14th December 2008 (Sunday)
Sinharaja Map at the Entrance
Venus Fly Trap
Wide angle shot of pine trees
The afternoon we walked down Thuru Sevena road, which is the road leading east before the bridge next to Waggadala Bus Stand. This is a tarmac road and only 5feet wide. We met a local by the name of Piyasena, who used to work for the Forest Department and had been living in the district for the past 40years. His garden boasts a few migrant birds in the season also the frog mouth and a few owls. We were offered tea grown in his land and an hour's worth of chat.
The many locals we spoke to also were weary of not informing birding spots as are quite angered by the way the Sri Lankan Tour Guides trample and plunge apparently in the forest disturbing the natural habitat of the birds. During the Migrant bird season and also the other times there would be lots of tourists and guiding is one of the many available livelihood of the locals. Hence being biased about who does the guiding. 
In Sinharaja
A rain Forest
What is it?
Is it a forest?
Or a leech Place?
Please do tell me
What is it?
I know what it is!
It's a wet and muddy place
It's nice at all times even though it's far away
What a wonderful sight you will see
If you take a peak
At the lovely rainforest
You'll hear the birds in the morning
And you'll hear the Cricket's Chirping
And you'll hear the frogs croaking
While you hear the people talking.
(Sheran Hewa, 8Years.)
A rain Forest
What is it?
Is it a forest?
Or a leech Place?
Please do tell me
What is it?
I know what it is!
It's a wet and muddy place
It's nice at all times even though it's far away
What a wonderful sight you will see
If you take a peak
At the lovely rainforest
You'll hear the birds in the morning
And you'll hear the Cricket's Chirping
And you'll hear the frogs croaking
While you hear the people talking.
(Sheran Hewa, 8Years.)
Sinharaja Map at the Entrance
Breakfast is served at 7am and they served bread, fried egg, dhal curry, chick peas, Manioc and scraped coconut.
Cost for the entrance to the Sinharaja Nature Reserve, is RS 25 per adult, 15 per child between 6-12 and Rs. 6 for a child in school Uniform. There's a flat rate one pays for the facility of a guide, a local who would walk you through the reserve and would educate you by a crash course for the duration you would walk with him in the forest. Our lucky guide for the day is Sena Somasiri, a slim, fair young man with such a mild manner. He was well endowed with spotting birds and would amazingly spot them over a 100feet away in the dark canopy without any binoculars. Though one may argue that this is something he ought to be great at as he might be in the reserve at least 4 times a week I still think he was incredibly accurate. He spotted the Malabar Trojan, the Velvet fronted nut hatch, the Red Faced Malkoha and the crested Drongo all in such horrible fading light at times. We did not unfortunately get to see the local specialty, the Blue Magpie.
Cost for the entrance to the Sinharaja Nature Reserve, is RS 25 per adult, 15 per child between 6-12 and Rs. 6 for a child in school Uniform. There's a flat rate one pays for the facility of a guide, a local who would walk you through the reserve and would educate you by a crash course for the duration you would walk with him in the forest. Our lucky guide for the day is Sena Somasiri, a slim, fair young man with such a mild manner. He was well endowed with spotting birds and would amazingly spot them over a 100feet away in the dark canopy without any binoculars. Though one may argue that this is something he ought to be great at as he might be in the reserve at least 4 times a week I still think he was incredibly accurate. He spotted the Malabar Trojan, the Velvet fronted nut hatch, the Red Faced Malkoha and the crested Drongo all in such horrible fading light at times. We did not unfortunately get to see the local specialty, the Blue Magpie.
Venus Fly Trap
Wide angle shot of pine trees
There's a new Forest Department building being built 1km from the park entrance gate built with enough wood to fill a 40foot container. This is such an irony as they are the ones who preach on conserving and preserving the forests!
Sheran & Sunil Ratnayake
Our walk took a little over 4hours and this is with quite a bit of stops on the way to see birds and one delightful troop of toque monkeys, the Macaca sinica aurifrance, the wet forest sub species. The strength of the troop was approximately 20 animals and were too shy to get close to take a census. We did not see a single group of Purple faced langurs the entire 4hours we were inside. The only other mammal we saw was the wet zone giant squirrel and the mongoose.
The list of birds seen on a 1 & 1/2 km walk into the reserve.
Jungle fowl
Indian Scimitar Babbler
Red Faced Malkoha
Malabar Trogan
Green Bee Eater
Blue Tailed Bee eater
Yellow Fronted Babbler
Brown Headed Babbler
Crimson Headed Babbler
Gray Rumped Tree Swift
Black Headed Oriole
Little Swift
Flame Minivet
Black Bulbul
Spot Winged Thrush
Dark Fronted Babbler
Booted Warbler
Black Naped Monarch
Velvet Fronted Nut Hatch
White Throated Flower Pecker
Crested Drongo
Hill Myna
Female Jungle Fowl
The list of birds seen on a 1 & 1/2 km walk into the reserve.
Jungle fowl
Indian Scimitar Babbler
Red Faced Malkoha
Malabar Trogan
Green Bee Eater
Blue Tailed Bee eater
Yellow Fronted Babbler
Brown Headed Babbler
Crimson Headed Babbler
Gray Rumped Tree Swift
Black Headed Oriole
Little Swift
Flame Minivet
Black Bulbul
Spot Winged Thrush
Dark Fronted Babbler
Booted Warbler
Black Naped Monarch
Velvet Fronted Nut Hatch
White Throated Flower Pecker
Crested Drongo
Hill Myna
Female Jungle Fowl
200m from the Blue magpie just towards the west of the bridge, there's a perfect bathing spot for not the faint hearted. Included pictures are Sunil Ratnayaka and Ruwan Jayewardene, very experienced swimmers going a high dive, 15feet from the water while the senior staff screamed protests. The river bed at the place we bathed was a rocky plate with non slip gritty surface. The deepest spot would have been 6feet 10inches.
The afternoon we walked down Thuru Sevena road, which is the road leading east before the bridge next to Waggadala Bus Stand. This is a tarmac road and only 5feet wide. We met a local by the name of Piyasena, who used to work for the Forest Department and had been living in the district for the past 40years. His garden boasts a few migrant birds in the season also the frog mouth and a few owls. We were offered tea grown in his land and an hour's worth of chat.
The many locals we spoke to also were weary of not informing birding spots as are quite angered by the way the Sri Lankan Tour Guides trample and plunge apparently in the forest disturbing the natural habitat of the birds. During the Migrant bird season and also the other times there would be lots of tourists and guiding is one of the many available livelihood of the locals. Hence being biased about who does the guiding.
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