Wildlife Spotted Near Haputale

What people have photographed around the town and the Thangamale ridge lately — birds, moths, plants and animals, newest first, from the open iNaturalist record.

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Birds, moths, plants and animals that people have photographed around Haputale in the last three months and shared openly on iNaturalist. Newest first. It is not a survey and not a checklist — it is only what somebody happened to see, photograph and upload, so a quiet month here means quiet uploading, not a quiet forest.

59 species photographed near Haputale and the Thangamale ridge in the last 90 days

As of 24 August at 7:17. Most recent: Asian Common Toad, seen Mon 17 Aug.

What’s about: Birds 34 · Plants 11 · Insects 9 · Mammals 3 · Amphibians 1 · Fungi 1

What this is — and isn’t

These are wildlife photos that people chose to share openly, with an identification the iNaturalist community has confirmed. It is a window on what’s about, not a rare-bird alert service: the fast rarity news birders chase lives in separate networks we don’t replicate — the links below are where to find it. Exact spots are approximate, and iNaturalist hides the location of sensitive species.

For rarity news and local nature

Department of Wildlife ConservationSanctuaries are declared under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and administered by the Department of Wildlife Conservation; this is its head office, since no Uva range office publishes a number. Report an injured or trapped animal here.
iNaturalist — add your own sightingA free account and a photograph are all it takes. Anything you upload with an open licence will appear on this page.

Worth knowing

Thangamale, on the ridge to Idalgashinna

The sanctuary starts near Adisham monastery on the edge of town and runs west along the ridge to Idalgashinna; the 4.3 km walk between the two goes through it. It is remnant cloud forest left between the tea estates, and it is the reason birdwatchers come to Haputale at all. Be warned, though: only a handful of the records on this page were logged inside the sanctuary itself. Most were logged in gardens and estates around the town, because that is where people walk with a camera.

The endemic birds that actually turn up here

Counted from these same records rather than from a guidebook: the dull-blue flycatcher and the Sri Lanka whistling-thrush are the two endemics logged most often near town, followed by the yellow-fronted barbet, the Sri Lanka wood-pigeon, the red-backed flameback, the Sri Lanka grey hornbill and the Sri Lanka hanging-parrot. The yellow-eared bulbul is often listed for this ridge, but no openly-licensed record of one has been logged within eight kilometres of the town — the nearest are up at Ohiya and Horton Plains, which is a different place.

Go early, for the same reason as everything else here

From about April to October the mist comes over the ridge by mid-morning almost to a timetable. Before 8 in the morning is the good hour for seeing anything at all — birds included — and it is also when they are loudest.

The circle this page covers

Ten kilometres around the town centre, so it reaches Adisham and the Thangamale ridge, Idalgashinna, Dambatenne, and down the Beragala road as far as the Haldummulla side. Sightings from Bandarawela and Diyatalawa can appear too — the place name under each record says where it actually was.

Checked 24 August at 7:17. Only research-grade records — those a second iNaturalist user has confirmed the identification of — are shown. Observations and photos from iNaturalist, shown under the Creative Commons licences each contributor chose.

59 species recently

Latest near Haputale and the Thangamale ridge: Asian Common Toad