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BIRDING TRIP REPORT:

Sri Lanka: Sinharaja

26 January to 9 February 2019

By Stephen Burch, England

Route from Nuwara Eliya to Sinharaja:

The drive from Nuwara Eliya to Sinharaja was the longest of the trip but fortunately there were a couple of productive stops to break the journey up somewhat. The first notable bird of the day was an Indian Black Robin spotted from the moving minibus, followed by a distant Crested Serpent Eagle.

Thangamale (GPS 6.769557, 80.934832)
This small reserve was just off the main road and provided a very welcome opportunity for a break and leg stretch by walking along the small road that bisects it. In a short space of time we found 3 good lifers - Scimitar Babbler, Grey headed Canary Flycatcher and Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike. There was also an obliging Velvet fronted Nuthatch that was clearly as happy upside down as the right way up!

Velvet Fronted Nuthatch (click to enlarge)

Grey headed Canary (click left to enlarge)

River Garden Resort (GPS 6.7713927,80.936411)
 This was a roadside restaurant that provided us with an excellent lunch. Afterwards we had a brief walk through its wooded gardens that led down to a fast flowing river that had several remarkable damselflies. These showed iridescent flashes of green on their wings when they flew, promptly disappearing when they settled. There was also a fairly obliging Yellow-fronted Barbet investigating a nest hole but conditions were really difficult for photography in the wood.

Yellow fronted Barbet	Shining Gossamerwing

Sinharaja area

Jensen Bungalow and surroundings
This secluded small hotel was on a hillside, distantly overlooking the forest and was reached by its own steep track. It was to be our base for the next 3 days. A river below could be reached for swimming in, not that we did so!

The hotel grounds had a number of interesting birds, including White-breasted Waterhens (that came out in the rain), a Greater Coucal (early one morning) and a pair of Copper Rumped Sunbirds feeding just outside our room one afternoon.

Copper Rumped Sunbird (click to enlarge)

The surrounding area also seemed pretty birdy although we didn't have the time or energy to do much birding there. A path from the bungalow led through a tea plantation to the small approach road along which we walked a couple of times (one trip being abruptly curtailed by a late afternoon deluge!). Birds seen along this road included Red-fronted Barbet (seen from the minibus on arrival, and again on our own later), Blue-tailed and Chestnut headed Bee-eaters, and a glimpse of an Asian Paradise Flycatcher with its immensely long tail. 

Red fronted Barbet	Blue tailed Bee-eater

Main reserve (first full day)
Prior to the trip I had read great accounts of the Sinharaja rain forest and how it contained feeding flocks with 50 species. Hence I had requested we have two full days here instead of the one initially allocated by Baurs, anticipating many new species for the life list.   In the event it was slightly disappointing and we had to work very hard for each new species of which we often only had fleeting or obscured views. As for flocks of 50 species, Dhammi said he had occasionally come across "super-flocks" with this number in, but this was going back several years and sadly he hadn't seen them recently. Nevertheless, it was still a great place to be with many other things of interest to see.

Arriving at the main entrance in a jeep shortly after 06:00, we caught a glimpse of Sri Lanka Blue Magpie (another of my main trip targets) but it was still almost dark and hopeless for photos. Having gained the necessary entry documents, we drove up a very rough track to the main entrance. This road was good for birds with Chestnut-headed Bee-eater showing on wires, followed closely by a Lesser Hill Myna, a lovely if obscured Sri Lanka Frogmouth and a distant White-fronted Starling. Before reaching the main entrance, we went on a slight detour to some buildings where I think Dhammi was hoping for a mixed bird flock to appear, but it never materialised.

Chestnut headed Bee eater	Sri Lanka Frogmouth

Access to the main reserve is by foot only, and so we left the jeep and driver at the entrance and then walked slowly along the main track that leads into the forest. A Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl greeted us to the reserve and we then had brief views initially of the splendid Red-faced Malkoha.  We later had more extended but distant glimpses of a pair nest building, but I failed to get any presentable photos of them. Other notable birds on outward leg included a close and quite good view of a Lesser Yellownape and less good views of a Black-naped Monarch and Ashy-headed Laughing Thrush. Near the far-point of our walk we spent a prolonged period looking without success for a rare Scaly Thrush. It was heard a few times, and even seen by Dhammi and our NP guide for the day, but we missed seeing it by about 2 seconds!

After a bit of a breather at the far point (which was only about 3 km from the entrance, but it felt much further), we retraced our route slowly back to the entrance. Shortly Dhammi spotted a superb Malabar Trogon which we managed to get onto from a couple of directions, but it was high up in the trees so a difficult photo subject. Other birds seen on the return route were Sri Lanka Drongo and Black-capped Yellow Bulbul.

Returning the jeep, the list had increased by 8 since we left it, with the time taken being around 5 hours. On the way down the entrance road we encountered another Sri Lanka Blue Magpie so I got out and chased it back up the road in an effort to get a presentable photo or two.  

Lesser Yellownape (click to enlarge)	Malabar Trogon

Malabar Trogon	Sri Lanka Blue Magpie (click to enlarge)

Second full day
Our second full day in Sinharaja was very different from the first, with much less effort needed to see some stunning local birds! It started with a 5am departure and was a bit of a mystery tour to start with. Instead of setting off in the minibus we were expecting, we got back into an NP jeep and headed not to the forest but down a small and bumpy track. We were expecting this to take the better part of an hour but fortunately after no more than about  20mins we stopped, still in the dark, at a house surrounded by forest. Fortunately there were no other birders present this morning. Apparently it can get very crowded here.

We then decamped into their backyard and waited for it to get light, getting good views again of Venus, Jupiter and the rising crescent Moon. As it started to get light we moved inside the house to peer out of an unglazed window in what was said to be the kitchen! This overlooked a slope that went down to a damper area below. In the lightening gloom, we first spotted Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl and Spot-winged Thrush but it was still far too dark for photos.

We were then told that Dhammi had found something else interesting back by the minibus which overlooked a cleared area of the forest. In his 'scope we had distant views of an impressive Greater Flameback. The next bird was the rare Green-billed  Coucal, in the garden just next to the house and by the minibus!

Back in the kitchen, at around 07:15, the main targets for this strange quest appeared - a superb Sri Lanka Spurfowl, closely followed by a Slaty-legged Crake. To get photos of these, I had to use max ISO (16000) combined with shutter speeds of only around 1/50 sec. Only the remarkable noise reduction provided by NeatImage resulted in these semi-presentable images. Another bird pottering around in the same area was an Emerald Dove, which I was pleased to discover was not the same Emerald Dove as that seen in Australia in 2017!

Sri Lanka Spurfowl (click to enlarge)	Slaty-legged Crake

Emerald Dove	Green billed Coucal (click to enlarge)

This house in the forest also had some interesting insects in its garden which I had a little time to get photos of:

Blue Percher	Blue Glassy Tiger

This day then got even better with two further splendid birds:

While we were still at the house, our NP guide from yesterday suddenly appeared on a motorbike, to report that he had heard a Scaly Thrush close to the road while looking in vain for roosting Serendib Scops Owl. So we set off back along the road and then shortly took a very small track that quickly descended to the river bank below. Almost immediately on arrival we had brief but acceptable views of a SCALY THRUSH - which was probably the bird of the trip. I even managed to get a record shot of it partially in the sun, which was sufficient to illuminate its golden feathers.

Scaly Thrush

After this surprise, which compensated for the fruitless search yesterday, another was to soon follow.

Driving back towards out hotel, Dhammi paused and phoned his local "Owl boy", who reported he had located a roosting Serendib Scops Owl! As the bird was likely to be there all day, we were given the option of going back to the hotel for lunch and then returning in the afternoon, or turning around and going for it immediately. I opted for the latter, as I didn't want to bet on it staying put, especially as others might well get to hear about it.

So we turned round and waited for a bit until the Owl boy appeared. He led us back along the track we had driven along early in the morning, and then there was a short scramble up a bank into some bushes, where we were shown a very obscured Serendib Scops Owl. However by judicious bending of the intervening vegetation, I was presented with an almost clear view of the bird in the middle of dense cover. Only one annoying strand of vegetation was left, but as this was close to the owl, there was nothing that could be done about it. Of course it was also in a very dark location but I took many shots hoping that one or two would be OK. The one below is the best I could do in the circumstances.

 So all our targets, and more, were seen by mid-morning. Given yesterdays exertions, we were happy to have an afternoon off.... Probably a more successful day than yesterday (6 top notch lifers) and much less strenuous!

Serendib Scops Owl

Postscript: Having been wearing walking boots and leech socks, we checked for leeches when we emerged from the undergrowth around the owl, but found nothing. It was only when we got back to the hotel that we found my wife must have collected one from above, as she found a very large leech attached to her shoulder, which had clearly been feeding for some time. A spot of lime juice from the helpful hotel staff and it was gone!

Accommodation Details

© All pictures copyright Stephen Burch