MORNING JEEP SAFARI IN UDAWALAWE NATIONAL PARK - TRANSFER FROM UDAWALAWE TO SINHARAJA RAIN FOREST -
WEATHER: overcast for most of the morning with some very light rain, it was still hot and humid but much cooler today.
We were on the move again, but before we set off we took our third and final Jeep Safari. It was yet another early start, we left the the hotel at 6am with our breakfasts in a bag and drove for about fifteen minutes to the park. There was the usual queue to get tickets and then we queued to get into the park. Udawalawe is so much smaller than Yala and far fewer people visit.
Jeep 1, the leading jeep with six of the group
A few meters from the entrance gate on the inside of the park we stopped to enjoy great views of a pair of Indian Rollers, we couldn't have hoped for better views but the light wasn't quite right for the photographers of course! Moving on into the park it was easy to find solitude, no other jeeps were on birding trips such as ours so they sped off in search of Elephants and Crocodiles. Brown Barbet and Coppersmith Barbet appeared in the same tree just at the side of the track as we started our tour.
Indian Roller, one of first birds once inside the park
We soon amassed a nice list of species, most of them we had already encountered, but a few new birds started to appear. Our first Blue-faced Malkoha showed relatively well, but soon we had three of them and were spoilt for choice. Dammi then found a Grey-bellied Cuckoo, it was the rufous hepatic form and looked superb in the morning sunlight. A second cuckoo appeared not too far away.
The hepatic Grey-bellied Cuckoo
The leading Jeep then found a Black-headed Cuckoo Shrike, also a new bird for the trip but those of us in the second jeep dipped on that one. We all spent some time chasing down a Tawny-bellied Babbler, it was quite the skulker, but eventually everyone got a view of it. Whilst watching the Babbler a small group of Yellow-eyed Bulbuls appeared and enjoyed those too.
Phil Naylor's Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike
A few raptors were seen perched in the dead trees, we saw Crested Hawk-eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle and we found the nest of a White-bellied Fish-eagle with the adults in attendance. The leading group then found a Hoopoe on the track and enjoyed some great views of it before we got there in the seond jeep, the bird had gone of course.
Blue-faced Malkoha by Phil Naylor
In many of the dead trees we watched small groups of Rose-coloured Starlings, some of them were coming into their beautiful summer plumage, we found Marshall's Iora, Brown Shrike and our first Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpecker appeared to our right.
not just a cockeral! But the endemic Sri Lanka Junglefowl
It was just after 9am when we reached the desinagted 'dismount' picinc spot, where we were allowed to jump of the jeeps and eat our packed breakfast. The place was ideal, we sat by the side of a bird-filled lake just as the sun came out. We probably saw over 20 species from where we sat, the majority of our sightings were waterbirds with some terns and birds of the prey.
our breakfast stop, we must have seen 20+ species from there
Black-crowned Night Herons were sitting all over the marsh, on top of reeds and in small bushes, dozens of them. Herons and egrets dominated our sighting's list with a few waders thrown in.
We had to be out of the park by 11am so we only had about an hour of birding left. So we climbed back into the jeeps, we made an attempt to see the Sirkeer Malkoha, we made several stops to search for it but never had a sniff.
Crested Serpent Eagle
Elephant watching took up most of our return journey, several small family groups were seen at the side of the track. We also saw Ruddy Mongoose and the best of all was a Jungle Cat! Wowza! Little Phil even got a picture of it. Land Monitors, Toque Monkeys, Palm Squirrels were also seen. We watched a couple of pairs of Malabar Pied-Hornbill, we saw at least three Common Kingfishers, two White-throated Kingfishers and a single Pied Kingfisher.
close encounter with a male Indian Elephant
It was nearly 12 noon when we got back to the hotel. We had time to pack and vacate ours and take dinner before we were due to move on.
a quick 'grab' shot by Phil Naylor of the Jungle Cat
The road to Sinharaja was slow and arduous, narrow winding roads and steep climbs, it took two hours to get there. Nevertheless, the group were happy and excited to go out birding at 4:30pm especially when we enticed them with the possible sighting of the most wanted owl in Sri Lanka, the Serendib Scops Owl.
another shot of the Elephant being chased off by a Cattle Egret.........not!
A long steep uphill climb through the rainforest was needed in order to see the owl. We all mde the climb, but the owl had other ideas. It was there, but so well hidden that it was very hard to see at all, no-one got a good view of it and no-one took a reasonable photograph. Hey, Ho! sometimes it goes that way.
It was after 6pm when got back to our new hotel where we will be staying for three nights.