Sri Lanka - Birding Day Breaks
For birders on transit, business visits & general packaged holidays with Amila Salgado

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Brown Hawk Owl
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Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
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Indian Pitta
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Pied Kingfisher

Itineraries in Detail

Download in pdf format
Note: endemics in bold faced text

  • Birding day excursions that start & end from Colombo/Mt Lavinia

  • Focus: Wetland birds & common garden birds
    Duration: 3-4 hours (can be curtailed)
    Target: 45 +

    Birding: Sri Lanka Small Barbet, Sri Lanka Swallow, Yellow and Black Bitterns, Purple Swamphen, Purple & Grey Herons, Black-headed Ibis, Asian Openbill, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little, Intermediate & Great Egrets, Cotton Pygmy-goose, White-breasted Waterhen, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Wood, Common & Marsh Sandpipers, White-throated, Common, Pied & Stork-billed Kingfishers, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Brown Shrike, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Barn Swallow, Whiskered Tern, Little & Indian Cormorant, Black-hooded Oriole, White-bellied Drongo, Oriental Magpie Robin, Yellow Wagtail, Yellow-billed Babbler, Southern Coucal, Asian Brown Flycatchers, White-browed Bulbul, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Long-billed & Purple Sunbirds, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Brahminy Kite, Shikra, Brown-headed Barbet & Spot-billed Pelican

    Focus: Wetland birds, common garden birds & lowland rainforest birds including endemics
    Duration: 10-12 hours (can be curtailed)
    Target: 90 +

    Birding: (endemics bold faced)- Above species plus Orange-billed, Brown-capped & Sri Lanka Scimitar Babblers, Sri Lanka Crested Drongo, Sri Lanka Green Pigeon, Crimson-backed Flameback, Black-capped Bulbul, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Spot-winged Thrush, Legge’s Flowerpecker, Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Chestnut-backed Owlet, Green-billed Coucal, Sri Lanka Myna, Brown Hawk Owl, Forest Wagtail, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Dark-fronted Babbler, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Square-tailed Black Bulbul, Southern Hill Myna, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Gold-fronted & Jerdon’s Leafbird, Malabar Trogon, Indian Swiftlet, Crested Serpent & Black Eagles & Green Imperial Pigeon.

    Focus: Wetland birds, common garden birds & lowland rainforest birds including endemics
    Duration: 8-10 hours (can be curtailed)
    Target: 70 +

    Birding: More or less species listed in Tour 2 minus a few such as Orange-billed Babbler, Sri Lanka Myna & Brown Hawk Owl.

  • Birding day excursions that start & end from Colombo/Mt Lavinia

  • Focus: Lowland rainforest birds including endemics, wetland birds and common garden birds.
    Duration: 8-10 hours (can be curtailed)
    Target: 60 +

    Birding: Orange-billed, Brown-capped & Sri Lanka Scimitar Babblers, Sri Lanka Crested Drongo, Sri Lanka Green Pigeon, Crimson-backed Flameback, Black-capped Bulbul, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Spot-winged Thrush, Legge’s Flowerpecker, Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Chestnut-backed Owlet, Green-billed Coucal, Sri Lanka Myna, Forest Wagtail, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Dark-fronted Babbler, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Square-tailed Black Bulbul, Southern Hill Myna, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Gold-fronted & Jerdon’s Leafbird, Malabar Trogon, Indian Swiftlet, Crested Serpent & Black Eagles & Green Imperial Pigeon plus wetland species more or less as Tour 1.

    Focus: Waterbirds including waders & scrubland birds
    Duration: 8-10 hours (can be curtailed)
    Target: 80 +

    Birding: More or less as Tour 1 plus Sanderling, Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel, Lesser Sand Plover, Kentish Plover, Little Stint, Temmink’s Stint, Common Coot, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Terek Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Western Reef Egret, Crested Treeswift, Great & Lesser Crested Terns, Brown-headed Gull, White-winged Tern & with luck, Great Knot, Grey-headed & White-bellied Sea Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagle, Coppersmith Barbet, Ashy Woodswallow, White-rumped Shama & White-naped Woodpecker.

    Focus: Wetland birds & common garden /scrubland birds
    Duration: 3-4 hours (can be curtailed)

    Birding: Same as Tour A of Option 1 (target 45 +)

  • Birding day excursions that start & end from west coast hotels in Kalutara / Wadduwa/ Bentota / Beruwela

  • Focus: local endemics & mixed species bird flocks
    Duration: 8-10-hours (can be curtailed)

    Birding: Red-faced Malkoha, Sri Lanka Blue Magpie, Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, White-faced Starling & Sri Lanka Myna, Sri Lanka Scaly Thrush, Orange-billed, Brown-capped & Sri Lanka Scimitar Babblers, Sri Lanka Crested Drongo, Sri Lanka Pigeon, Crimson-backed Flameback, Black-capped Bulbul, Yellow-fronted Barbet, Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Spot-winged Thrush, Legge’s Flowerpecker, Sri Lanka Junglefowl, Chestnut-backed Owlet, Green-billed Coucal, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Forest Wagtail, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Brown Shrike, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Square-tailed Black Bulbul, Southern Hill Myna, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Dark-fronted Babbler, Gold-fronted & Jerdon’s Leafbird, Malabar Trogon, Indian Swiftlet, Crested Serpent & Black Eagles & Green Imperial Pigeon (target 40 +)

    Focus: local endemics & mixed species bird flocks
    Duration: 7-8 hours (can be curtailed)

    Birding: More or less similar to the above tour (target 40 +).


Tour Leader : Amila Salgado

Amila holds a record as the first birder from Colombo to visit Sinharaja rain forest in a tuktuk – an audacious feat achieved to bag the ultra-secretive Bay Owl in a daytime roost in Jan, 2007. He got hooked on birds in 1989 after a school project in St Peter’s College, and made his first trip to Sinharaja the following year with a group of schoolmates, which earned him his first glimpses of the rare birding jewels & a host of birdie nicknames. He joined YZA, a local nature club at an early age, which was the beginning of the road to turn him into an all-round naturalist. Amila is a certified ‘national-guide’ under Sri Lanka Tourist Board. Before turning a full time naturalist guide, he was a Manager of a Wildlife tour company. He holds memberships in several local as well as overseas bird clubs and contributes articles to their ornithological publications. Apart from birding, Amila enjoys thrashing his clients at Scrabble.