Our Great Sri Lanka Birding Expedition (6): Homeward bound via Kandy and our quest for the last endemic

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When: February 2025 Weather : Hot 25C

Nikon P900 and SonyRX10.4

Our final morning in Nuwara Eliya saw us heading off on the three hour drive to Kandy where we had lunch and then set off to find our last endemic, the SL White rumped shama which had only been added to the Sri Lanka official endemic list 2 months earlier! If we’d been two months earlier, it would have been mission accomplished already!

Our first port of call was the Udawattakele Forest Park in Kandy itself….when we arrived, there was a picture of our last required endemic,,the SL white rumped shama…a good omen?
We walked in by the lake and saw a splendid common kingfisher ..but no endemic…
and then a Tickell’s flycatcher having his late lunch but still no shama…
and then we heard the musical song of the white rumped shama!
it soon emerged and perched appropriately on a nearby branch as if to say…”Here I am! E35!” The Sri Lankan white rumped shama
The SL white rumped shama!

We were ecstatic! Our guides had passed the test of finding us ALL 35 Sri Lankan endemics…which is obviously easily doable if you have 2 weeks and go to wet and dry zones and the montane regions….in our case we only had a week and did not go to the dry zone at all. So we recommend BWT and Nila highly if you wish to do this!

We still had some time so we challenged Nila to find us the Jerdon’s Leaf Bird and the Brown headed Barbet in the Kandy Botanic Gardens… Admission is expensive but it was worth it!

Kandy Botanic Gardens
where the 200 year old ficus had grown
A hanging parrot showed itself
And a Jerdon’s leaf bird duly showed itself fleetingly
as did a red backed WP
and as we were preparing to leave, Nila triumphantly pointed out the brown headed barbet high up in the trees
Brown headed barbet
Fittingly, the last bird we saw on this birding expedition was also the first endemic we saw a week earlier…the crimson fronted barbet
So this was our final route…from the Covanro Hotel where we overnighted on arrival and birded the next morning…… anticlockwise to Sinharaja, Kithulgala, Nwara Eliya, Horton Plains, Kandy and back to the airport… (map courtesy of KC Lim)

Trip Summary:

Seven nights in the wet zone and montane region, 35 endemics, many lifers and 126 species in all. Hree are the 35 endemics we saw and photographed. Most challenging to photograph were the green lipped coucal and SL Bush warbler.

Endemic List:

  1. Red backed Flameback
  2. Crimson Fronted barbet (SL Small barbet)
  3. SL swallow
  4. SL wood shrike
  5. Serendib Scops Owl
  6. Layards Parakeet
  7. SL green pigeon
  8. Ashy headed laughing thrush
  9. SL jungle fowl
  10. SL Spur fowl
  11. Black capped bulbul
  12. SL or crested drongo
  13. SL hanging parrot
  14. Blue magpie
  15. SL grey hornbill
  16. Yellow fronted barbet
  17. Orange billed babbler
  18. Spot winged thrush
  19. SL Scaly thrush
  20. Legge’s white throated flower pecker
  21. White faced starling
  22. Crimson backed flameback woodpecker
  23. Green billed coucal
  24. Red faced malkoha
  25. Brown capped babbler
  26. SL mynah
  27. Chestnut backed owlet
  28. Dull blue flycatcher
  29. SL bush warbler
  30. SL wood pigeon
  31. SL white eye
  32. SL whistling thrush
  33. SL Scimitar babbler
  34. Yellow eared bulbul
  35. White rumped Shama

My favourite birds of the trip? Serendib scops owl, yellow fronted barbet, blue magpie, Bay owl, red faced malkoha, scaly thrush.

This was a birding trip with a difference; with expert birding pals, expert guide/driver with important and useful local contacts who located the rarer species. Setting targets is also important as it provides a set objective rather than aimless spotting. Engaging a great guide is money well spent. The hotels we stayed in got better and better and the food was beyond what we expected. So I would recommend BWT highly and their diligence, responsible attitude and professionalism stood out.

Hihgly recommended!

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