making emma happy - part 2

We heard it from a distance and knew we were approaching another flock. We had walked about 2 hours towards the research camp in the morning. Although, the flock we had the day before contained the usual suspects, in all honestly, it made us work hard. Firstly, it was found at midday. Secondly, it caught us at an open stretch with not much tree cover to run for shade. And thirdly, the birds were inside the thick forest for much of the time– doing their thing and giving us only fleeting views, until they rewarded our efforts by showing up at the spot we were waiting in ambush.

Since entering the forest this morning, apart from a few ‘lounging’ pigeons & mynas, we hardly had more than half a dozen chances to raise our binoculars for birds. Okay, we were also looking at other ‘stuff’. But we didn’t have any major birding to speak of, apart from mostly distant views. That was until this moment when we literally walked into this flock at a clearing; at a known hotspot of flock activity.

It positively lived up to my hype about Sinharaja’s flocks - mentioned in my tour commentary on the way to Sinharaja. Emma was quick to quote the catch phrase that I used to describe it – “an explosion of birds”. And that’s what it was. They were on both sides of the forest. They were everywhere. Ironically, raising the binoculars to look at one bird now seemed a bad idea all of a sudden! It was a one big feeding frenzy and a crowded scene at that!

The player comfort was definitely better compared to the previous day as we found ourselves in the shade & not waiting for the action to happen. In other words, Emma and Alex didn’t have to wait until the meal was cooked and delivered course by course. For all intents and purposes, it was a buffet - a rain forest avian buffet to be precise! And we were positively spoiled by the spread!

We had a good choice of endemic starters in the form of Orange-billed Babblers numbering over 25 & easily over 6 Sri Lanka Crested Drongos aka Greater Racket-tailed Drongos. Pun totally intended here as they are both instrumental in starting the flocks & are also the first to start a crossing when the flock moves across in a clearing.

We had an endemic curried split-pea soup sprinkled with a bit of pepper in the forms of half a dozen Black-capped Bulbuls. And if the ‘curry part’ puts you off, there was a Bridget Jones-type exotic blue soup in 5 Sri Lanka Blue Magpies!

We had several mouth-watering endemic specials in the form of 3 Red-faced Makohas, a dozen or so Ashy-headed Laughingthrushes, a couple of Legge’s Flowerpeckers, several White-faced Starlings & 3 cracking Crimson-backed Flamebacks - a male shown above. If these weren’t enough to tempt you, we had more non-vegetarian items of South Indian and Sri Lankan flavour in 4 tempting Malabar Trogons & about 6 Orange Minivets.

Judging by the calls, there were at least a single endemic Green-billed Coucal & a pair of Sri Lanka Scimitar Babblers somewhere in the spread but we couldn’t find them. Isn’t that typical with buffets?

For desserts we had endemic frugivorous delights in the form of 8 Layard’s Parakeets & a couple of Yellow-fronted Barbets. If you are into Oriental delicacies; we had that too in 3 Lesser Yellownapes & a couple of Black-naped Monarchs.

Finally, for those of us who like a cup of black coffee to finish off, we had plenty of South Indian & Sri Lankan brewed Indian Square-tailed Black Bulbuls to leave us positively bloated!

Birding can be a different ball game if you are new to the high-octane tropical rain forest such as Sinharaja. Here, you can walk for hours without any worthwhile birding to talk about – until you come across a ‘flock’ or a ‘bird wave’ – used loosely to refer a mixed-species bird flock. The flock study at Sinharaja was pioneered by Prof. Sarath Kotagama of the University of Colombo in the early 80s. Eben Goodale from the US joined the study in the mid 90s, which eventually earned him many good things in his life including a PhD. Thanks to their pioneering work; Sinharaja’s flock has now become one of the best-studied bird flocks in the world. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, some of their fascinating findings were discussed in this post by me. It will be useful reading if you are completely new to this unique avian phenomenon.

To read an article by Dr. Eben Goodale, myself and Prof. Sarath Kotagama about the playmaker of Sinharaja's mixed-species bird flock, see the July issue of the Natural History magazine published by the American Museum of Natural History. You can visit their site by clicking on the logo below.

Other highlights:

1. Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush Zoothera imbricata -- This scarce endemic was found by me when Emma and Alex were away at a comfort stop near the research station. Picking up its high pitched call heard over the sound of water, I delivered a rendition of it that I had specialized as of recently as mentioned in this post & again in this long trip report of a 15-day birding tour led by me. Seconds after my rendition, a Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush materialized in view holding some mossy nesting materiel indicating nesting activity! We exchanged some verbal duals and were locked in stares in the 30 seconds that ensued, which was great fun!

I didn’t have my scope near me to digi-scope it and I knew that it will fly away if I try to reach it. And it did take wing as I anticipated when I reached to grab it. But soon it responded again when I was ready to allow this record shot, in just the same pose I saw it before! It was seen again after disappearing for a moment but when Emma and Alex returned it preferred to live up to its reputation of being a shy terrestrial forest dweller. As it was busy nesting, we decided to leave it alone.

2. A pair of dragonflies that I photographed in July, 2006 in Sinharaja was confirmed by the Odonatologist; Matjaž Bedjanič to be an entirely new species of the genus Lyriothemis of the skimmer family; Libelluidae! This is the male, which I was fotunate to find on this trip again.

I was told that some other expert had taken over the formal description of this species, which is pending. I am happy that we’d have a new species to boost our list of 117 species of Odonata in the ‘fullness of time’. Here's goes the lady.

3. Blue Mormon Papilio polymnestor -- Emma cleverly spotted this imago emerging from its pupa at Martin’s garden when we went in search of a Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, which we saw as well. It was found below its host plant, which was of the family Rubiaceae.

4. Jungle Threadtail Elattoneura caesia – Emma was fully pumped up and also spotted this endemic damselfly.

5. Green Forest Lizard aka G.Garden L Calotes calote -- This lizard was found in some invasive pioneer Koster's Curse Clidemia hirta to which it was perfectly merged to.

I conclude this post by saying that Emma had more than her fair share of sightings of Sri Lanka Blue Magpies and was not bitten by a leech. Therefore, she was very happy at the end. Nor was Alex a victim of leeches. And they both lived happily thereafter.

Related posts:

making emma happy - part 1