Of course, I have to do a separate post for all the birds we saw. The final list was 150 different species, not spectacular but we missed out on the hotspot of Sinharaja with all the endemics there, so not bad. What we missed out on though with variety we partly made up for with quality, getting some very good views especially of raptors and water birds.
Can I start out by giving a big thanks to our guide, driver and mentor on the trip Vijita. Getting someone who was not only incredibly knowledgeable about the country but also a birdwatcher and photographer was a big bonus - thanks Viji!!!
Lets start with water birds, which were probably the most abundant as we went around, either on lakes and rivers or pools in the parks. These are a selection of little Indian and great cormorants, including an enormous feeding flock as well as the snake-bird or Indian darter.
On the same lake, which was actually a slightly dried-up reservoir, we saw spot-billed pelicans
black-crowned night herons and Indian pond herons,
and "our" common kingfisher.
There were many other kingfishers around including this stork-billed right outside the reception at one of the lodges.
With water levels low in many places there was good feeding opportunities for many birds like this lesser adjutant
these painted storks,
and this wooly-necked stork, which had left the water altogether!
On the lakes there were a lot of waders, although mainly too far for anything approaching a decent photo. This wood sandpiper did come a bit closer though,
and I was pleased to see the trek sandpiper - a very are bird in the UK - with it's characteristic uptrend bill.
Pheasant-tailed jacanas always added a spot of colour and exotic-ness to any lily or lotus pool,
and most areas of grass had their resident pair of normally cross red-wattled lapwings.
Only one did we come accords their rarer yellow-wattled cousins.
Raptors were more numerous and more approachable than I think anywhere else we've been. This juvenile white-bellied sea-eagle was having lovely time preening itself on a dead tree.
Eventually it will turn into one of these majestic creatures!
Also seen were these grey-headed eagles, often around the lakes as well.
The commonest large raptor was the brahminy kite, seen across most of the sub-continent. this is a slightly tatty, moulting version of one!
When we wee driving though woods we met many of these - crested or changeable hawk-eagles. The lighted ones are the juveniles. As you can see, they hunt both from the tress and by chasing prey on the ground!
Finally, for this mini-section, a rathe poor photo of one of the smaller raptors, a shikra, which is rather like our sparrowhawk. We saw this one on our first full day, hence me getting excited and taking distant record shots!!
Moving onto the smaller birds, we did see quite a few, and of those we got 15 of the endemics you find in SL. Not always close up and photographable but tickable!
The first is a chicken, or to be more precise, Sri Lankan jungle fowl. Found in dense woodlands, you hear them more than see them in most places.
There were pretty frequent woodpecker sightings throughout the tour. This first one is the commonest, the lesser golden back.
These next two are the same species and created a bit more excitement as they are pretty luck extra-limital when we saw them in the tea country - streak-throated woodpeckers. Male above and female below so they mush have been a breeding pair.
I know its not a woodpecker but thus is a very poor shot of another reasonably rare bird, the velvet nuthatch. I only presume it is a not very common bird as it was a lifer for our guide Vijita.
Despite being in warmer climes and expecting lots of brightly coloured birds, some of the commonest were quite plain. The first tow here are the ubiquitous oriental magpie-robin, a bird seen pretty much everywhere and often quite tame around human habitation.
This slightly similar bird is a white-browed fantail, more skulking and seen in deeper cover.
We also have the Indian robin, an almost totally black (well, very deep blue) bird which we encountered mainly in the national parks and hence from jeeps (drivers don't stop for small birds here!!).
Whilst there were endemic Sri Lankan swallows around, the commonest bird seen taking insects was the white-bellied drongo, another one we saw on most days away from truly urban areas.
Finally, we have the Sri Lankan wood shrike, an endemic species or sub-species depending on your authority!
Adding a bit of colour we have the green bee-eater. These were really quite common in the dry areas on the east of the country, and were not limited just to the parks as we saw them near habitation as well catching from overhead wires.
One of the annoying birds was the white-eye. These are very small and most of them are the common oriental white-eye, as this one is. I spent many hours trying to find the endemic and very similar Sri Lankan white-eye, finally catching up with them in the tea country but not managing to get a decent photo
This chap is an yellow-eyed babbler. Again we caught with him I'm the tea-country, which was very productive for birds but they were hellish to see well as they kept down in the bushes most of the time!
It is a close relative of the yellow-billed babbler, extremely common and normally in garrulous flocks. They always looked like they were a gang up to no good!
One of the families we don't get in the UK are the prinias, very small birds flitting about in bushes and trees. This is a plain prone, a good name for a very "dull" bird although that eye-stripe helps on the identification front.
One bird I could recognise easily was this hoopoe which was on a track in Udawalawe reserve. This is the same species we see sometimes in the UK.
There is one main species or oriole, the black-hooded. Again, it was a bird we saw or heard quite often, but like most of its congeners it was rarely showed well.
This female Asian paradise flycatcher was one of probably a dozen we saw over the trip. Unfortunately though we never saw one of the striking white males!
There are no hummingbirds here, that ecological niche is taken by the sunbirds, including this Loten's or long-billed sunbird, feeding away on the nectar rich flowers.
Distantly related to it, although you wouldn't immediately recognise it, is this thick-billed flowerpecker, so certainly a similar feeding habit anyway!
Another different family are the barbets - large billed, fruit eaters of the higher canopy. This first one is one of the more common, the yellow-fronted.
Much harder to find was this coppersmith version. The yellow-fronted is endemic to Sri Lanka as is the crimson-fronted which we did see but not photograph.
Sri Lanka is home to 5 different "green pigeons" and we mangled to see al of them. In the top photo here we have the largest, the green imperial pigeon photobombing our only sighting of the rarest of them, the yellow-footed green pigeon and in the one below we also have the coppersmith barbet!
This is the much commoner orange-breasted green pigeon.
In no particular order we also have some uncommon and more common spots of the tour.
This is a sirkeer malkoha, which we only saw on this one occasion.
Crested tree swifts were seen frequently, especially in the east, but this was the only one I managed to see in a tree!
Rollers, which we saw in the west at our first stop, add a splash of colour wherever you see them, and they are a very widespread family.
A very lucky spot from a jeep safari got us this barred button quail darting into deep cover.
Seen literally everywhere are house crows, scavenging around human habitation as this one was.
Very often heard and occasionally seen were these greater councils, normally on the ground.
I can't finish without a few shots of the archetypal bird from this part of th world - the peacock. Again we saw them all over but only once did we see a male in full display, and what a show he gave us.
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