Beddagana Wetland Park, 04.01.2020

On the last day of my brother’s time here in Sri Lanka before he and his family would fly back to Germany, we visited Beddagana Wetland Park to enjoy some greenery and get out of the bustle of the city. This wetland, adjoining Parliament Lake and just five minutes from our home, is always worth a visit, and often has some unexpected species on offer. As this was a family outing, we did not try to be there as early as possible to see birds but rather have a relaxed time, so bird activity was down already and I didn’t see as many species as would have been possible earlier in the day.

The entrance area had, as usual, Oriental Magpie-Robin, White-breasted Waterhen, White-browed and Red-vented Bulbuls, Asian Koel, Spotted Dove, and the ever-present House Crow. Along the elevated walkway, I saw Greater Coucal, Indian Paradise-Flycatcher, Grey-headed Swamphen, Lesser Whistling-Duck, Brahminy Kite and Rose-ringed Parakeet, while some Indian Flying Foxes were still returning to their roosting sites.

I then continued to my favourite area of the park, the Diyawanna walk, a wide path through swampy forest along the lake shore. On previous visits, I have seen Indian Pitta, Indian (Collared) Scops-Owl, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Black Bittern, and even a Malayan Night-Heron here. When reaching the path, a right turn will take you through the best habitat and ends on a floating deck on the lake. I birded around the area with the Fishing Cat sign and I saw a group of Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon, Black-hooded Oriole, White-throated Kingfisher, more Asian Koels and another Indian Paradise-Flycatcher. The green-pigeons were calling and it was one of the most pleasant bird calls I’ve ever heard. They hung around for a while and I could also show them to my family. We continued towards the floating deck, on the way seeing many White-throated Kingfishers but no specials such as the pitta or a crake. From the deck, some birds seen were Yellow Bittern, Plain Prinia, Spot-billed Pelican and Brahminy Kite.

The ease to get to Beddagana from our home and the chance of seeing a special bird makes the park a really good place to spend a morning on the weekend, and I hope to be able to make another visit before the migrant season ends, since I will be graduating in May and these will be my last months in Sri Lanka, so I hope to get the most out of this remaining time.