Birdwatching in Sri Lanka’s hills is spectacular. The stunning highland scenery – verdant tea fields interspersed with forest, framed by dramatic mountains – is an utterly picturesque backdrop for birding. Sri Lanka’s hills are home to several elusive migrant and endemic species, including the Sri Lanka bush-warbler, Eurasian black bird, brown wood owl and black-throated munia.
Horton Plains National Park, which lies more than 7,000 ft above sea level just 20km from Nuwara Eliya, has a mixture of grasslands and forests and is home to five endemic bird species which can only be seen at this altitude, including the yellow-eared bulbul, Sri Lanka woodpigeon and the rare Sri Lanka whistling thrush. It is also visited by Indian blue robin, Pacific swallow, pied bush chat and mountain hawk eagle.
Birdwatching in Nuwara Eliya is also possible. Victoria Park in the city centre boasts many Himalayan migrants such as the Kashmir flycatcher and pied thrush Indian pitta, and at nearby Gregory’s Lake birdwatchers can see paddyfield pipit, pintail snipes, Pallas’s ‘grasshopper’ warbler and Blyth’s reed warbler.
If birdwatching is your thing, check out our specialised birdwatching tour which takes you around the island in search of the ‘Birds of Sri Lanka’, or discover other experiences related to Birdwatching in Sri Lanka.
