Yala 國家公園看豹

到斯里蘭卡的Yala 國家公園, 看豹是大家的第一志願。雖然很清楚野生動物自由走動，誰也無法說一定可以看到，否則去動物園看就好了。Safari 半天的行程太緊湊，為了増加機會，我和朋友選了全天。早上五點半出發，下午四點返回。(半天的十點半就折返了）Jeep 都是印度製造的，前面司機坐位較低，後面座位三排明顯地高，便利看動物。有車頂但完全沒窗。

Malabar Pied Hornbill in Yala National Park of Sri Lanka 斯里蓝卡的犀鸟

這群鳥在很遠的樹上，用望遠鏡才大概看出是犀鳥。因為很遠，想放棄不看了。導遊說等等，一隻鳥開始飛，整群都會跟進的。果然如此，大家紛紛飛到近處的樹上。其中兩隻在飛行中和在樹上都觸碰著大嘴。慢慢地，就像來時一樣，他們又漸漸飛離。這是我第一次在野外看到犀鳥，比在動物園裡看精彩多了。Our safari guide D spotted those Hornbills on the tree at the far end of the clearing. So far away I had to use binoculars to acknowledge they were indeed Malabar Pied Hornbills. D told us to wait, once one bird started to move, the rest will follow. He was right. One leave the group and flew toward us, slowly others follow. Even on the move, one pair touch beaks on the fly!

They arrived on the tree closer to us, still, the pair lock their beaks. After brief stop, the group started to move again. One by one, they leave us.

I tried to check the sex of those two kissers later when I had the bird book and internet access. My guess is they were both female, but can't confirm.

Photos by Dinesh Harsha.