Never before have we had so many views of day time roosts of Owls and all of course all thanks to Chaminda’s local knowledge - in total we saw 6 species of Owl and the Sri Lanka Frogmouth.
Serendib Scops Owl
Chestnut-backed Owlet
Indian Scops Owl
Jungle Owlet
Brown Wood-owl
Brown Fish-owl
Ceylon Frogmouths
Ceylon Frogmouth on nest.
Poor quality but a true skulker of the forest floor and too close really for digiscoping.
Well the title gives it away, we have been to Sri Lanka with an aim of seeing all 33 endemic bird species and happily we did see them all and even managed to photograph a few of them…. thanks go to our guide Chaminda Dilruk without whom we wouldn’t have stood a chance. We made all our arrangements through A. Baur & Co but Chaminda can be contacted direct at prcdilruk@sitnet.lk or prcdilruk@yahoo.com we can’t recommend him too highly - expert birder and all round organiser. So here’s all the endemics we managed to photograph;
1. Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill
2. Serendib Scops Owl
3. Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush
4. Yellow-fronted Barbet
5. Chestnut-backed Owlet
6. Crimson-backed Woodpecker
7. Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot
8. Sri Lanka Blue Magpie
9. Layard’s Parakeet
10. Sri Lanka Crested Drongo
11. Sri Lanka Green Pigeon
12. Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl (chicken!)
13. Sri Lanka Small Barbet
14. White-faced Starling
15. Green-billed Coucal
as to where we have been whilst I continue to sort through images - Since the Serendib Scops Owl Otus thilohoffmanni was discovered in 2001 it has been observed in the rainforests of ? by many people. Now nearly every birdwatcher living in, visiting or planning to visit the island looks forward somehow to seeing this attractive little creature. Endemic to ?, the species is so secretive that it eluded all avifaunal surveys of the country, begun by the Dutch more than 200 years ago. How many ornithologists and other birdwatchers must have explored the island’s rainforests across the decades unaware that a spectacular bird unknown to science was perched not far from them!
