Thursday, 15 December 2011

A few more Sri Lankan birds..

Black-headed Oriole

White Bellied Drongo

Sri Lankan Green Pigeon

Red-vented Bulbul

White-rumped Munia

Yellow Billed Babbler

Black Bulbul

Black-throated Munia

Red-wattled Lapwinglapwing

Painted Storkstork

Barred Button Quailbutton

Brown Shrike

Red-vented Bulbul

Peafowlpeacock

Pintail Snipe

Shikra

Stone Curlew

Friday, 9 December 2011

Sinharaja

What can I say about Sinharaja - well it’s very hot and humid, it’s full of leeches and it has one of the bumpiest windiest roads leading up to it but it has fantastic birding!

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Yellow Naped WoodpeckerDSCN0708 (2)

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Crested TreeswiftDSCN0944 (2)

Green Imperial PigeonDSCN1009 (2)

The track up to Sinharaja (Wayne and Chaminda)IMG_2473 (2)

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Chaminda feeding the chickens! Jungle Fowl were never this easy in Thailand.DSCN0889 (3)

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Blue MagpieDSCN0831 (2)

Changeable Hawk EagleDSCN0907 (2)

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Leeched again!IMG_2567 (2)

Hill Myna

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

There’s nothing like a good cup of tea…

…and us English know a good one from a bad one and I can confirm that in all our travels around the world Sri Lanka out performs everyone in the tea stakes! So….

Tea at the Blue Magpie Lodge, Sinharaja where not only did they produce the best cup of tea in Sri Lanka but also the best “rice and curry”IMG_2484

Tea Plantation at Nuwara EliyaIMG_2690

Tour of the tea factory!IMG_2693

This was unbelievable - a tea grinding machine made over a hundred years ago in a town ten miles from where we live in the UK!!IMG_2694

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Lunch at the Blue Magpie LodgeIMG_2556

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Indian Pitta

Totally unlike any Pitta I have seen - this one seemed to love posing for the camera, normally Pittas skulk around in the dark and you get a fleeting glimpse if you’re lucky.

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Sri Lankan Elephant

Whilst smaller than their African counterparts the Sri Lankan Elephants are the largest of the Asian Elephants - these images were all taken in Yala NP.

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Sunday, 4 December 2011

Barbets and Parrots

Ceylon Hanging ParrotDSCN0779 (2)

Plum Headed Parakeet

Yellow-fronted Barbet

Brown-headed Barbet

Layards ParakeetDSCN0760 (2)

Young Layards Parakeet which crashed dived in front of us!

Sri Lanka Little Barbet

Indian Flying Fox

Can never get over the size of these fruit eating bats - this large roost must have contained close to a thousand bats.

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Ceylon Grey Hornbill video and Malabar Pied Hornbill

Sri Lanka has just two Hornbills - the endemic Ceylon/Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill and the Malabar Pied Hornbill

 

Malabar Pied Hornbillspied hornbill