 'stocking fillers' .... the result of reviewing and selecting some of the hundreds of photographs I took whilst we were there. This mini post is devoted to the flora in and around our base near Ngombo and many of these pics were taken in and around the hotel grounds.

Like many tropical countries, there are of course a huge array of colourful plants and trees just about everywhere you look and I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't take more advantage but here's a small selection of Sri Lankan colour.

 


 
Blue Lotus flowers (or Purple Water Lilly) were growing inside the hotel complex and although lacking a bit of definition I was reasonably pleased with this passing shot.

Bouganvillea was everywhere in Sri Lanka and again this was one of several bushes within the hotel ... can you smell it yet?!

Red Hibiscus flower, outrageously exotic and part of a whole bush that had outgrown a nearby garden.

 

Had to google the name of this one, it's called Rathmal or Jungle Flame and again it grows everywhere.

The mysterious White Frangipani, the fragrant flower and source of many a candle and incense burner actually has no nectar and is often associated with death in Buddhist and Hindu culture.

Safari at Wilpattu, Sri Lanka day trip

Towards the end of our holiday in Sri Lanka me n Gabz decided to drag our tanned bodies off the beach and head in the opposite direction from the hotel bar towards a bit of wild Sri Lanka. Wilpattu National Park was to be our destination and after a bit of haggling by Baggins himself we got a good deal from a Sri Lankan guy outside of the hotel, locally renown for giving a good deal and at the equivalent price of £40 each for a full day including transport and jeep safari, we were more than happy to venture forth!

Wilpattu is the largest of 22 national parks in Sri Lanka and famous mainly for its population of endangered mammals such as Indian Elephants and Leopards. Comprising some 132,000 hectares (that's massive - 12 times the size of Minsmere!) its also notable for its large number of natural lakes. Situated in the North of island it turned out to be 3 hrs by train and taxi but the journey itself through the countryside was memorable in itself - it was good to see a bit of the real Sri Lanka.









On arrival we climbed abroad one of these .....


......along with some German folk and with binocs and camera in hand set off on a 4 hour jeep safari. I have to say from the outset that lady luck, locally known as 'bountiful Buddha', was not very bountiful as far as elephants and leopards were concerned, we saw neither, but it didn't matter for we had a splendid time and were treated to some awesome views of the mammals and birds that did decide to come out and play.

Monitor Lizards are fairly common in Sri Lanka but like most of the animals in the park they were much more confiding and it was great to be able get some close up shots

This is a Ruddy Mongoose, skulking off but again hung around long enough for me to get this nice shot.

For me there was some slight frustration in that as we passed through lots of great habitat, some of it teeming with small birds and waders, the tour party was definitely more interested in the bigger animals and any birds worthy of a stop were predictably the bigger, more eye catching ones such as this splendid Peacock

... and this rather ungainly looking monster of a bird, its one of the Hornbill family of birds and in this case a Malabar Pied Hornbill.

By the way if you're at all interested in going to Sri Lanka and want to know more about going on safari at Wilpattu, this is their home page -
Wilpattu National Park and for hotels and more info the site Tripadvisor is a useful start - here's the relevant link - Sri Lanka hotels and deals







Rounding a bend we noticed that our convoy of 3 jeeps had ground to a halt and no wonder because laid right across the road was a giant Indian Python, it was so long and so close I couldn't get it all in using the the lens I had attached. Indian Rock Pythons to give it it's proper name are the longest snakes in the world with the biggest ever recorded being 4.6 metres (15ft) and this was no tiddler - I reckoned about 8 - 10 feet and by the giant bulge in its midriff and sluggish behaviour had just eaten, anyway here's my best shot (pic left)

Not all the animals presented themselves at such close quarters, we were aware of monkeys crashing through the trees and caught a few fleeting glimpses but the only decent shot I managed was of a distant Grey Langur bounding across the grassy plain.

A tad foolhardy to get any closer our next Wilpattu speciality, looking for all the world like a floating log, this is a Mugger or Marsh Crocodile and not sure if Grey Herons form part of its diet but this one looks in grave peril of having it's leg pulled!

Much less sinister and affording great views throughout the reserve are these beautiful Ceylon Spotted Deer, they're endemic to the island and very photogenic.









We were treated to many views like this across the natural lakes and lagoons on the reserve and that was great but, and at the risk of sounding a little ungrateful, as a birder I just wanted to get out and explore. Thrilled as I was to see birds like Painted Storks and Lesser Adjutants previously only seen on David Attenborough documentaries I could have done to have got to grips with the many smaller waders, some of which you can see here in the blurry foreground.


Still I mustn't complain, there was plainly no scope for venturing out and about and getting your feet dirty, and I was treated to some pretty decent 'jeep side' views, especially of perched raptors like this majestic Crested Serpent Eagle sheltering from a brief monsoon downpour

 

... and this looks like it should be penned a 'crested' something but is in fact a Changeable Hawk Eagle
















By far the best bird shot of the day for me was this portrait of a Blue Tailed Bee-eater. There were lots of these vividly coloured birds about, darting around all over the place and this one stayed put just long enough for me to capture it in all its glory.











All in all a good day, not sure about the 2 Germans sat behind us (they hardly uttered a sound the whole trip!) but we certainly enjoyed. It is very possible to see Elephants and sometimes Leopard and Black Bear, it might have been the frequent downpours that kept them hidden, and for the price this experience comes highly recommended if you're holidaying here.

Baggins in Sri Lanka pt1

 One of many gorgeous sunsets over the Indian Ocean we've been privy to over the past couple of weeks.... nice eh? All change for Baggins once again folks, - never one for beating around the bush (unless the bushes concerned are at some migration hot spot like Spurn Point and said bushes are full of migrants!), and certainly not prone to going round the houses when a few simple words will do, so, in a nutshell ….I’ve left the Vienne and via protracted stops in Brittany and the UK, I’m currently on holiday in Sri Lanka with my fiancee Gabrielle. We were originally going to get married over here but decided a few weeks ago to put the brakes on and hold out for a year or two - for several reasons and all the right ones!

Seems like ages since I last posted on here and it’s doubtful whether there’s any ‘blog mileage’ in the travels of my mind over the past couple of months but I may do a bit of back tracking in future posts if things become mundane but since ‘mundane’ is  a rare and unwelcome dimension in my life I suspect both the devil and the detail will remain untold …. in truth it’s not that interesting anyway.

Sri Lanka is one mad place! You either love or hate the sub continent so they say but as we’re kinda hotel based it’s tricky for either of us to say. We’re about 18k north of Colombo, in a good hotel complex next to the ocean and here it’s all sand, sea and sun but take a tuk tuk (cheap taxi that resembles a dodgem car) into town and it’s just mayhem! Gabz has suggested I post a video of street life whilst riding in a tuk tuk which I may do, but for now here’s the first salvo of a series of  Sri Lankan shots to date… no particular order or theme, though it goes without saying that the local bird life looms large!

 This is the view that greets us every morning out of our luxury beach chalet ... not that we sleep under these date palms but you get the morning feeling yes?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and these are what we see as the last rays of the sun go down ... giant fruit bats that fly in, eerie as hell, the size of herons and surely the inspiration behind the batman icon!

 

We're close to a river and associated mangroves so tons of water birds about, this is a White Throated Kingfisher that strayed from its usual haunt by the river and perched very kindly in front of our beach side bungalow .... look at that beak and thank god you're not a local fish!

These cute little varmints are all over the place in and around the bushes here ... they're called 3 striped squirrels and they come right up to you (especially if you have a handful of bombay mix!)

 

Not totally sure until I check some kind of Sri Lankan bird guide but reckon this is a Pied Kingfisher, caught in mid flight and 'let's stab a fish' mode!

 

Ok, time for bed now because internet time is limited here and charged by the hour and guessing I'm nearly at my limit ... this is how they make up the bed in this country, different floral design every day and very quaint ... my guess is that the more you tip the more flowers you get on your bed!

Night night folks...... more Sri Lankan magic to come!