Bird Ringing at Horton Plains

Horton Plains National Park is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Sri Lanka because of the misty mountains that surround it and its peculiar wildlife. It is also a popular location for bird watching especially to see highland species. More than 150 bird species are recorded from the Horton plains National Park.

Recently, the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka conducted a training programme on Bird ringing and other bird study techniques to the staff of the Department of Wild Life Conservation on a request made by Mr. Y.G.B. Karunarathna, Park Warden of the Horton Plains National park. Twenty one officers from the Central region participated in this programme. The workshop was held from 29th to 31st May 2008.

The programme was conducted in a participatory manner and included series of lectures, discussions, field practicals and many other activities.

A total of 23 birds represented by seven species were captured during this period. This included four endemic species, namely Sri Lanka Bush Warbler, Sri Lanka White-eye, Sri Lanka Dull Blue Flycatcher and Sri Lanka Yellow –eared Bulbul. Other captured species were Common Tailorbird, Dark fronted Babbler and Eurasian Blackbird.

Chinthaka Kaluthota and Sandun Perera conducted the workshop while Kasun Dayananda, Sarath Sanjeewa and Dayani Rathnayaka assisted them throughout the period.

FOGSL wishes acknowledge Mr. Y.G.B. Karunarathna (Park Warden, Horton Plains NP) for organizing the workshop and providing all the necessary facilities for the participants. Mr. Pathirana and Mr. Dayarathna (Horton Plains NP) helped in many ways to conduct the workshop smoothly. FOGSL also wishes to extend its sincere gratitude to the supporting staff of the park for their active support during the period.

Participants: V.K.G. Nilaweera, B.V.R.I.G. Bandara, Indika De Silva, Sarath Chandrasiri, R.G.R.S. Ranathunga, D.M.S.K. Dissanayake, H.R.D.S. Senanayake, E. Gunadasa, P.G. Chandrapala, Chamath Lakshman, Manoj Vidyaratne, T.P. Dayaratna, W.S. Wijerathna, Chaminda Prasad, Laxman Ranaweera, G.M.T.I. Galapatha, I.G.S. Gunerathne, M.K. Kodithuwakku, C.M. Abeyrathna Banda, H.P. Jayathilak

Photos by Kasun Dayananda.

‘Sri Lanka Birds’ in the month of May

Sri Lanka Birds completed sixth months of its successful journey by the end of May. A brief summary of the results obtained during the month of May is given here. A full analysis of the results of the first six months operation of “Sri Lanka Birds” will be published shortly.

Eight new members registered in the Sri Lanka Birds system during the month of May showing its continued growth.

The number of observations for the month of May was 816. Total of 165 species were recorded in the system during this period. Our members were able to record 23 of the 26 definitive endemic species and six of the seven proposed endemic species during the month of May. Only seven species of migratory birds were recorded in this month.

As in previous months, Red-vented Bulbul (21) was the mostly recorded species. Next five mostly recorded species (and number of observations) were Common Myna (18), Sri Lanka Jungle Fowl (17), Spotted Dove (17), Pale billed Flowerpecker (16) and Common Tailorbird (16).

Observations of nesting birds were recorded for only one species in the system during May. Two nesting observations of Black Bulbul were recorded at two different locations in Sinharaja rain forest.

A total of 22 locations were visited during May by our members. Highest number of observations were made at the Sinharaja Kudawa entrance (114) as in the previous months. Sinharaja forest reserve was the most visited area while a total of 225 observations came from four different locations in the reserve.

Current statistics describing the number of field visits, number of observations and bird species, as well as the number of users registered in the system, are displayed on the login page of ‘Sri Lanka Birds’ - www.worldbirds.org/srilanka .

More functions are introduced to the system during last month giving more freedom and abilities to its users. Some of the new functionalities for users are as follows.

• if you have a visit in your list added by another user (where you were one of the observers), their username is now shown at the bottom of the screen for that visit
• there is now a Filter for My Visits to enable you to subset your visits by date and/or location name
• the record number is shown on all Top 50 reports and Latest News, with the ability to move through the Latest News items
• Location and Species reports now have a '?' button (as in the latest news page) to enable the whole visit information to be seen
• more fields have been added to the download options
• it is essential to provide co-ordinates for new locations (0,0 is no longer allowed). If the new location is difficult to find in google maps, keep the location tag as it is in the map and provide information about the location as much as possible in the notes section. It will help validators to identify the exact location.

We would like to thank all the members for entering their valuable observations into Sri Lanka Birds. We highly appreciate the contributions of members towards conservation of birds through this initiative.

We wish you happy birding.

Administrator of “Sri Lanka Birds”

Field Ornithology Group of sri Lanka

Enjoying Birds and Nature in Hill Country

FOGSL organised another successful field visit for its members from 1st to 4th May. Victoria park, Gregory's lake, Bomuru Ella forests, Kande Ela forest and reservoir, and Hakgala Botanical Garden were among the places visited for bird watching. Trekking along the Bomuru Ella falls to Welimada was unforgettable experience to the members. Some of the memorable scenes captured in digital media are given here.

The list of birds recorded during the four day visit.

Sri Lanka Spurfowl
Sri Lanka Junglefowl
Little Grebe
Indian Pond-heron
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Little Egret
Little Cormorant
Brahminy Kite
White-bellied Sea-eagle
Crested Serpent-eagle
Black Eagle
Changeable Hawk-eagle
White-breasted Waterhen
Red-wattled Lapwing
Pintail Snipe
Rock Pigeon
Sri Lanka Wood-pigeon
Spotted Dove
Emerald Dove
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Asian Koel
Greater Coucal
Collared Scops-owl
Indian Swiftlet
Asian Palm-swift
Little Swift
White-throated Kingfisher
Brown-headed Barbet
Sri Lanka Yellow-fronted Barbet
Crimson-fronted Barbet
Streak-throated Woodpecker
Greater Flameback
Common Iora
Scarlet Minivet
Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
Brown Shrike
Black-hooded Oriole
Asian Paradise-flycatcher
Sri Lanka Magpie

House Crow
Jungle Crow
Great Tit
Jerdon’s Bushlark
Zitting Cisticola
Grey-breasted Prinia
Ashy Prinia
Plain Prinia
Red-vented Bulbul
Sri Lanka Yellow-eared Bulbul
Asian Black Bulbul
Common Tailorbird
Sri Lanka Bush-warbler
Sri Lanka Scimitar-babbler
Dark-fronted Babbler
Yellow-billed Babbler
Sri Lanka White-eye
Oriental White-eye
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
Common Myna
Pied Thrush
Eurasian Blackbird
Oriental Magpie-robin
Indian Robin
Pied Bushchat
Sri Lanka Dull-blue Flycatcher
Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher
Thick-billed Flowerpecker
Sri Lanka White-throated Flowerpecker
Pale-billed Flowerpecker
Purple Sunbird
House Sparrow
White-throated Munia
Scaly-breasted Munia
Paddyfield Pipit

Participants: Mr. Sapumal Liyanaarachchi, Mr. Nishantha Kulathunga, Mrs. Indika Kulathunga, Mr. L.W. Manawadu, Mrs. Asanka Abeysekara, Mrs. Chitra Devi Ranasingha, Mr. Rohantha Samarajeeva, Mrs. Shanthini G. Atapaththu, Mr. Rayharn R.G. Atapaththu, Mr. Carl Fernando, Miss. Yuraji Karunaratne, Mr. Isuru de Zoysa, Miss. Nadeeka Gunawardhana, Miss. Thilina Deegoda, Mrs. Sindy de Silva, Mr. Nils Jonas Holgersson, Mrs. Carolina H. Ivarsson, Mr. C.R.I. Gomez, Mrs. Shamila Perera, Mr. Asantha Sirimanna, Miss. Zainal Ibrahim, Mr. Malaka Roddrigo, Mr. Saman Gamage, Mr. Indrika Pradeepa.

Indrika Pradeepa provided the list of birds recorded and photos.