Aladdin's safari adventure in Yala National Park, block 1

Aladdin's adventure Yala National Park - Block 1

Tuesday 23^rd of May 2017 and we took off leaving the hotel behind a few minutes after 5 thirty. We entered the park a few minutes after 6, first stop to buy the ticket and then we had to wait until 6 for them to open the gate. It was a very quiet morning in the park. Not even any birds, even the buffalos was absent.

Bee-eaters, we have seen millions of the beautiful bird, but today, only a very few. But we spotted 2 Peacocks walking around each other. I took a video, who knows, they might start a fight. Then I don't want to miss it. I was also waiting for them to make their call, sounds like an elephant, and sometimes they sound like a big cat.

And it is thanks to the Peafowl I got to see a few beautiful leopards in India. We heard their alarm call and we drove towards the alarm call. 2 or 3 leopards under my belt thanks to the Peafowl. And of course, we keep our ears open for alarm calls from deer and monkeys. Also a great help when looking for big cats.

Well, I never got to hear any Peacock call, or any fight. But I got a video of the peacock dance. I have seen Peahens with babies and many of the Peacock feathers laying around. So maybe the mating is over. Anyway, the Peacock in the video are not wearing the beautiful train. Of course, I hope to get it on video in a near future.

Two Peacocks without the train

The train

The Indian peacock has iridescent blue and green plumage. The peacock "tail", known as a "train", consists not of tail quill feathers, but highly elongated upper tail coverts. These feathers are marked with eyespots, best seen when a peacock fans his tail. Both sexes of all species have a crest atop the head. The Indian peahen has a mixture of dull grey, brown, and green in her plumage. The female also displays her plumage to ward off female competition or signal danger to her young.

The functions of the elaborate iridescent coloration and large "train" of peacocks have been the subject of extensive scientific debate. Charles Darwin suggested they served to attract females, and the showy features of the males had evolved by sexual selection. More recently, Amotz Zahavi proposed in his handicap theory that these features acted as honest signals of the males' fitness, since less fit males would be disadvantaged by the difficulty of surviving with such large and conspicuous structures.

Peacocks, the male peafowl, show their feathers to court peahens, the female peafowl. Fanning and displaying the tail is part of their mating routine and determines which peacock a hen mates with. She chooses her mate based on the quality, size and colours of his tail feathers.

They drop their “train” after the mating. As we can see on the video, the Peacock have dropped his train. It is beautiful to watch, I have only seen a full dance. It was back in Sasan Gir and it was a beautiful display.

Yeah, some Peacock action and that was the only thing we had been seeing for 2 hours or so driving around in Block 1.

Not much going on in the park today and the most exciting was a Yellow-wattled Lapwing with two babies. Other than that, well, a few girls, I think from China at the place we had the lunch break the first day. And strangely enough, I told my Guide/ Driver that we had not seen any crocodile babies during all our tours here. 10 minutes later and we spotted a baby crocodile

Yellow-wattled Lapwing with baby

Yellow-wattled Lapwing with baby

Yellow-wattled Lapwing with baby

Yellow-wattled Lapwing with 2 babies

Baby crocodile

Sri Lanka Green Pigeon - A beautiful and endemic bird

I have seen 6 endemic bird since I came here. Still missing pictures of the Sri Lanka Green Pigeon since I managed to lose all the pictures. I have seen the Sri Lanka grey hornbill. At the river where we had the lunch break in Udawalawa National Park. I got a picture, but the bird was too far away.

We spotted the Sri Lanka grey hornbill again. And yet again I managed to duck up the opportunity to get any good photos. But I hope to be back here soon. NEXT LOW SEASON!

Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill

Can you see the leopard?

We spotted one more leopard. And yes, hiding in the bushes and I had to really overexpose the photo to be able to see the leopard in the bushes. Well, I don't count this as have seeing a leopard and I told my Guide / Driver to leave. Sitting and watch a bush wasting time.

Yes, if we wait for 5 minutes the leopard might come out, or we might have to sit and wait for 3 hours. But we might run in to an elephant on a bicycle, or a leopard turning cartwheels down the dirt track if we leave. So off we drove.

We drove around and it was soon lunch time and time to go for my fruit salad, grilled cheese sandwich and tea. So we started to move back towards the gate. We stopped at the last waterhole before the gate. A Whistling Duck couple with babies and I needed a few pictures even if they were far away.

Whistling ducks or Tree ducks

Whistling ducks or Tree ducks

Today, a bird on my bed

Back at the hotel and I had a shower and a delicious lunch in my room. And today I discovered that my bed was decorated with a bird. Nice, but it involves a wee bit of job to get the twigs and leafs in to the trash bin when it is time to go to bed.

Yes, next time I will plan my safari to have a break at my hotel for lunch. I'm full of energy and vim when they come to pick me up at 2 thirty. Afternoon game drive next, and what will we find. Just click HERE to find out.


Tweet



OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

You are visitor no.

To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011