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BIRDING TRIP REPORT:

Sri Lanka: Bundala and Weligama areas

26 January to 9 February 2019

By Stephen Burch, England

Bundala NP

A slightly later start of 06:00 this morning for the short drive from our Tissamaharama hotel to the Bundala NP area. Before entering the NP, we went for a short walk along the approach road, with marshes on both sides. Unfortunately the conditions were very dull, whereas Dhammi, our guide, said normally the early morning light is superb here. It certainly wasn't today! It was however quite productive with Clamorous Reed Warbler the first bird seen. There were plenty of waders around as well, with Pin-tailed Snipe heading the cast, closely followed by Greater Painted Snipe (last seen in Kenya in 1986!). Others of interest included Pacific Golden Plover and Lesser Sand Plover.

There were also some herons around including a fairly close Purple Heron and an Indian Pond Heron nicely on a tree stump. 

Pin tailed Snipe from the minibus (click right to enlarge)

Indian Pond Heron in the early morning gloom	Purple Heron in the early morning gloom (click to enlarge)

After this pleasant interlude we arrived at the low key park entrance (this park was much less busy than Yala and Udawalawa, as it lacks any large mammals). Here we got into another jeep for a drive around, fortunately on much less bumpy tracks than Yala. Pretty much the first bird we saw was a Bay-winged Shrike which is a rarity in Sri Lanka, especially in the south of the island. This bird was a first for Bundala NP and was even a lifer for Dhammi (and us, of course!). Unfortunately, it wasn't very close when first spotted and it then moved even further away.

After this we moved on to an extensive area of lagoons which had a good selection of waders and distant terns, including Lesser Crested Tern, Greater Crested Tern, Little Tern, Whiskered Tern and Caspian Tern! Also this obliging Pied Kingfisher right by the vehicle track.

Bay-winged Shrike	Pied Kingfisher (click to enlarge)

However the stars of the show at the lagoons, from my perspective, was several Small Pratincoles. Although many were settled on the track, they didn't allow a close approach. It then began to rain, quite heavily at times, which required deployment of the Jeep's waterproof sides!

A little further on, in a dry section between lagoons, we came across this stunning white phase Indian Paradise Flycatcher. We had caught glimpses of these earlier on the trip but they were only fleeting views in heavy cover. This one was briefly right out in the open, showing its amazing tail very well!  

Indian Paradise Flycatcher (click to enlarge)	Small Pratincole

We then reached a shallow lagoon which presented an amazing vista of masses of Painted Storks, Spoonbills and Spot-bellied Pelicans that must have been attracted by large numbers of fish. 

Spoonbill (click to enlarge)	Spot billed Pelican (click to enlarge)

Our final bird seen here, and for the Sri Lanka list, was a Striated Heron.

Weligama

Having departed the pleasant Bundala NP, we then had a drive of about 3hrs to reach our beach hotel at Weligama for our last 3 nights. This town is in the south-west corner of the island, which has become famous for the Blue Whales that can be found close offshore. So the next morning we were again up early to get to Merissa Harbour where we were booked onto a trip with Merissa Water Sports. The hotel manager kindly accompanied us in the taxi to show us where to go (it is quite confusing). He made sure we were first on the boat, so we had the pick of seats - we chose ones at the front on the upper deck. These would have been fine, but those arriving later were told to sit on cushions around the edge in front of us. Not very comfortable for them. Once a whale was spotted they all jumped up and made our view very restricted. The boat seemed to me to be near to being over loaded and when a whale appeared on one side there was a distinct list caused by everyone moving in that direction. Probably not a huge danger of capsizing, but it seemed a possibility to me. There were many other boats filled with tourists but few seemed to have extra passengers on the upper deck like ours.

Despite these reservations, the boat captain seemed to know what he was doing, and departed promptly, hence ahead of the large number of other boats with the same objective. A massive Blue Whale was soon found, quite close to the boat. Remarkably, it would dive and then re-surface in a very similar spot. As other boats began to arrive, we moved off further out to where another one was again soon spotted. Photography was difficult due to the pitching boat in the moderate swell and the large number of other people in the way, but I did manage to get some - although the whole of the whale was never on show at once.  

After a little while near this whale we again moved off to leave the other boats to it. Returning to port we could see that a large circle of boats had formed around the first location - presumably all waiting for their sightings. I'm not sure what impact all these boats have on the whales, but I presume they could move elsewhere if they found them too bothersome.

Blue Whale

Accommodation Details

© All pictures copyright Stephen Burch