The Diyasaru Park is a great place to go birding. Not only is it a mere 20 minutes from my house with the bicycle, but it seems to attract uncommon species. I have already seen great birds there including Daurian Starling, Greater Painted Snipe, Ruddy-breasted Crake, three species of bittern and many others. When Mr Duncan, one of the two teachers from my school who are birders as well, showed me pictures of an Indian Golden Oriole and Rosy Starlings, two species I had not seen yet, I knew I should visit as soon as possible.
The Indian Golden Oriole (only a relatively recent split from Eurasian Golden Oriole) is a rare migrant to Sri Lanka, but has been seen several times in Diyasaru Park already. The Rosy Starling is not uncommon in the lower areas of the dry zone, but not common in the wet zone, and it has a particular appeal to me since it was a rare vagrant to South Africa and is also a beautiful bird, especially in breeding plumage.
I arrived at the park in the afternoon at around 16:20, when it already starts to cool down and birds becoming more active again. After paying the 100Rs entrance fee, literally the first bird I saw from the parking area was a Rosy Starling flying over my head! What a great start, but I hoped to get improved views of perched birds, so I entered the park. There have been lots of improvements made since my last visit, with a few new paths and the vegetation seems to be more established now as well in areas that were previously bare earth. All the usual waterbirds such as Lesser Whistling-Duck, Grey-headed Swamphen, White-breasted Waterhen and where present. I was happy to find a Ruddy-breasted Crake, probably the individual that is regularly seen there throughout the year, as it foraged at the water’s edge, oblivious to my presence. Another unexpected species was a pair of Orange-breasted Green Pigeon, my second sighting of this bird, which is not often seen in the wet lowlands.
Palm Squirrels ran around the lawns at the entrance area, looking for scraps left by visitors. I did not see any other mammals apart from Indian Flying Fox, but a photo of the park’s first Fishing Cat was posted at the reception window, hopefully meaning the conservation efforts are successful.
Despite a concentrated search and long scan from the watchtower, I could not find an Indian Golden Oriole, although its Black-hooded cousin was common, and other birds around the tower were Brown-headed Barbet, Asian Koel and White-throated Kingfisher, while a White-bellied Drongo and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters hawked insects from dead branches. The sky was full of Barn Swallows, and I also saw Sri Lanka Swallow, Darter, Black-headed Ibis and Brahminy Kite flying overhead.
My Zone Is Birding 