Today we managed to clean up on our targeted list of Sri Lanka endemics with a morning visit to Horton Plains National Park. This was probably our highest elevation of the trip at around 2,200 metres. While the diversity was poor compared to most of the other parks visited lower down in the highlands we obviously picked up a few good quality species not previously picked up before or after. I had woken in the morning with a pounding migraine. This along with a half an hour wait to get admission park tickets didn't help my mood. I couldn't see want the delay in buying tickets could possibly be. This wasn't the first time I noticed this phenomenon at some of the parks before. Our minivan driver also got no direction from our guides before we entered the park so the four of us were waiting around at the visitor centre for a while before we realised that the rest of the group had stopped a mile before reaching the visitor centre. Again the large group size and poor communications showed itself up again unfortunately. My mood soon lifted however though. We still needed five of the remaining endemics for the trip - Dull Blue Flycatcher, Sri Lanka White-eye, Yellow-eared Bulbul, Sri Lanka Bush Warbler and Sri Lanka Whistling Thrush. The last two species were probably the most elusive of these but within the first hour or so inside the park most of us had seen these. So that was 34 out the possible 34 endemics following the IOC taxonomy - success!
We left the park in the early afternoon and headed back to the hotel in Nuwara Eliya. After lunch we headed out for a quick look in Surrey "Bird Sanctuary" for Brown Wood Owl. This is a small area of woodland that has a regular roosting owl. Chammy our main guide quickly located the owl. I managed to sit on top of an angry ant colony will trying to get an angle to photograph the owl but it was worth it! I had previously dipped this species in Goa, India and was another addition to our decent owl trip list. One of our older members of the group nearly ended up in a deep ditch while trying to avoid a reversing bus.
 |
| Yellow-eared Bulbul |
 |
| Yellow-eared Bulbul |
 |
| Dull Blue Flycatcher |
 |
| Dull Blue Flycatcher |
 |
| Dull Blue Flycatcher |
 |
| Dull Blue Flycatcher |
 |
| Dull Blue Flycatcher |
 |
| Sri Lanka Bush Warbler |
 |
| Sri Lanka White-eye |
 |
| Sri Lanka White-eye |
 |
| Sri Lanka Whistling-Thrush |
 |
| Green Warbler |
 |
| Cinerous Tit |
 |
| Velvet-fronted Nuthatch |
 |
| Velvet-fronted Nuthatch |
 |
| (Sri Lanka) Indian Blackbird |
 |
| Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike |
 |
| Hill Swallow |
 |
| Hill Swallow |
 |
| Hill Swallow |
 |
| Hill Swallow |
 |
| Hill Swallow |
 |
| Paddyfield Pipit |
 |
| Paddyfield Pipit |
 |
| Samba Deer |
 |
| Grizzled Giant Squirrel |
 |
| Dusky Palm Squirrel |
 |
| Dusky Palm Squirrel |
We left the park in the early afternoon and headed back to the hotel in Nuwara Eliya. After lunch we headed out for a quick look in Surrey "Bird Sanctuary" for Brown Wood Owl. This is a small area of woodland that has a regular roosting owl. Chammy our main guide quickly located the owl. I managed to sit on top of an angry ant colony will trying to get an angle to photograph the owl but it was worth it! I had previously dipped this species in Goa, India and was another addition to our decent owl trip list. One of our older members of the group nearly ended up in a deep ditch while trying to avoid a reversing bus.
The evening session was spent in Victoria Park in the centre of Nuwara Eliya. This was a very busy attraction with local people, tourists and numerous other visiting birders. Due to the large number of people a lot of the birds here were largely habituated to people. The main attractions here for birders are Kashmir Flycatcher, Pied Thrush and Indian Pitta. The first two species are winter visitors to Sri Lanka and breed in the Himalayas and can be tough to see in most other areas especially the flycatcher which breed in the very unstable Kashmir area. All three species were picked up without much difficulty.
No comments:
Post a Comment