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Monday 4 January 2016

THE SECOND SAFARI: UDAWALAWE

We woke early the next morning for another safari. The beginning of this safari seemed promising, with several flocks of plum-headed parakeets visible, among other birds. Then the safari slowed down as we travelled through an area of shady forest, stopping at a small pool where apparently Malay night-heron is a possibility. Eventually we reached another tank, birds were similar to those seen before but there was a distant grey-headed fish eagle and a much closer and lifer stork-billed kingfisher looking for food. While we stopped to eat our packed breakfast, a blue-tailed bee-eater flew into a nearby tree!
There is both a small resident and larger migrant population of these blue-tailed bee-eaters here
 
The stork-billed kingfisher is Sri Lanka's largest kingfisher
A few more birds were seen after that, including 2 blue-faced malkohas that were too fast for my camera, a few more prinias and some elephants and spotted deer. However, nothing new was seen after that apart from a single Malabar pied hornbill and it seemed that the first safari had been much more productive. 
The Malabar pied hornbill is the largest and most beautiful of Sri Lanka's two hornbills

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