Sri Lanka Birding Trip

AUGUST 7-18 2010 - SRI LANKA BIRDING.   Last month when we were at Pulau Ubin, a chance to join a guided birding trip to Sri Lanka came our way when our friend Lioe, asked if we would like to join a birding trip that Poh Bee had planned.  As she had contacted a well known orinthologist guide it was an opportunity for us, being new to birding to experience such a "holiday".  It was with some excitement of the trip that we met Poh Bee, Lioe and Gerard at Changi airport on the night of 6th for our midnight flight.  The five of us arrived at Colombo airport on the 7th at 3.00 am, after a very comfortable flight.  We were welcomed by our orinthologist guide, Upali, and we got underway in an 8-seater air-conditioned van driven by Renga who provided us a comfortable ride for the 12 days.  It was a 3 hour ride from Colombo to Kitugala where we started our birding while waiting for breakfast.  We stayed a night then south to Sinharaja via Ratnapura, birding along the way.  At Sinharaja our stay at Blue Magpie Lodge for 3 nights was a rustic yet comfortable accommodation with excellent service from the small staff of 4.  At Sinharaja we experienced the most adventurous part of the trip, as in this wet zone, even well-covered and wearing leech socks, we found to some bemusement that some of the group had donated their blood to the leeches. In this deep forest we were able to see many species of forest birds especially during the bird feeding waves. The highlight was seeing the Frogmouth that was found deeper in the forest that required the help of a local tracker whose footwear was a pair of flip flops and holding an umbrella for the rain.  Among the many birds that we were able to sight, one of the most spectacular was also the easiest to see. This was the colourful Blue Magpie. After the effort and excitement of the morning we were also fortunate to enjoy the hospitality of a tea farmer, offerring fresh tea with our packed lunch in his garden. We were also treated to "jaggery", a local sweet that he prepares from the fishtail palm.  Leaving the wet zone and heading south to the dry zone, we arrived at Udawalawe where immediately we felt the dry dusty air.  We saw different birds, waders, raptors and also mammals and reptiles in the reserve.  In Udawalawe / Tissa we saw the Asian Paradise Fly Catcher, and at Yala National Park more shore birds.  Our next stop was the highlands of Nuwara Eliya where the cool air was a welcome relief after the hot dry weather.  Our pre-dawn visit to the Horton Plains was cut short due to the persistent rain and the birds like us were also taking shelter and hard to see.   Nevertheless, Nuwara Eliya and the Horton Plains will be worth another visit to enjoy the cool mountain air and to explore the gardens and walking trails.   Our next stop was Kandy, where we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens and a birding visit to the Udawattakele Royal Forest Sanctuary.  It happened to be the first day of a Buddhist festival, "Esala Perahera" and the streets were blocked and crowded for the evening's parade of elephants.   Our last stop was Habarana where we stayed at an eco lodge, surrounded by trees. Our room was on the upper level and we could see the birds at eye level.  The Other Corner, http://www.tocsrilanka.com/, was so idyllic that we both decided to enjoy our last afternoon in Sri Lanka at the lodge and forgo the last birding spot at Sigiriya, hence another reason to return to enjoy what we missed on this somewhat hectic trip. It was amazing how Upali, could whistle the differnt bird calls inviting the birds to him and his hearing and eyesight are so acute that he could warn us of the birds presence way before we were aware.  It was easy for us to see the birds with his help, the more difficult task was ID'ing the photographs we took of the more than 140 species including residents, endemics and some migratory birds seen on the trip.

Birds of Sri Lanka

Out and about enjoying the drizzle

Even though we seem to be having unusually heavy rain with associated thunder storms the last couple of weeks or so, we found during periods of light drizzle it is nice and cool to go for a walk.  Walking in one of our regular haunts at Telok Blangah Hill Park we were pleasantly surprised last Friday and today to see that we were not the only ones enjoying the drizzle. A number of birds were also out and about. Here are some shots taken Friday and today:

Bukit Brown Bird Walk

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha

SUNDAY, 25 JULY 2010 - a bird walk at Bukit Brown Cemetery. When we read NSS' newsletter on this walk, it was a new place for us to discover. Even though it was 7.30am on a Sunday, some 30 other participants turned up as eager as we were to find out what birds we can see. We learned from Sutari Supardi, the leader of the walk the history of the cemetery that it was named after George Henry Brown, a shipowner who bought this 85 hectares plot in the 1840s where he had a residence on the hill. The area is located between Lornie Road and Mount Pleasant. The area was then bought in 1872 by 3 wealthy Hokkien businessmen from the same village in China, They intended the area to be set up as a village for settlement and other uses by the Ong clan. However it was unclear how it became a burial ground for the Seh-Ong clan. The hill in the area was also known as Kopi Sua (coffee hill) due to coffee plantation at Mount Pleasant. To meet the needs of a wider Chinese community for burial ground, the Municipal government acquired sections of the grounds and the cemetery became a public Chinese cemetery on 1 January 1922. Portion of the area was acquired by the LTA for alignment of Lornie Road in 1965 and some 200+ graves were exhumed. The area was further divided into two sections due to construction of the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) in the 1970s. The other cemetery is called Mount Pleasant Cemetery. In 1973 Bukit Brown Cemetery was closed for burial. Although exhumations had taken place in 1965, many of the tombs remain, as we discovered in our walk. As we walked on the paved paths circling the hill we found grand old trees covered with epiphytes high up on the branches. Coming from the foliage we heard calls of many birds among which were the Collared Kingfishers and Long-tailed parakeets almost following us as we walked. Highlight for us was sighting two Chestnut-bellied Malkohas at close range.

More Photos from Bukit Brown

Singapore Garden Festival-2010

TUESDAY, 20 JULY 2010- While helping out on some days at SGF 2010, a biennial event, held at Suntec Convention Centre from 15 to 22 July, we took some photographs of some of the garden designs. Looking forward to SGF 2012 at the new venue, "Gardens By The Bay".

Photos from SGF 2010

Phuket Holiday

White-throated Kingfisher

MONDAY, 5 JULY 2010- PHUKET is not just about the sea and sand. This time we decided to experience something different and during our stay we spent a day birding with a local guide, Ms Games, who picked us 6.15am from our hotel lobby. Our first stop was around the Ton Sai Waterfall which is located near the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park's headquarters. We sighted the Common Iora, Greater Flameback and some flowerpeckers, moving on to Thalang area and the mangrove swamps we were treated with sights of the Lesser Coucal, Indian Roller, White Throated Kingfisher, Brahminy Kite, Pied Fantail, Striated Heron, Gerygone, Collared Kingfisher, the Greater Coucal, Red-wattled Lapwing and Cattle Egret. We saw different Bulbuls - White Vented, Yellow Vented, Red Eyed and Red Whiskered at different spots. Towards the late afternoon at the Laguna area we saw the Paddyfield Pipit, Blue-winged Pitta and Scaly Breasted Murnia. Thanks to Ms. Games from Thailand Birding for an enjoyable day.

Link to Phuket Birds

Cyrene's Gems

TUESDAY 13 JULY 2010- CYRENE REEF. Having heard a lot of Cyrene's marine life we were excited to get this opportunity to go. Even though we had to get up at 3.30 am to meet the schedule it was more than worthwhile.On landing, it was amazing to be standing almost as if in the middle of the sea surrounded by the bright lights of the nearby petro-chemical facilities. We had little time to admire the profusion of lights as we were reminded that we have only a couple of hours before the tide will reclaim the reefs.

As this was our first visit Chay Hoon took us under her wing. Looking down on the sand we were greeted by the outline of numerous sand dollars and before we could count the dollars we saw lots of Common Sea Stars. While taking photographs of the usual 5-arm stars we also saw a 4-arm and a 6-arm. While marvelling at such a lot of stars we could see a few meters further an amazing array of knobbly sea stars of various sizes, shapes and colours. As we took photographs of each knobbly we discovered each star is unique which meant we could not help but take photo after photo of every knobbly we came across. Our attention was also captured by other marine life that share the sea grass area. We saw some sea cucumbers, a flathead/crocodile fish, flatworm, a red eye purple crab, the poisonous Mosaic crab, some spiny fishes cleverly hidden in the jagged rocks. As we carefully locate the sandy parts amongst the rocky and grassy terrain to walk, we saw a beautiful long horn cow fish in a pool and later a discodoris nudibranch. There were carpet and peacock anemones and lots of zoanthids. As the dawn was breaking we switched off our headlights and made further discoveries. A few more interesting finds by Chay Hoon were the cushion stars and the star of our trip - the pentaceraster sea star which apparently was a long way from its usual habitat in the Indian ocean, but a most welcome discovery for our first trip.

Cyrene’s beautiful marine live that we saw on this trip (thanks to Ria) is unbelievable, given the heavy industry and container traffic at such close proximity of the reefs. Truly nature and industrialisation can co-exist. Any visitor would be mesmerized by what we saw.

Cyrene is a "gem" which shows that Man and Nature can co-exist as we progress, through our actions to preserve Nature whenever we can.