Thaibirds and more

 Brian Fletcher stopped over for a day on his way from Sydney to a birding tour in Northeastern Brazil with Birdquest. Brian had tried to see the Spoonie on two different occasions, once in Myanmar and once in Thailand but failed. This time he was rewarded with some of the best views possible. We spent several hours enjoying 3 birds as they fed in the salt pans. Brian also added Milky Stork to his world list as well as White-faced Plover, so it was quite a happy man that boarded his plane the day following.

Rick and Elis Simpson has set out to see as many waders as possible within a year of birding. Their journey began with an attempt to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Baktaly, Petchaburi, Thailand. They had allotted a week for their visit to Thailand and I was able to join them on their 1st day. It still has rained a fair bit and the salt pans are full of water. This makes it a bit hard to find the smaller waders. It took us about an hour before we got sight of our Spoonies. 3 birds were feeding next to a narrow piece of soil at the end of one of the pans. This naturally gave cause for rejoicing. We kept going and ended up with 28 species of waders for the day.                                           Spoon-billed Sandpiper                                           White-faced Plover                                            Chinese, Pacific and Little Egret                                           Sanderling 1. Spoon-billed Sandpiper - 3 2. Curlew Sandpiper