Sinharaja with Alan and Lucy Smith

Alan and Lucy Smith from Yorkshire, England had come here on a Kuoni general round tour and were based in a beach hotel in Kalutara when I picked them up to visit Sinharaja rain forest for a birding tour over 25-27 November, 2007. Both in their late 60s, they were extremely lucky to be rewarded with a full-blown mixed species bird flock while sipping tea at Martin’s balcony just 10 minutes after arrival at 11.15 a.m.!!! These highlights included great views of White-faced Starling, Red-faced Malkoha, Orange-billed Babbler, Orange Minivet, Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, Sri Lanka Crested Drongo, White-bellied Drongo, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Black-capped Bulbul, Common Iora, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Malabar Trogon & Sri Lanka Scimitar Babbler.

What felt even better was that there hadn’t been any flock the day before, according to a few local birders who were at Martin’s! Going for a walk, we had the same flock just 5 minutes into our walk up the road and we had second and third views of all the above plus Black-naped Monarch, Legge’s Flowerpecker & Sri Lanka Myna and we were off to a dream start without even walking 100 m from Martin’s!. On both mornings, we had early tea with five Sri Lanka Blue Magpies, which came to feed on the insects trapped under lights in the Martin’s balcony. These were accompanied by a confiding Spot-winged Thrush; hopping inside the balcony.

In our birding walks that followed we also had Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Sri Lanka Green Pigeon, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Brown-capped Babbler, Crimson-backed Flameback, Black-naped Monarch, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, Layard’s Parakeet, Brown-breasted Flycatcher & a pair of roosting Sri Lanka Frogmouth, which were huddled together appearing like two delayed leaves. This was originally spotted by my colleague, Prasanjith Caldera and I am thankful for him for sharing it with us.

Our top natural history highlights were cracking views of two good looking butterflies; Cruiser and Tawny Rajah both of which were filmed and photographed by us. Our driver was Sameera Arandara and once again he did a fantastic job in driving us promptly and safely.

Oh! I did play a game of scrabble, which I happen to win 250-140 with ENTAILED earning my highest individual score of 68 playing all 7. And Alan vowed to square it on his return next time! (he is pretty Yorkshirish!)