Congratulations Mr. David Whaley

I would like to publish below link on behalf of the great achievement by my dear friend, David Whaley, whom i had the privilege of showing a roosting Serendib Scops Owl (which discovered by the island's prominent ornithologist, Mr. Deepal Warakagoda) in the vicinity of the Kithulgala forest reserve back in 2006.

http://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4040.3.3


Male in the below picture was recently observed in the close proximity.

Serendib Scops owl at it's day time roost

This post happens to be occur on my blog, nearly two years after my previous post and i tried to make it a special one by selecting following pictures of one of scarce endemics.

The endemic Serendib Scops Owl below, seen at a daytime roost at Sinharaja rain forest was definitely a lifer for both myself and my client , professor Robert Bush of university of Queensland.

Blue whales and Leopards

A Blue Whale surfaces off Mirrissa, displaying it's dorsal fin

Same one displayed it's tail fluke superbly

A close-up of the Leopards in Yala national park

Guiding Amanda and Nigel Slevin

Last couple of weeks I guided a Birding and Mammal watching tour, and my clients were Mr. and Mrs. Slevin From UK.

And we had a very successful tour with 216 of bird species along with 18 species of ground mammals.

Since there wasn’t any pelagic excursion included, we missed out the cetacean species.

Out of the country’s 33 avian endemics, we were able to tick all but Serendib Scops Owl.

The heavy rain disturbed the chances of seen this target species in Kithulgala.

Following are some of the pictures taken during the tour

A jungle cat in Udawalawa national park

A resting Leopard in Yala national park

A Golden jackal 

 

Sambar in Horton Plains National park

 Brown Fish Owl

A male Kangaroo Lizard

Guiding Thomas and Christine from Germany

Couple of weeks ago, I guided a bird & wildlife tour.

And my clients were Thomas and Christine from Germany, and both are keen birder like Mr. and Mrs. Davies.

Apart from the avian species, we saw some interesting mammals in Wilpattu national park.

A Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

One of the many Golden Jackals 

An Indian Muntjac

Guiding John and Chris Davies

Few weeks ago I guided Chris and John Davis, a keen birding couple from England.

And John was very generous to share his pictures with me and followings are few pictures taken by John  

A female Red-faced Malkoha, feeding in the canopy in Sinharaja rain forest.

Colorful Ceylon Blue Magpie

A pair of Chestnut-backed Owlet in Kithulagala forest

A Blue-faced Malkoha

A female Ceylon Whistling-thrush in Horton Plains national park

A Female Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Mrs. Davies (Chris) was also good in bird photography, as she has taken the below picture of Malabar Pied Hornbill

 

 

Rare Migrants are at Bundala

During my last visit to Bundala national perk, i was able to observe about 12 migrant Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

And a vagrant Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos) was also observed in Debara wawa tank, Tissamaharama.