We spend a relaxing two days in Colombo before the start of our birding tour, where we did some easy birding and also saw some of the cultural highlights of the city. Our hotel was close to the lively Galle Face Green, which is a grassed area than runs along the shoreline and attracts many visitors during the day and especially in the evening to see the sunsett
Before the trip we’d read that the mudflats beside the bridge at the entrance to Beira Lake were good for birds and this proved to be the case, and we made a couple of visits to this site. Birds we saw there included Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper, Medium Egret, Black-winged Stilt, Red-wattled Lapwing, Spotted Dove and Rose-ringed Parakeet. Overhead we saw an Oriental Honey-buzzard and House and Alpine Swift.
Colombo has many Buddhist temples and we made a visit to the beautiful Gangaramaya temple, which was not far from our hotel. On the way there by tuk-tuk we passed South Beira Lake on which were several Spot-billed Pelicans.
Gangaramaya is one of the oldest temples in Colombo and is full of beautiful statues and significant Buddhist artefacts.
After visiting Gangaramaya we had an excellent lunch at The Ministry of Crab restaurant in the 400-year-old Dutch Hospital shopping area.
