SINHARAJA FOREST RESERVE AND SURROUNDS ALL DAY
WEATHER: exactly the same as yesterday except that it was a little hotter. Top temp 34C
After 10 days of birding and travelling around this beautiful country we had seen 226 species including 33 of the 34 endemic birds, we had only to find the Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush for the full set, we put the pressure on Dhammi to produce the Thrush.
a view from the mountain track on the way up to Sinharaja Forest Rserve
We set off at 7am after a 6am breakfast and after driving to the centre of Sinharaja Village we transferred into the jeeps in preparation for the bumpy ride up the Forest Reserve entrance. We stopped not too far up the track to look for Plum-headed Parakeet, a species still missing from our list.
Purple-faced Leaf Monkey by Little Phil Naylor
The mountainside was alive with birds we saw many species as we searched the tree tops for the Parakeet. We had good views of Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike a species missing form the list of many of the group, in fact we saw this species at several locations both males and females.
White-faced Starling taken by Little Phil
Crested Treeswifts flew around above the trees as did Sri Lanka Swallow and a few Asian Palm Swifts. We logged Common Iora, Jerdan's Leafbird, Black-hooded Oriole, Purple Sunbird, Pale-billed Flowerpecker and many common bulbuls and babblers.
the wonderful Tree Nymph floats around the trees without a care in the world!
We eventually made it to the top, but before we entered the Reserve we stopped for coffee and local cake at the little cafe. We met Mahindra, the local guide who wroks for the Forest Reserve and he took us a few meters into the reserve and told where to look for the SCALY THRUSH, the little beast missing from our list of endemics, the bird appeared after just a few minutes. It showed to some of group at first but then everyone had a good look at it in the depths of the undergrowth next to a stream.
my best shot of the Scaly Thrush, it in a dark place and kept moving
Wowza! We had done it, all the endemics in the bag with a couple days to spare. Now we wanted to see more non-endemic species missing from our list and get better views of some of the species that were on it.
Mlabar Trogon, amale taken by Phil Naylor
The Malabar Trogon was one of those species that some of group saw very well and others didn't, Mahindra found a pair of them a little further down the track. He also pointed out a small flcok (3) Red-faced Malkoha, we didn't get good views yesterday of this species but now we had excellent sightings. The same went for Sri Lanka Drongo, Ashy-headed Laughing Thrush and Spot-winged Thrush.
Spot-winged Thrush by Phil Naylor
For the return route we all opted to walk down the permitted pathway to the large Administration Building at the lower entrance to the park. We didn't see too many birds along this walk but we did enjoy the scenery, butterflies, reptiles and a few mammals. Some of the group saw Striped-necked Mongoose, we all saw Purple-faced Leaf-Monkeys. We found several Lizards and our second Green Vine Snake.
can you spot the Green Vine Snake in this shot?
WE then made a stop at a cafe on the edge of town and ate cafe with our coffee, that completed our morning birding, we drove back to the hotel for lunch and a siesta. It was 3:30pm when set off again, we drove straight basck to Sinharaja village and took a track that runs parallel to the river. We hoped to see Plum-headed Parakeet and spent nearly an hour looking for it.
Giant Wood Spider
Having missed our target species again we walked back into town and Dhammi our guide arranged jeep transport for a short trip up the mountainside to another spot where the Parakeet hangs out. It was fun as we all had to cram in one vehicle nine of us in a six seater! Dhammi was on the back of a moped!
The track down for the Sinharaja Reserve
When we got to the correct spot we bailed out and afetr a few false alarms when Leyard's Parakeet was found we finally got see a Plum-headed Parakeet although the ifrst one or two we found were in moult and thier heads feathers looked a real mess. It was as we were leaving that Big Phil found a full-on male bird in superb pulm-plumage, it was Little Phil who took the pictures.
one of the moulting Plum-headed Parakeets, note the very long tail.
That conculded our last full days birding, we still have some time for birding but tomorrow will be mainly travelling and we have a visit to the centre of Galle planned.