Yala

Trip Report Sri Lanka 2003

Simon Plat, Maaike Poppinga
Dates: 24-02-2003 till 13-03-2003
For more info, comments, questions etc please contact us.

Back home

Go to trip map

Ruhunu National Park (Yala West)

Location: Ruhunu NP (Yala West) is a large park in the south eastern corner of Sri lanka. The entrance is on the western side, some 20 km (1 hour) from Tissamaharama.

Costs: Entrance costs were about Rs4000/- for the two of us and Sunil, but excluding the obligatory 4-WD with driver that cost us Rs1900/-. 4-WD can be hired in Tissa but also at the entrance of the park.

Date(s): 3-03-2003

Notes: Ruhunu NP is a huge and great park in terms of landscape and wildlife. It is arguable the best place in the world to find Leopard (not for us though). It's also the best park in Sri Lanka for viewing wildlife. Birding is also pretty good but again only allowed from the car. Despite the size of the park, most visits are restricted to the western part. So you might end up driving the same tracks with a dozen other cars.

Highlights: Spot-billed Pelican (XX), Eurasian Spoonbill (V), Great Thick-knee (5), Yellow-wattled Lapwing (V), Long-toed Stint (1), Pompadour Green Pigeon (1), Pied Cuckoo (5), Blue-faced Malkoha (3), Indian Nightjar (3 - outside the park, near the entrance), Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (V), Malabar Pied Hornbill (2), Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark (3), Southern Grey Shrike (1), Long-tailed Shrike (1)

Pics:

	The map at the headquarters of Ruhunu Yala National Park shows the part that tourist are allowed to enter. The park is much larger than this but most areas are restricted.
A displaying Indian Peafowl in the first light of day.
	This Little Green Bea-eater was very cooperative; since you're not allowed to leave the car in Ruhunu NP lots of birds are out of range for my equipment, but this fellow sat close enough for this shot.
This is an endemic subspecies of the common and widespread Spotted Dove - but I couldn't tell..
	Yellow-wattled Lapwing. We missed this one in India. But happily it is easily found in Sri Lanka, especially in Ruhunu and Bundala.
Crocodiles are so motionless that I wonder whether I ever seen one move.

Bird List:

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

	V	Pelecanus philippensis	Spot-billed Pelican	XX
		Phalacrocorax fuscicollis	Indian Cormorant	V
		Phalacrocorax niger	Little Cormorant	X
	N	Anhinga melanogaster	Oriental Darter	X
		Ardea cinerea	Grey Heron	V
		Ardea purpurea	Purple Heron	1
		Ardeola grayii	Indian Pond-Heron	X
		Bubulcus ibis	Cattle Egret	X
		Egretta alba	Great Egret	V
		Egretta garzetta	Little Egret	V
		Mesophoyx intermedia	Intermediate Egret	V
		Anastomus oscitans	Asian Openbill	2
	N	Mycteria leucocephala	Painted Stork	V
		Platalea leucorodia	Eurasian Spoonbill	V
	N	Threskiornis melanocephalus	Black-headed Ibis	X
		Anas querquedula	Garganey	V
		Dendrocygna javanica	Lesser Whistling-Duck	X
	N	Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus	Grey-headed Fish-Eagle	1
R		Spilornis cheela spilogaster	Crested Serpent-Eagle	1
R		Spizaetus cirrhatus ceylanensis	Changeable Hawk-Eagle	1
		Falco tinnunculus	Common Kestrel	1
S		Gallus lafayetii	Ceylon Junglefowl	V
		Pavo cristatus	Indian Peafowl	XX
		Hydrophasianus chirurgus	Pheasant-tailed Jacana	V
		Himantopus himantopus	Black-winged Stilt	X
		Esacus recurvirostris	Great Thick-knee	5
		Charadrius dubius	Little Ringed Plover	V
		Charadrius leschenaultii	Greater Sand Plover	X
		Charadrius mongolus	Mongolian Plover	1
		Pluvialis fulva	Pacific Golden-Plover	V
		Vanellus indicus	Red-wattled Lapwing	V
		Vanellus malabaricus	Yellow-wattled Lapwing	V
		Calidris subminuta	Long-toed Stint	1
		Limosa limosa	Black-tailed Godwit	V
		Tringa glareola	Wood Sandpiper	V
		Tringa hypoleucos	Common Sandpiper	V
		Tringa nebularia	Common Greenshank	V
		Tringa stagnatilis	Marsh Sandpiper	V
		Tringa totanus	Common Redshank	V
		Chlidonias hybriduS	Whiskered Tern	V
		Sterna nilotica	Gull-billed Tern	V
		Columba livia	Rock Pigeon	V
R		Streptopelia chinensis ceylonensis	Spotted Dove	XX
R		Treron bicincta leggei	Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon	2
R		Treron pompadora pompadora	Pompadour Green-Pigeon	1
		Psittacula krameri	Rose-ringed Parakeet	V
		Cacomantis passerinus	Grey-bellied Cuckoo	1
		Oxylophus jacobinus	Pied Cuckoo	5
		Phaenicophaeus viridirostris	Blue-faced Malkoha	3
R		Caprimulgus asiaticus eidos	Indian Nightjar	3
		Apus affinis	Little Swift	V
		Hemiprocne coronata	Crested Treeswift	V
		Halcyon smyrnensis	White-throated Kingfisher	V
		Merops leschenaulti leschenaulti	Chestnut-headed Bee-eater	V
		Merops orientalis orientalis	Little Green Bee-eater	X
		Merops philippinus	Blue-tailed Bee-eater	1
R		Upupa epops ceylonensis	Eurasian Hoopoe	1
	N	Anthracoceros coronatus	Malabar Pied-Hornbill	2
		Pitta brachyura	Indian Pitta	1
		Alauda gulgula	Oriental Skylark	V
		Eremopterix grisea	Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark	3
		Hirundo rustica (incl. gutteralis)	Barn Swallow	XX
		Anthus rufulus	Paddyfield Pipit	2
		Coracina melanoptera	Black-headed Cuckooshrike	1
R		Pycnonotus cafer cafer	Red-vented Bulbul	XX
R		Pycnonotus luteolus insulae	White-browed Bulbul	V
		Lanius cristatus cristatus	Brown Shrike	2
		Lanius meridionalis	Southern Grey Shrike	1
		Lanius schach caniceps	Long-tailed Shrike	1
r?		Copsychus saularis ceylonensis	Oriental Magpie-Robin	V
R		Saxicoloides fulicata leucoptera	Indian Robin	X
R		Turdoides affinis taprobanus	Yellow-billed Babbler	XX
		Rhipidura aureola	White-browed Fantail	2
R		Terpsiphone paradisi ceylonensis	Asian Paradise-Flycatcher	2
		Nectarinia asiatica	Purple Sunbird	V
R		Nectarinia lotenia lotenia	Loten's Sunbird	1
		Lonchura punctulata	Scaly-breasted Munia	V
		Passer domesticus	House Sparrow	V
R		Acridotheres tristis melanosternus	Common Myna	X
		Sturnus roseus	Rosy Starling	1
R		Oriolus xanthornus ceylonensis	Black-hooded Oriole	2
		Dicrurus caerulescens insularis	White-bellied Drongo	1
		Corvus macrorhynchos	Large-billed Crow	XX
		Corvus splendens	House Crow	X

Back home

Go to trip map