BIRDWING Nature
Holidays office is situated in Bomiriya, a
well wooded village in the Low-level road close to Kaduwela - 20 kms
east of the commercial capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. The lushly vegetated
office garden is rich in life particularly birds. During the migratory
season (mainly October – April) we get some welcome visitors
such as Indian Pitta, Forest Wagtail, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Bright-green
Warbler, Asian Brown & Brown-breasted Flycatcher which supplement
the residents such as Black-rumped Flameback, Black-hooded Oriole,
Shikra, Common Iora, Sri Lanka Small & Brown-headed Barbets, Long-billed
and Purple-rumped Sunbirds, Asian Koel, Southern Coucal & the
endemic Sri Lanka Swallow. An occasional Lesser Yellownape, Black-headed
Cuckoo-shrike, Large Cuckooshrike, Emerald Dove, Sri Lanka Hanging
Parrot, Orange-headed Thrush, Small Minivet, Oriental White-eye &
Jerdon’s Leafbird provide welcome distractions during office
hours. The garden also offers rich pickings of Butterflies which include
Blue Mormon, Yamfly, Tailed Jay and good-looking Sri Lanka Birdwing.
Dragonflies and Damselflies are also fairly well represented and some
of them include Black-headed Basker, Variable Basker, Black Velvet-wing
& Purple Skimmer. There is one female Giant Wood Spider living
with her diminutive team of mates in a website hosted in a corner.
The Gondwanaland relic- Arcavus snails are present in good numbers
glued to tree trunks are in their element at night. Green & Common
Garden Lizards are the only resident agamid lizards and are dwarfed
by a pair of Land Monitors living in a large termite mound in the
garden. There is a sizable troop of endemic Purple-faced Leaf Monkey,
of which the booming territorial calls of the dominant males add wonderfully
to the cacophony of bird calls in the mornings. There is a family
of Brown Mongoose that live in a burrow. Foamy nests of the endemic
Hour Glass Tree Frog suspended above the water bodies are a common
sight especially during the rainy months. Calls of Indian Scops Owl
& Brown Hawk fill the air in the evenings often superseded by
constant squabbles of Flying foxes fighting for landing rights in
Fig and Jack Fruit trees. There is plenty of rainforest flora including
an ant-infested Ant-plant and several prestigious members of the ‘Dipterocap’
family. We also do have several badly behaved cats, which occasionally
bring home a terrified Indian Pitta or a Yellow-billed Babbler. If
you would like to visit our office, please call us to get directions
as you could easily get lost in this wilderness. We are happy to share
the rich pickings of our garden with you over a fine cuppa and assist
your travel needs in Sri Lanka. By the way our area has the cleanest
and the best ground water in Sri Lanka as evidenced by many beverage
production factories located around such as Coke, Pepsi, Elephant-house
soft drinks, Lion beer & a mineral water factory - American Water.
We are ready to quench your thirsts!
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