Kingfisher Paradise

Tangkoka forest reserve (or is it National Park?) at the Northern tip of Minhassa region in Sulawesi is an incredible place for Kingfishers. I saw 9 different species in 3 days. This one is a bird of the forest. Very approachable as it sits motionless waiting for a prey. It was difficult to get shots without flash and the flash tends to enhance the colors a bit much but, still, lovely looking bird it is.

Lilac Kingfisher, endemic to Sulawesi

The Green-backed Kingfisher is a bit bigger and more numerous. It also hunts in wooded areas and can be approached real close with care. Endemic to Sulawesi.

Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher

An incredible shiny little jewel of the interior forest. Very approachable.
Also endemic.

Ruddy Kingfisher

Even though not an endemic or lifer for me, I still just love the color of this bird and I think it is the prettiest of them all.

This one was perched over a stream.

Black-billed Kingfisher

lives in the mangroves and a boat ride was necessary to get to see them

I also saw Common Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher and Collared Kingfisher

Comments

Wut Tum Prathoon, Chonburi

About an hour and 20 minutes drive from my home in Bangkok there is a temple on a little hill. The hill is surrounded by a forest that hold both resident and migratory birds. At the temple there is a permanent hide with seating for about 8 people. The hide is for free. A hose with dripping water and a bath is set up for the birds. This hide has some regular species that make use of the water as continuously. I have visited the hide a few times, mainly mid day when birds are hot and come to bath. Here is a sample of birds I have seen of late. Siberian Blue Robin, female Emerald Dove Amur Paradise Flycatcher Streak-eared Bulbul Black-headed Bulbul Racket-tailed Treepie Sooty-headed Bulbul Eye-browed Thrush Chestnut-flanked White-eye Orange-headed Thrush Black-crested Bulbul Verditer Flycatcher Oriental Magpie Robin

Emerald Cuckoo

This shiny little bird always causes excitement. Quite easy to observe at Pah Gloaymai campsite at Khao Yai during the right time of year. It is simply very busy gleaning grubs from the fairly low trees found at the campsite.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler and Lanceolated Warbler

It took me quite some time to develop an interest in various types of Warblers. There are so many other more obvious birds full of color and easier to see then this often rather skulky group of birds. But evidently one starts to wonder what is making all those sounds that eminate from the reed beds so armed with curiosity and a lot of trial and error the quest began. This spring before these bird migrated to their breeding grounds in Siberia etc I spent more time getting to know them and trying to learn both sounds and behavior a bit better. One of the more attractive one is the Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler aka Rusty-rumped Warbler. It belongs to the family of Locustella warblers but this family which now has been split in to 2 clades. Helopsaltes is a genus of passerine birds in the grassbird family Locustellidae . A comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the grassbird family Locustellidae published in 2018 found that the genus Locustella consist...

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