Electric Birding

19th January

2012-01-23T10:17:00.000+07:00

Went back to the Ministry of Public Relations on 19th and found that the single Spangled Drongo had been joined by a further three individuals, all feeding in a flowering tree.

More Spangles

2012-01-17T22:56:00.001+07:00

An early morning walk at the Ministry of Public Relations produced a single Spangled Drongo feeding in a flowering tree, two Black-naped Monarchs, the wintering Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, two Black-naped Orioles and single Taiga and Asian Brown Flycatchers.

hard to Swallow

2012-01-15T11:24:00.004+07:00

First trip of the year to Suan Rot Fai this morning produced a nice selection of year ticks, with highlights being the female Chinese Blue Flycatcher (first seen in December), a Radde's Warbler and a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler all in "The Ramble". The pale-legged surprised me as I have not seen one in mid-winter in the city before this week, but I also found one near my house yesterday. I met a couple of local bird photographers who told me that the male Chinese Blue Fly from December is also still present.

Radde's Warbler

The other notable bird this morning was a Swallow spp that I saw for a couple of minutes in poor light soon after sunrise - it was either a Red-rumped or a Striated (I think the latter because the rump was quite dark and I could not see any pale/reddish nape; the bird didn't quite seem to have the right proportions for red-rump and the flight seemed relatively "lazy" for a hirundine). Whilst Red-rumped is a common winterer in much of Thailand I have only seen them a few times in the city, meanwhile Round (2008) states that Striated is a short-distance migrant that might occur in the Central Plains as a non-breeding visitor. Rather annoying not to nail it as either spp!

Christmas and New Year travels

2012-01-11T18:09:00.002+07:00

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur of airports and longhaul flights and varying climates. I flew to the UK on 23rd Dec and spent five days in shock at just how dark Britain is in winter (it was the first time in five years that I have experienced a British winter). Fortuitously my sister lives next door to Fen Drayton RSPB reserve so during the brief periods of day light I was able to do a bit of birding - best being a short-eared owl hunting along the reserve'saccess track.

I also made a morning dash to Norfolk to see my friend Sacha, and the Western Sandpiper at Cley (old habits die hard).

On the 29th I flew to Orlando, Florida to join my wife and her parents for New Year, and to end the year with a glut of year ticks. Florida is just amazing for birds - my in-laws have a fairly unremarkable garden but it was covered in White Ibises then a flock of 100+ Brown-headed Cowbirds followed by a flock of about 30 foraging Palm Warblers on my first morning, and a few hours later three Sandhill Cranes strolled across lawn, totally unfussed by my presence. The last bird of the year was a Great Horned Owl in a neighbour's garden at sunset on 31st Dec...it was also a world tick!

Myrtle Warbler in the garden

Chipping Sparrow in the garden

Sandhill Crane...in the garden!

We also made a trip to the Everglades from 2nd-4th January, which unfortunately coincided with a cold front coming from the north which introduced chilly and windy weather and this made it hard to find the wide selection of wood-warblers that I had been hoping for, however I still came away with 5+ Black-and-white Warblers, Common Yellowthroat and two Northern Parulas, whilst I had earlier picked up a Yellow-throated Warbler on the Disney Preserve just down the road from my in-law's place. It's also a good start to the year when your first mammal of the year is a Manatee!

On the way back to Thailand I had a stop over at Newark and so made a fleeting visit to Manhattan, walking from Madison Square gardens to Central Park, scored a few birds in the Ramble and on the lake (best being a female Bufflehead and a very showy Cooper's Hawk), and then headed home. Now the jetlag has mostly gone, and I'm ready for some Asian birding!

Cooper's Hawk in Central Park

Spoon-billed Sandpiper expedition video

2011-12-21T15:31:00.001+07:00

Amazing work!

Urban birding with the Urban Birder

2011-12-19T12:24:00.002+07:00

I took David Lindo and his partner, Penny for an early morning birding trip to Suan Rot Fai this morning. David has done lots of birding in urban environments around the world, but I think my patch managed to hold its own! Goodies this morning included yesterday's Black-winged Cuckooshrike and the long-staying male Chinese Blue Flycatcher, with a nice selection of "sibes" to make David's first venture in Asian avifauna somewhat overwhelming - at least six Brown Shrikes, several Yellow-brows, point-blank views of Taiga Flycatcher, two Asian Brown Flycatchers, several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters overhead, two races of Ashy Drongo, a single Black Drongo, 10+ Black-naped Orioles, prolonged views of Black-capped Kingfisher and a couple of Indian Rollers.

Brown Shrike

Cuckooshrike & Scops Owl

2011-12-18T10:08:00.003+07:00

6.45-9.00 am at Suan Rot Fai produced two patch ticks, and a good selection of winter visitors. The two new birds were a female Black-winged Cuckooshrike (an uncommon winter visitor to the Bangkok area) feeding in the mid- and upper level foliage of a rain tree in association with a mouhoti Ashy Drongo and a small party of Black-naped Orioles.

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

The other new bird was a Collared Scops Owl that I inadvertently flushed from its roost and perched up briefly to give me an evil stare. Despite this being "one of the most ecologically tolerant owls in Thailand" (Round 2008) this is the first time I have seen one at SRF.

Other notables this morning included one Thick-billed Warbler, one Asian Brown Flycatcher, 10+ Taiga Flycatchers, three Black-capped Kingfishers, three Brown Shrikes and a Black-naped Monarch.

15th Dec 2011

2011-12-17T07:32:00.001+07:00

Started and ended the day with a bit of birding; early morning gave me nice views of a Peregrine over the Ministry of Public Relations, whilst a trip to Suan Rot Fai after work provided distant views of the male Chinese Blue Flycatcher again (bribed to stay in situ by a photographer's mealworms) two or three Thick-billed Warblers, one Brown Shrike, four Taiga and five Asian Brown Flies.

A lovely winter's day, Bangkok style

2011-12-12T21:17:00.000+07:00

Today was probably the coldest so far this "winter" - it must have got down to about 17 celcius by dawn and so was wonderfully cool. My early morning walk (still in shorts and T-shirt) to the Ministry of Public Relations produced some nice birding - the first Thick-billed Warbler I have seen at this site, a Black-naped Monarch, Yellow-browed Warbler and three Taiga Flys.

Blue Flys and Green Pigs

2011-12-11T19:27:00.002+07:00

A couple of hours on the patch early morning showed early promise with a pair of Radde's Warblers in "The Ramble". I picked them up on my first circuit of this part of the park, and on a second sweep picked up a female Cyornis flycatcher which eventually showed well in response to some pishing - the pale throat indicating that it was a Chinese Blue Flycatcher.

From this angle it could be one of several Cyornis spp

Rufous breast, with pale throat in a point reaching to base of bill = CBF

A little later In the "Canal Zone" I picked up another Cyornis, this time a male, which showed well, if rather briefly, and displayed a narrow finger of red stretching up to the bill-base, confirming it as another Chinese Blue Flycatcher.

In between these two sightings I checked a fruiting tree which held a Thick-billed Green Pigeon - a species that is known to be a winter wanderer to the lower Central Plains from its forest habitats elsewhere in Thailand. Given that the bird shows no suspicious signs of wear I presume that it is a genuine vagrant.

Common migrants/winterers included 5+ Brown Flys, 10+ Taiga Flys two Yellow-browed Warblers, 10+ Black-naped Orioles, three Black-capped Kingfishers and two Thick-billed Warblers.

Inner gulf of Thailand

2011-12-08T22:57:00.001+07:00

Waders at Pak Thale included one Spoon-billed Sandpiper. We also saw a flock of 52 Nordmann's Greenshanks with perhaps 300 Great Knot about 1km north of the Royal Project. The pools on the main road in this area were really loaded with birds today.

After lunch we went to Nong Plah Lai raptor watchpoint and were rewarded with c. 6 Greater Spotted Eagles, 1 Pied and 3 Eastern Marsh Harriers and 20+ Black Kites.

Above & below: 1cy Pied Harrier

Watercock

2011-12-02T16:58:00.004+07:00

A short visit to Suan Rot Fai before work produced two interesting birds, but alas only one turned out to be a patch tick (which brings my patch list to 110). Bird of the day was a Watercock seen rather briefly at very close range (I came over the brow of a stream bank and the bird froze, but then legged it when I reached to switch from bins to camera). I saw it badly a couple more times, but it was very easily spooked. My thinking is that this bird probably followed the flood waters into the city and has stuck around since the floods have receded (I'm just hoping I can soon find a Masked Finfoot that has done the same thing!).

The other interesting bird was a raptor, an juv accipiter-type that sat in a tree for 10 minutes at first light, allowing me to get some pictures of it to capture the birds heavy set bill, strong-looking legs, small crest...and jessies and leg iron! Before I noticed the damming evidence of escapism I had been leaning towards Grey-faced Buzzard (though the crest doesn't exactly fit with that), but now that I know it's a wire-hopper I guess it could be non-native. I need to re-visit Crested Goshawk ID, but in the meantime any comments on the pictures below gratefully received! EDIT Posted this on BirdForum and it was quickly nailed as a Crested Goshawk.

Note slight crest

Appears to have a gular stripe

only two dark bars visible on tail; bill deep and heavy

More run-of the-mill offerings this morning included two Brown Shrikes, about seven Taiga Flycatchers, one Black-naped Monarch, a pair of Yellow Bitterns, a pair of Painted Storks low overhead, 15+ Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and a single Thick-billed Warbler.

Painted Storks

Spangled Drongo

2011-11-26T12:00:00.003+07:00

Back in Bkk and so did SRF this morning, for the first time in almost a month, due mainly to the distraction caused by the floods. I am not sure for how long SRF was flooded, but from seeing it today it is obvious that flooding was extensive and has caused a lot of damage, with many areas of grassland now dead, and a putrid smell throughout the park. Most distressingly, one of my favourite trees in the park, a large and dense fig that has played host to many good passerine migrants (including this autumn's Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher) has succumbed to the flood, its sodden root system overwhelmed and the tree falling. Still it's a small price to pay compared with what has happened elsewhere (the human death toll from the floods is now more than six hundred).

Birding produced a new patch bird in the shape of a Spangled Drongo, seen a couple of time perched low-down, and moving about in rather a lethargic manner, plus a Black Drongo and two Ashy Drongos. Taiga Flies amounted to about 10 birds, Asian Brown Fly two, 1-2 Black-naped Monarch and four Yellow-browed Warblers.

Spangled Drongo - note the square tail (not forked),
with up-turned corners and long, tapering bill.

This enlargement shows the long, thin plumes that give this species
the alternative name of "Hair-crested Drongo"

West Railey Beach, Krabi, 23rd-25th Nov

2011-11-26T11:44:00.000+07:00

A few days non-birding holiday on the beach still produced a few notable wildlife encounters - best being an unseen, but regularly heard White-crowned Forktail around our cottage, and a troupe of Dusky Languars, which included a mum with bright orange baby.

Rock Chick

2011-11-21T15:54:00.002+07:00

Walk around the Ministry of Public Relations this morning - I took my shiny new pair of Zen-Ray 8x43 ED3 binoculars with me (purchased as a 'back up bin" as my Leica's need to go to Germany for repair). These bins cost less than GBP 300 and seem to be amazingly good value.

Highlights this morning were a group of three Ashy Woodswallows (uncommon in the city centre) and a stunning female White-throated Rock Thrush. This is the first female that I have seen in Bangkok (after seeing four males in the last three winters), so it was good to get to grips with one - basically a brown and white shadow of the male, but with a gorgeously scalloped breast that was sharply demarcated from the creamy white belly. A great bird, and remarkably small for a Rock Thrush.

2011-11-10T12:28:00.000+07:00

Wander around the Ministry of Public Relations this morning provided more views of the Blyth's Leaf Warbler, at least three Yellow-browed Warblers, two Taiga Flycatchers, one Brown Shrike and four Black-naped Orioles.

"Blyth's" Leaf Warbler

2011-11-09T13:18:00.003+07:00

Another early morning at the Ministry of Public Relations, and another surprise.... I got onto a Yellow-browed Warbler and watched it for a couple of minutes, and then became aware of another phyllosc close by. This second bird looked somewhat bigger, with less "compact" proportions that the yellow-brow - it had a longer bill and tail. It displayed two well-defined yellow wingbars, and a strong supercilium, with the bill having a pink lower mandible with a dark tip. Given these features, I was reasonably confident that it was a Two-barred Greenish Warbler, though something seemed wrong - it appeared to have at least a hint of a central crown stripe (which 2BGW doesn't show) - was I screwing up an Eastern Crowned? Rather frustratingly it moved deeper and higher into cover and started preening, but was helpfully flushed by a Black-naped Monarch, and dropped down to give me excellent, pointblank views just above head height and I could now see that it did indeed have a quite well-marked central crown stripe, and two very obvious wing bars (so ruling out Eastern Crowned). At this stage I was very confused about what it was - I see lots of Yellow-brows, Eastern Crowned and Arctic Warblers in Bangkok, plus a few 2BGWs, but this thing wasn't any of those! I guessed it might be Blyth's Leaf Warbler, and indeed a check of the books once home, and consultation with Oriental Bird Images confirms the ID. However Blyth's has recently been split into three species including claudiae and goodsoni, and it seems pretty difficult to assign a bird in the field to one or other of these species, though it is thought that migrants in Thailand are claudiae (per Phil Round).

"Blyth's" Leaf Warbler is a non-breeding visitor to the Bangkok area, seemingly in small numbers, though I suspect it is under-recorded here.

EDIT: tried to get some photos of the Blyth's after work - whilst I did see it, it wasn't playing ball for the camera.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

2011-11-08T09:04:00.001+07:00

Early morning walk at Ministry of Public Relations produced a big surprise in the shape of a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, which is only the second individual I have ever seen (the other was at Kaeng Krachan National Park a few years back). This species is generally uncommon, and a winter/passage migrant here. A couple of other interesting birds included a Black-naped Monarch and an Ashy Drongo.

I tried to go to Suan Rot Fai yesterday, but the deteriorating flood situation made it impossible - I suspect the park has actually been closed until the flood has passed - sadly it looks like I won't get crocodile on my patch list!

Road outside Chatuchauk weekend market, looking north

White-throated Rock-thrush

2011-11-02T10:24:00.000+07:00

Early morning walk around the Ministry of Public relations gave me a very nice surprise when I glimpsed a medium sized passerine a couple of times that I couldn't get any detail on...and once it gave itself up it turned out to be a spanking male White-throated Rock-thrush. This is the third year in a row that I have found this species in central Bangkok during the first ten days of November, and it is obviously peak time for them to be passing through this part of Thailand. Interestingly all the birds I have seen have been males.

easy Cyornis

2011-10-31T09:51:00.002+07:00

Went for an early morning walk at the Ministry of Public Relations this morning and picked up a very smart male Chinese Blue Flycatcher - easily identified by the narrow streak of pale orange extending up to the chin from the upper orange breast. A much simpler affair than dealing with the last couple of female-type Cyornis that I have encountered. Round (2008) states that Chinese Blue Flycatcher is an "uncommon or rare passage migrant and occasional winterer".

Also a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers, two Yellow-browed Warbler and a Black-naped Oriole in the same area.

Flycatcher number 10

2011-10-29T10:14:00.003+07:00

Bright and sunny morning on the patch, with water levels in the lakes at the lowest I have ever seen them; strange given the current circumstances.

The highlight of the morning was a male Verditer Flycatcher, a patch tick and my 10th species of flycatcher in Suan Rot Fai. It appeared in front of me in a fruiting fig (just long enough to grab the picture below) and then promptly disappeared, never to be seen again. Round (2008) states that Verditer Fly is an uncommon winter visitor, with earliest arrival date being 23rd Oct, but the species remaining scarce until mid-Nov; he also states that adult males are rare in the Bangkok area.

Number 10

Otherwise the park was slightly quieter than of late, with only one Eastern Crowned and three Yellow-browed Warblers, though there are still lots of Taiga Flys around and a reasonable number of Asian Browns and Black-naped Orioles.

Two new herons

2011-10-27T11:55:00.003+07:00

Bangkok is now on a five-day weekend, thanks to the flooding situation around the city (this is in addition to Monday of this week being a holiday!). As such I did SRF first thing this morning - there were not many people using the park, with many having left the city or staying home in fear of the flood! The park itself is dry, and getting drier day-by-day, now that the rains have stopped. Our house is also totally flood free (for now).

Birding this morning was really quite productive, with me getting two patch ticks - firstly a real bogey bird in the form of a pair of Great White Egrets (amazingly common in Thailand, but seemingly not so in the inner city) - and the other being a 1cy Cinnamon Bittern that flushed from the Lilly Pond, showing well in flight a couple of times. I have previously found a dead Cinnamon Bittern close to my house (in Nov 2008), and Graham Gordon saw one in Suan Rot Fai in April this year, so this is a species that has been "on the cards". Other highlights this morning were a pair of Black Bazas circling low over the park at about 7am (I presume they had roosted in the park) and a Peregrine.

1cy Cinnamon Bittern

One of two Great White Egrets

Passerine migrants were somewhat more run-of-the-mill, with one or two Eastern Crowned, one Arctic and one Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, at least five Asian Brown and 15+ Taiga Flycatchers; a single leucogenis Ashy Drongo a showy Brown Shrike (very preoccupied with devouring a large bush cricket), ten or so Barn Swallows and four Black-naped Orioles. I also spent some time checking open grassland for pipits, in the hope of picking up a Richard's, but only came away with six Paddyfields.

1cy cristatus Brown Shrike

Asian Barred Owlet

Asian Openbill

Taiga takeover

2011-10-25T12:35:00.001+07:00

SRF 0815-1000hrs, with very good numbers of Taiga Flycatchers throughout the park - I must have seen/heard at least 30. Other species included three Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, one Eastern Crowned Warbler, five Black-naped Orioles, six Asian Brown Flycatchers, 10 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and 4 Yellow-browed Warblers. I finally got decent views of an Accipiter, which turned out to be a female Shikra.

Bazas over Bangkok

2011-10-23T11:56:00.002+07:00

SRF 0600-0930 hrs produced a good selection of migrants, with the highlight being a Hoopoe, which is a patch tick. I think it was probably of the migratory race saturata, given that the body was a relatively pale pink. Other notables were two Dusky, one Pale-legged, two Eastern Crowned, four Arctic and two Thick-billed Warblers; three Brown Shrikes, perhaps 15 Taiga Flycatchers, 10+ Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, four Black-naped Orioles and two Ashy Drongos.

I tried viz-migging from SRF but only picked up 10+ Stork spp and one Accipiter sp. I had brief views of one other Accipiter perched (probably a Shikra).

Once back at home I tried viz-migging from our balcony from 1030-1100 hrs and did a bit better, scoring 3 Great Cormorants going east very high, and a flock of c. 15 Black Baza going WSW.

Thick-billed Warbler in the early morning gloom


The open face and beady-eye always makes T-b W's look "surprised to be alive"!

Raptors from the house

2011-10-22T19:35:00.004+07:00

After scoring the parakeet shots detailed below, I decided to have a go at looking for migrant raptors (they are now expecting massive Black Baza passage down at Chumphon - massive being like 50,000 birds in a single day!). So I did a watch between 09.20 and 10.10 hours (peak daily passage at Chumphon is usually 9am - 11am). Within a couple of minutes of starting I was elated to pick up a large group of raptors (at least 20 birds) circling over the city, but they were distant and I managed to totally lose them whilst switching from bins to 'scope! I suspect they were Black Bazas, but can't be sure. Otherwise I picked up two separate Accipiters, both heading SE - one looked longer winged than the other, but views were brief so again I'm uncertain on species. I got better views of a Peregrine that was buzzing around at lower altitude - probably one of the local birds that I see around our neighbourhood occasionally.

EDIT: There were 20,808 Black Baza seen in Chumphon today!

Parakeets from the guest bedroom

2011-10-22T08:58:00.002+07:00

A group of Red-breasted Parakeets have been hanging around for the last few days, frequenting a couple of flowering trees just outside our house. I got these shots this morning.

Male

Female

Friday in Paradise

2011-10-21T08:22:00.004+07:00

Walked around the Ministry of Public Relations early morning and was rewarded with a reasonable number of migrants including a 1cy Asian Paradise Flycatcher of the migrant race incei, which is rather surprisingly the first one I have seen this autumn. Others migrants included at least three Yellow-browed Warblers, one Arctic Warbler, one Taiga Flycatcher, a Brown Shrike (heard only), and a Black-naped Oriole.

I also saw a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers, one of which confused me because it was giving a high-pitched, drawn out single note contact call that I had not heard before. I checked the call against a MP3 of what Xeno-Canto has down as a Dark-sided Flycatcher. The call my bird was giving and the MP3 were almost inseparable, so this contact call would not be very useful for separating these two species in the field (a quick check of X-C shows that it has a couple of examples of ABF giving this contact call).

Kes

2011-10-19T18:52:00.000+07:00

No real birding today, just a walk around the Ministry of Public Relations early morning which produced five Yellow-browed Warblers (obvious passage), plus single Asian Brown Fly and Brown Shrike.

Everybody at my office was freaking out this afternoon because the flood waters around the city seem to be breaking through the last line of defenses - I left the office early as a result and managed to score a Common Kestrel over the office (uncommon winter visitor here).

I *think* our house and my office should be unaffected by the floods, but Amalee's office is definitely at risk.

Green-billed Malkhoa

2011-10-18T22:35:00.000+07:00

Last hour of daylight spent on the patch again, with a reasonable selection of typical migrants. Whilst pishing I pulled in two Yellow-browed and an Eastern Crowned Warbler, two Taiga Flycatchers, a Black-naped Oriole, and Ashy Drongo. In addition to these I pulled in a Green-billed Malkhoa (a rare resident in downtown Bangkok).

Elsewhere in the park birding was a bit slower, with one Arctic Warbler, one Black-capped Kingfisher and a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers. I glimpsed another Accipiter spp as it shot through the canopy, then it was gone.

The wind has now turned E/NE and so it felt much drier today, which will be much appreciated by everybody in flood-threatened Bangkok. Now we have to see what it will do for the birding...


Yellow-browed

Eastern Crowned (note contrasting vent against whitish underparts)

Eastern Crowned (same bird as above)

Black-naped Monarch

2011-10-16T12:03:00.004+07:00

Did the patch 0620-0915 hrs. This morning's highlight was an Black-naped Monarch - a species that is common in much of Thailand, but is an uncommon non-breeding visitor around Bangkok (I normally see them in Nov/Dec).

Otherwise there was a nice selection of migrants included one Pale-legged, one Eastern Crowned three Arctic, and four Yellow-browed Warblers, also at least five Brown Shrikes, five Black-naped Orioles, five Asian Brown and ten Taiga Flycatchers. I also had an unidentified Accipiter carrying prey in The Ramble.

Black-naped Oriole

Asian Brown Flycatcher (different bird from those images below)

ECW v Odanata

More phyllosc action

2011-10-15T13:04:00.002+07:00

Highlights at Suan Rot Fai between 0615- 0815 hrs included at least seven Eastern Crowned Warblers, (including six together!) and the first Dusky Warbler of the autumn.

A couple of ECWs finally giving themselves up for the camera...

103 Spoon-billed Sandpipers in China

2011-10-14T09:43:00.001+07:00

Meniux Tong has just posted the following messages on Oriental Birding

"On October 12th, more than 5 flocks and up to 103 spoon-billed sandpiper
were recorded in the high tide. That is clearly the highest number for over
20 years and probably half of the global breeding population.!!"

The site is loacted "in Xiao Yangkou, Rudong, and north of Yangtze River
estuary, one of the important staging sites for migrating shorebirds along
the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. A maximum of 24 SBS was counted during
autumn 2010."

Composite warbler

2011-10-13T22:12:00.007+07:00

Late afternoon at Suan Rot Fai again. Not too much of note - five or so Asian Brown Flies, a few more Taigas, nice views of an Asian Barred Owlet. There were more Black-naped Orioles around (one pair and a group of three) indicating some passage, a single Ashy Drongo and two Yellow-browed Warblers.

Black-naped Oriole

The highlight was this Two-barred Greenish Warbler that was moving around very fast and not really offering much for the camera, but these shots show some of the key features...

Well-marked, broad double wing bar -

much stronger than on Arctic Warbler

Dark legs, markedly darker than the vast majority of Arctic W.

Lower mandible pale, with only a hint of a dark tip.

Annoyingly out of focus, but note strong wingbars

and the supercilium apparently bulging behind the eye.

Skywatching

2011-10-12T11:02:00.002+07:00

Tried looking for signs of viz-mig from the office roof again this morning - was a bit disappointing on the raptor front (one accipiter spp was all I got). Other notables were a single Painted Stork, two drongo spp, and a few Barn Swallows.

The Twighlight Zone

2011-10-11T20:38:00.001+07:00

Did Suan Rot Fai late afternoon but heavily moisture-laden clouds made everything very dim well before sunset. Kept getting fleeting glimpses of interesting-looking birds that never reappeared with the only thing nailed of any real interest being a Siberian Blue Robin tic'ing away in a dense bamboo clump and then showing briefly. Also a couple of Asian Brown Flies seen, and a Taiga heard. One other notable record - a group of three Cattle Egrets (not so common on the patch) over at dusk.

Red-breasted Parakeet

2011-10-11T09:12:00.003+07:00

Not much free time in the last few days to get out, and the rains have been on-and-off making it difficult to go out when I am free. I was supposed to go to NW Thailand this week but the extreme flooding across the Central Plains forced me to abandon that plan.

This morning I was at home when I lifted the bedroom blind to see two Red-breasted Parakeets perched up, but by the time I got the camera one had departed. Red-breatsed Parakeets seem to appear in my neighbourhood during the wet season, but I have never seen them at Suan Rot Fai. Pretty good as garden birds go I suppose...

Thick-billed Warbler

2011-10-06T10:07:00.005+07:00

This morning's offerings from Suan Rot Fai included a beady-eyed Thick-billed Warbler and a couple of Ashy Drongos - the first of both species this autumn. Other migrants included four Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, two Eastern Crowned Warblers, one Arctic Warbler, two Black-capped Kingfishers and about five each of Taiga and Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Indian Roller

Regarding Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, in recent years it has been split from Sakhalin Leaf Warbler. The suspicion exists that Sakhalin LW may occur in Thailand, but the only reliable way to separate the two species seems to be on song (not much good on migration!). There is an interesting discussion here on the subject.

Daurian Starlings from the house

2011-10-05T23:46:00.000+07:00

After glimpsing a couple of groups of small starlings yesterday I spent the last hour of daylight watching the passage of sturnidae and corvids that commute past our house to their roost sites each evening. During that time I picked up a single, then a flock of approximately 10 Daurian Starlings whizzing past - a very nice addition to the garden list!

Lancy!

2011-10-05T11:56:00.000+07:00

Early morning on the patch again today, with highlights being a Lanceolated Warbler (seen feeding in association with a 1cy male Siberian Blue Robin!) in The Ramble, and an Oriental Reed Warbler (both the Lancy and ORW being patch ticks).

Lancy

Other notable arrivals were 2-3 Siberian Stonechats and a couple of Paddyfield Pipits. Taiga Flycatchers seem to have arrived in good numbers, with perhaps 10 birds seen/heard, and similar numbers of Asian Brown Flycatchers and Arctic Warblers. I also had two Eastern Crowned Warblers and two Pale-legged Leaf Warblers.

2011-10-04T09:19:00.004+07:00

Arctic Warbler

Rather a frustrating morning, with overnight rain stopping when I left the house, but starting again by the time I got to the patch. Ended up sitting in a shelter staking out "the secret garden", hoping for a skulking Zoothera (who wouldn't?!) but instead just getting the bread-and-butter migrants - an Arctic Warbler showed well, whilst Yellow-rumped and Asian Brown Flies zipped about in the bamboo.

When the rain finally stopped I took a short walk and found a male Siberian Blue Robin, but I was out of time - I needed to get to the office.

As I was getting home this evening, about to dismount from my motorbike taxi I noticed a group of about 6 small greyish-looking starlings head over my house. We live on a sturnidae flyway that the four resident species use when going to roost in the evenings. Encouraged by this fleeting glimpse of something more interesting I spent the last 20 minutes of day light watching to see what else was going past, and briefly picked up another group of similar greyish-looking starlings, but views were not good enough to determine if they were Daurian, White-shouldered or Chestnut-tailed (though I suspect the latter) which are all passage migrants (Chestnut-tailed also breeds in very small numbers). Try again tomorrow...

Blue Monday version 2.0

2011-10-03T13:00:00.006+07:00

Suan Rot Fai early morning - weather was rather dismal and the light not great, which really didn't help things when I found a skulking female Cyornis flycatcher. It showed a couple of times really badly, and I got some photos that might help clinch the ID (it's either Hill Blue or Chinese Blue, but the taxonomy is complex (e.g. see here) and ID'ing a female bird on migration is a headache).

Hhhmm...

More by a process of elimination than anything else, I think this bird is probably a Hill Blue Flycatcher. There is a lack of contrasting pale throat against the colour of the breast (which this bird exhibited, and which I am now confident is a "Chinese Blue", the former glaucicomans race of Blue-throated). Cyornis flycatchers are a real challenge to ID on migration, and today's little skulker was no exception.

The other main highlight of the morning was a flock of 10-15 Blue-throated Bee-eaters, a new bird for the patch. Blue-throated is a relatively common migrant and a bird that I've been expecting, so it was great to finally connect with a rather showy group that passed through the park, stopped to feed and then carried on south.

A study in blue

There was a nice variety of other migrants around including the first Taiga Flycatcher and Black-capped Kingfishers (2) of the autumn, two Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, Eastern Crowned Warbler, two Plain-tailed Warblers, five Asian Brown Flycatchers and several Brown Shrikes.

More Sibe Blue Robins

2011-10-02T19:52:00.001+07:00

Suan Rot Fai 1645-1815hrs. Not sure I have ever been to my local patch on a Sunday afternoon before, an now I know why - The park was rammed full of loved up couples, loud and happy families and gaggles of raucous teenagers. I went into "The Ramble", which is one of the densest areas of habitat in the park and despite the high level of disturbance I scored one, probably two Siberian Blue Robins, a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, two Arctic Warblers, one Yellow-browed Warbler, a female type Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and an Asian Barred Owlet - all of these whilst a constant stream of Thai families noisily cycled around the path that encircles The Ramble. I watched one of the Sibe Blue Robins hidden in the undergrowth a few meters in front of me whilst a small child threw a full-on tantrum at her mother a few meters behind me. The Robin seemed totally unconcerned!

A 2nd for Thailand...on my patch?

2011-09-30T15:50:00.007+07:00

Phil Round has just published this article discussing the identification criteria of Northern Boobook, a species split by Ben King in 2002. Phil mist-netted one in March this year at Laem Pak Bia, the first confirmed for Thailand, and as a result of research off the back of that record, as described in the article, it seems that Brown Boobook (the common resident species in Thailand) can be separated from Northern Boobook in the field - it was previously though to be separable only on biometrics (most notably, wing length) and call. The key in-the-field feature is the shape of the markings on the bird's lower breast and belly: Brown Boobook shows obvious heart-shaped spots, whilst Northern shows tear-drop shaped spots.

Photos illustrating Phil's article clearly demonstrate this difference, and a look at the Oriental Bird Images database show that this feature holds true (note that in the database of Brown Bookbook photos on OBI, picture number 5 is a mis-labelled Northern, photographed in Hong Kong in April 2011).

Confirmed/suspected records of Northern Boobook in Thailand now seem to consist of two birds photographed around Bangkok (one in Oct 2008 and one in Feb 2011) and the bird that Phil trapped in March 2011.

I saw this "Brown Boobook" at Suan Rot Fai in April 2010 (see my post here), and on telling Phil of the record (quite a good local record and the only one I have seen on the patch) he mentioned the possibility of it being Northern, given the fact that it was probably a migrant, however without the bird's biometrics it was pure speculation (the underpart pattern ID feature was unknown at that stage). However, upon reviewing the images of the bird (see below) in light of Phil's article it seems clear that this bird has only tear-drop shaped spotting and so I think it is a Northern Boobook, which based on current records would make it the 2nd record for Thailand (after the Oct 2008 bird).

Of course, given the fact that this ID feature has only just come to light it is very likely that other records of Northern Boobook will emerge, identified from photographs, so it remains to be seen what the species' true status is in Thailand. Round (2008) states that Northern Boobook breeds in China and winters in the Philippines and Indonesia, and speculated that it may occur in Thailand.

EDIT, 2nd Oct: Phil Round has commented that "assuming plumage features are reliable (and I'm pretty sure they are), I would say this is 100% a Northern Boobook." He goes on to say "The first Thai record is presumably a bird listed in Deignan's (1963) check-list as Ninox scutulata florensis (either a synonym of japonica or a subspecies of japonica) from Trang Province. I think there is another from Ko Lanta, c. 1920. There will probably turn out to be other specimens of japonica in collections. I found one in the TISTR collection collected from Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, in November 1970." That would make the Suan Rot Fai bird about the 5th Thai record...for now.

Looking up

2011-09-30T11:10:00.000+07:00

Did an early moring walk around the Ministry of Public Relations again this morning. Passerine migrants included one Asian Brown Flycatcher, one Yellow-browed Warbler and another poorly seen phyllosc sp. (probably Arctic). I also picked up two Peregrines sparring overhead and calling loudly - they looked fantastic in the early morning sun.

Before starting work a colleague and I went up to our office roof top to look for any evience of vizmig (hoping for some raptor action. We picked up one Crow-billed Drongo, small numbers of Barn Swallows, one or two distant raptors (probably accipiter spp.) and had a flock of 20 Great Cormorants heading due south (GC is a winter visitor to Thailand).

Welcome to the jungle

2011-09-29T12:11:00.010+07:00

Though the sun was shining and I expected there to have been a clearing-out of migrants, at this time of year anything can turn up - so I went to Suan Rot Fai before work today.

Things looked promising as the first two birds I saw were an adult Brown Shrike and an Asian Brown Flycatcher, followed almost immediately by my first Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn which meant new birds were in. Soon afterwards a got a fleeting glimpse of "something odd" that looked promising - a rich brown passerine that seemed to flush from very low down in a patch of gloomy palm fronds and sat up (but hidden) about five feet off the ground in some dense bamboo. I had only seen it with the naked eye, but my immediate reaction was "what the f*ck was that?" I waited for about 10 minutes but the bird didn't reappear. A bird then flew back from the same area into the palms. I scanned for several more minutes but all I could see were Streak-eared bulbuls - perhaps that was what it was... a badly seen bulbul?

I wondered back in the direction where I had seen the bird, more to follow another path than to look for it, when it flushed from a low branch over the path, and back into the palm fronds. I had again only seen it with the naked eye, and I had no idea what it was, other than the fact that it wasn't a bulbul! Moving to the farthest part of the palms so as to not disturb the bird I was astonished to see it flycatch and then drop to the ground - my view was obscured by vegetation so that all I could see was a warmish brown tail and pinkish legs - it then flicked around to show me its head and I suddenly felt very lost for an ID. The bird was acting chat-like on the ground, I could see a pale throat, dusky sides to the head extending in a diffuse band across the chest and the bill was dark but appeared to have a pale yellow base. It then disappeared and I was left trying to work out if I had seen a chat/robin or a flycatcher. Two birds entered my mind - Rufous-tailed Robin and Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher; the breast seemed wrong for the robin, and the bird looked quite large, so I started thinking more about the Jungle Fly - this was after all the exact same area of the park where I had found a Brown-chested Jungle Fly on 21st Sept 2008.

I went back to my original position and decided to wait it out. After about 15 minutes the bird reappeared in the palm fronds, giving an intensely harsh "tac" call several times in quick succession, and I saw it in flight, and perched, but obscured a couple of times - it was a skulking flycatcher, tending to keep low down in dense undergrowth, and sitting still for long periods. I also got to see that it had an obvious diffuse breast band and by this stage I was 100% certain that it was indeed a BROWN-CHESTED JUNGLE FLYCATCHER - a species listed as globally threatened, and one of the species that had inspired me to keep plugging away at Suan Rot Fai after my find in 2008.

I then moved postion, and found the bird perched in the open, and sitting very still:

Note the hooked tip of the bill, which can just be seen here.

For the benefit of birders in Bangkok, look at the google map here and look for the marker that says "Canal Zone" which marks the place where I saw the bird.

Whilst trying to clinch the ID on the bird I also managed to photograph another Pale-legged Leaf Warbler and an Arctic Warbler. I also saw a single Eastern Crowned Warbler, a single Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and another couple of Asian Brown Flys.

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Arctic Warbler

Wishing I was on the patch...

2011-09-28T09:28:00.001+07:00

No free time to do Suan Rot Fai today and that seems like bad news as my early morning walk at the Ministry of Public Relations was awash with migrants: 1 female-type Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, low down in open bushes at close range, 1 Eastern Crowned Warbler (plus fleeting glimpses of two other unidentified phylloscs), 2 Brown Shrikes, 1-2 Asian Brown Flycatchers and a single Black-naped Oriole - not bad for 20 minutes birding!

EDIT, 4th Oct: Mark Pearson did Suan Rot Fai on 28th September and found this Grey Nightjar. This is a species that has been on my list of predictions for SRF (it's a migrant), but is something that I have not yet seen (so a great find for Mark!)

Grey Nightjar (Mark Pearson)

Tuesday Blues

2011-09-27T10:46:00.004+07:00

SRF 0745-0935. Heavy overnight showers caused some new birds to drop in; during my short stint I managed to find three Siberian Blue Robins (two 1cy birds together and a separate cracking adult male), two Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, and a Forest Wagtail (that's three new species for this autumn's passage), two Plain-tailed Warblers, 5+ Asian Brown Flycatchers, 4+ Brown Shrikes, an a single Eastern Crowned Warbler.

As ever, no matter how hard I work the site I still feel that there must be loads of other birds lurking - (eg today I met a Thai birder who had just seen a male Hill Blue Flycatcher). The site has massive potential, and this is the time of year to realise it.

Plain-tailed Warbler

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Here's a chart of SE Asia's weather at 0100hrs this morning - tropical storm "Haitang" over Vietnam producing an easterly airflow. Winds here in Bangkok remain light, and have a west/SW bias, but I suspect birds are being pushed in from Vietnam/Cambodia. Note also typhoon Nesat over the Philippines.

Blue Monday

2011-09-26T23:00:00.000+07:00

Did the Ministry of Public Relations walk this morning and picked up 1-2 Eastern Crowned Warblers, plus two Asian Brown Flycatchers with little effort - migrants were obviously still in evidence.

This was confirmed to me by Mark Pearson who sent me a gripping email whilst I was welded to my desk urgently re-arranging a US$6 million budget (so I couldn't exactly skive off early). He had picked up a male Siberian Blue Robin in Suan Rot Fai, plus good numbers common migrants (even more than yesterday). I saw three Sibe Blue Robins in the park in autumn 2008, but strangely have not seen one since; we also had two dead in our garden that autumn (the only dead birds I have ever found in our garden!), which makes me think that year was exceptional for them.

100

2011-09-25T20:04:00.000+07:00

Mark Pearson's photos of the Accipiter that we had hunting over Suan Rot Fai this morning show it to have reddish underparts, very pale underwings with some barring on the secondaries, and dark tips to the underside of the primaries - a 1cy Chinese Sparrowhawk, perhaps not surprising since there were more than 2,500 Chinese Sprawks seen heading south over Chumphon yesterday (the heaviest passage of this species so far this autumn).

This is my 100th species in Suan Rot Fai, and amazingly a massive world tart's tick for me!

Hats off to Mark's sharp shooting with the camera. I owe that man a beer!

Eastern Crowned Warbler deluge

2011-09-25T12:31:00.005+07:00

0645-1030 hrs at Suan Rot Fai with visiting birder Mark Pearson. We trawled the southern sector of the park and did pretty well, finding good numbers of common migrants including at least 8 Eastern Crowned Warblers (by far the highest count that I have had in a single day), this included a single tree which held four individuals! We also had 6+ Arctic Warblers, 3 female-type Yellow-rumped Flycatchers, 9 Asian Brown Flycatchers, 3 Crow-billed Drongos, 6+ Brown Shrikes, 2 Black-naped Orioles and another Plain-tailed Warbler (my fourth in a week of this species that I had never seen in SRF before this time last week - there must be some interesting movement of this species going on at the moment).

Arctic Warbler

Crow-billed Drongo - 1cy (compare with the photo of an adult in my previous post)

Crow-billed Drongo - Adult

We also had brief views of a hunting Accipiter which Mark got some record shots of and will need some examination to determine what it was - the impression I got of it was that it might best fit 1cy Japanese Sparrowhawk but the views were very brief and so it will only be clinched if the photos are good enough (no pressure, Mark!)

2011-09-23T19:25:00.003+07:00

Corvid-beaked Drongo

Last hour of daylight spent at SRF. There were obviously good numbers of migrants around, but the diminishing light was against me, though I managed a reasonable haul with only the second Crow-billed Drongo that I have seen in the park, plus 2 Yellow-rumped Flycatchers, 4+ Asian Brown Flycatchers, 2 Brown Shrikes and single Arctic & Eastern Crowned Warblers. The ECW was so luminous in the dull conditions that it appeared to have its own light source.

2x2BGW

2011-09-23T10:28:00.003+07:00

Highlights this morning at Min of Public Relations were a pair of Two-barred Greenish Warblers, three Arctic Warblers, an adult Brown Shrike and a Common Kingfisher. The weather has been overcast and drizzly (now drying out) since yesterday, and the wind has switched from points west to points east and this seems to have grounded a migrants. Must get to the patch this afternoon!

I am not really sure how to interpret pressure charts in SE Asia, but the current high pressure over China and low pressure over Vietnam (which is presumably responsible for the current E/NE/SE breeze) can only be a good thing for producing migrants...

2011-09-22T08:22:00.000+07:00

Early morning walk at the Ministry of Public Relations produced a light sprinkling of migrants, with single Eastern Crowned Warbler, Arctic Warbler and Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Plain-tailed Warblers...like buses

2011-09-21T11:32:00.007+07:00

SRF for an hour and a half before work produced 2-3 Asian Brown Flycatchers, a Brown Shrike, 5+ Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and rather surprisingly (given my first site record was only on Sunday) two Plain-tailed Warblers; one in stream-side bamboo and the other in a dense clump of vegetation in the Park's ornamental gardens.

Japanese breakfast

2011-09-20T07:42:00.001+07:00

My early morning walk in the grounds of the Ministry of Public Relations produced no migrant warblers/flycatchers, but I was stunned to see a female Japanese Sparrowhawk take a Tree Sparrow right in front of me! It perched up, allowing me to get point blank views whilst she devoured her kill. Of course this happens when the camera is at home.

There are increasing numbers of Japanese Sprawks heading south at the moment, with 224 seen yesterday from the watchpoint of Khao Dinsor, near Chumphon.

On the way back through the grounds of the MPR I had a Grey Wagtail pass over - the first of the winter, and I picked up Brown Shrike near home.

2011-09-19T09:25:00.001+07:00

An early morning walk around the Ministry of Public Relations produced a spanking Eastern Crowned Warbler, a single Brown Shrike and Blue-tailed Bee-eater. Also a group of Cattle Egrets (joined by a single Little Egret) overhead.

The Plain facts

2011-09-18T11:55:00.001+07:00

Lots of passage migrants at Suan Rot Fai this morning, pride of place going to the first Plain-tailed Warbler that I have seen there. It was high in the canopy of The Ramble when I first got onto it, but eventually dropped low down in the undergrowth. This is a pretty good record - Round (2008) regards it as an uncommon migrant, and the earliest cited date for autumn passage is 18th Sept, so I've matched that!

Other migrants included two Eastern Crowned Warblers, at least 4 Yellow-rumped Flycatchers (including 2 adult males), 7+Arctic Warblers, 2 Asian Brown Flycatchers, 8+ Brown Shrikes, a healthy sprinkling of Blue-throated Bee-eaters, and at least 5 Barn Swallows going south.

2011-09-17T09:14:00.002+07:00

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

A fairly standard mid-September morning at Suan Rot Fai, with a total of 6 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and 6 Brown Shrikes spread across the park. A very dense clump of bushes that I have recently discovered held 2 Arctic Warblers and a female-type Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.

I also heard an Asian Brown Flycatcher calling briefly and met a Thai birder who said a Black-backed Pygmy Kingfisher had been seen yesterday - I am seriously gripped!

Edit: even more gripped by the photo of the Black-backed Kingfisher here

plumbeitarsus

2011-09-14T20:41:00.002+07:00

Things looked promising today when I had 2-3 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters over the house at lunchtime, but a late afternoon trip to Suan Rot Fai produced only a couple of migrants through one of them, a well-marked Two-barred Greenish Warbler was a patch tick. This is the seventh species of phyllosc that I have seen on the patch (the others being Radde's, Dusky, Yellow-browed, Arctic, Eastern-crowned and Pale-legged).

The only other notable birds at SRF were a Blue-tailed Bee-eater heard overhead and a Brown Shrike heard calling just before dusk.

Never a frown with Asian Brown

2011-09-13T08:53:00.000+07:00

Walked around the Ministry of Public Relations this morning and picked up my first Asian Brown Flycatcher of the autumn, along with the first Arctic Warbler I've seen for a week.

Masked Finfoot: The movie

2011-09-09T11:52:00.001+07:00

Love these birds...

Drown Shrike

2011-09-07T22:27:00.000+07:00

Got to the Patch late afternoon just as the heavens opened. Took shelter until the rain had eased and decided to try SRF's ornamental gardens on the basis that this aea has a lot of open trees where birds might sit up to dry off. The only bird of note was s very wet adult Brown Shrike, I have no doubt that there was a lot more around, but by the time the rain had stopped I had less than 45 minutes light, so my chances were pretty slim. Better luck tomorrow I hope.

Grilling phylloscs

2011-09-06T10:32:00.001+07:00

Early morning had me trying to get good views of another phyllosc at the Ministry of Public Relations, but the hyperactive little bugger was really giving me a headache. Either and Arctic or a Two-barred Greenish, watching it in strong sunlight made the plumage tones look really quite yellow and green (not the subdued olives I am used to seeing in Arctics, but most of those I have seen recently have been in areas of heavy shade). With such brief views and the bird not calling I was left undecided. 2BGW passes through Bangkok in small numbers, especially in autumn, but it's not something I have seen on either in my two local birding areas, so I'm very keen to score an indisputable bird.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

2011-09-05T08:08:00.000+07:00

A walk around the Ministry of Public Relations provided my first two Eastern Crowned Warblers of the autumn, along with a third phyllosc which wouldn't give itself up, but left me thinking it might have been a Two-barred Greenish...

A fall on the patch

2011-09-04T12:40:00.005+07:00

Common Kingfisher, the first of the autumn

0620-0920 in Suan Rot Fai indicated that a significant fall of migrants had occured as a result of a torrential downpour overnight. I was joined by Gerry Brett who was passing through Bangkok (see his excellent blog from western Thailand here). I was able to show him some of the eight Yellow-rumped Flycatchers that were present, two of the three newly arrived Common Kingfishers, one of the six Brown Shrikes, and at least three of the 10 Arctic Warblers that had arrived. I also had a group of at least three Blue-tailed Bee-eaters pass through. In terms of numbers of migrants this was my best day on the patch for a very long time - there must be other species lurking, but we didn't connect if they were.

One of eight Yellow-rumped Flycatchers

The first Brown Shrikes of the autumn - not one, but six!

One of ten Arctic Warblers seen this morning

Feeling a bit tzik!

2011-08-31T07:49:00.003+07:00

Early morning walk around the Ministry of PR produced two more Arctic Warblers, this time picked up by their buzzy "tzik" calls, then seen at close range.

A late afternoon bash around Suan Rot Fai in showery weather produced one more Arctic Warbler and nice views of an Asian Barred Owlet.

Migration studies using sat-tags and geo-locators

2011-08-30T11:38:00.002+07:00

Here is a short list of migration studies (not just birds) using sat-tags and geo-locators. These studies really valuable for migration studies and education - they can be a great tool for inspiring people to think about wildlife (which can only be a good thing!).

Black-browed Albatross
European Cuckoo
Great Shearwater
Great White Shark
Honey Buzzard
Osprey
Osprey (Loch Garten RSPB)
Pink-footed Shearwater
Raptor Research (list of papers)
Sooty Shearwater
Whale Shark
Whimbrel (Hudsonian)
Wood Stork

Wildlife Tracking is really good website with lots more...

More early migrants

2011-08-29T20:19:00.004+07:00

A late afternoon walk at the Ministry of Public Relations produced a couple of hoped-for-but-not-expected encounters, with a female Yellow-rumpled Flycatcher and my first Arctic Warbler of the autumn.

Yellow-rumped Flycatchers

2011-08-27T11:04:00.003+07:00

Patch from 0615-0915, more evidence of migration with two Yellow-rumped Flycatchers (including a very juicy male) being my first of the autumn. More unexpectedly a group of at least three Blue-tailed Bee-eaters moved through - two weeks earlier than my previous first date for autumn passage.

It begins...

2011-08-20T11:54:00.005+07:00

0700-0930 at Suan Rot Fai. I have started checking the patch earlier this autumn in the hope of picking up some species that are known as early migrants - Yellow-rumpled Flycatchers start passing through in mid-August, as do a couple of the rarer flycatchers - Brown-streaked (a split from Asian Brown) and Dark-sided. Asian Brown by contrast doesn't usually appear until about the third week of September.

Whilst re-reading the species account for Dark-sided Fly in Phil Round's Birds of the Bangkok Area last night, I noted that it is a scarce migrant, with Brown-streaked represented by a handful of records in August - so I made a mental note not to get my expectations up too much... This meant that I was very pleased, but not entirely surprised when I found a Muscipcapa flycatcher this morning. It gave me a couple seconds of bad views, then disappeared for a few minutes before reappearing and showing well, enabling me to confirm it as Dark-sided of the race siberica. This is a patch tick for me - the ninth species of flycatcher I have seen here.

These photos are not particularly good, but I am posting them because I think a lot of people struggle with identifying the Muscicapa flys. In the field this bird looked long-winged, the bill has pale colouration restricted to the base of the lower mandible, and the upper breast is streaked, turning to a uniform dark suffusion on the sides. One feature often mentioned in the literature is the dark centres to the undertail coverts, though it is also noted that this can be hard to see - but is seems to be visible in these pictures (I didn't see it in the field).

So that's it - passerine migration is underway!

Waderfest

2011-08-18T18:03:00.004+07:00

Asian Blurwitcher

Just back from a very enjoyable afternoon's wader-watching at Khok Kham foreshore on the rising tide. There are already good numbers of waders back, particularly Curlew Sandpiper and Lesser Sand Plover, and a flock of 250 Black-tailed Godwits was joined by a group of 19 Asian Dowitchers. Common Redshank and Greenshank were present in good numbers, with small numbers of Whimbrel, and Marsh Sandpiper, two Wood Sandpipers and a single Broad-billed Sandpiper. The pools further inland held at least 20 Long-toed and small groups of Red-necked Stints and a single Turnstone.

I saw Mr Tii, who said that he had seen the long-staying Sharp-tailed Sandpiper last Friday (12th August). The highlight of the non-waders was a single Osprey.

14th Aug 2011

2011-08-16T22:29:00.001+07:00

Went on a 20km cycle through the flooded rice paddies of Pitchit (the northern end of the Central Plains) with some very enjoyable birding along the way - one field held a colony of Asian Golden Weavers, Yellow Bitterns outnumbered Cinnamon, and Black by 5:1, we saw a single Black-shouldered Kite, c.10 Pheasant-tailed Jacana, and a couple of big flocks of Asian Openbills. A single Wood Sandpiper, small groups of Barn Swallows and a single Blue-tailed Bee-eater gave a taster of the migration that lies ahead (bring it on, please!).

13th Aug 2011

2011-08-16T22:27:00.006+07:00

Little 'eron

Walk around the patch produced more than expected, with my first Barn Swallow of the autumn, a fly-over Asian Openbill (only my second record on the patch), nice views of Yellow Bittern and Little Heron, and an Asian Barred Owlet being hotly pursued by a flock of Small Minivets, Common Iora and Streak-eared Bulbuls.

Asian Barred Owlet

Brown-throated Sunbird

The afternoon was spent driving north to Pitchit province to see my wife's family. I managed to pick up a (tarty) year tick in the form of Cinnamon Bittern, plus a couple of Oriental Pratincoles.

Expanding my territory

2011-08-07T11:40:00.001+07:00

I have always accepted that my local patch is too big to cover exhaustively on the short visits that I make, and from the forays that I have made away from my usual favored spots, I have been disappointed by a lack of favourable habitat. However, a week or so ago I was looking at the Googlemap of Suan Rot Fai and noticed a large area of trees that I had not "ground truthed" in the southern section of the park, so this morning I went and checked it out. It actually looks rather promising - quite undisturbed by other park users, and with a nice mix of vegetation. I then went a bit further and discovered a small island that looks to have good potential, and can be accessed by a series of stepping stones. This area seems very much undisturbed and has loads of cover, but seems pretty workable by a single birder. Six weeks from now I'll know whether or not this potential has any chance of being fulfilled.

Suan Rot Fai

2011-07-30T22:02:00.003+07:00

Plain Prinia

A wander around Suan Rot Fai early morning produced the expected dearth of interesting birds, however I was more concerned about seeing the state of some of the habitat than anything else - particularly "The Ramble" which has been affected by recent development work on the end of the Park. Happily it seems to remain intact and the threats that I feared might lead to it being grubbed-out seems to have receded, so I can look forward to another autumn of seeking out migrants in this, the best area of the Park. The most interesting bird of the morning was a singing Black-naped Oriole (this species is largely a winter visitor and passage migrant, but is thought to breed in small numbers)

A new birding centre at Pak Thale

2011-07-21T12:27:00.000+07:00

The opening ceremony of the Pak Tale Birding Centre took place on 26th June - see a short article here.

How to donate to Spoon-billed Sandpiper conservation

2011-07-14T14:46:00.000+07:00

If you want to make a financial contribution to the effoet to save the Spooner please click here

Asian Golden Weavers

2011-07-10T22:06:00.000+07:00

Whilst driving to Mae Sot a couple of weeks ago I made a quick stop at a picturesque spot that know to look for a few birds. Whilst in this area I found a couple of Asian Golden Weaver nests. One male seemed to be chasing females who went near the nests - it seems that males build nests to impress females, and this bird was trying to take the courtship to the next level.

Asian Golden weaver is listed by BirdLife International as near-threatened due to persecution and loss of habitat.

A new breeding population of Swinhoe's Plover

2011-06-24T10:19:00.000+07:00

Found in southern China, see the article here

21st May - 7th June

2011-06-07T16:08:00.070+07:00

Great Bustards

Great trip to the UK and Extremedura, Spain during the last couple of weeks. Extemedura between 23rd-26th May with Sacha found us in amazing bird-filled steppe landscapes, staying at Martin and Claudia Kelsey's homestay, and scoring Little and Great Bustards, Calandra Lark and both Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse with in the first 45 minutes of our first morning's birding. We also had great views of Spanish Imperial Eagle, all three Vultures, plus White-rumped Swift and Lesser Kestrel.

Crested Lark

Thekla

Calandra

Spanish Spage

White-rumped Swift

Euro Griffons

A long-list of southern European birds provided a supporting cast including Crag Martin, Euro Bee-eater, Sardinian and Subalpine Warblers and lots of Hoopoes. One particular highlight was a "black thermal" - which held five Black Storks, one Black Vulture and two Black Kites!

Black Kite

Black Storks

Black Vulture

Azure-winged Magpies

Lesser Kestrel

Lil' Owl

Euro Roller

Zitting Cisticola

sub-adult male Monty's

dark phase female Monty's

pale phase Booted Eagle

male Woodchat

Hawfinch

Red-rumps

Blue Rock-thrush

My time in the UK has focused on East Anglia, with typical summertime birding around Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. The undoubted highlight was an early morning Otter at Cley (seen in the channel that runs from North Hide to East Bank). With birding highlights including Bittern, a pair of breeding plumaged Med Gulls, hearing several of Nightingales (and seeing one), Bearded Tits a couple of times (Cley and Lakenheath), Hobby at a variety of sites and nice views of a pair of Grasshopper Warblers. Perhaps the most striking thing I noticed, as somebody who moved away from the UK eight years ago, is the notable spread of Cetti's Warblers (which I heard at most sites where I went birding on this trip - Cley, Titchwell, Lakenheath, Fen Drayton, Cliffe).

Med Gull, Cliffe

Grass Snake, Cliffe

Fox cubs in early morning sunshine, Kelling

Sedge Warbler, Kelling

Barn Swallow, Cley

Oyck and sea poppies, Salthouse

the closest I'll get to a Norfolk W-c Spage

Marsh Harrier at the RSPB's wonderful Lakenheath Fen

the long, humid, birdless days of the wet season

2011-05-14T12:59:00.000+07:00

Early morning at SRF produced very little of note - the hightlight being a couple of groups of high-flying Pond Herons that looked like they were Chinese. Also some nice views of Indian Roller and Little Heron.

Wet season has arrived and all the wintering and passage passerines have departed. Time for a trip to Europe I think...

10th May

2011-05-11T00:34:00.004+07:00

Spent the last hour of day light at the patch and did pretty well, finding a Racket-tailed Treepie (new for the patch) and rather surprisingly, a Rosy Starling. Whether this is the same bird that I saw in Sept/October last year, and if so, whether it has overwintered seems open to speculation - but it was a bit of a shock given it was in the first small group of starlings that I looked at.

Eye-browed Thrush

2011-04-15T11:32:00.000+07:00

Another new bird for the patch today in the form of Eye-browed Thrush. However I didn't see one bird, I saw at least seven in a total of four locations, and suspect there were perhaps 10-20 present overall as I kept picking up their thin alarm calls, and got the impression I was hearing more than I was seeing.

Eye-browed Thrush is a common wintering bird in Thailand's forests (I saw a flock of 50+ at Kaeng Krachan NP last weekend) but according to Round (2008) it is an uncommon passage migrant around Bangkok and the Central Plains, with most records being of single birds. My suspicion is that the birds I saw today are a migrating flock that has dispersed through the park to feed up before continuing northwards.

Other interest today came in the form of late winterers which must be due for departure soon, including two Thick-billed Warblers, and two Black-naped Orioles as well as a single Taiga Flycatcher.

Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo

2011-04-13T13:39:00.005+07:00

A bash around Suan Rot Fai early this morning produced this Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo, which is a very scarce bird around Bangkok. Hodgson's is much smaller than Large Hawk-cuckoo (the commoner Hierococcyx here), with the heavily streaked throat and warm buff terminal band to the tail being diagnostic. The other highlight of the morning was my second ever Greater Racket-tailed Drongo for the patch.

There seemed to be few other passage migrants, but wintering birds were apparent in reasonable numbers - perhaps the best being three Brown Shrikes on one branch, with a fourth below them. One bird seemed to be displaying to another, whilst the other looked on. Love is in the air! There were also quite a few Black-naped Orioles around, plus two Thick-billed Warblers, two or three Black-capped Kingfishers and a leucogenis Ashy Drongo.

Shrike trio

Black-naped Oriole

Ashy Drongo

Also in the last few days I've been able to get nice images of breeding plumaged Pond Herons, for comparison purposes...

Chinese - a winter visitor due for departure

Javan - resident around Bangkok

9th & 10th April

2011-04-12T22:09:00.008+07:00

Excellent weekend birding in Petchaburi province with my friend Chris who was back from a week birding lowland Sabah with Robert Chong, and on his way to lead the Western Pacific Odyssy tour.

Our first stop on Saturday was Pak Thale to get Chris his first Spoon-billed Sandpipers of the year (he's also organising this tour later this year to search for Spooner breeding areas). On arrival at Pak Thale we met Mr Daeng, the boatman from Laem Pak Bia, who already had two birds on a pool beside the track. One of these was in partial breeding plumage, but was less co-operative than the other, winter plum, bird. Whilst checking for more Spooners amongst the Red-necked Stints I picked up an adult Little Stint which was well advanced in attaining summer plumage.

The way we all want to see a Spooner

But they are pretty good even when they look like this!

After admiring the Spooners for a hour we headed down to the Kings Project where we picked up Ruddy-breasted Crake and two male Painted Snipe (as well as Common and Pin-tailed Snipe), Oriental Reed Warbler and the usual waders.

Pacific Goldie

Long -toed Stint

We departed late morning for Kaeng Krachan National Park, and after checking in at Samarn Bird Camp (which is just 1 km from the park gate) we headed into the Park. Birding was somewhat hampered by heavy rain, but we managed to pick up one key target, Ratchet-tailed Treepie (this is the only place in Thailand for the species). We also had nice views of Long-tailed Broadbill and Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrush, brief views of White-browed Scimitar-babbler and a troupe of Banded Langurs crossed the trail we walked during a brief let up in the rain. Traveling out of the Park after dark provided some spotlighting interest, with a couple of Common Palm Civets on the road and a pair of civety-types who decided to hide around the back of a tree as soon as the spotlight was put on them - we couldn't even sort them out with the scope.

Things started slowly on Sunday, with a few woodpeckers being picked up including Rufous 'pecker and Common Flameback, I also picked up a calling Sultan Tit which proceeded to show well, and a single Black Baza perched up for a short while. We had a distantly calling Blue Pitta, and several vocal Grey Peacock-pheasants but nothing close enough to offer views. A stop at a couple of view points rewarded us with five Wreathed and a couple of Great Hornbills, and a pair of Silver-breasted Broadbills nearby, carrying nesting material. The highlight of the day came when we checked a nice shady area of forest at km 24.5 where Chris found a pair of Bar-backed Partridges foraging quietly in the slope forest leaf litter, we followed them for about 15 minutes, getting excellent views.

White-handed Gibbons come in two flavours

Lunch at the upper camp site was not exactly a culinary highlight, but troupes of White-handed Gibbons and Dusky Langurs crossing paths beside the restaurant gave us some nice photographic opportunities. This was followed by some ridge top birding on the road past the campsite which gives stunning views of the forest and provided us with an adult Rufous-bellied Eagle. We also picked up a strange, apparently all-dark swift with a forked tail, which might have been Dark-rumped Swift, but is more likely to be a cooki Pacific Swift, this resident race has much reduced white on the rump which can be difficult to see. Driving back down the mountain in the late afternoon gave us a couple of Red-headed Trogans from the car, and Chris a very brief glimpse of a cat spp, probably a Leopard Cat. We picked up another couple of Common Palm Civets as well as Great Eared and Large-tailed Nightjars just before dusk.

Dusky Langurs

Sounds good...

2011-04-08T16:34:00.000+07:00

Click here for an article by David Sibley regarding the proper use of playback in birding.

Astonishingly good patchwork!

2011-04-06T14:44:00.009+07:00

Not quite sure what has happened this week - perhaps it is a hangover from the strange, lethally stormy weather that Thailand experienced last week, perhaps I just have not done my patch hard enough in Aprils past (certainly true), but this morning I had FOUR patch ticks, and all of them pretty uncommon passage migrants.

I know it's a good day on the patch

when it starts with these two!

Firstly I went to look for the Narcissus Flycatcher but drew a blank, however in the same trees where I had seen it were a cracking male Mugimaki Flycatcher (patch tick no. 1) and two luminous male Yellow-rumped Flycatchers. Close by I found a Forest Wagtail feeding on the ground. Whilst still looking for the Narcissus I noticed two "raptor-like" birds distantly, and flying away from the Ramble...last night I read that yesterday had seem a massive northward movement of Black Bazas near Hua Hin, and as I scuttled out of the woodland I found that these birds were indeed Black Bazas (patch tick no. 2), in fact there were four birds, and they were circling low over the Park and started to climb - amazing to see my favourite raptor with the Ericsson Building in the background! Later on I walked back to my usual entry/exit point when I realised my attention has slipped due to the increasing heat. I mentally berated myself for not checking a patch of trees that have been productive in the past and walked back a few meters to view them, sure enough patch tick no. 3 appeared in front of me: a stunning male Blue-and-white Flycatcher! After admiring him for a while I moved on, only to flush a large, rufous cuckoo - it perched up long enough for me to see it through my bins and get some record shots - a female Oriental Cuckoo (patch tick no. 4).

Didn't we just meet in Sabah?!

Oriental Cuckoo

In addition to that lot I picked up a very smart Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers and a single Taiga Flycatcher, plus I found well behaved Yellow Bittern and Black-capped Kingfisher for photo love-in sessions.

Yellow Bittern

Black-capped Kingfisher (apparently dancing)

Narcissus Flycatcher still present

2011-04-05T21:00:00.001+07:00

The Narcissus Flycatcher was still present today, it was photographed by one of the local bird photographers...pix here

A major national rarity on the patch

2011-04-04T20:18:00.002+07:00

I made a late afternoon visit to Suan Rot Fai today with visiting English birder, and Scilly resident Graham Gordon who was keen to find some migrant action. After picking up a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and a very well-behaved Forest Wagtail we went into "The Ramble" to see what it had to offer, and this time it did me really proud, with us simultaneously getting onto a stunning male NARCISSUS FLYCATCHER, a species which has been recorded no more than ten times in Thailand!!!

Of course I had left the camera at home (!), but we had wonderful views of the bird for about 20 minutes before it disappeared, presumably to roost. What an absolute corker, my bird of the year so far!

Mount Kinabalu, 28th March - 2nd April

2011-04-03T07:38:00.108+07:00

Myself and three friends from the UK (Chris, Matt and Nicola) spent a week hunting down some of Borneo's highland endemics.

We stayed here, which served its purpose as a simple base for birders, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who needs more than a place to sleep in between long sessions in the field. The food however was very good and inexpensive, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. We hired a car via Hertz, and their local agent gave us a generous free upgrade from a Proton Waja to a Toyota Innova, which was great for 4 adults.

Birding was a bit slow in places, not least because we got hit by bad weather for the first three days, meaning we lost a lot of time to rain and heavy mist that reduced visibility to a few meters. This probably contributed to us missing some key target species, but we did pretty well nonetheless...

Stupendous scores:

Red-breasted Partridge - heard often on the upper part of the Power Station Road. Chris and I saw a pair as they flushed on the Bukit Ular trail.

Crimson-headed Partridge - heard multiple times daily and one bird seen crossing the road moments after scoring heavily at "Zoothera Corner" (see below).

Kinabalu Serpent Eagle - two together seen well from "Timpohon View" lookout in KNP. I was very happy to catch up with this species after seeing an unidentifiable Serpent-eagle spp at the Park HQ in 2004. That previous experience, and reading some of the text in Phillipps and Phillipps (2009) had made me keen to do some background reading on Spilornis identification as Crested Serpent Eagle is supposed to overlap in altitudinal range with KSE. Phillipps & Phillipps rather unhelpfully states that that KSE is "best distinguished by call and habitat", and does not even depict a flying KSE on the plates. However, reading Fergusson-Lees & Christie (2001) and Myers (2009) definitely helped to clarify things - most importantly indicating that the subspecies of CSE in north Borneo (pallidus) are quite obviously pale-throated (see here), which contrasts with KSE's darker throat. It appears that Phillipps & Phillipps' depiction of CSE actually shows the nominate cheela that occurs in the Himalayas and Assam, and does not occur in Borneo whatsoever!

Bornean Swiftlet - Matt & Nicola went up to the breeding site at Layang-Layang Shelter, where they saw at least one bird on the nest. Chris and I couldn't summon the enthusiasm.

Mountain Barbet - seemed quite common around the Rafflesia Centre, with two birds seen in the Centre's garden and 3+ birds feeding in a fruiting tree about 1.5km up hill from there.

Golden-naped Barbet - common at KNP, with at least five seen each day.

Bornean Leafbird - one seen on Kiau View Trail, KNP.

Bornean Whistler - common at KNP.

Bornean Bulbul - several seen together along road above Rafflesia Center.

Bornean Stubtail - heard very often on the trails, with at least three birds seen (only one taped in).

Kinabalu Friendly Warbler - a slog up the mountain beyond Timpohon Gate produced one bird between the 2.5 and 3km marker posts. Five others were seen/heard by Matt who went higher up to the 4km marker post. Sharing the upper trail with tourists, who were obviously suffering on the way down from doing the summit, convinced me that birding was a far more sensible past time that mountaineering.

Mountain Wren-babbler - scored immediately on our first and only attempt to tape lure this species along the Power Station Road in KNP. Another bird seen close to "Timpohon View" by Matt & Nicola.

Chestnut-headed Yuhina - very common in KNP.

Chestnut-hooded Laughingthrush - very common in KNP.

Mountain Blackeye - common above Timpohon Gate

Fruit-hunter - seen twice; we saw a female at KNP about 400m down the road from Timpohon Gate, before the sharp bend which has a shelter, toilets and shower block. We found a male about 1.5km up hill from the Rafflesia Centre.

Bornean Whistling-thrush - seen daily in various parts of KNP.

Everett's Thrush - one seen very well early morning on the Power Station Road in KNP. We were told about this stakeout which has been reliable for at least the last month. The bird was seen uphill from the 1.2km marker (painted in the road) which is at the top of the hairpin bends beyond the junction of Silau-Silau Trail, Kiau View Trail and the road itself. We also saw two Orange-headed Ground-Thrushes here (downhill from the 1.2km marker), so re-named this spot "Zoothera corner". Elsewhere, a thrush spp., possibly Everett's, was flushed off the path on the Bukit Ular trail, 50m below the steps at the top end of the trail (a traditional site for the species). Another possible was seen briefly at the start of the Liwagu trail (close to the Park HQ) - there had been a bird seen regularly in this area earlier in March.

Bornean Forktail - seen in at least four different locations along the Power Station Road in KNP.

Eyebrowed Jungle-Flycatcher - only two or three seen in KNP.

Bornean Flowerpecker - Common around KNP HQ.

Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker - one male seen from roadside in lowlands between Mount Kinabalu and the Crocker Range.

Dusky Munia - three seen from roadside in lowlands between Mount Kinabalu and the Crocker Range.

Dismal Dips

Whitehead's Trio - Trogon heard once close to Silau-Silau trail, Broadbill heard twice (Kiau View and Bukit Ular trails), but we failed to see either. When I visited in July 2004 I saw both of these species twice each (though the Trogon gave me the run around). Not a sniff of the Spiderhunter anywhere, ever.

Bornean Barbet - no luck at the Rafflesia Centre (a known site for this species).

Bornean (Black) Laughingthrush - no sign whatsoever. I found them a couple of times on my 2004 visit.

Other goodies

Birds
Non-endemic highlights included at least one White-throated Needletail (seemingly scarce on Borneo), and several migrating flocks of Eye-browed Thrushes passing high overhead in the lowlands between Mount Kinabalu and the Crocker Range, leaving us to theorize that the birds were being funneled through a low pass between the mountains. There were lots of Mugimaki and Blue-and-white Flycatchers still hanging around before their journey northwards, and we ran into noisy groups of Sunda Laughingthrushes on several occasions.

We saw a large all-dark swift spp a couple of times, which we tentatively identified as Waterfall Swiflet. Having looked at Myers (2009) and Phillipps & Phillipps (2009) we can't really come up with a credible alternative ID, but this seems to be a poorly known bird so we feel a bit loathed to claim it based on several relatively brief, and rather distant views, though Chris, Matt and I reached this ID independently of one another.

Little Pied Flycatcher

Temminck's Sunbirds (above and below)

Eye-browed Thrush

Blue-and-white Flycatcher

Mountain Tailorbird

Little Cuckoo-dove (above and below)

Indigo Flycatcher

Mountain Leaf-warbler (kinabalensis)

Mammals
We went spotlighting in KNP on three evenings, driving between KNP HQ and Timpohon Gate. This gave us nice views of a Small-toothed Palm Civet, and three Spotted Giant Flying Squirrels. We also saw various diurnal squirrels and tree shrews which I must admit paying less attention to. Chris and I heard a large mammal moving through undergrowth on the Bukit Ular trail.

Rafflesia pricei
Staff at the Rafflesia Centre took us to see a flowering plant, for a charge of course (but it was worth every Ringgit!).

Pitcher plants
I had been blissfully unaware that Mount Kinabalu is a great place for pitcher plants, but Matt and Nicola soon put me straight on that! Borneo has 20 of the world's 70 known species, with four occurring in KNP.

Pictures of Pitchers

Because climbing from 1,800m to 3,350m isn't hard enough on its own.... I just feel sorry for the bloke who has to carry this septic tank back down.

I lost my soul on Mount Kinabalu (in fact, I lost both of them)

The lights at our accommodation made the place into a giant moth trap
(with suitably giant moths)

Cicada spp.

Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia...again

2011-03-19T22:20:00.018+07:00

Painted Storks

Great day’s birding in the company of Nick Sismey, with six Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Pak Thale, (three attaining breeding plumage), two Nordmann’s Greenshanks and c.300 Great Knot at Laem Pak Bia (pools north of Royal Project), plus the usual assortment of waders including three species of stint, a few Broad-billed Sandpipers, both Sandplovers (Greater being the more numerous), and a few year ticks for me in the form of Red Knot, Sanderling and Common Redshank.

Marsh Sandpiper

Temminck's Stint

We joined Phil Round, Gerry Brett and a couple of other ringers at the Royal Project where we watched them processing a splendid Pale-legged Leaf Warbler as well as Dusky Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler and Collared Kingfisher. A wander around this area also provided nice views of Golden-bellied Gerygone and several Racket-tailed Treepies. We also had three migranting Oriental Honey Buzzards between Pak Thale and LPB, and located a field stuffed with Oriental Pratincoles in the same area.

Javan Pond Heron

Collared Kingfisher

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Before heading back to Bangkok we checked out Nong Pla Lai raptor watchpoint which gave us some excellent additions to the day’s list including two Greater Spotted and one Steppe Eagle, the first Grey-faced Buzzard I’ve seen in a long time, and a few Baya Weavers at their nests.

juv Steppe Eagle

The two shots below were knocked off as a last resort when watching a high-flying raptor in very strong light - we saw the bird briefly through binoculars but were having trouble staying on it, so the camera came out. Now from the comfort of my armchair, I can clearly see that the bird is a Grey-faced Buzzard - note the very contrasting tail banding, darker head and upper breast contrasting with a paler belly, and dark tips to the primaries. Structurally, the wings are too long for an Accipiter and fit Batastur much better. Digiblasting rules!

Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia

2011-03-16T21:40:00.002+07:00

A good day's birding started this morning with the first birds I spied through my bins being a pair of Spoon-billed Sandpipers! The birds gave great views at close range (from the car) but the weather was terrible and the early morning light meant I could only get these record shots. We were very happy to see one of these birds starting to attain breeding plumage.

We also ran into Nick Upton who had located a separate group of four Spooners - so there are still six birds present in the Pak Thale area. Other interesting birds picked up in this area today included six Nordmann's Greenshanks and small numbers of Great Knot about 1km north of the King's Project, and the wintering Long-billed Dowitcher and a showy Ruddy-breasted Crake (inside the Kings Project compound), plus a female Eastern Marsh Harrier.

We visited the raptor watch point at Nong Pla Lai (map here) which produced more than 50 Black Kites as well as a couple of Black-shouldered Kites and a single Oriental Pratincole.

A very lost Long-billed Dowitcher

Many waders, such as this Greater Sandplover,
are now attaining fine breeding attire

3rd March 2011

2011-03-05T00:27:00.006+07:00

Went to Khao Yai with my old friend Stuart Elsom today. Soon after getting through the southern gate our journey was brought to a standstill by a bull ASIAN ELEPHANT who was having a late snack before retreating into the forest for the day. I was amazed to see a motorcyclist standing on the road as the elephant walked past him only a few meters away. I had assumed this guy was a national park staff member who knew exactly how to handle such a close encounter with a potentially lethal pachyderm, but once the beast had passed him and we drew level with him it became apparent that he was in fact an Israeli tourist who was blissfully unaware of the potential danger!

Khao Yai rush hour

Further up the road we came across a pair of LONG-TAILED BROADBILLS nest-building. Needless to say they received a fair bit of attention from our cameras!

The rest of the day produced some very nice birding including ORIENTAL PIED, WREATHED and GREAT HORNBILLS, a male RED-HEADED TROGON, the first RUFOUS-BELLIED EAGLE and BLUE-EARED KINGFISHER that I've seen in the park, ASHY BULBUL, a cracking male MUGIMAKI FLYCATCHER (rare as a winter visitor here), a HAINAN BLUE FLYCATCHER a very showy male SIBERIAN BLUE ROBIN, and a couple of PUFF-THROATED BABBLERS.We also heard a few of the birds that Khao Yai is best known for, with a Coral-billed Ground-cuckoo calling distantly at lunchtime, a Banded Kingfisher heard mid-afternoon, several Banded Broadbills in different locations, and a pair of WHITE-CROWNED FORKTAILS glimpsed. Surprisingly we didn't hear any Blue Pittas - they must be due to start calling in the next week or so.

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Sibe Blue

The highlight of the day for me came late in the afternoon when we found a pair of male SIAMESE FIREBACKS near the start of the KM33 trail. Rather amazingly this species has eluded me during my visits to Khao Yai over the past six years, so I was very happy to lay this bogey bird to rest. Not only was this a tick, but we saw the birds in such classic circumstances - in deep, dark forest, with their facial skin practically glowing in the dim light.

My fifteen minutes of fame (in French-speaking Canada)

2011-02-16T22:54:00.000+07:00

I went to Suan Rot Fai this morning to do an interview with a film crew from Canada's francophone Channel 5 TV (though I can't speak French!). They ware making a series about Thailand and wanted some alternative ideas about what to do whilst in Bangkok, so got in touch with me about urban birding. We even saw a few birds in between takes, including YELLOW BITTERN, BLACK DRONGO and COMMOM KINGFISHER. I picked up a year tick, in the form of a BLACK-NAPED MONARCH as I exited the park.

2011-02-12T09:30:00.000+07:00

Here is a stunning selection of SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER photos from China (note that the forum thread has 6 pages!)

2011-02-08T11:51:00.001+07:00

Thought I'd bring readers' attention to this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12354346 a beautiful photo essay narrated by the photographer documenting social and environmental issues affecting ethnic minority fisherfolk in Sulawesi.

Wedgey!

2011-02-06T16:35:00.003+07:00

I worked the patch this morning, for the first time since November. The landscape looks very different now, with dry season having turned everything brown, and thinning the canopies of most trees.

I found a number of fruiting trees, one of which was receiving a lot of attention from BLACK-NAPED ORIOLES and a small party of RED-WHISKERED BULBULS. Also visiting this tree was this female WEDGE-TAILED GREEN PIGEON, a forest species from northern and western Thailand...

I presumed that this was an escaped cagebird from Chatuchak Market, and close examination of a couple of the images I took seem to support this theory...

Note the heavy wear on the primaries of the right wing (against the sky)

Note significant wear on the tip of the tail.

Other birds seen this morning included YELLOW BITTERN and ASIAN BARRED OWLET, with sibes represented by two THICK-BILLED WARBLERS, two BROWN SHRIKES, five or so TAIGA FLYCATCHERS, three ASIAN BROWN FLYCATCHERS and at least two YELLOW-BROWED WARBLERS.

male Asian Koel

Red-whiskered Bulbul

EDIT: My standard reference "Birds of the Bangkok Area" by Phil Round states that "Most green pigeons are noted wanderers, so there is always the slight possibility of encountering vagrants of the other Treron species", however he goes on to state that "the possibility of escaped captives of all these species cannot be excluded". My images of the bird have been sent to a couple of people for considered opinion, so perhaps there is scope for it being a wild bird...

Dancing with an angel

2011-02-06T16:06:00.001+07:00

The latter half of January and the start of Feb has seen me very busy with other things, so opportunities for birding have been zero. Mid January did however see me and visiting family visit Koh Lanta for a few days diving, with trips to Koh Haa and Hin Daeng/Muang. These stunning dive sites produced a fantastic array of sea life including BANDED SEA KRATE and BLACK-TIPPED REEF SHARK, withe last dive on the last day bringing us a wonderful 15 minute encounter with a 4 meter wide MANTA RAY - the first I've seen after 200 dives in tropical Asia, and well worth the wait. I did see some birds from the dive boat, but they paled into insignificance after dancing with this oceanic angel!

7th January

2011-01-09T08:15:00.006+07:00

Rong Jai Marsh, Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park

I visited the west side of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park today, exploring the area marked as Rong Jai on Nick Upton's map. This area is very impressive, with a vast wetland located below towering limestone karst mountains, and a well established and maintained boardwalk and shelters that stretch out across the wetland affording nice views of PURPLE SWAMPHEN, both species of JACANA and various Herons and Egrets.

Purple Heron

Lesser Whistling Ducks

Little Bee-eater

En route to this area I stopped a few times, picking up a GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE, OSPREY and several flocks of WHITE-SHOULDERED STARLINGS.

The hunt for Manchurian Reed Warbler continued, but drew a blank, with only Black-browed Reed and Oriental Reed Warblers seen.

Khao Sam Roi Yot again

2011-01-06T14:34:00.001+07:00

Another morning at Khao Sam Roi Yot drew a blank on Manchurian RW due to strong wind keeping passerines down.

Highlights of the morning included two flocks of WHITE-SHOULDERED STARLINGS (both holding circa 15 birds), a flock of 70+ BAYA WEAVERS, nice views of a GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE, plus a male EASTERN MARSH HARRIER.

White-shouldered Starling