Speed maniacs visiting Horton Plains a menace to endangered bird species

Fast moving vehicles at the Horton Plains National Park is causing serious problems to many animals that live there including the Sri Lanka dull-blue flycatcher, an endemic bird, Chathuranga Dharmaratne of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP) says.

Those birds generally occupied road banks as their nesting sites and many were killed each year by fast moving vehicles at the National Park, especially during the month April which was their breeding season, Dharmaratne said.

Dharmaratne pointed out that the April New Year season, during which a large number of local and foreign tourists visited Horton Plains, was the main breeding season for the particular species in that habitat.

“The overlap of these two factors causes serious problems to the birds. Vehicles travel at high speeds within the national park and many animals die, especially dull-blue flycatchers during incubation or while feeding their nestlings. Furthermore, fledglings are also directly impacted by these fast-moving vehicles, as nesting sites are often located beside the road,” he said.

Dharmaratne recommends that there should be a speed limit for vehicles inside the National Park and surrounding montane cloud forests to prevent needless killing of the flycatcher as well as other endemic species.

“The dull-blue flycatcher prefers to use road banks as nesting sites and these are often disturbed by visitors. Wildlife viewing opportunities should be provided at safe distances from the nesting sites to avoid, or at least to minimise, disturbances by visitors. Visitors and photographers must be educated on the importance of maintaining a safe distance from breeding sites as much as possible.”

Sri Lanka Dull-Blue flycatcher is an endemic, understory insectivorous bird that is confined to the central hills of Sri Lanka (above 600m above sea level). This species has been already identified as Near-Threatened (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning it faces the risk of extinction in the near future.