Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka,
The two last days I went exploring the area and did some recordings.
Monday I did a lot of bicycle pedaling and went into the Southern area near lagoons in the countryside (Naula Wewa and Radella Tank) up to the limit with the Yala park zone. I did not encounter Elephants since it was probably too early for them to be in this area, but it seems they come later in the evening. was an interesting trip. As it is the dry season, the environment is dry and the sun is strong. I scouted to find the flying foxes in this area. They were not there, but later in the day, I found them, in the lagoon of Pottuvil, on the other side of the water in the mangrove area. It was late in the day, I saw them fly away at sunset. I decided to come the day after to properly record them. I arranged a boat so I can reach their colony. And this is what we did the day after, we approach them from very close. We even climbed the mangrove trees in the middle of the lake, but climbing the tree excited the bats, and they made so many loud noises in this way. So we found another way to record more subtle sounds without disturbing them much, just by staying in the boat and recording from the side with the boom pole.
All the conditions were ideal at this place, unlike the other bat places I have been to (which were near roads), this one was away from noise pollution, only a few other birds from distance. We stayed probably more than 2 hours. I believe I captured there all of what I need for this bat project. It is a relief as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to easily get that with all the travel restrictions. I am happy with that. I also continued with the big update of all the libraries, this is still in progress, and I am planning this to go live next week if all goes fine.
I am also planning on leaving this town Friday, going to Ella in the mountain. The government announced they’ll lift some restrictions so I take this opportunity to continue my route.
