A TRIP TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS DAY 3: THE JENOLAN CAVES AND LYREBIRDS

It was our last day in the mountains, so we woke up early. We had heard of a colony of lyrebirds that lived near the hotel and wished to go on a track where you could see them. So at 6:30 we woke up and walked along to the track.
It took us about an hour to finish the track. It lead through eucalypt forest and rainforest where brown thornbills, crimson rosellas, red wattlebirds and Eastern yellow robins were abundant. Less common were lyrebirds, and we couldn't see a single one. Then, as we were walking back along the track, my dad yelled out "Chanith, there's a lyrebird!" The superb lyrebird, a lifer, darted into the bush too quickly to get a photo. It didn't matter, we would soon get another chance.

These eastern yellow robins were everywhere

After eating a buffet breakfast we left the hotel, driving to the Jenolan Caves. These caves were not only beautiful, they were surrounded by trails good for 'spotting shy native wildlife', and they were a home of eastern bentwing and eastern horseshoe bats. A great photo opportunity. It took us a while, but eventually we got to the caves. We passed through a majestic cave with a road in the middle of it. In this trails were all around, heading to the different caves. We drove over to the carpark, around which there were many pied currawongs. We walked past a picnic ground and there, in the bush, was a female superb lyrebird!

My first photo of a superb lyrebird, and my second sighting

After that we went down to the village and bought some maltesers before going on our first cave tour, the Lucas Cave tour. It was beautiful! Calcite stalagtites, columns and stalagmites were everywhere in this amazing limestone cave! We even saw the perfectly blue-green waters of the underground River Styx, named after the river of the underworld in Greek mythology, at one point. These photos really do not capture the wonder.

The broken column, the most photographed feature in the Jenolan Caves

This gooey mass of white is actually a bunch of wet calcite crystals

These strange formations are known as shawls, or cave bacon. That brown material is actually calcite, it is just covered by a lot of mud and dirt

After the hour and a half-long tour we stopped back at the village and ate lunch at the bistro. Outside the bistro I spotted very tame crimson rosellas and pied currawongs which came up to scavenge on scraps left under the tables. Less tame were some superb fairy-wrens hopping about in the bush.

A crimson rosella having lunch under a chair

After this my sister and I went on the kids tour, while my parents went on a tour of the Imperial Cave. The kids tour first passed through Chiffley Cave, where we were trying to see eastern bentwing bats. However, we did not manage to see them. Instead, we saw some more calcite formations, some springtails on a fallen stalagtite and the skeleton of a dead bat which had been covered by crystal.

This poor little bentwing bat was flying through the cave when it hit calcite. Over the years crystal grew over its skeleton and it can now be seen stuck to the wall of the cave

Some dry calcite formations. Formations like this are very common in the Jenolan Caves

After that we went further on into Imperial Cave and saw the beauty of the River Styx. Apparently no cave fish live in this river, though the occasional short-finned eel visits (the river is connected to a blue lake on the surface). 

The perfectly blue-green waters of the River Styx

The reason this light looks so old fashioned is because it was placed in the early 1900s. 

After exploring part of the Imperial Cave and seeing a few fossils we then headed up to the surface to the perfectly blue lake the River Styx flows into, and where a lot of Sydney's drinking water comes from. This can often be a great place to see platypus, but someone was throwing rocks into the water and so we didn't see anything. I did, however, hear brown thornbills near the lake. There were no waterbirds on the lake. After that we drove back to Sydney and the airport, stopping to see a pair of red-necked wallabies that were next to the road.

A red-necked wallaby, one of the three commonest/most noticeable macropods in the Blue Mountains (red-necked wallaby, swamp wallaby, eastern grey kangaroo). Brush-tailed rock wallabies used to be on that list but now there are only about 15 left in the mountains. 

A TRIP TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS DAY 2: THE HOTEL AND SCENIC WORLD

After a long night drive, I woke up with my father at 6:30 am to bird the area around the front of the hotel. It was rather disappointing, and I only spotted pied currawongs, crimson rosellas, Australian magpies, Pacific black ducks and Australian wood ducks. We only explored the front though, and we hadn't checked out the more birdy-looking back area of the hotel. We decided to do this later, because we had to get to one of the birding sites suggested on the internet for superb lyrebirds: Scenic World.

Crimson rosellas. The bird on the left is an adult, the bird on the right is going from juvenile to adult plumage (juveniles are mostly green)

This popular tourist attraction had a boardwalk where, according to a website, 'in the morning you are guaranteed to see lyrebirds, but do not come too late because there will be too many people.' Perhaps we came too late, but either way I accidentally went along the wrong track and we did not see any lyrebirds. However, we did see lots of sulphur-crested cockatoos, two grey shrike-thrushes and some unidentified small birds in the top of a eucalyptus tree. Though there were probably rose robins, yellow-faced honeyeaters and white-naped honeyeaters up there somewhere, I was too tired to look and the birds were too fast. We turned back and, now too tired to continue, decided to just enjoy the rides.

The less steep part of the Scenic Railway track

First we tried the Scenic Railway, the world's steepest passenger railway with a 52 degree incline. In the railway, which passes through a natural tunnel, you can adjust your seats to make it less or more scary. Unknowingly I adjusted the seat to 'Cliffhanger', with a 64 degree incline so you were looking straight down. With a woosh I almost fell out of my seat as gravity pulled at me. Note to self: if returning, be more careful with seat. Then we rode on the cableway and skyway to look at the Three Sisters and other parts of the surrounding area. We saw a few more sulphur-crested cockatoos, which looked like white blobs with wings from above. One perched and I could just make out the yellow blur of its crest. Soon we had to go home, and after having lunch we headed for the hotel and had a swim in the pool. At 5 o'clock we watched TV before having dinner and going to sleep.

A TRIP TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 1. INTRODUCTION

Hello, I have just come back from a trip to the Blue Mountains of Sydney. Despite many birds not showing, and not many birding opportunities, I managed to see one of my three target species (pilotbird, superb lyrebird and rock warbler). This is an introduction to the trip.
ACCOMODATION
We stayed at the Fairmont Hotel. This hotel is fairly accomodating to kids, with special activities available for the school holidays like screenings of kids movies. It has three restaurants, which are Embers, Eucalypt and Jamison's. All of these sell fairly good to excellent food for expensive prices. The hotel is very close to the Blue Mountains National Park and is right next to the Leura Golf Club. There are several walking trails around the hotel which provided a few birds, including one lifer. Three colonies of superb lyrebirds inhabit the forest around the hotel. See 'food' for what I thought of the restaurants and cafes here. The rooms are good.
GETTING THERE
Though the hotel was about an hour and a half drive away from Sydney, we did not get lost while driving there. The roads to some of the tourist attractions are very windy or bumpy, and my sister got motion sickness quite a bit while in the car.
FOOD
We got breakfast in the buffet from Jamison's every morning, which is rather like most good hotel breakfast buffets. On our first night we had some dinner from the Yulefest (Christmas in July) buffet which had an appearance from 'Santa'. This was very expensive. On our second night we had dinner from 'Embers'. The service was very bad and it took ages for our main courses to arrive, again some of the food was rather expensive. However, it did taste very good. On our third night we had a delicious dinner from some friends of ours. We ate all of our lunches at cafes outside the hotel, namely the Cafe 88 at the Blue Hotel on day two and the Bistro at the Jenolan Caves on day three.
SITES VISITED
We visited several different sites. On the second day, or the next post, we explored the FAIRMONT HOTEL CARPARK, as well as part of the KATOOMBA SCENIC BOARDWALK. On the third day we walked around the FAIRMONT HOTEL GROUNDS, and the JENOLAN CAVES VILLAGE. Those were the only sites visited, which may explain why I only saw 20 different species, less birds than what I normally see on my Western Treatment Plant birding trips (normally about 30).
LIFERS SEEN
I saw one lifer, the superb lyrebird. 
BIRD LIST
1. Australian Wood Duck
2. Pacific Black Duck
3. Australian White Ibis
4. Spotted Dove
5. Feral Pigeon
6. Unknown Raptor (may have been a Wedge-Tailed Eagle (got quick view of large raptor flying overhead that 'had markings on it' with a wedge-shaped tail)
7. Rainbow Lorikeet
8. Crimson Rosella
9. Superb Lyrebird
10. Superb Fairy-Wren
11. White-Browed Scrubwren
12. Brown Thornbill
13. Eastern Yellow Robin
14. Grey Shrike-Thrush
15. Australian (Black-Backed) Magpie
16. Pied Currawong
17. Australian Raven
18. Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
19. Skylark
20. Noisy Miner
SPECIES: 20

CORVIDS OF SRI LANKA

Three species of corvid can be found in Sri Lanka. One is endemic to Sri Lanka and the other two are not.

SRI LANKAN BLUE MAGPIE Urocissa ornata

The Sri Lankan blue magpie Urocissa ornata is a rather colourful bird endemic to Sri Lanka. It inhabits dense temperate rain forest and hill forest, and is declining due to loss of this, its habitat. It is normally a very shy bird but is rather tame in some places, like Martin's Lodge and other parts of Sinharaja forest where it will beg for food from people. It mostly eats small frogs, lizards, insects and other invertebrates, though it will take fruit. It is about the same size as the common and well-known European Magpie, in other words about 42 to 47 centimetres. Adults are blue, with a chestnut head, chestnut wings and a long, white-tipped tail. Their legs and bills are red. Young birds look duller. This bird has a variety of calls. These include a loud chink-chink and a rasping krak-krak-krak-krak, and it will also mimic the calls of other birds. It builds a cup-shaped stick nest in a tree or shrub, laying three to five eggs in most cases. These eggs are white, heavily spotted with brown. Both parents build the nests and feed the young, but only the female incubates the eggs in the nest. In Sinhalese, this bird is known as the kahibella or kehibella. The loss of its habitat and its rarity outside of good habitat is why this bird is considered internationally Vulnerable. 

HOUSE CROW Corvus splendens

Much drabber and commoner is the house crow Corvus splendens. Also known as the Colombo crow (it is in fact abundant in Colombo), it grows roughly 40 centimetres long. Most of its body is black to blackish-grey, but its neck and breast are a much lighter grey-brown. This crow replaces the large-billed crow along the coast of Sri Lanka and its range is expanding. There are several subspecies, with the Sri Lankan subspecies protegatus also found in the Maldives and southern India, though Maldive birds are sometimes considered a different subspecies, maledivicus. The house crow can be found in a lot of southern and south-eastern Asia. It has been introduced to parts of east Africa, and once arrived in Australia by ship but was then exterminated. There is also now a breeding population in the Hook of Holland, and a small population around St. Petersburg in Florida. In all its range it is associated with large human settlements. In Colombo if you stay for a day and cannot see any of these, you are either shut up inside or have your eyes tightly shut. Their nests are frequently parasitised by the Asian koel, a species of cuckoo.

LARGE-BILLED CROW Corvus (macrorhynchos) culminatus

The large-billed crow Corvus macrorhynchos, also known as the jungle crow, is a species of crow widespread in Asia. It is very adaptable and eats a variety of different foods. It is also known as the thick-billed crow or jungle crow. There are eleven different subspecies, some of which are distinctive enough to sometimes be considered different species (the eastern jungle crow Corvus levaillantii, the Indian jungle crow Corvus culminatus and the large-billed crow Corvus macrorhynchos.) Of these the Indian jungle crow can be found in Sri Lanka. It is the commonest crow in inland Sri Lanka, sometimes considered the 'crow of the wilderness' though it is still attached to human settlements (however I have sometimes seen them in national parks like Wilpattu and Horton Plains). Asian koels also parasitise the nests of these birds, but much less than the house crow. 

Those are the corvids of Sri Lanka. 

REPTILES I SAW ON MY TRIP

Having posted about the mammals, it is only fair to post about the reptiles I saw on my trip as well. So, in no taxonomic order, here they are.
LIZARDS
AGAMIDS
These lizards can be found in Asia, Australia and Africa, with a few species in southern Europe as well. Many species are also known as dragons or dragon lizards, and there are more than three hundred species in the world. Some are very colourful, and some are very dull.

SRI LANKAN KANGAROO LIZARD (reddish-brown form)

The Sri Lankan kangaroo lizard Otocryptis wiegmanni is very common in Sinharaja and can be seen in the leaf litter, swiftly darting away when it percieves danger. It grows to about seven centimetres body size, with a fifteen-centimetre tail. Its colour can range from dull brown to reddish brown, and males are darker than females. It is closely related to the Indian kangaroo lizard of South India, which lives in similar habitat.

GREEN FOREST LIZARD

The green forest lizard Calotes calotes is rather similar to the common garden lizard, but is coloured very differently, a bright green. Usually it also has five to six white stripes on its back. In the breeding season the male also develops a bright red head and throat. It rests on trees with green foilage and is less common than the garden lizard, though it can be seen in places like Bellihulloya (no idea if I spelled that right) Resthouse.
GECKOES
I saw four different species of gecko. Be warned that I am no gecko ID expert, and a lot of the IDs for these geckoes are probably wrong. Please correct me if you know I have gotten something wrong. You should probably do the same for this whole article. As I said, I am no reptile expert.

ASIAN HOUSE GECKO

The Asian house gecko Hemidactylus frenatus, is a species of gecko native to Asia that is also known as the common house gecko or Pacific house gecko. It is by far the most easily seen and commonest of Sri Lanka's geckoes and I regularly see them at Nugegoda and Bandarawela in my grandmother and aunt's houses. They have been introduced to many countries around the world such as Mexico, parts of the U.S.A, Brazil and parts of Australia. They are considered pests where they have been introduced and there is lots of superstition about them. For example, if a gecko falls on your right shoulder it is considered a good omen in some places.

BARK GECKO (dark form)

The bark gecko Hemidactylus leschenaultii is a fairly large gecko that is common in the dry zone, and another of Sri Lanka's commoner geckoes. It inhabits large trees, rock outcrops and houses, and I saw one at Ulagalla Resort inside the hotel building. Though diurnal it is mostly active at dawn and dusk. Like most geckoes it eats mainly insects, but there are records of it feeding on larger animals like other geckoes, snakes and skinks, with one incident of one trying to eat a wolf snake Lycodon striatus. There is a common dark form and a less common pale form.

FOUR-CLAWED GECKO (?)

This rather pink gecko could be a four-clawed gecko Gehyra mutilata. This soft-bodied, pale-coloured gecko can be found in houses throughout Sri Lanka and can be identified by its carrot-shaped flat tail. It can mutilate itself by loosening its skin when caught, making it look like it is dead. It is also known as the sugar lizard, Pacific gecko, stump-toed gecko, tender-skinned house gecko and butiki. However, I looked up photos of this species and have found only a single one that looks rather pink, but not as bright a pink as this. Perhaps the flash made it look like this, or perhaps it is another species.

KANDYAN GECKO (?)

After some work I still could not definitely identify this gecko, which I spotted at the Bellihulloya Resthouse while eating some food. Any help with this one? I think it could be a Kandyan Gecko, Hemidactylus depressus. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and is in the same genus as the house and bark geckoes. In the right places it can be fairly abundant. This could also be just another Asian house gecko (see above), or it could be a Brooke's house gecko Hemidactylus brooki. I am not that sure on this one. If you know for sure, could you please correct me?
SKINKS
At Sinharaja I managed to spot 1 species of skink. Again, I could have the ID wrong.

COMMON SKINK (subspecies lankae)

The common skink Eutropis carinata lankae is a very common lizard that can be found in some Sri Lankan gardens. It is a diurnal and terrestrial lizard, eating grasshoppers, beetles and earthworms. It can usually be seen basking on rocks or walls. The subspecies lankae is endemic to Sri Lanka.
MONITOR LIZARDS
Two species of monitor lizard can be found in Sri Lanka, and I saw both on my trip.

LAND MONITOR (subspecies bengalensis)

The land monitor Varanus bengalensis, also known as the bengal monitor or common Indian monitor, is a lizard widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia. It eats arthropods, ground birds, eggs, fish and small terrestrial vertebrates (e.g. mice). Unlike the water monitor it is not very dependent on water and is commonest in the dry zone. There are two subspecies which were once considered different species but are now considered subspecies. The Bengal monitor, subspecies bengalensis, is found west of Myanmar, while the clouded monitor, subspecies nebulosus, is found east of Myanmar. Though the adults are dull-coloured, young monitor lizards are more colourful with stripes on their backs. I saw one at Ulagalla. These lizards were once considered a delicacy.

WATER MONITOR (subspecies salvator)

The water monitor Varanus salvator is the easiest to see of the two monitor lizards and can be found close to water. It is a rather large monitor lizard. In Sinhala it is known as the kabara goya. There are several different subspecies, two of which have been split as different species. The nominate subspecies, salvator, is now found only in Sri Lanka. Unlike the land monitor, the water monitor is considered poisonous in Sri Lanka and usually not eaten. Despite their size, these lizards are NOT aggressive to people unless cornered or provoked. They are very good swimmers.

MAMMALS ON OUR TRIP

While in Sri Lanka and birding we managed to spot a variety of different mammals. Though we did not spot many mammals (if you really want to see the tourist-wanted animals like elephants, leopards, sloth bears and etc. you have to go to Yala, Udawalawe or Wilpattu National Parks and we didn't go there this trip), we still spotted some.
SQUIRRELS
We saw two different species of squirrel.

INDIAN PALM SQUIRREL

The Indian palm squirrel Funambulus palmarum is by far the commonest of these. It is abundant almost throughout Sri Lanka and many of them inhabit my aunt's garden. Their chirruping alarm calls can easily be mistaken for those of a bird, a mistake I have made many many times. They are also very cute-looking. In Sinhala this is known as laena.

GRIZZLED GIANT SQUIRREL (dry zone)

GRIZZLED GIANT SQUIRREL (subspecies dandolena)

I saw three different subspecies of the Grizzled giant squirrel Ratufa macroura on my trip. Classified as Near Threatened, this large species of squirrel is best seen in Sri Lanka. I saw the wet zone subspecies dandolena in Sinharaja, the hill country subspecies in Horton Plains and the dry zone subspecies at Ulagalla. The wet zone subspecies can also be found in India. In Sinhala this squirrel is known as dandolena. It is the smallest of the giant squirrels of the Indian Subcontinent.
BATS
I saw an unidentified species of microbat flying around Martin's Lodge in Sinharaja, but could not get a photo. I also saw a few dead common flying foxes, but they do not really count.
MONKEYS
I saw all three species of monkey that inhabit Sri Lanka. In Sinhala all are known as 'vandhura'.

TOQUE MACAQUE

The toque macaque Macaca sinica is a reddish-brown coloured monkey with a pink face, and is endemic to Sri Lanka. It is known in Sinhala as the rilewa and has a whorl of hair on its head. It is also known as the temple monkey, because of its abundance in the Sri Lankan Cultural Triangle. Despite this it is recognised as Endangered. There were many at Ulagalla and I spotted some drinking from our jacuzzi. There were also some along the road to Bandarawela.

TUFTED GREY LANGUAR (subspecies thersites)

The tufted grey langur Semnopithecus priam is much shyer than the macaque but can also be found in the Cultural Triangle, though it is not as common as the macaque (however, one sometimes visits my aunt's garden in Colombo). It is pale grey with a long tail and black face. There are two subspecies. The nominate is found only in India and subspecies thersites in the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. It eats leaves.

PURPLE-FACED LEAF MONKEY (subspecies vetulus)

Finally, the purple-faced leaf monkey is a species of monkey endemic to Sri Lanka. It is also known as the purple-faced langur and is a long-tailed, tree-dwelling species. Once very common, this monkey is now much rarer, though it is still fairly common to abundant in the right places. It is considered Endangered. There are four distinct subspecies. The western subspecies, nestor, was once common throughout Colombo but now is one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world, and can only reliably be seen at Thalangama Tank (see posts about the tank for a photo). The hill country subspecies (bear monkey), monticola, has thicker fur than the other subspecies and can be seen at the Hakgala Botanic Gardens near Nuwera Eliya. The southern wetzone subspecies vetulus (shown here) is the commoner subspecies of the wet zone and can be seen at Sinharaja. Finally the dry zone subspecies philbricki I have not yet seen so cannot provide advice about seeing.

MONGOOSES
There are four species of mongoose in Sri Lanka, the stripe-headed, ruddy, grey and Indian brown mongooses. I spotted one species on my trip.

INDIAN BROWN MONGOOSE

The Indian brown mongoose Herpestes fuscus is a quick, shy creature that is the commonest of Sri Lanka's mongooses. It is very similar to the Southeast Asian short-tailed mongoose and is often considered to be a subspecies of that. It can be found in southwestern India and Sri Lanka, and is classified as Vulnerable. I spotted one at Horton Plains. Apparently Thalangama Tank's surrounds can be a good spot for this species but I have never seen one there.

DEER
There are three native species of deer in Sri Lanka, and one that may be introduced. I saw one of these.

SAMBAR DEER (subspecies unicolor)

The sambar deer is the largest of Sri Lanka's deer species. The nominate subspecies unicolor is found in Sri Lanka. It is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent, and Southeastern Asia. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, Australia and St. Vincent Island in Florida. At Horton Plains you are almost guaranteed to see at least one of these deer.

Those are the mammals I saw.

A Trip To Sinharaja National Park

At the start of the year we had planned to visit Sinharaja National Park, but other things popped up and we thought we would not be able to do that, so we would visit Horton Plains instead. Almost at the end of the trip my father came to me and said "We have an extra few days now, so would you like to visit Sinharaja?" I said yes and so we went. It was a long drive and the last part of the road was very thin and bumpy, but eventually we got there, ate dinner and went to sleep. We woke up to the sound of blue magpies calling . . .

After getting ready and grabbing my camera I quickly ventured outside, to see a lifer flying past me, my first Sri Lankan blue magpie! 

And it wasn't my last, either! Many of them flew through the air and perched on trees and tables, their calls filling the forest. Along with the magpies were shyer spot-winged thrushes darting around on the ground, and a giant squirrel in a tree. Soon we had our breakfast and went on a walk through the forest.

This spot-winged thrush was standing in front of some stairs leading down to the forest

First we had to go to the park visitor center to get permission to enter the national park and also to get a guide. While on the way we spotted an emerald dove and what I think is a Sri Lankan kangaroo lizard before reaching the center. Here we met our guide and went forward through the forest. Almost immediately I spotted a lifer, a yellow-browed bulbul, along with a black-capped bulbul which darted into the forest too quickly for a photo.

This yellow-browed bulbul managed to sit still long enough for me to get this shot

Finally, a dark-fronted babbler that let me get a photo!

We walked further along, spotting a flock of dark-fronted babblers that let me get a rather blurry photo, as well as a few more skinks and kangaroo lizards. Finally we got to the entrance of the park. We walked a bit further. Suddenly chuckling calls seemed to fill the air. Our guide motioned for us to stop as, very quickly, something appeared in a tree . . .

AN ASHY-HEADED LAUGHINGTHRUSH!

We walked further on to the screeches of flying Layard's parakeets and the calls of black-capped and yellow-browed bulbuls. We stopped at a spot where the Sri Lankan frogmouth was supposed to roost, but could not see it. We did bump into a besra (another lifer) though, as it perched on a branch above the canopy, looking for prey, as well as a very tame Sri Lankan junglefowl that sat behind a bench while I ate a snack on it (the bench, not the junglefowl).

A besra waiting for breakfast

We stopped suddenly again to the calls of birds in the trees. It was a feeding flock of birds and it was heading our way. In Sinharaja, if you want to see all the endemic birds you basically HAVE to see a feeding flock. Many different birds gather into flocks that sweep through the forest, crossing trails and feeding on whatever they can find. These include many of the endemics. I spotted a pair of crested drongos in a tree. These birds are known for normally being the first birds in a feeding flock to cross the road/track. I snapped a few photos and then, suddenly . . .

The birds all headed back into the forest. 

We walked further along, spotting a few more Layard's parakeets darting overhead. Finally, we were almost at the end of the track we had been walking on when birdcalls filled the air again. This time, they didn't grow softer. This time they loudened. As a lifer black-naped monarch darted into the forest I knew. We were in a feeding flock!

A rufous babbler that was one of the many in the flock

The flock was almost completely of rufous babblers which moved up and down the road, feeding in trees. A few ashy-headed laughingthrushes flew across the road, and a yellow-browed bulbul came out from behind a bush. True, it was a small flock, but it was a flock. We walked further down and finally got great views of a lone crested drongo that had forgotten to move on with the flock.

It was a great day, but unfortunately enough it was over. We said our goodbyes and went down along the road, stopping for one last lifer in a pine tree, a black bulbul.

WE'LL BE BACK!