SAFARI JEEP TOUR OF UDAWALAWE NATIONAL PARK -TRANSFER TO MARISSA ON THE SOUTH COAST
WEATHER: overcast but dry and very warm after 10am.
Another early start saw us leaving the hotel at 6am in preparation for our safari in the Udawalawe Elelephant Park. We arrived at the entrance to the park within 15 minutes, we joined the queue for registration, then the queue for tickets and then the queue to enter. Despite all the queuing we were in the park by 6:50am.
our group with Saman the guide on the RHS
Our first birds were: a flock of some 100+ Rose-coloured Starlings flying over, then we had a close view of a White-browed Fantail and many Indian Robins were darting about. One hundred meters into the park we stopped to watch a pair of Indian Rollers and a Yellow-wattled Lapwing. Jerdon's Bush Larks dashed about along the tracks and the Green Bee-eater was ubiquitous. Within a short space of time we had seen the other two species of Bee-eaters too, the Chestnut-headed and the blue-tailed.
Indian Roller
Yellow-wattled Lapwing
A Crested Serpent Eagle posed for the cameras but the light was too bad. We were riding in two jeeps again with Saman the guide in the leading jeep, he got us all onto the Yellow-eyed babbler before finding a Jacobin Cuckoo, both were very nice finds.
Yellow-eyed Babbler
Changeable Hawk-eagle
A Sirkeer Malkoha came next, it posed for us, but once again the views were short and the bird was sitting with the sun behind it. We had much better views of the Starlings as we progressed through the park. A few stops by ponds produced the usual Mugger Crocodiles, Water Buffalo, Water Monitors and two species of Kingfishers, the Common and the White-throated.
winter plumage Rose-coloured Starlings
Around 8:30am we stopped by a large pool to eat our picnic breakast and drink a nice cuppa. The pool was covered in birds, probably 30-40 species in all. The only new addition to our list was, in fact, a very good one, the Painted Snipe! We found two pairs of these, they didn't show too well, but enough to make out the dull male and very colourful female.
a pair of Painted Snipe, the dull male is on the left
Waders around the pool included, Wood, Common, Marsh and Green Sandpipers, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Lesser Sandplover and Black-winged Stilt. All the common herons and egrets were there, including the Black-crowned Night Heron. Spoonbill, Openbill, Spot-billed Pelican and a few Whishered Terns were present too.
Jacobin Cuckoo
The second half of our tour was much slower and far fewer species were seen. We watched Elephants, only one or two! We saw a Stripe-necked Mongoose and we found a chick on the track that was a Barred Buttonquail. We made an attempt to see the adult Quails but they did not show, although they did call.
Orange-breasted Green Pigeons - shame they are facing away
Changeable Hawk-eagle posed well, a White-bellied Sea-eagle sat on a nest above the track and we had better views of the Rollers as we approached the exit. We left the park at 11am and drove back to the hotel.
the migrant sub-species Indian Paradise Flycatcher, what a beauty and what a long tail!!
We checked out at 12 noon and drove to the coast at Marissa to our next hotel. Arriving around 3pm we had the rest of the day off, we spent it relaxing near the pool and going for a walk along the beach, no more birds were recorded today.