Water / Wetland Birds Found in Sri Lanka

Below is a listing of birds found in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) – native, introduced or vagrant:


Birds of PreyOwls / OwletsDoves / PigeonsParrots / Parakeets (Listing and Photos)


Photos of Water / Wetland Birds found in Sri Lanka

Asian Openbill Stork (A. oscitans) – Range: Tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia.

Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans) – Range: Tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Southeast Asia

Black Bittern (Ixobrychus flavicollis) – Range: Tropical Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to China, Indonesia and Australia

Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) – Vagrant

Cinnamon Bittern (Ixobrychus cinnamomeus) – Range: Tropical Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to China and Indonesia

Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta)

Eurasian Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus) – Range: NW Europe to N Africa and eastwards to C Siberia, humid regions of southern Asia to Japan and C Malaysia. Also Sri Lanka and the Canary, Azores, and Cape Verde Islands

Greater Adjutant, (Leptoptilos dubius) – Range: Southern Asia from Pakistan and India, Sri Lanka east to Borneo, but is now restricted to two separate small breeding populations; in Assam and Cambodia. Winter south to Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.

Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis) – Range: Tropical Asia from Oman, Yemen, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka into Southeast Asia

Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii) – Range: Europa, Asia and Africa), breeding in southern Iran and east to India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Lesser Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna javanica) or Indian Whistling Duck – Range: South Asia and southeast Asia. From the Pakistan lower river valleys eastwards across most of peninsular India, Nepal terai, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, south China, to Vietnam

Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger) – Range: Ttropical south Asia from southern Pakistan through India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia

Long-billed Plover (Charadrius placidus) – Range: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala) – Range: Asia from India and Sri Lanka to southeast Asia

Slaty-legged Crake or Banded Crake (Rallina eurizonoides) – Range: South Asia east from India and Sri Lanka to the Philippines and Indonesia

Sociable Lapwing or Sociable Plover (Vanellus gregarius) – Range: Russia and Kazakhstan. Migrates south through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, to key wintering sites in Israel, Syria, Eritrea, Sudan and north-west India. Birds winter occasionally in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Oman

Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus), also known as the Antarctic Giant Petrel, Giant Fulmar, Stinker, and Stinkpot – Seabird

Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) – Range: Sea coasts and adjacent hinterland on the Chukchi Peninsula and southwards along the isthmus of the Kamchatka peninsula. Migrates down the Pacific coast through Japan, North Korea, South Korea and China, to its main wintering grounds in South and South-East Asia, where it has been recorded from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore

Swinhoe’s Snipe (Gallinago megala) also known as Forest Snipe or Chinese Snipe – Range: Central and southern Siberia and Mongolia. Migrate to eastern and southern India, Sri Lanka, south-eastern China, South-East Asia and New Guinea

Watercock (Gallicrex cinerea) – Range: South Asia from India and Sri Lanka to south China, Japan and Indonesia

White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) – Range: South Asia from India and Sri Lanka to south China and Indonesiaka

Wire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii) – Uncommon Vagrant

Wood Snipe (Gallinago nemoricola) – Range: Himalayas of northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and southern China. Vagrant in central and southern India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, north Thailand and Laos.

Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) – Range: Tropical Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Japan and Indonesia

Photo of author

Gordon Ramel

Gordon is an ecologist with two degrees from Exeter University. He's also a teacher, a poet and the owner of 1,152 books. Oh - and he wrote this website.

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