Birding Kalpitiya - Part 2 Shorebirds

Eurasian Curlew, photo by Saranga.

We spent the second part of our trip shore birding. As we headed north towards Kalpitiya, we passed several tanks and sections of lagoon that were full of shorebirds and waders. One spot we spent nearly an hour on the side of the road scanning through about 60+ shorebirds. Among them were species we hadn’t yet seen this fall, including Curlew Sandpiper and Black-bellied Plover.

Common Redshank, photo by Saranga

A common sight in any good shorebird habitat, Kentish Plovers, photo by Saranga

We continued north until we arrived at our hotel. After checking in and cooling off a bit, we headed towards the sand bar separating the sea from the lagoon. Evening birding along the lagoon did not disappoint as we added Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Gray Francolin, Pied Kingfisher, and Indian Paradise-Flycatcher to our trip list. As we were birding, someone on a bicycle rode by selling ice cream, so we enjoyed an ice cream cone as we watched the foraging shorebirds. As the sun set on the sand dunes, we made our way back to the hotel to enjoy the pool before bed.

Enjoying ice cream while birding

Whimbrel, photo by Saranga

Indian Paradise-Flycatcher, photo by Saranga

Crimson Rose, photo by Saranga

We set out at first light to walk down the road for some exercise and birding. Broad-billed Sandpiper, a life bird for Saranga, was a highlight of the morning, along with some active Ruddy Turnstones, and better looks at a family of Gray Francolin. I really enjoyed watching the Eurasian Curlew bathing in a puddle.

Eurasian Curlew, handheld iPhone through Vortex Razor HD

Once we had sufficiently surveyed the area, we decided to head back out to the sand bar. We were treated to near side-by-side comparisons of the Whimbrel and Eurasian Curlew, and of Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits. We were traveling by bike and stopping to scope and walk around when we saw a promising area, which is a quite enjoyable and effective way of birding!

At one time, we were driving along the lagoon towards a point where a group of terns were roosting. As we drove, I noticed a couple shorebirds with upturned bills. We quickly stopped and got the scope on them and started snapping pictures. I thought they might be Terek Sandpipers and pulled out my field guide to be sure. They were! Another life bird for us both! Terek Sandpipers have an interesting foraging behavior, where they quickly run with their heads down, then stop and listen, then run some more. Their short legs, relative to other shorebirds, make them almost comical to watch run along the water’s edge. Their speed and agility made them difficult to photograph for me, since I was hand-holding my phone to take pictures through my spotting scope. Saranga, however, wasn’t deterred by their speed and quite successfully followed them along the beach with his camera.

My current phone scoping set-up... not ideal for Terek Sandpipers.

Saranga's photo of our lifer Terek Sandpiper

For a two-night vacation, I’d say we couldn’t have had much better birding!

The lagoon

Here’s our complete list of shorebirds for the day and a half we spent birding:

Ruddy Turnstones, photo by Saranga

1 - Great Thick-knee

2 - Black-winged Stilt

3 - Black-bellied Plover

4 - Pacific Golden-Plover

5 - Red-wattled Lapwing

6 - Lesser Sand-Plover

7 - Kentish Plover

8 - Whimbrel

9 - Eurasian Curlew

10 - Bar-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper, photo by Saranga

11 - Black-tailed Godwit

12 - Ruddy Turnstone

13 - Broad-billed Sandpiper

14 - Curlew Sandpiper

15 - Little Stint

16 - Terek Sandpiper

17 - Common Sandpiper

18 - Common Greenshank

19 - Marsh Sandpiper

20 - Wood Sandpiper

21 - Common Redshank

Bar-tailed Godwit, iPhone photo through Vortex Razor scope

Birding Kalpitiya - Part 1 Seabirds

Lesser Crested Tern, photo by Saranga

The morning of November 5^th, shortly after I woke up, my husband surprised me that he wanted to take me to the beach when he got home from work, and to plan for 2 nights away. We had talked about visiting Kalpitiya, a western coastal town in Sri Lanka, later this month, but some recent reports of Orcas showing up inspired an impromptu vacation. We first arrived in Norochcholai and visited the Department of Wildlife Conservation office. Staff shared recent accounts of Spinner Dolphins and Orcas. They treated us to a delicious lunch while playing locally filmed videos of the dolphins and whales. I was definitely getting excited to be on the water!

We were the only two people on the beach!

We stayed at Ocean Wind Beach Resort, and across the road, another property managed by the same people offered a private beach for us to use! We spent the evening walking the beach, collecting shells, watching crabs, wading, and building a sandcastle under the moonlight.

There were dozens of these crabs running along the waves. Photo by Saranga.

We only saw one of this type of crab. Photo by Saranga.

The boat we had for the morning.

Early the next morning, we woke up to meet our boat at the beach property, which also offers dolphin watching tours. The small 6-seat boat was by far the smallest watercraft I’d ever been on in the ocean, and with the wind, I was a little nervous. Being the off-season for tourism and just the beginning of whale and dolphin season, we ended up with a private boat for the morning. 

The water wasn’t as smooth as it had been the previous days, and the wind direction had changed so there was a chance we wouldn’t get to see the dolphins. This became a reality as we spent more time at sea. After a while, we began to see small groups of 3-10 terns flying by or circling low over the water. We finally told the boat drivers that we’d be happy to stop and look at the birds the next time we found a group, since the dolphins didn’t seem to be around.

Small groups of birds turned into a feeding flock of roughly 150 terns! As we waited in the middle of the group, and circled back through the flock several times, we were able to identify 8 species of terns, two being life birds for both Saranga and myself! Then, we noticed a dark bird fly low over the water and land… we quickly got binoculars and our camera on the bird and identified it as a Wedge-tailed Shearwater! Another life bird for us both! Then another… and another! Altogether, 4 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters sat on the water and flew low to the water below the higher-flying terns.

Saranga's photo of one of the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters

Another Wedge-tailed Shearwater. Photo by Saranga.

Terns dove into the water all around our boat, performing incredible aerial displays. It was really a fun experience and we were quite happy ending the trip with 3 life birds and no dolphins. We may try to go back again on a day with better sea conditions, but who knows… we may not see any good birds that way!

 

Omeesha Beach Resort, where we enjoyed breakfast after the dolphin tour.

Here’s are list of the birds we saw at sea:

1 - Wedge-tailed Shearwater

2 - Sooty Tern

3 - Bridled Tern

4 - Gull-billed Tern

5 - Sandwich Tern

6 - Common Tern

7 - Whiskered Tern

8 - Great Crested Tern

9 - Lesser Crested Tern

10 - Blue-tailed Bee-eater (I know they migrate, but I was surprised to see a group of 6 bee-eaters at sea!)

Ready for Part 2 of our vacation!