Layard’s Parakeet (Psittacula calthropae)

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Tara

The Layard’s Parakeet (Psittacula calthropae) aka Emerald-collard Parakeet is a parrot which is a resident endemic breeder in Sri Lanka. The common name of this bird commemorates the British naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard; his first wife, Barbara Anne Calthrop, whom he married in 1845, is commemorated in the specific epithet. In Sri Lanka, this bird is knowns as alu girawa අළු ගිරවා (ash-parrot) in Sinhala Language. This bird appears on a 50c Sri Lankan postal stamp

My photos of this stunning bird were blurry and at a distance so here’s a close-up from Wikipedia.

They are endemic to Sri Lanka and most easily seen (albeit from a distance) flying through the rainforest opposite the town of Kithulgala. I also got a brief glimpse of one flying overhead at Sinharaja. See the red dots below. Use a Central Asian award to get to Colombo, then take a taxi or bus.

Although they share the same habits as Alexandrine Parakeets, the Layard’s are smaller and have shorter tails. If you try to photograph them you will need all the zoom you can get and a steady hand.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PARROT

VIDEO

Choosing The Best Lodges For India & Sri Lanka

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Tara

Yesterday, I showed you how I put together an itinerary for a birding adventure in southern India & Sri Lanka. Today, I will show you how I chose the accommodation in each place. In all cases (except Bangalore) I was prioritizing lodges that were located in birdy locations as I love being able to sit on a deck and watch birds any time of day! Oh yeah, and we were on a tight budget being a somewhat impromptu trip!

I will be doing detailed reviews with photos on each individual lodge in subsequent posts.

BANGALORE

The first night, we would be arriving around midnight and getting a bus to Coorg early the next morning. Bangalore has horrible traffic jams so I wanted to stay as close as possible to the Mysore Satellite Bus Stand. I used a Google map to zoom in on the bus stand and found the Transit Hotel Mysore Road right across the street. I Googled the name, saw it bookable on Agoda (unfortunately not on Pointshound) and booked an AC room for a whopping $12!

COORG

On a previous visit, I had accompanied some friends to the wonderful SAI Sanctuary and really wanted to stay there. Unfortunately, their staff had left and they couldn’t accommodate us but they booked us at a guest house just down the road called Jungleside Homestay. We made a day visit to SAI to visit our friends and watch birds.

WAYANAD

I had no idea where to stay so I checked on Expedia since I had a $50 credit in my account. I found a nice-looking place called Grassroots Wayanad, checked the photos & reviews on Trip Advisor and decided it sounded like my kind of place. I booked it on Expedia to use the $50 credit.

MUDUMALAI

I was researching the sanctuary online and wanted to stay in their accommodation. However it seems you can only book it with their office in Ooty or at the facility and they had no email. I resorted to Google mapping the area and found the nearest town was called Gudalur. I searched Gudalur on Trip Advisor and found a place called Gouri Farm which sounded good. They weren’t on any booking sites so I emailed them and booked and they agreed to let me pay on arrival since we were there on a weekday.

BANGALORE

We would be arriving in the evening by bus and I have plenty of Club Carlson points so I booked the Park Plaza.

KITHULGALA

I read a few birding trip reports that highly recommended the Kithulgala Resthouse. I wanted to book and pay on arrival so I used Booking.com which was the only booking agency that allowed for this.

SINHARAJA

Unfortunately this visit fell on a weekend and my first & second choices (Martin’s Simple Lodge & Blue Magpie Lodge) were booked up (according to Sri Lankan travel agency Red Dot) and they tried to get me to book a place for $200 a night that looked lovely but was out of our budget. I did some researching online and stumbled across a place called Rock View Motel Kalawana which had room so I grabbed it.

Flights and accommodation booked…………………..the journey yet to begin!

India & Sri Lanka – Birding “On The Fly”

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Tara

I usually plan trips at least a year in advance and book them when the last segment I need is within the 11 month booking window. So hastily throwing together a trip to India & Sri Lanka was totally out of character for me. I had been planning to do this trip in 2015 but when US Airways announced a major rebate promo, I couldn’t resist bringing it forward!

I knew which parrots I was targeting. I never tire of seeing India’s beautiful Malabar Parakeets, Alexandrines and other psittaculas. I was also dying to see the stunning Layard’s Parakeet, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot and many other bird species.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

I had enough miles to book us in business class on Thai outbound and Singapore return. This is a Central Asian award.

Since Sri Lankan Airlines hasn’t yet joined One World (only 4500 with Avios) and Air India hasn’t yet joined Star Alliance I had to pay for a bridging flight between Bangalore (via Chennai) and Colombo. The cheapest flight was on Spice Jet which I booked on their website.

I spent a day reading reports of bird sightings and put together the itineraries for both countries based on which locations had my desired parrot species and as many other species. In India, I knew I wanted to visit Coorg, Wayanad and Mudumalai.

In Sri Lanka, I knew I wanted to visit Kithulgala & Sinharaja.

With itineraries chosen, next step was to find accommodation…………………….

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