Sri Lanka in April 2025: fishing cat, leopard and sloth bear on a family trip

Trip report by Royle Safaris · April 2025

Trip report by Royle Safaris · Royle Safaris Sri Lanka tours

In the Easter half-term holidays of 2025, Royle Safaris director Martin Royle took his family to Sri Lanka and mixed culture, dolphin watching and wildlife. They visited Wilpattu, Trincomalee, Sigiriya and Gal Oya, and recorded 35 mammals, 101 birds, 11 reptiles, 4 amphibians and 17 fish, including Fishing Cat, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Asian Elephant, Jungle Cat, Grey Slender Loris, White-spotted Mouse-deer and Layard's Palm Squirrel. The report has a species list with where each was seen, and photographs of most of them.

When April 2025 (Easter half-term)
Where Wilpattu, Trincomalee, Sigiriya, Gal Oya
Recorded 35 mammals, 101 birds, 11 reptiles, 4 amphibians, 17 fish
Led by Martin Royle, Royle Safaris

In the 2025 Easter half term holidays Royle Safaris director (Martin Royle) took his family on a trip to Sri Lanka, invited by our local ground agents there to try some of their new accommodation (which was luxurious and very fun) we decided to try and find some of the smaller mammals which have made Sri Lanka a real gem of a location for so many mammalwatchers in recent years. In deed Royle Safaris has sent several clients to Sri Lanka in search of these rare mammals over the years, but the last time Martin was in Sri Lanka many of these species where not reliable or even tried for on the island.

It was a combination cultural, relaxing and wildlife watching tour where we did some whale watching, visited various cultural sites and also enjoyed Martin’s son (Tiger)s’ 11th Birthday. So the list is not as comprehensive as we would have expected if this was a full on mammalwatching trip, and we were also affected by a full moon festival which landed right on top of our time in Sigirya where we had high hopes for many of our targets, as a result it took way longer to find fishing cat than expected and it left no time for us to look for Indian pangolin which our local guide claimed to have a semi reliable place for. But even including that dip, the trip was great, many lifers for all three of us and key targets such as fishing cat, leopard, sloth bear, Asiatic elephant, jungle cat, grey slender loris, white-spotted mousedeer and Layard’s palm squirrel all ticked.

All in all we visited Wilpattu National Park, Trincomolee (for some dolphin watching), Sigiriya and Gal Oya National Park and saw a total of 35 species of mammals, 101 species of birds, 11 species of reptiles, 4 species of amphibians and 17 species of fish.

Royle Safaris offers various options for Sri Lanka, which can combine any interests, whether they are purely wildlife (generalist, mammals, birds, whale watching, herping etc) cultural, including great food tour options; so if you are interested in visiting Sri Lanka for any reason, please let us know and we would be more than happy to provide an itinerary for you to have a look over. Please just email me direct at info@royle-safaris.co.uk for more information on how to visit this stunning island and enjoy the jewel of the Indian Ocean.

Pictures are all from Martin Royle

Northern Red Muntjac Photo: Royle Safaris

White-spotted Mouse-deer (apologises for the awful picture) Photo: Royle Safaris

Lesser Short-faced Fruit Bat Photo: Royle Safaris

Greater Short-faced Fruit Bat Photo: Royle Safaris

Schneider’s Roundleaf Bat Photo: Royle Safaris

Lesser Adjudant Stork Photo: Royle Safaris

Asian Woolly-necked Stork Photo: Royle Safaris

Red-wattled Lapwing Photo: Royle Safaris

Sri Lankan Junglefowl Photo: Royle Safaris

Grey-headed Fish-eagle Photo: Royle Safaris

Changeable Hawk Eagle Photo: Royle Safaris

Crested Serpent Eagle Photo: Royle Safaris

Malabar Pied Hornbill Photo: Royle Safaris

Asiatic Green Bee-eater Photo: Royle Safaris

White-throated Kingfisher Photo: Royle Safaris

Sri Lankan Hill Mynah Photo: Royle Safaris

Indian Star Tortoise Photo: Royle Safaris

Sri Lankan Flap-shelled Turtle Photo: Royle Safaris

Crocodile Rock Gecko Photo: Royle Safaris

Common Garden Lizard Photo: Royle Safaris

Sri Lankan Wood Frog Photo: Royle Safaris

Indian Skittering Frog Photo: Royle Safaris

Species List Sri Lankan Exploration April 2025

Mammals († = heard or signs only)

Key: WIL (Wilpattu National Park) / TRI (Trincomolee) / KAN (Kandy / Highlands) / SIG (Sigiriya) / GAL (Gal Oya National Park)

	Common Name	Binominal Name	WIL	TRI	KAN	SIG	GAL
1	Chital	Axis axis	*				*
2	Wild water buffalo	Bubalus arnee	*
3	Domestic water buffalo	Bubalus bubalis	*	*	*	*	*
4	Golden jackal	Canis aureus	*			*	*
5	Lesser short-nosed fruit bat	Cynopterus brachyotis					*
6	Greater short-nosed fruit bat	Cynopterus sphinx	*
7	Asiatic elephant	Elephas maximus	*				*
8	Jungle cat	Felis chaus				*
9	Layard’s palm squirrel	Funambulus layardi					*
10	Three-striped palm squirrel	Funambulus palmarum	*	*	*
11	Schnieder’s roundleaf bat	Hipposideros speoris				*
12	Black-necked hare	Lepus nigricollis	*
13	Grey slender loris	Loris lydekkerianus	*			*
14	Eurasian otter	Lutra lutra				*
15	Toque macaque	Macaca sinica	*			*	*
16	Sloth bear	Melursus ursinus	*
17	Common soft-furred rat	Millardia meltada	*
18	White-spotted mousedeer	Moschiola meminna				*
19	Northern Red muntjac	Muntiacus vaginalis	*
20	Indian field mouse	Mus booduga				*
21	Leopard	Panthera pardus	*
22	Common palm civet	Paradoxurus hermaphroditus	*			*
23	Kelaart’s pipistrelle	Pipistrellus ceylonicus	*		*
24	Fishing cat	Prionailurus viverrinus				*
25	Indian flying fox	Pteropus medius	*			*	*
26	Sri Lankan giant squirrel	Ratufa macroura	*
27	Sambar	Rusa unicolor	*
28	Tufted langur	Semnopithecus priam	*				*
29	Spinner dolphin	Stenella longirostris		*
30	Eurasian wild pig	Sus scrofa	*			*	*

31	Long-winged sheath-tailed bat	Taphozous longimanus		*
32	Indian grey mongoose	Urva edwardsii			*
33	Ruddy mongoose	Urva smithii	*
34	Asiatic long-tailed climbing mouse	Vandeleuria oleracea	*
35	Small Indian civet	Viverricula indica	*	*

NB 1: Some bats identified 100% at roosts or with good views. Others identified with spectrograms in combination with sightings (no spectrograms without visual confirmation are recorded), behaviour and habitat – so not 100% but best educated guesses. For more information please email me.

Birds († = heard or signs only)

	Common Name	Binominal Name
1	Tickell’s blue flycatcher	Cyornis tickelliae
2	Common myna	Acridotheres tristis
3	Common sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
4	Eurasian kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
5	Asian openbill	Anastomus oscitans
6	Oriental darter	Anhinga melanogaster
7	Malabar pied hornbill	Anthracoceros coronatus
8	Paddyfield pipit	Anthus rufulus
9	Great egret	Ardea alba
10	Intermediate egret	Ardea intermedia
11	Purple heron	Ardea purpurea
12	Indian pond heron	Ardeola grayii
13	Common babbler	Argya caudata
14	Ashy woodswallow	Artamus fuscus
15	Eastern cattle egret	Bubulcus ibis
16	Little stint	Calidris minuta
17	Indian nightjar	Caprimulgus asiaticus
18	Jerdon’s nightjar	Caprimulgus atripennis
19	Grey nightjar	Caprimulgus jotaka
20	Great coucal	Centropus sinensis
21	Pied kingfisher	Ceryle rudis
22	Common emerald dove	Chalcophaps indica
23	Caspian plover	Charadrius asiaticus
24	Little ringed plover	Charadrius dubius
25	Greater sand plover	Charadrius leschenaultii
26	White-winged tern	Chlidonias leucopterus
27	Greater flameback	Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus

28	Asiatic woolly-necked stork	Ciconia episcopus
29	Pied cuckoo	Clamator jacobinus
30	Rock pigeon	Columba livia
31	Indian robin	Copsychus fulicatus
32	White-rumped Shana	Copsychus malabaricus
33	Oriental magpie robin	Copsychus saularis
34	Indian magpie robin	Copsychus saularis
35	Indian roller	Coracias benghalensis
36	Large cuckooshrike	Coracina macei
37	Jungle crow	Corvus macrorhynchos
38	House crow	Corvus splendens
39	Asian palm Swift	Cypsiurus balasiensis
40	Lesser whistling duck	Dendrocygna javanica
41	White-bellied drongo	Dicrurus caerulescens
42	Black drongo	Dicrurus macrocercus
43	Imperial green pigeon	Ducula aenea
44	Little egret	Egretta garzetta
45	Greater thick knee	Esacus recirvirostris
46	Asian koel	Eudynamys scolopaceus
47	Sri Lankan jungle fowl	Gallus lafayettii
48	Orange-headed thrush	Geokichla citrina
49	Lesser hill mynah	Gracula indica
50	Sri Lankan hill myna	Gracula ptilogenys
51	White-throated kingfisher	Halcyon smyrnensis
52	Grey-headed fish eagle	Haliaeetus ichthyaetus
53	White-bellied sea eagle	Haliaeetus leucogaster
54	Brahminy kite	Haliastur indus
55	Crested treeswift	Hemiprocne coronata
56	Black-winged stilt	Himantopus himantopus
57	Black-winged stilt	Himantopus himantopus
58	Caspian tern	Hydroprogne caspia
59	Brown fish owl	Ketupa zeylonensis
60	Purple-rumped sunbird	Leptocoma zeylonica
61	Lesser adjudant stork	Leptoptilos javanicus
62	Chestnut-headed bee-eater	Merops leschenaulti
63	Asiatic green bee-eater	Merops orientalis
64	Little cormorant	Microcarbo niger
65	Black-headed bulbul	Microtarsus melanocephalos
66	Painted stork	Mycteria leucocephala
67	Brown hawk owl	Ninox scutulata

68	Changeable hawk eagle	Nisaetus cirrhatus
69	Black-crowned night heron	Nycticorax nycticorax
70	Sri Lankan grey hornbill	Ocyceros gingalensis
71	Black-hooded oriole	Oriolus xanthornus
72	Common tailorbird	Orthotomus sutorius
73	Collared Scops owl	Otus lettia
74	Oriental Scops owl	Otus sunia
75	Indian peafowl	Pavo cristatus
76	Stork-billed kingfisher	Pelargopsis capensis
77	Great cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo
78	Indian pitta	Pitta brachyura
79	Jerdon’s bush lark	Plocealauda affinis
80	Pacific golden plover	Pluvialis fulva
81	Scimitar babbler	Pomatorhinus horsfieldii
82	Purple swamphen	Porphyrio porphyrio
83	Alexandrine parakeet	Psittacula eupatria
84	Rose-ringed parakeet	Psittacula krameri
85	Red-vented bulbul	Pycnonotus cafer
86	Spotted dove	Spilopelia chinensis
87	Crested serpent eagle	Spilornis cheela
88	Little tern	Sternula albifrons
89	Eurasian collared dove	Streptopelia decaocto
90	Brown wood owl	Strix leptogrammica
91	Srikeer malkoha	Taccocua leschenaultii
92	Little crested tern	Thalasseus bengalensis
93	Black-headed ibis	Threskiornis melanocephalus
94	Orange-breasted green pigeon	Treron bicinctus
95	Wood sandpiper	Tringa glareola
96	Common greenshank	Tringa nebularia
97	Common redshank	Tringa totanus
98	Yellow-billed babbler	Turdoides affinis
99	Barred buttonquail	Turnix suscitator
100	Eurasian hoopoe	Upupa epops
101	Red-wattled lapwing	Vanellus indicus

Reptiles († = heard or signs only)

	Common Name	Binominal Name
1	Forest green lizard	Calotes calotes
2	Common garden lizard	Calotes versicolor
3	Mugger crocodile	Crocodylus palustris
4	Haly's tree skink	Dasia haliana
5	Hawksbill turtle	Eretmochelys imbricata
6	Indian star tortoise	Geochelone elegans
7	Crocodile rock gecko	Hemidactylus kimbulae
8	Tropical house gecko	Hemidactylus mabouia
9	Sri Lankan flap-shelled turtle	Lissemys ceylonensis
10	Parker’s black turtle	Melanochelys trijuga
11	Land monitor	Varanus bengalensis

	Common Name	Binominal Name
1	Indian skittering frog	Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis
2	Indian five-fingered frog	Euphlyctis hexadactylus
3	Sri Lankan wood frog	Hydrophylax gracilis
4	Chunum tree frog	Polypedates maculatus

	Common Name	Binominal Name
1	Black-spot surgeonfish	Acanthurus bariene
2	Convict surgeonfish	Acanthurus triostegus
3	Blacktip reef shark	Carcharhinus melanopterus
4	Dusky angelfish	Centropyge multispinis
5	Peacock hind	Cephalopholis argus
6	Threadfin butterflyfish	Chaetodon auriga

7	Raccoon butterflyfish	Chaetodon lunula
8	Indian double-saddle butterflyfish	Chaetodon ulietensis
9	Daisy parrotfish	Chlorurus sordidus
10	Striated surgeonfish	Ctenochaetus striatus
11	Indian Ocean bird wrasse	Gomphosus caeruleus
12	Clouded rainbow fish	Halichoeres nebulosus
13	Longfin bannerfish	Heniochus acuminatus
14	Common bluestripe snapper	Lutjanus kasmira
15	Longfin batfish	Platax teira
16	Sri Lanka sweetlips	Plectorhinchus ceylonensis
17	Five saddle parrotfish	Scarus scaber

Places visited in this report

This trip report was written by Royle Safaris and is reproduced with their permission, with their photographs. See Royle Safaris Sri Lanka tours for their trips and more reports. Back to resources.

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