FLIGHT LONDON TO COLOMBO - TRANSFER TO TAMARIND TREE GARDEN RESORT
WEATHER: 27C, Hot and sunny, light breeze ,some humidity.
After an overnight flight Dawn and I arrived at Colombo a litlle after 1pm local time, we were a little shattered but well fed on Sri Lankan Airlines.
Jith, my local ground agent, met us in arrivals and we transferred to a minibus for the 10 nute drive to the Tamarind Resort. After a pleasant check-in we were guided to our detached cabin in the large landscaped gardens. We were left to our own devices for the rest of the day.
After changing our clothes from winter woollies to summer shorts we ventured onto the terrace for some bird watching. We had already clocked House Crow, Feral Pigeon and Speckled Dove on the way from the airport.
This is the view from our veranda!
Within just a few meters of our cabin we logged about 15 species, it was amazing, there was a lot of sound and movement all around us.
a pair of Speckled Doves
Mostly very common garden species were seen, such as Speckled Dove, Yellow-billed Babbler, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Common Myna, White-bellied Drongo and two species of Sunbird were feeding on the flowering shrubs nerarby, we saw Purple Sunbird and Purple-rumped Sunbird.
White-bellied Drongo
A Black-headed Oriole was also a nice find and we had several sightings of the Sri Lankan Red-backed Flameback Woodpecker (shown in the banner picture). Several small butterflies were on the wing but I had no time to chase them around, we a lso saw at least six Palm Squirrels.
A Palm Squirrel
Oriental Magpie-Robin
Sri Lankan Red-backed Flameback - a new endemic species
We then took a walk along a cycle track that circumnavigates the extensive gardens, we added a few more species during the walk. Scaly-breasted Munia, Red-vented Bulbul, fly-over Ring-necked Parakeets, Green Imperial Pigeons, a fly-over Brahminy Kite and we heard an Asian Koel calling its name on several occasions but we never saw it.
The Cycle Track that runs arounmd the gardens
The lovely Green Imperial Pigeon
It was getting ite dull when we returned to cabin and few mosquitoes took advantage of our exposed pale skin, so we called it day and retired to our air-conditioned rooms.