What migratory birds visit Udawalawe each year?

Udawalawe pulls in a lot of migratory birds every year, including the Indian Pitta, the Eurasian spoonbill, whiskered terns, and different kinds of sandpipers and plovers.

When they flee the severe winters of Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia, these birds make use of the park’s marshy wetlands and reservoir edges for feeding as well as roosting, from November to March. There is also the arrival of the vibrantly coloured Indian Pitta, which is often spotted calling from the scrub jungle undergrowth, and that moment is something of a standout for visiting ornithologists and for birdwatchers, commonly known as ‘twitchers’.