When Sonal Balasuriya told a colleague he was going on a birding trip to the Kaudulla
national park for 3days, he was met with, ‘You’ve already birded Minneriya, there can’t be
any lifers for you’. ‘True enough,’ he responded, ‘but there is more to life than lifers …’
This resonated with me as I often feel that there is too much emphasis in birding circles on
being able to tick a new species and not enough on just revelling in the pleasure of being
surrounded by birds, their antics and sounds, even if they are ones seen a hundred times
before. But then I have no ambition to tick every species on the planet. Don’t get me wrong:
I am as excited as the next person when I catch a glimpse of a bird I have never seen
before. And, yes, there are some birds that I would build an entire holiday around if there
were a chance of seeing them for the first, and possibly only, time.
Photograph: Ceylon Paradise Flycatcher (Kaudullu National Park)
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