Sunday 8th March

At breakfast this morning we were joined a Cinnamon Bittern in the dinning area, it eventually flew off, but was remarkable small when seen out of its preferred habitat.

We had another trip into the rainforest with the Jeep picking us up early. It was a very similar day to yesterday, but we saw more of the endemics such as Red-faced Malkoha and Ashy-headed Laughingthrush really well. In a way it was better and yesterday, a little more relaxed.

Black-capped Bulbul

After lunch the resident guide who had been unsuccessful during the morning in trying to locate Serendib Scops Owl went to try another roost site whilst we searched again for Scaly Thrush. I tried as best as I could to explain to Saman that the Thrush didn’t matter as I had seen one before, but his profession pride wouldn’t allow such a relaxed approach!

Serendib Scops Owl

Our guide reappeared sporting a broad grin and announced he had located an Owl. What followed was hard at the time but magical in retrospect. We had to walk through thick cover following a faint path through the jungle, clambering through the underground, up and down muddy banks until we arrived at the roost site. It was that cramped for space that we could only view the bird one at a time. Everyone seemed really chuffed to eventually see it.

My second Serendib Scops Owl

We had an enjoyable rest of the day and after we arrived back at the Blue Magpie Saman asked me if I would like to see another Serendib Scops Owl and Green-billed Coucal – ? For whatever reason none of the other wanted to join me. I think tiredness and a relief that there were no more Leeches for the rest of the holiday had lulled them in to a false sense of security – they were staying put!

We drove a couple of miles and then we started to make our way up a sleep slope of around 250 yards, then there was the quarry roosting about four foot of the ground oblivious to our presence. We then visited an area quite close to the Blue Magpie where the impressive Green-billed Coucal put on a great performance.