Mannar Trip (2025 March 15) part 4/8 – Vankalai Sanctuary

 The Vankalai Sanctuary, also known as the Mannar Bird Sanctuary in the Mannar District covers an area of 4,839 ha (11,960 acres). The region was designated as a sanctuary by the Department of Wildlife Conservation in 2008, and it offers a range of ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, lagoons, waterholes, and grasslands etc. In July 2010 it was selected as the fourth Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka. The sanctuary harbors more than 150 distinct bird species. Its marine ecosystem has over sixty species of fish, marine turtles, and threatened species such as Dugong, Green sea turtles and Saltwater Crocodiles.

After a couple of hours observing Flamingos and photographing the scenic sunrise over the landside lagoon at Vankalai, we made our way back to the van,  not forgetting to capture some of the butterflies and dragonflies roaming around the shrub forest.

After having milk with a snack at the ‘Thaladi Gimanhala’; a nearby road-side restaurant along the A-14 highway which is operated by the SL Army, we continued to have a drive in the other side of the Vankalai Sanctuary.

Though the water levels were high and we had to limit our drive only to the main roads, we were able to spot quite a few bird species that morning which included Egrets, Herons, Spoon-bills, Open-bills, Plovers, Gulls, Sandpipers, Redshanks, Kites and Stilts etc. 

These are some bird, butterfly and dragonfly photos taken during the 2025 Mannar trip.

Asian Open-bill @ Vankalai

Black-winged Stilt @ Vankalai

Curlew Sandpipers @ Adam’s Bridge

Spoon-bill & Great Egret @ Vankalai

Greater Sand Plover @ Vankali

Green Sandpiper @ Vankalai

House Sparrow @ Pesalai

Little Ringed Plover @ Vankali

Spot-billed Pelican @ Pesalai

Spotted Redshank @ Vankalai

Black-headed Sea Gulls @ Vankalai

Great Egrets @ Vankali

Twaney Coster @ Vankalai

Blue Percher (?) @ Vankalai

Scarlet Basker (?) @ Vankalai

Variable Flutterer @ Vankalai