HORTON PLAINS ALL MORNING - NUWARA ELIYA LAKE GREGORY AND SURROUNDS IN THE AFTERNOON
WEATHER; cloudy to start with a fresh breeze, it was only 10C on Horton Plains. Hot in the afternoon around 25C
The main reason for our stay in Nuwara Eliya was to pay a visit to Horton Plains, which mainly consists of a high plateau around 2000M above sea level. In order to see one particular Thrush we needed to get there at first light just as the gates were opening to the park, that is 6am. This meant we had to leave the hotel at 5am and guess who was late to the bus, by at least 15 minutes, yes yours truly.
the entrance to Horton's Plain at 6:30am this morning
Indian Blackbird found by Rachel and taken by Phil Naylor near the entrance gate
We got the Plains just a little later than usual, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when we finally reached our first birding spot a couple of birders where already there watching the infamous, endemic, WHISTLING THRUSH. We spent the next 30 minutes having excellent views of at least three Thrushes, we saw two males and a female. Wow, that was unexpected, I had the best views of this particular species than I have ever had.
Fantastic shot of the Whistling Thrush by Phil Naylor - if you have ever tried to see this bird you will know how lucky we were to see it out in the open like this
The good fortune didn't stop there, many other birds were flitting around in the dense bushes and scrub which grows around a small roadside pool that was right next to us. Grey Wagtail (introduced) flitted about on the liliy pads, we saw Dusky Blue Flycatcher (endemic), Green Warbler, Yellow-eared Bulbul (endemic), Sri Lanka White-eye (endemic) and a couple of Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon (endemic) flew over us.
Dusky Blue Flycatcher by Phil Naylor
Green Warbler taken at the pool
The group split up for an hour or so, three of us stayed by the pool whilst the others walked up the lane looking for the Sri Lanka Scimitar-babbler (endemic). At the pool we saw much of the same with the addition of two Velvet-fronted Nuthatches, Great Tit, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Orange Minivet (formerly Scarlet Minivet), Indian Blackbird and Red-vented Bulbul.
Pale-billed Flowerpecker - Sri Lanka's smallest bird
When the others return to the pool area we refound the Nuthatches and added Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher to the list, we all enjoyed a fabulous time as the sun rose and started to warm us up. The halk of the group that had walked for a while did not find the Scimitar Babbler but they see the Wood Pigeon and they found yet another WHISTLING THRUSH, a amle, which showed extremely well.
a view of Adam's Mountain from the plains
We ate our picnic breakfast (most of the group had already devoured their's) before we drove on to the open plains. We saw many Sambar Deer out in the open areas and we added Peafowl, Brahminy Kite and Hill Swallow to the day list. In the large grassy savannah we stopped to look for more species. A flock of about 50 Munias were flying around we found ur first Tricoloured (Black-headed) Munia in with the Scaly breasted flock. The Pied Bushcat sat on top of bushes, singing at times, Zitting Cisticolas bounced around in the air above us, zitting! We found many Paddyfield Pipits dotted about and we watched two Black Eagles in the distance.
another great shot from Phil Naylor of the Brahminy Kite
We stopped at the main visitor's centre for a cup of tea/coffee and during the break we had unbelievable close views of Brahminy Kite, a few Black-headed Munias and another Pied Bushchat sat on the cafe's roof. A little further along the raod we stopped to see if we could coax out the skulking endemic Bush Warbler. One did appear very breifly but only a few of us saw it.
Pied Bushchat - seen everywhere on the plains
Moving on we drove another kilometer or two and stopped to seacrh for raptors, we were hoping for a Himalayon Buzzard but all we got was another Brahminy Kite, a Common Kestrel and another Black Eagle. Another attempt to see the Bush Warbler proved much more successful, all of the group got views of it and Phil Naylor actually got a good picture of it, see below.
Phil did very well to grab this image of the endemic Bush Warbler
It was now 11am we had been on the Plains for 5 hours and it was time to head back to the hotel, we had stop to make along the way and that was to look for Sri Lanka Wood Pigeons near the highest Railway Station in Sri Lanka, Pettipola.
Only two of us managed to see a Wood Pigeon perched in the fir trees before it disappeared but it was a nice walk. We did see two very nice Butterflies, the Ceylon Tiger and the Tailed Jay (a type of swallowtail). I have to say that Butterfly sightings have been very disappointing this year so far.
part of Lake Gregory at Nuwara Eliya
For the afternoon trip we reconvened at 3:30pm and drove around 2/3 of the large Gregory Lake in central Nuwara Eliya. We then took a small lane down into a valley which was steep sided and covered in a mixture of Eucalyptus and Pine Trees. A stream ran down the centre of the valley and we followed the route of the stream. We were looking for the endemic Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush at a regular site and one where the WINGSPAN group saw the thrush last year.
the Scaly Thrush picture taken last year in exactly the same place
However, this year there wasn't much around and although Big Phil got a couple of glimpses of the Thrush the rest of us drew a blank. Walking alittle further down the track we bunped into a mixed flock feeding in the trees. We then spent a reallky enjoyable 30 minutes watching Velvet-fronted Nuthatches at close quarters with Pied Flycatcher-shrike, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, Dusky Blue Flycatcher, Large-billed Warbler, Asian Brown Flycatcher and a couple of Great Tits.
the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch taken by Tony Moore in 2024
We left the area and drove back to the hotel taking the road that circumnavigates Gregory Lake. Around the lake we saw Grey Heron, Little Cormorant, Indian Pond Heron, Cattle and Great Egrets and lots of House Crows.
We ate dinner at 7pm, this was our last night in the highlands, tomorrow we head to Tissamaharama (you trying saying that when you've ad a couple of beers!) for some lowland birding and lots more species for our trip list.