DEBRAWAWE TANKS - TRANSER TO UDAWALAWE - BIRDING THE UDAWALAWE RESERVOIR CAUSEWAY
WEATHER: hot, dry, sunny all day. Humid late afternoon.
Today we left the Tissamaharama area and transferred to Udawalawe but before we left the area we made one last birding excursion. At 8am we drove the short distance to Debrawawe Tanks. These huge reservoirs were biult in the 19th centuary by the British to store water and have long since been abandoned and left nature to take over. Wildlife flourishes, the birdlife is extraordinary and is a fantastic place to be included on any birding itinerary to the area.
viewing the Tanks
The sun was shining we had a lovely cooling breeze in our faces and the light was exquisite. We saw dozens of species but only one or two were new for our list. It was Robert who found the Cotton Pygmy-Goose sometimes called the Cotton Teal. A pair were feeding very close to the shore and gave us superb views. At one stage the male was displaying, showing off his irridescent green wing-feathers to his potential mate.
a pair of Cotton Pygmy-Geese
the male is stunning, but the smallest goose I have ever seen! Teal size!
Not long after the duck fest we watched a dark morph Booted Eagle fly over us, it circled many times. Saman our guide was very pleased with that unusual sighting.
A Yellow Bittern showed extremly well, sitting in the reeds facing towards us, we also watched Watercock, Swamphen, Waterhen and Pheasant-tailed Jacanas.
Yellow Bittern - look at the size of those legs!
Another Clamorous Reed Warbler popped up in the reedbeds as we were watching Tricoloured Munias. A whole plethora of species were seen out on the marsh it would take all night to list them all in sequence. Both Crested Treeswift and Little Swift were seen flying over us as well as Brahminy Kites, Shikra and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle. The only other new species for the list was Little Grebe, we found small parties of them with up to ten in one group.
the local Moorhen has a much larger red shield than back home
a juvenile or female Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Before we returned to the hotel we made another attempt to see a Black Bittern at the Flying Fox roost site, it was a five minute drive. We had no luck with the Bittern but we did find another 20 species in the area, mostly were waders, we listed: Common, Marsh and Wood Sandpipers, Black-tailed Godwit, Lesser Sandplover, Redshank and Black-winged Stilt. Saman found us a White-naped Woodpecker and a Tern Roost held: Caspian, Gull-billed, Whiskered, White-winged and Little Terns.
Oriental White-eye
We were back at the hotel in time to pack and take an early 12 noon lunch. By 1pm we were on our way to Udawalawe. It 11/2 hours to get there, we then had an hour so to settle in before we spent the couple of hours of day light at the Caiuseway of the Reservoir which was 500 meters from the hotel.
Ubnfortunately the whole area was extremely dry, no pools or puddles and not many wetland birds or waders at all. In the last few years we have seen up 1,000 Yellow Wagtails, Including Citrine Wagtail, this year we found just one! The only other species visible on the reservoir side of the causeway were: Paddyfield Pipit, Oriental Skylark, Asy-crowned Sparrow-lark, Scaly-breatsed Munia, Pacific Golden Plover, Indian Thick-knee and lots of common species.
Pacific Golden Plover
We watched a few Elephants, a herd of Wild Boar, a herd of Spotted Deer and a few birds of prey too. Across the road in the scrubland, fast becoming a woodland, we found some interesting birds. The endemic Brown-capped Babbler was nice but brief. We heard the Barred Buttonquail but did not see, a brief view was had of the Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker by just a couple of the group. Small flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings flew over us, a Coppersmith Barbet showed well and our first Jungle Prinia became the fourth and final Prinia of the trip.
the endemic - Brown-capped babbler
Generally the visit to the Causeway was a bit of a disappointment, but that can't be changed, we did see a lot of species thoughout the day and our tour tally is mounting up. Everyone is happy with the way the tour is going and that is the main thing!