A 5am start on day 2 in Sinharaja led us on a bumpy ride up to the house of a local birder, Rath Nasiri who kindly allowed us to visit the hide he had set up above a clearing where the target bird of the day might show…the endemic Sri Lankan Spur Fowl….We settled behind the tarpaulin sheet and waited……
Waiting behind the hide at about 630am as the light slowly increased….First to show were the female jungle fowls…4 of themfollowed shortly by the magnificent male SL jungle fowl…E9!The target bird of the morning then made his grand entrance..the SL Spur fowl….E10beautiful chest markings of the Spur Fowl
We then birded around the house where a feeding station had been set up…..there was such a lot of activity in the trees around the house that we spent a good hour or more there….
The brilliantly yellow black capped bulbul made it E11 black hooded oriole..from some angles looks like yellow capped bulbul! (Picture courtesy of H Tan)a black headed cuckoo shrike was another lifera common but nevertheless charming blue tailed bee eater amongst the pine needlesThe Sri Langka or Crested Drongo is another endemic…E12!The SL hanging parrot was seen everywhere with its characteristic call….E13! A third of the way towards our target of 35..and only on the second day…the crown is red …whilst the hanging parrot we have in Singapore has a blue crownBrown breasted flycatcherthe common square tailed bulbul
Late morning we set off on the path leading from Rath Nasiri’s house towards the Singharaja trail…a pretty long walk in humid, hot tropical sunshine bearing our cameras and binoculars….about 1km or more on we arrived at Martin’s Lodge, a very basic facility but plumb in the middle of the forest…..we collapsed onto the dining rooms chairs for an early packed lunch …..the dining area overlooked the forest and also had a feeding station….
Our first close up view of one of the signature birds of singharaja….the blue magpie! E14 Just look at and admire that stunning red rosette around his eye…arguably the most beautiful bird on this trip, the colour combination of blue, rich rufous brown and red are irresistible.He watched us intently…a magnificent SL grey hornbill then arrived dramatically E15and the square tailed bulbul, blue magpie all had to wait for the hornbill to vacate the platform…In contrast, the brilliantly differently coloured yellow browed bulbul also dropped in…not an endemic but a lifer for us.Yellow browed bulbul displaying And then one of my favourites of this trip, the yellow fronted barbet arrived…E16!For once, the common name of this barbet is most appropriate!He entertained us royally!
And feeling rested after lunch, we hit the trail again towards the Forest proper….and entered via the Dorana Ella entrance, top right of the map below….and headed towards the Research Centre
Our target birds were the thrushes….but first….We were joined by another local guide Shanta who promptly showed us this richly coloured SL Frogmouth (non endemic)
Our guides then went up and down the trail, seeking the Scaly thrush but it remained elusive teasing us with an occasionally flurry and bare glimpses….after half an hour of trying we moved on…..
a female orange minivet watched over usas did a handsome male SL green pigeonorange billed babblers were active…. E17typical sinharaja trail where we birdeda white browed bulbul posedashy headed laughing thrush…
And on we went for 1km till we reached a little shelter with seats for a break…this is where the trail leads to the Giant Nawada Tree on the map. As we rested, we heard a rustle nearby….
It was the gorgeous SL spot winged thrush! E18the shy spot winged thrush
And no sooner had the spot winged thrush flew off, our guides heard another rustle in the woods….we caught a glimpse of a brown bird zipping around and not stopping until finally he stopped…
the extremely shy Sri Lanka or Scaly Thrush (E19) appeared! Just stunningly beautiful…..He’d given us the run around but finally perched for us…Scaly Thrush
Feeling rejuvenated with the two thrushes, we bashed on for another half a km…
the scenery was beautiful
Then we came across a mini bird wave…..
I took this picture without knowing what the bird was…it turned out to be a Legge’s or white throated flower pecker! E20female Malabar Trogon..non endemic but so pretty
the so difficult to shoot white faced starling…only two of us managed these partial shots…but E21! (Picture courtesy of SB Yeo)
There were other sightings but photographing them was another matter. By this time it was 4pm and we decided to turn back as it had been an almost 12 hour day….
We started the long walk back towards Martin’s Lodge when we heard and then saw the Crimson backed Flameback woodpecker as the last bird of the day…. E22!
Fortunately the van came and picked us up from Martin’s Lodge saving us another 2km trek. We dined well at the Forest Edge Restaurant….where the soups are particularly good!
So things were looking good…we were 2 full days into our birding adventure and more than halfway towards our 35 endemic targets!
The Natural Traveller 
glorious! such a treat to see these, thanks!