Thaibirds and more

(view from one of the watch towers along the elevated walkway at RDC) I have been to Sabah 3 times. Each time I only visited Mt Kinabalu as I fell in love with the mountain. Thus I post phoned a visit to the low land rainforests of Sepilok and Kinabantangan until now. I pre booked my tickets with Airasia quite some time back. Flew Bangkok – Kuala Lumpur – Sandakan and back for 200$US. The flights went well and I found myself at Sandakan around 8:30pm. A half hour taxi ride driven by an elderly gentleman took me to Sepilok B&B some 400m from my birding spot: Rainforest Discovery Center. The B&B has an older section and a newer. It is run more as a hostel then anything and I would best classify it as adequate as the personnel were friendly but rather untrained. Breakfast is a cup of coffee and two slices of bread plus a banana if you are lucky. Eggs have to be bought. Breakfast served 7 am. Wi Fi is free and there are cold Tiger beers available howbeit twice as expensive as in Th...

April - June is really the time to see Broadbills. Funny how it is but I can go throughout the dry season only seeing the random bird. Then when the wet season starts the birds seem to suddenly 'appear' in the area between the 3 streams at Kaengkrachan. Especially Silver-breasted becomes easy to spot as it often build its nest close to the road. Black-Red Broadbill is always found nesting over some water with its nesting ball hanging from a thin twig. With both these species I used a portable blind. The female has a nice silver necklace.

Thailand definitely is a good place for Kingfisher lovers. Many can be seen on phone wires along highways or near mangroves. Several occupy open woodlands and not everyone feed exclusively on fish. The following 3 species are only found in forested areas. This incredibly attractive male Banded Kingfisher is often heard but can be quite tricky to see inside the forest. I am not sure if it actually ever feeds on fish. I was watching it come to feed its young and all the prey were bugs, scorpions, spiders and lizzards. I sat in a hide for 4 hours. The male only came twice during that time But the female came a lot more often. As usual they took perch on a branch a few meters from the nest before entering. I believe the chick was about a week old. Their nest was inside a termite nest on an old log. This little jewel: Black-backed Kingfisher (Oriental Dwarf) on the other hand has its nest in a burrow on a bank near a stream. The birds kept feeding all kinds of insect including fish. They wo...

This month of April I didn't have many people visiting so I took the opportunity to visit Khok Kham at Samut Sakorn on a few half day trips. At Khok Kham there is one spot where one can drive the car out inbetween the pans. The trick is to be there during high tide or there is nothing to shoot. It is still challenging to get close to the birds. They in general seem to accept my presence in the car but still remain a bit away. Khok Kham also has an excellent boardwalk at the mangroves. Here is a good spot for observing birds through a scope or practicing flight shots. 1st shot is of a Red-necked Stint in breeding plumage. Note the red throat and lack of red on the primaries and secondaries. There are many Golden Pacific Plovers around. This one moulting into breeding plumage. This one almost in full breeding plumage. Another more scenic image. There were plenty of Lesser Sand Plovers around. Here is a male in breeding plumage. And yet another. The light was in my favor. Broad-billed...

These two species are almost impossible to separate in non breeding plumage. They used to be considered identical, Red-necked considered the Eastern version of Little. Now that the birds are getting some color I tried to pick out a few. Some differences: Red-necked has slightly thickened tip of bill, medium sized primary projection and rather 'stocky' neck and shoulders and somewhat shorter legs. In breeding plumage the throat is red/rufous while Little is white. Little also is more complete red then Red-necked in breeding plumage. Little has longer primary projection thus making them look more slender but taller as the tibia is longer. The bill is more fine and slightly drooping. I hope I have identified these correctly.

Wet season visitors! The dry season of the year, Nov – March, sees a great influx of western tourists to Thailand as well as thousands upon thousands of migrating birds, fleeing the cold Northern Hemisphere. Once winter in Siberia and Northern China has ended these birds return to their breeding grounds. This migration follows a North – South, South – North pattern. Some of the migrating species simply pass through Thailand and continue on to the Islands of Indonesia whereas others settle for the ‘winter’. This time of year, Nov– March , also sees a steady stream of foreign bird watchers visiting Thailand to not only see the resident birds but the added bonus of many a sought after bird from Northern Asia. Then in April, when migratory birds have left and with them the foreign visiting bird watching community, something exciting happens. In a reverse migratory pattern the Blue-winged Pitta and the Hooded Pitta start to inhabit many a forested area of Thailand. Where do they come from?...

This is probably my own personal 'least interesting wader'. They are here in good numbers during winter. During hightide they roost in salt pans spending most of their time standing still or sleeping. I find it very hard to separate the birds when only one bird seen. Easiest is when several birds are closely together. The Lesser seem to dominate in the pans whereas Greater dominate out on the sand spit. Apparantly Greater prefer small crabs to feed on (and there is plenty) but Lesser prefer smaller wormlike creatures found in the pans and the mudflats. Here is a Lesser. They often have a 'hunched' appearance. Here with a Greater. Note the distinct difference in size, bill and posture. Literature tells me that the race of Lesser found in Thailand: Charadrius mongolus schaeferi, has the longest bill of the Lesser Sand Plovers. The nominate race of Greater found in Thailand has the shortest of the Greater races. Greater in breeding plumage also has white in the otherwise b...