Tissamaharama

Trip Report Sri Lanka 2003

Simon Plat, Maaike Poppinga
Dates: 24-02-2003 till 13-03-2003
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Tissamaharama and surroundings

Location: Tissa is one of the larger towns in the far south easter part of the island. It is about a day drive from Colombo, depending on the route you take and the stops you make. Tissa is the centre of the safari buisiness and consequently the best area to arrange a safari into Ruhunu and Bundala National Parks.

Map:

Costs: -

Date(s): 1, 2 and 3-03-2003 (10 birding hours)

Notes: Tissa is a charming township, being an old royal city. There's good birding around Vikum Lodge and other spots at walking distance from Tissa. We birded the very bird rich Debera Wewa Tank, but Tissa Wewa Tank, just next to Vikum can be good for waterbirds too, although it is more crowded with people. Tissa is the port to safaris in Ruhunu (Yala) NP and other parks in the area. From Tissa we made excursions to Bundala, Ruhunu NP (both have their own section) and to the south coast near Tangalle for a turtle excursion.

Highlights: Grey-headed Fish-Eagle (1), Pheasant-tailed Jacana (impressing numbers in Debera Wewa Tank), Blue-faced Malkoha (2 just outside Vikum Lodge), Stork-billed Kingfisher (1 - Debera Wewa Tank), White-naped Woodpecker (1 - Debera Wewa Tank), Small Minivet (2 - en route to Tissa), Common Woodshrike (V - around Vikum Lodge), Rosy Starling (tens of thousands flying to their night roost during our drive to the turtle excursion, between Hambantota and Tangalle)

Pics:

	An impression of Tissamaharama
A Star Tortoise was present in the fields outside Vikum Lodge.
	Debera Wewa Tank is a great spot to find waterbirds. Large breeding colonies of herons, egrets and cormorants are present. Pheasant-tailed Jacana is very common.
Great Egret in breeding plumage in Debera Wewa Tank.
	A White-bellied Fish-Eagle tried for a snack in the breeding colony of cormorants. Unsuccesfully he continued.
A straight twitch produces this White-naped Woodpecker in the palm plantations near Debera Wewa Tank.
	A nest of Purple-rumped Sunbird was present on the inner court of Vikum Lodge in a potted plant. Here's the male bringing food to the youngsters.
This young turtle was dug out specially for us to see. Now it had to start its duel for life, getting to the sea is the easy part here, but from there he's on its own.

Bird List:

Column 1: S= endemic species; R=endemic race/subspecies
Column 2: N=Near-threatened; V=Vulnerable

A = Tissamaharama and around Vikum Lodge
B = Debera Wewa Tank
C = South Coast (Turtle Excursion)

				A	B	C
		Tachybaptus ruficollis	Little Grebe			1
	V	Pelecanus philippensis	Spot-billed Pelican	1	1	V
		Phalacrocorax fuscicollis	Indian Cormorant	V	XX	X
		Phalacrocorax niger	Little Cormorant	XX	XX	X
	N	Anhinga melanogaster	Oriental Darter		V	V
		Ardea cinerea	Grey Heron	V	V	V
		Ardea purpurea	Purple Heron		V
		Ardeola grayii	Indian Pond-Heron	V	X	XX
		Bubulcus ibis	Cattle Egret	XX	XX	XX
		Egretta alba	Great Egret		X	V
		Egretta garzetta	Little Egret		X	V
		Ixobrychus sinensis	Yellow Bittern		1
		Nycticorax nycticorax	Black-crowned Night-Heron		X
		Anastomus oscitans	Asian Openbill		1
	N	Mycteria leucocephala	Painted Stork	1		1
	N	Threskiornis melanocephalus	Black-headed Ibis	V	V	V
		Anas acuta	Northern Pintail			C
		Anas querquedula	Garganey			V
		Dendrocygna javanica	Lesser Whistling-Duck	2	4	V
		Accipiter badius	Shikra	1
		Haliaeetus leucogaster	White-bellied Fish-Eagle		1
		Haliastur indus	Brahminy Kite	V
	N	Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus	Grey-headed Fish-Eagle		1
R		Spilornis cheela spilogaster	Crested Serpent-Eagle		2
		Pavo cristatus	Indian Peafowl	V
		Perdicula asiatica	Jungle Bush-Quail	V
		Amaurornis phoenicurus	White-breasted Waterhen		X	V
		Gallinula chloropus	Common Moorhen		V	V
		Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus	Purple Swamphen		X
		Hydrophasianus chirurgus	Pheasant-tailed Jacana		XX	V
		Himantopus himantopus	Black-winged Stilt	V	X	X
		Esacus recurvirostris	Great Thick-knee			1
		Charadrius alexandrinus	Kentish Plover			V
		Charadrius dubius	Little Ringed Plover			V
		Charadrius mongolus	Mongolian Plover			V
		Pluvialis fulva	Pacific Golden-Plover			V
		Vanellus indicus	Red-wattled Lapwing		V	V
		Calidris alba	Sanderling			1
		Calidris ferruginea	Curlew Sandpiper			V
		Calidris minuta	Little Stint			X
		Gallinago stenura	Pintail Snipe			2
		Tringa hypoleucos	Common Sandpiper			2
		Tringa nebularia	Common Greenshank			V
		Tringa stagnatilis	Marsh Sandpiper			V
		Tringa totanus	Common Redshank			V
		Larus ridibundus	Common Black-headed Gull			V
		Chlidonias hybriduS	Whiskered Tern	V	X	V
		Sterna nilotica	Gull-billed Tern	V
		Columba livia	Rock Pigeon	XX	XX	X
		Ducula aenea	Green Imperial-Pigeon	X	X
R		Streptopelia chinensis ceylonensis	Spotted Dove	X	XX	V
R		Treron bicincta leggei	Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon	2
		Psittacula krameri	Rose-ringed Parakeet	V	X	V
		Centropus sinensis	Greater Coucal	V
		Eudynamys scolopacea	Asian Koel	V	V
		Phaenicophaeus viridirostris	Blue-faced Malkoha	2
		Apus affinis	Little Swift			V
		Cypsiurus balasiensis	Asian Palm-Swift		V
		Hemiprocne coronata	Crested Treeswift	V	V
		Alcedo atthis	Common Kingfisher		1
		Halcyon smyrnensis	White-throated Kingfisher	V	V
		Pelargopsis capensis capensis	Stork-billed Kingfisher		1
		Merops orientalis orientalis	Little Green Bee-eater	X	V	V
		Merops philippinus	Blue-tailed Bee-eater	V	X
		Coracias benghalensis indica	Indian Roller	1	1	1
S		Ocyceros gingalensis	Ceylon Grey-Hornbill		1
		Megalaima haemacephala	Coppersmith Barbet	1
		Megalaima zeylanica	Brown-headed Barbet	V	1
R		Chrysocolaptes festivus tantus	White-naped Woodpecker		1
R		Dinopium benghalense psarodes	Black-rumped (red-backed) Flameback		1
		Pitta brachyura	Indian Pitta	2
		Alauda gulgula	Oriental Skylark		V
		Hirundo rustica (incl. gutteralis)	Barn Swallow	X	XX	XX
		Anthus rufulus	Paddyfield Pipit			2
		Pericrocotus cinnamomeus	Small Minivet	2
R		Tephrodornis pondicerianus affinis	Common Woodshrike	V
R		Pycnonotus cafer cafer	Red-vented Bulbul	XX	XX
R		Pycnonotus luteolus insulae	White-browed Bulbul	V
		Aegithina tiphia multicolor	Common Iora	2
		Lanius cristatus cristatus	Brown Shrike	V	V
r?		Copsychus saularis ceylonensis	Oriental Magpie-Robin		V
R		Saxicoloides fulicata leucoptera	Indian Robin	X	X
R		Turdoides affinis taprobanus	Yellow-billed Babbler	XX
		Acrocephalus dumetorum	Blyth's Reed-Warbler	1
		Acrocephalus stentoreus	Clamorous Reed-Warbler		1
R		Orthotomus sutorius sutorius	Common Tailorbird	V
R		Prinia inornata insularis	Plain Prinia	1
		Muscicapa dauurica	Asian Brown Flycatcher	1
		Terpsiphone paradisi paradisi	Asian Paradise-Flycatcher	1
R		Terpsiphone paradisi ceylonensis	Asian Paradise-Flycatcher		1
		Nectarinia asiatica	Purple Sunbird	V
R		Nectarinia lotenia lotenia	Loten's Sunbird	1
R		Nectarinia zeylonica zeylonica	Purple-rumped Sunbird	V	V
		Lonchura malacca	Black-headed Munia		V
		Lonchura punctulata	Scaly-breasted Munia	X
		Ploceus philippinus	Baya Weaver		V
		Passer domesticus	House Sparrow	V	X	V
R		Acridotheres tristis melanosternus	Common Myna	XX	X	XX
		Sturnus roseus	Rosy Starling			MM
R		Oriolus xanthornus ceylonensis	Black-hooded Oriole	V	V
		Artamus fuscus	Ashy Woodswallow		1
		Corvus macrorhynchos	Large-billed Crow	X	X	X
		Corvus splendens	House Crow	X	V	X

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