Recommended citation:
Ceylon Bird Club. 2022. Sri Lanka List (Country List) of bird species. Version 3. http://www.ceylonbirdclub.org

Sri Lanka List (Country List) of bird species

Version 3. January 2022

The Sri Lanka List of bird species (the Country List of bird species for Sri Lanka) is compiled by the Ceylon Bird Club (CBC). Its basis is explained in The Avifauna of Sri Lanka: An overview of the current status (2009) D. Warakagoda and U. Sirivardana, Taprobanica. Vol. 1 (1), pp. 28-35, and the section  ‘The CBCRRC List Categories’ in the document  ‘The Ceylon Bird Club Rarities and Records Committee’.

The current List records 463 species of birds, of which 242 breed in the country and 33 are recognized as endemic to it. A number of further species is under evaluation by the Ceylon Bird Club Rarities and Records Committee (CBCRRC) and those ratified will be added to the list. Now added since its last version (May 2020) are those ratified by the CBCRRC between then and December 2021. (Note: The CBC may in its other work provisionally accept a new taxon before it is ratified by the CBCRRC.)

The classification, taxonomy and sequence followed in this List conform to the Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, Vols.1 & 2 (2014 & 2016) J. del Hoyo and N. J. Collar and its online update (December 2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International Digital Checklist of the Birds of the World, Version 6(2021).

The listing is to species level, giving binomens, except that when a subspecies occur­ring in Sri Lanka is conspicuously distinct in plumage and/or other characteristics from other subspecies it is added, with its trinomen (to assist in identifying it in regional or specialized works).

The common or English names stated for bird Families, species, and subspecies are those used in the Checklist, above, and the alternatives (with ‘/’ before each) are those still popular locally and used by the CBC until recently.

Status of species and subspecies is given in accordance with the information known of their occurrence in the country including its coastal waters. The status of species migrant to the country is divided into ’migrant’ and ‘vagrant’ as explained below. The status codes used are as follows. Note that ‘R+M’ indicates that a population of each status (‘R’ and ‘M’) occurs in the country.

E:       the species is endemic to Sri Lanka.
R:      the species or subspecies is a resident in Sri Lanka, i.e. breeding in the country, and resident in it throughout or (as mainly in the case of seabirds) part of the year.
M:     the species or subspecies is a regular migrant breeding elsewhere, which may be a common, fairly common, rare or very rare migrant, to Sri Lanka.
V:      the species or subspecies is a vagrant to Sri Lanka, i.e. the country is outside its usual wintering range, it occurs irregularly and in small numbers.
U:      the status of the species or subspecies in Sri Lanka is uncertain.
( ):    (around a status code) the status shown is appropriate but not possible to clearly resolve on the infor­mation presently available.
? :      (against a status code) the number of birds so far recorded in the country and/or the frequency of occurrence is uncertain (as relevant to that status).