Spot-winged Starling

The new year started out with a big surprise. The Spot-winged Starling is a bird normally only seen within the forest of Thungyai Nareusuan World Heritage Forest complex in Western Thailand. It requires a 4 WD and take up to 10 hours to get there. Instead, I was tipped off that a few of these birds had been showing in some flowering trees near a sub-station of Kaengkrachan. I waited quite some time and then at around 5:30 3 birds showed up. No good pictures but a lifer and an unexpected species.

The birds are resident in Northern India but have a somewhat of a western - eastern movement in winter when a few birds are found in Northern Myanmar and Thailand.

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Birding trips out of Bangkok!

Daytrips out of Bangkok The following are a few sites that I regularly take visiting birders to. I often do one site in the morning and another in the afternoon and sometimes even fit in one midday. Depending on the time of year number of birds seen will vary. Most migrants are here from September – April yet there are others that only visit in May-August. I find it very fulfilling for people on business or others with limited time circumstances to invest in a guided trip with someone that not only knows the birds but also how to get around and has years of experience living in Thailand. Fields of Latkrabang, Bangkok: My local patch and a gem in the city concrete with still rice fields and scrub present. The roar of the traffic in the background and airplanes lifting to the sky is subdued a bit and the birds present are clearly heard. Many a good wetland birds as well as warblers and other birds have been recorded. On a normal morning I average 70-80 species. Pe

Blue-naped Pitta, 1st March 2022

I am not quite sure how or when to begin this story. Back in the day when all I had was the birds in my garden and the fantastic illustrations of magical birds found in the field guide I could only dream of one day seeing them in real life. My life was restricted and very little opportunity to set out in pursuit of ‘imaginary birds’! Ha! Well, a long story cut short. Things changed and slowly I started to lay my eyes on the real things I had only seen drawn in literature. I remember my first Pitta, the Blue-winged, on an excursion to a waterfall with some rumbunctious kids but it didn’t stop me from seeing one crossing the pathway. (as a note, the late Jon Hornbuckle, who eventually saw all recognized Pittas of his day, told me his last one was the Blue-winged. Just goes to show how this rather ‘easy’ to see bird is not very easy unless you are in the right area at the right time.) So, here in Thailand we have a lot of Pittas. Some are regular, none are easy, and som

Alone with Spoonie!

I have been fortunate enough to spend time on my own with Spoon-billed Sandpiper this season. I have seen this bird over 100 times but feel like I never have enough. These pictures are from Khok Kham, Samut Sakorn about 1 hour from Bangkok.

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