Bird watching by boat

It’s Saturday today (for anyone keeping tabs) and we had decided to book ourselves on a boat trip today, as Ranweli sits on a canal with plenty of wildlife to view, so at 10.00 we duly went down to the boat house and were met by another really friendly guide who was more than happy to point out the mullet and black crab in the water, as well as the Pied Kingfisher that was perched on the telephone wire running across the canal, which then obligingly plummeted into the water to snatch a fish (the Kingfisher, not the guide. Although we would’ve paid good money to see that!)).

I went one better though as a tiny Common Kingfisher buzzed right past us and sat neatly on a nearby twig. I’m monstrously proud of this shot:

We then jumped into the boat (it had brilliant swingy chairs!) and our guide chugged us up the canal a ways to the entrance where the sea had breached during the tsunami. The wildlife here is spectacular though, within throwing distance of the boat house we spotted a Water Monitor drowsing away the morning on a tree limb (these things are huge!) and then a Green Heron, Sandpipers and an Egret (of which I now know there are three types here, the Small, Intermediate and Great!)

Our guide managed to drive the boat to within meters of a Pied Kingfisher, allowing me to get some great shots of it:

We also saw a White Throated Kingfisher, but only at a distance. We then motored further up the canal with our guide pointing out all sorts of different species to us, which was great, we even managed to spot a couple of Brahminy Kites soaring happily on the thermals. We had a couple of close encounters with Water Monitors swimming through the water, which was great to see up close.

On the way back to the boat house, our guide stopped and plucked a flower for Suz, so she gurned and stuck it in her hat :)

our last sighting of the trip was of a parakeet which was sitting silently in a green tree being harassed by chipmunks, it was really hard to spot against the emerald of the leaves:

After we got back we lazed by the pool, only to discover we’d actually been incinerated by the sun here despite wearing factor 50 slathered all over us! God bless our English complexions!!