Independence Weekend Vacation at Michael's

Since the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of February was a long weekend it was decided that the four of us, Palitha, Gehan, Namal and I would chill out on Saturday and Sunday at Michael and Nancy van der Poorten's estate in Wariyapola. Gehan picked us up from home around 6.30 a.m. on Saturday morning and we left about half an hour later. As Palitha was working that day he had decided that he would come to Michael's later on in the evening.

We had a breakfast stop and a stop to buy some fruit and goodies for Michael. We reached Michael's around 9.30 a.m. We relaxed the whole day - just lazed around observing the birds and butterflies. The highlight of the afternoon was the visit by the lesser yellownaped wookpecker to the birdbath. We then had lunch and thought we would take an afternoon nap. We were informed by Michael that we should be up by 5 p.m. to observe the white naped woodpecker who made his appearance around that time. Our afternoon nap was a knock-out blow, as even at 5.00 p.m. when we eventually woke up we were so groggy it was unbelievable. We had tea and walked to the spot where the woodpeckers make their appearance - they were there!!! - the pair. Namal and Gehan tried photographing them but it was rather tricky. Light was beginning to fade and we called it a day.

Walked back to the bungalow, showered and lazed around further. Palitha who had being working all day called us and informed us that he would not be joining us as it was rather late. We had our customary evening drink and the topic of conversation that evening was the Sri Lankan situation, politics and politicians, had dinner and retired for the night around 10 p.m.

3rd February - The alarm went off at 5.00 a.m. - we had planned to go to Matale as we had news of a three toed kingfisher nesting in that area. We had tea and left Michael's at 6.10 a.m. The drive was absolutely awesome, as it was just at the crack of dawn that we left and the sun was just making its appearance. The road too was devoid of traffic - that made our journey even more pleasant. At Kurunegala we bought some short eats for breakfast and had them along the way. We then drove to our destination where we met the local boy who had this information for us and who then took us to the location of the three toed kingfisher.

It took a while for the kingfisher to make its appearance. We later on observed that there were two birds. We were not sure as to whether it was a juvenile bird and parent or whether these two were a nesting pair. Photography was a challenge as it was in rather a dark area that the birds made their appearance. We decided to call it a day and head back to Michael's. We informed Michael of our decision and told him we would have lunch on the way and stay the night and go home the following day. He instead asked us to come to his place for lunch - which we did.

We reached Michael's around 1.30 p.m., we showered and then had lunch. The lesser yellow naped decided to make its appearance again at the water bath whilst we were having our lunch. We had 40 winks and then decided to try for the white naped woodpecker. Not much luck. We decided it might be good if we could photograph the woodpeckers the following morning if they made their appearance. We went back to the house, showered, had our drinks, had dinner and went to bed.

4th February - Woke up early, had tea and headed to the site of the woodpeckers. Woodpeckers were present but not very obliging. However Namal and Gehan were able to photograph Alexandrine parakeet - who I must say were very obliging. Retuned to the house for breakfast and after breakfast Michael took us on a tour of his estate. Had lunch, had a small nap. Had tea and set off back to Colombo around 4.30 p.m. We were sad to leave Michael and Nancy who were so very hospitable and I am sure they were sad to see us go as well!!! Gehan dropped us around 6.30 p.m.