Pomatorhinus melanurus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Sri Lanka scimitar babbler or Ceylon scimitar babbler (Pomatorhinus melanurus) is an Old World babbler. It is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka and was formerly treated as a subspecies of Indian scimitar babbler. The nominate form is found in the western part of wet hill regions of Sri Lanka, while race holdsworthi is found in the dry lowlands and eastern hills.
Most scimitar babbler species are referred as parandel kurulla by the Sinhala-speaking community. The term 'parandel' refers to dried grass and probably refers to the color of the bird. The vernacular name of the bird parandel kurulla roughly translates to English as 'dried-grass-colored bird'. This bird appears in a 4.50 rupee Sri Lankan postal stamp.
Internet Bird Collection Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Scimitar-Babbler sighting in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 706 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 156 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Sri Lanka Scimitar-Babbler in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, against about 30% in June and July, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sri Lanka Scimitar-Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Sri Lanka Scimitar-Babbler sightings, Sinharaja Forest Reserve ranks 2nd at about 40%. The best odds are in Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 60%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sri Lanka Scimitar-Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (706 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
