Our birding tour started on Saturday 8 February with our guide Tharanga and driver Biancara picked us up at our hotel after breakfast. Our first night was in Sigiriya, which is 177 km from Colombo, with the journey taking about 4 hours. However, we did do some birding along the way, stopping at a pond near Kurunegala where we saw Little Cormorant and a Red-wattled Lapwing, while a Whiskered Tern and a Changeable Hawk-Eagle flew over.
In Sigiriya we stayed at the Sigiriya Village, which consists of a number of bungalows spread out across a large site from which the famous Lion Rock is visible.
We arrived at the village in the late morning and, after lunch, we headed out to do some birding. Most of the afternoon was spent birding along a track that ran parallel to one of the ramparts of the spectacular Sigiriya Citadel. The citadel was built over 1,600 years ago and the ramparts are more than 6 km in length and were an impressive backdrop to the birding.
With the sun behind us the light was perfect for bird photography and we soon had photographs of Green Bee-eater, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Indian Pond Heron and Common Iora.
At the end of the trail we could hear an Indian Pitta, but it kept firmly in the undergrowth and we couldn’t get a decent photograph. So after a while we returned to the vehicle and moved to another good birding location a few kilometres away. There we were fortunate to have excellent views of a Crimson-backed Flameback.
On 9 February we had a whole day birding around Sigiriya, with much of the time being spent close to the Sigiriya Citadel. We started by revisiting the trail we walked the previous afternoon, which continued to be very productive, although we once again failed to get a good photograph of the Indian Pitta. Below the elevated path there was marshy ground that drew in many birds, including Indian Peafowl, Black-headed Ibis, Asian Openbill and Sri Lanka Junglefowl.
In the trees alongside the path were Sri Lanka Green-pigeon, Indian Robin, Black-headed Cuckooshrike and a Crimson-fronted Barbet building a nest.
Later in the morning we moved to a site just to the north of the Sinharaja Citadel. There we had rather distant views of a Brown-capped Babbler, but Grey-breasted Prinia and Brown Shrike gave us better poses.
We started the afternoon session by birding around the grounds of the Sigiriya Village. There we soon saw a Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill high in a tree close to our accommodation. Also an Indian Cuckoo perched on a branch was very tolerant of us taking lots of photographs.
We then set off to explore some of the fields and wooded areas around Sigiriya Village. We first encounted a colourful White-throated Kingfisher, along with an Ashy Prinia.
For the last hour of light we visited an agricultural area that had fields of crops and bush-lined tracks that drew in a good selection of birds. Damage from elephants was clearly a problem here and a night watchman had a lookout tower to scare elephants at night.
Near the tower we saw Pied (Jacobin) Cuckoo and Grey-bellied Cuckoo, although the latter was reluctant to show itself fully for a good photograph. A White-browed Bulbul posed better, as did a Jungle Prinia.
Once the sun had set we moved a short distance to try to get a photo of a nightjar. Photography is never easy in such low-light conditions, but using a torch we found an Indian Nightjar on the ground and using an ISO of 25,600 I got an acceptable shot. Then, as we continued to look around, a large Brown Fish Owl landed in a tree just a few metres from us. It seemed as surprised as we were to find itself so close and it quickly flew some distance away. I got the record shot below as a reminder of this remarkable encounter.
On our final morning in Sigiriya we were up early for a pre-breakfast birding session to try to see the endemic Sri Lanka Shama, which is often found around the site. As the light improved we got progressively better photographs and recorded its distinctive vocalisation.
This was a perfect end to our time in Sigiriya and after breakfast we loaded our vehicle and set off for our next destination, Kitulgala.