Birds at Bundala
16th April 2009
Jill King

[ A Birding and Wildlife Trip Report: Sri Lanka]

Following a trip with my daughter to Yala and Bundala, ably accompanied by Sam Caseer, our Jetwing Eco Holidays  guide, who had endless patience and was extremely knowledgeable about the many species of birds that we were fortunate enough to see, I would like to share with you some of the species that sat still long enough for me to focus on them!

I have visited Sri Lanka before and never cease to be amazed by the numerous varieties of birds that are either indigenous or are merely passing through.  Coming from the UK I am used, on the whole, to many common species of birds that often seem very drab compared with the colourful plumage of even the everyday birds seen here, like the bulbul.  In Yala we caught a glimpse of a hornbill, a crested serpent eagle, and a large brown fish owl, also green pigeons, and many bright and cheerful bee eaters, including a pretty chestnut headed bee eater. But it was in Bundala National Park that we were served with a feast of wading birds, many migrants, gulls, painted and open-billed storks, spoonbills, water hens, kingfishers, herons and egrets, ducks, plovers, and lapwings. I loved the elegant pheasant tailed jacanas, the curlew with it's amazing long curved beak, the white winged terns with their swift dipping flight, and we were lucky to see a small pratincole, not a bird that I had heard of, so a first for me.