I had the opportunity to join a passionate group of photographers cum birders last month 1 for 2 nights trip to what is officially called Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka. The educational workshop’s primary goal was to give a collaborative opportunity for like minded group to capture the native rainforest birds in Sinharaja. It was another First for me not only for being the first time in a forest reserve; but also being able to join with a group of true birding lovers, passionate photographers and most of all, nice group of human beings.
Apparently there are 33 birds endemic to Sri Lanka and I was fortunate being able to see 2-3 of them during our stay. The first one was Serendib Scops Owl which we sighted in the dense forest nearby Sinharaja on April 24th, 2021. I believe it was a pair, although I managed to capture only one of them. Almost all people had ultra professional camera gear with all kinds of lenses, while I had only a small Nikon Coolpix, with digital zoom. As a result my capturing of quality photos were very limited. I did use my iPhone camera though in some occasions. We also witnessed Sri Lanka frog mouth and a couple of other birds, whose names I cannot remember..
On the day two, we did approximately 5 kilometers trail in the forest reserve back & forth. Though most people expected to sight more birds, mammals etc, not too sure we did see any! That’s said, on our way back from the forest reserve, we were told by a ranger that we could see Tawny Frogmouth in the forest neighborhood. For me, it even took a few minutes to really make out and see the pair sitting on a branch of a tree, as they were almost like part of the tree. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do a decent photograph due to very low light and also perhaps digital zoom and even more so, my inexperience of photography. I have lots to learn.
Day Three, was free style in which the participants were free to do whatever they wished. So the people went in groups to do more exploration either on Jeeps or even just on foot. A few apparently took the opportunity to take a dip in the ice cold water in the nearby natural water stream. I thought, it was a well thought agenda item to give people to their on their own.
All in all, I’m glad that I joined this trip and I certainly hope to join many more. Of course that can only happen when existing people movement and travel restrictions are lifted and relaxed.
April 24 - 26