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Day 310: Looks like Chicken
But it's actually a Sri Lanka Junglefowl, so it gets counted.
November 6, 2015: Colombo, Sri Lanka — Asoka and I had a solid session this morning at the Sinharaja Forest with a few new birds plus better views of the ones we added in the rain yesterday. The most difficult bird of the day was a Sri Lanka Thrush (a big skulker), but my favorites were the Sri Lanka Blue-Magpie and the Red-faced Malkoha—such colorful endemics!
Quite a few Sri Lanka Junglefowl, which look just like chickens, wandered around in the forest, and we managed good looks at a pair of Sri Lanka Spurfowl, too. By noon we’d pretty much cleaned up the possible species, and Asoka and I hung around for another couple of hours before beginning the trip back to Colombo’s metropolis.
Three days in Sri Lanka isn’t enough to properly cover the country—there are several additional endemics in the highlands that I couldn’t reach on this trip, and some interesting cultural sites I didn’t have time for.
That’s the game this year, though: If I see everything, then I’ve seen too much! Meanwhile, I’ve done quite well with limited time here, adding 31 new birds (most of which are endemic), thanks to Asoka and his crew (birdingsrilanka.com).
We had dinner with Chandima Jayaweera, a local birding guide who has been leading Sri Lanka tours for the past 25 years, before heading to the airport to catch my redeye flight to Kuala Lumpur. Bring on Malaysia!
New birds today: 6
Year list: 5135
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