Friday
was our first real bird watching outing. We went to Muthurajawela
Marsh, a 6000 hectare wetland at the south end of the Negombo lagoon.
Relatively unknown by tourists until the 2012 edition of the Lonely
Planet Sri Lanka Guide, it is becoming a popular tourist attraction,
and is currently rated as the #4 (out of seventeen) must-see Negombo attractions on TripAdvisor.com.
Before
the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in the early 1500s, the area was
a rich basin filled with rice paddies. The Portuguese constructed a
canal - now called the Hamilton Canal - that ultimately flooded the fields with seawater, and over the
ensuing centuries, the basin has become Sri Lanka's largest saline
wetland, home to many different species, including one hundred
ninety-four plants, forty fish, fourteen reptiles, one hundred two
birds, twenty-two mammals, forty-eight butterflies, and twenty-two
dragonflies. Of these, fifty-two species are on the nationally
endangered list, and one - the Grey Slender Loris – is on the
globally endangered list.
"Slender
Loris" by Kalyan Varma (Kalyanvarma) - Own work. Licensed under
GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slender_Loris.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Slender_Loris.jpg
Despite
the importance of the Marsh with respect to biodiversity, there is
constant pressure on the wetland from encroaching industrial
development, prompting a study of the economic potential of the area
in 2003.
We
traveled by tuktuk through the non-tourist side of Negombo, an area
with many traditional homes interspersed with grand luxury houses
probably owned by wealthier fishermen and businessmen. We passed by
the fish market, reminiscent of my childhood home....the smell of salt water in
the air, seabirds wheeling and diving for savoury bits of rejected offal, the revoltingly comfortable odour of fish left too long in the
blazing sun, the call of fishermen comparing their catch, the quick
hand movements as nets are repaired.
Steve spots all four species of
egrets of as we make our way through the port, then grey herons and a
Eurasian spoonbill.
We
arrive at the Visitor's Centre, described by more than one guide book
and travel site as “moth-eaten” or worse. While a little rundown,
it basically houses posters of some of the more common flora and
fauna that one is likely to see. For a mere
1000 rupees per person ($7.81 US) we enjoy the cool shade of the
visitor's centre, its restrooms, conversation with three centre
personnel, a personal guide for our boat ride through the marsh, a
boat operator, and the two hour ride itself.
The
tour begins in front of the visitor's centre, where we spied
white-breasted waterhens on the road,
We spot it a few seconds
after we pass chasing a rose-winged parakeet. The parakeet flees and
escapes – good news for the parakeet, but the kite is still hungry.
Barn
swallows and long-billed sunbirds and blue-tailed bee eaters are
everywhere. Pale billed flowerpeckers eat the seeds of the Penjamic
tree and drink from the flowers of the parasitic plants that grow on
it.
The
ever present crows – both Jungle or Long-Billed and the House
variety – are present but in small numbers. We see a total of five,
in sharp contrast to the flocks of thousands that fly south along
Negombo's beaches every evening.
A
white-bellied drongo watches us motor underneath the bare branch upon
which it sits, its deeply forked tail pointing the way we must follow
along the canal. Poisonous Eve's Apple trees - also know as the
Forbidden Fruit - are abundant. A bright red dragonfly hurries to
join a horde of hundreds that flits through the forest.
Our guide
turns the boat around and we head back the way we came. There on the
concrete bank of the canal lies a two or three month old crocodile,
basking in the warm sun.
Our
guide tells us to watch the holes along the muddy banks.
There! We
see them! White breasted kingfishers leaving their cool earthen
nests.
Striated herons and cormorants and red-wattled lapwings watch
our progress from their front row seating on the shore.
Steve spots a
crimson flameback woodpecker and a spotted dove.
Our
guide becomes excited. There, on the antenna of a house under
construction on the left bank of the canal we have spied a rarity for
this area – an Indian roller. It watches us carefully as we
approach, flits away as we draw near, then returns to its perch.
We
approach the mouth of the canal where it enters into the lagoon.
Whiskered terns feed on a school of fish directly in front of us.
Wait! What's
that? Steve and our guide start frantically flipping through our bird
book while I catch a few seconds glimpse of a mottled yellow and
brown bird before it dives into the plants and can no longer be seen.
It's a yellow bittern, somewhat common in the marsh but rarely seen
due to its habit of hiding and seclusion.
Lesser
whistling ducks watch carefully nearby.
As
we approach the mangrove swamp, pond herons, purple herons and little
cormorants make their appearance.
Two Oriental magpie-robins watch from
an overhead wire. A rare forest wagtail flits by.
Ahead
– fishermen spreading their nets in a lotus patch. We watch as two
of them wade through the water, setting the net in a semi-circular
shape. Two others wade towards the net, pushing leafy palm fronds
ahead of them. As the school of little fish enters the net, the first
two walk towards each other, trapping the fish inside.
Among
the weeds, purple swamp hens and a lone moor hen join the ducks.
Acrostica
ferns grow in large mounds throughout this side of the Marsh. The
tender leaves can be eaten and are considered to be good for treating
diabetes.
A
darter, rare for the marsh, makes it appearance. A white-bellied sea
eagle soars overhead. Our guide is excited once more – they are
very hard to find in the marsh, due to a spectacle which we observe
just a few moments later - two Brahminy kites drive the eagle away.
Water
hyacinth abounds. In old times, water hyacinth was a weapon, with the
people using it to trick their enemies. When the enemy alighted,
ready to fight on what they thought was dry land, they sank and
drowned, entangled in the long roots. Once found only along marshy
shorelines, as in Florida this beautiful but invasive plant is
spreading rapidly through the marsh and other wetland areas, choking
out indigenous species. The Sri Lankan government has passed an ordinance requiring landowners to destroy the plant if it shows up on
their property, and for conservation officers to do the same on
government owned or communal land. It has also introduced an African beetle that feeds only on the
water hyacinth to help curtail its spread.
Surrounded
by dozens of whiskered terns, we approach the entrance to the canal
once more. A greater egret soars by. In the distance, we spot an open
billed stork, another rare bird in the marsh.
We
wind our way through the canal. A stork-billed kingfisher
displays its brilliant blues and yellows.
On
the bank we see a small monitor lizard atop a recently burnt garbage
heap, scrounging for food, not minding the heat of the coals
underfoot. Another attacks a bag of garbage in the river. A dead one
is spotted near the shore.
Back
to the Visitor's Centre, where a young guide excitedly surveys our
list, identifying the species that are rare and rare to the marsh.
Our meager entrance fee helps pay his salary and that of the others,
basic upkeep on the building, boat maintenance, gas.
One
last sighting – Steve spots two lowly rock doves.
Back
we go in our little three-wheeled tuktuk, through the port, along the
sleepy streets of the real Negombo, back to the fast pace of Lewis
Place, that tourist hot spot where we are currently staying.
