Nuwara Eliya

 Monday 17^th February  –  After an enjoyable stay at the Peacock hotel it was time to move on this morning, to the hills around Nuwara Eliya. It was a long drive but when we starting climbing into the higher terrain we got a group of 4 Black Eagles soaring around and had a break at an impressive waterfall.

Further up Ashoka spotted a group of Sri Lanka Mynas with larger numbers of Common Mynas.

We eventually reached Nuwara Eliya, an impressive town in the hills at 2,000m above sea level, which really shows its colonial roots.  The town became popular with British ex-pats due to its cool climate during the hottest season of the year, and it earned its nickname “Little England”.  The town is surrounded by impressive scenery and immaculate tea plantations and extensive market gardens.  We checked into the Leisure Village Hotel, our base for two nights.

After unpacking and some much needed refreshments it was time to take a quick drive to Victoria Park for some late afternoon birding. This well-kept urban park with its short grass and flower borders doesn’t appear too inspiring at first glance but the mature trees and a well vegetated stream along one edge act like a magnet to some sought after species, in particular Pied Thrush, which was top of Dave’s want list on the trip. Preferably a stunning male!

A typical “British” style park with extensive grass, flower beds and tall trees.

We headed straight for the stream and started scanning through the undergrowth where the odd glimpsed Oriental Magpie Robin briefly raised the pulse rate. A Kashmir Flycatcher was a nice surprise and a couple of Forest Wagtails were seen but after much searching there was no sign of any Thrushes. We searched the whole stream thoroughly, adding two superb endemics, a Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler and a nice Sri Lanka White-eye.

Oriental Magpie-Robin – Seen feeding along the stream.

Sri Lanka White-eye – Good views of this endemic species.

Sri-Lanka Scimitar Babbler

Retracing our steps for another sweep of the densely vegetated stream, Jim spotted something disappear into the undergrowth that looked interesting and after a tense wait Dave picked it up as it crept through some tangled growth and revealed itself as an elusive Ruddy-breasted Crake.

As the light began to fade Ashoka led the way to some taller trees on the other side of the park where we got very brief views of a Pied Thrush going to roost in the upper branches. A frustrating end to the day but we would be back tomorrow.

Pied Thrush – We all managed to see this female, which was very high in some tall trees. A couple of other birding groups were in the park at the same time as us but they failed to locate this rather difficult species.

Tuesday 18th February (mid-morning onwards)

It was only mid-morning when we got back to Nuwara Eliya (after visiting Horton Plains) so we had plenty of time for more birding before lunch. Mahinder dropped us off at the road leading to the dump, where we carried on by foot through the overhanging trees.

The first birds we saw were a pair of Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers next to a small stream on the right which proved difficult to photograph as they didn’t keep still for long. Further down we connected with the final endemic we needed for a full house when a handsome looking Yellow-eared Bulbul appeared, along with a Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler and 2 Cinereous Tits.

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher – Only seen on our last day.

The road kept dropping in height gradually with a tree covered slope up to our right and younger trees dropping down a slope to our left. A Brown Shrike was a surprise in such a wooded area but may have been attracted to a pair of Yellow-eared Bulbuls visiting their nest nearby.

Brown Shrike – Victoria Park, one of several seen, this one was particularly confiding.

Yellow-eared Bulbul – Victoria Park proved to be a good place to see this species.

Not too many signs like this in British parks!

Finally, we celebrated our second birthday of the trip when Rob was presented with a cake by the hotel manager as we were completing our daily roundup of species seen after dinner.  Good cake it was too!