SINAHARAJA RAIN FOREST ALL MORNING - A RIVER WALK LATE AFTERNOON
WEATHER; calm, humid and nice and cool to start with, warmer later. Thunderstorm mid-afternoon.
Our earliest start yet!! We met up at 4:45am for a quick tea/coffee hot drink before we set off for the rainforest, we had a date with an endemic Sri Lanka Spurfowl and we couldn't be late. In the village of Sinaharaja we transferred from our bus to two heavy looking jeeps for the climb up the hill to the Reserve. In the past it would take 45-60 minutes to climb this unmade track, huge pot holes and rocks covered the ground. Not now!! It has been concreted all the way up to the top, so much more comforatable and much quicker too!
We stopped half way up to visit a new-build guest house where we sat behind a screen to watch a cleared area which had been laden with food. The Spurfowl is generally very hard to see or to track down, but yesterday one appeared at 6:20am at this very spot.
Pale-billed Flowerpecker one of the smallest birds of Sri Lanka
Well, 6:20am came and went! No sign of the Spurfowl, we did see Emerald Dove and Junglefowl, then a flock of Orange-billed Babblers dropped in for a feed. It was approaching 7am when a pair of Spurfowl appeared, hallelujah!! We all had excellent views of them before the Junglefowl chased them off!
Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon we saw this up on Horton Plains but it was dark and raining then!
We ate breakfast sitting on a terrace watching the local wildlife: we saw the Dusky-striped Jungle Squirrel, Rain Forest Toque Monkey and lots of birds. The Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon was nice to see in good light. We also liste Crested Treeswift, Golden-fronted Leafbird, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Square-tailed Bulbul, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and several common species.
the 'Bamboo Orchid' seen along the track
From there we drove the rest of the way up to the entrance to the Rain Forset reserve, the pristine forest of this area is oustanding, primary forest. Magnificent trees tower above you whilst a whole new suite of birds are found in this unique habitat. Before we entered the forest we took a walk down the track towards the lower visitor's centre. Saman had been told of a large mixed flock feeding below us. We found a Sri Lanka Drongo and immediately saw a Malabar Trogon. Then three Sri Lanka Blue Magpies appeared and the world went mad.
the Black Bulbul or Square-tailed Bulbul
The Magipes stayed in the canopy and didn't show too well but we all got to see them. Almost straight after the Magpie sighting we saw a Re-faced Malkoha, wowza! that's a biggie. It was also high up in the canopy and not everyone got onto it before it disappeared. Other species seen were the endemic Black-capped Bulbul, Brown-breasted Flycatcher and Sri Lanka Green Pigeon.
the endemic Sri Lanka Green Pigeon
Our walk into the main section of the park was dotted with sightings,e walked about 3km into the forest along the main track, it was the return walk that produced the most birds.
the Spot-winged Thrush
By now we had seen all of the endemic species except for the Scaly Thrush, Saman tried his hardest to get one. We did see the Drongo again a couple of times, we also found a Black-naped Blue Monarch sitting on a nest.
Black-naped Monarch
We hit a purple patch as we moved towards the exit gate, Saman pointed out Blue Magpies, they we much more obliging and fed down at eye level. A second Red-faced Malkoha appeared, this bird also showed very well even though it was high up. A mixed flock appeared and we finally got good view of the Asy-headed Laughing-thrush, everyone was happy with that one.
Blue Glassy Tiger Butterfly - one of the few specis on the wing this afternoon
So, the only endemic eluding us is the Scaly Thrush, Saman and the local guide both had brief views of it but none of us did. Work in progress.
For our afternoon birding session we drove back down to the village of Sinaharaja and took a side track to the river. We went looking for the Dwarf Kingfisher in an area above the river that Saman knew was inhabited by the Kingfisher. We stook on a sloping track looking down to the river across a small tea plantation and we waited, and waited!
Purple-faced Leaf-Monkey
Many birds began to appear in the trees around us and along the hedges. Brown Shrike, Black Bulbul, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Sri Lanka Drongo, Black-hooded Oriole, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Asian Paradise Flycatcher to name most of them. Pruple-faced Leaf Monkey and Dark Striped Palm Squirrel were also seen.
The Kingfisher did not turn up during the hour or so that we spent there. Walking back up the hill to where the bus was parked we came across a pair of Sri Lanka Blue Magpies, they showed very well and made up for our kingfisher miss!
We called it day at that point and drove back to the hotel, arriving at 6:10pm, dinner was booked for 7pm so it was a little bit of a rush but everyone made it.