An afternoon on the Hamilton Canal

We spent a very enjoyable four hours chugging along the Hamilton Canal, a waterway built originally by the Dutch, then altered by the British in 1804. It runs from Puttalam to Colombo through the busy Negombo lagoon.

The canal now appears to be a commuting conduit for fishermen wanting to get into the lagoon and out onto the open sea. In many parts it appeared to be clogged with rubbish - mostly plastic bags - but that aside, it is a haven for many water birds including kingfishers, egret, birds of prey, and several species of heron.
The lagoon is very large but only five foot deep so Sarath, our guide, was constantly on the lookout for shallow water. The trip took us south across the lagoon to an area of mangrove swampland to the very south where we spotted a troupe of macaques, a stork-billed kingfisher (far too quick to take a snap), sea eagle, bee eaters, a small crocodile and dozens of terns that skillfully followed in our wake, diving occasionally into the churned up water behind the outboard for tiny fish. 
It was a great way to spend an afternoon with lots of bird life to photograph. Excellent value for US60 (or A$20 each for the four of us).

Macaque monkeys

Purple heron in silhouette

Very large sea eagle, flying high

Tern in flight behind our motor boat

Tern in flight behind our motor boat

There's a lot of activity around the lagoon - fish farms, boat yards, fish out in the sun drying - and everywhere, people fixing nets.

Pond heron

An agamid - a common green garden lizard that has chameleon-like tendencies - some of the males turn bright red in different seasons

Water monitor

Kingfisher nesting among the plastic encrusted mud banks along the Hamilton Canal

Little egret

Pond heron

Indian cormorant, or shag

Little egret resting one leg

Koel or Sri Lankan cuckoo