Thaibirds and more

 I don't know how many records there are of Brown Noddy in Thai waters but there certainly are not many. Together with 5 Expat birders here in Thailand we hired a boat in search of one that had been reported in the Paktaley area. None of us had seen it anywhere so it turned out to be a successful and fun trip for all. The Noddy, being a tern, was feeding alongside primarily White-winged, Whiskered and Common Terns. Schools of small fish are common in the area about 10km from the shore line. It wasn't easy to hold the camera still in choppy waters but some frames turned out ok.

Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler and Davison's Leaf Warbler were easily the most common phylloscs.    It was a normal weekday when we visited the park but an incredible amount of traffic. Apparently the area has been popularized in recent years and the Thai middle class love to go for family outings in their nice vehicle to take in the scenery, cool weather, fresh vegetables and lovely sunrise/sunset. Pied Bushchat was common along the roadside. While photographing the Nepal House Martins I heard a little whistle. Not knowing what it was I tried some playback of the song of Jerdon's Bushchat. Out it popped! This is a hard bird to find in Thailand and a nice find.                                                                                                                                                                                A raptor was perched in a dead tree but I didn't pay enough attention to it. It wasn't until I checked the  images

 It had been many many years since I visited Pho Hin Rong Kla in the province of Petchabun. My good friend Bengt Legnell came with me on this trip as we both wanted to see the alleged Nepal House Martin on the mountain. We were not to be disappointed as we came across several hundred of birds if not thousands. One can only speculate as to the status of these birds. Is there a smaller resident population that increases dramatically in winter? Either way, the birds were a lot of fun to photograph. Fast fliers, twisting and turning made for challenging photography.  I used my Canon 7D with the 400F5.6. Had it on servo with 9 focal points and as high shutter speed as possible. The last two images are my favorite. Imagine trying to do the same with an old film camera? 

 I went to visit Prasae, Klang, Rayong, 2 hours SouthEast of Bangkok. Here there are some mangroves and areas where waders feed on exposed sandbars during low tide. During high tide they often perch on poles put in the water for various fishing contraptions. It is necessary to hire a boat and so we did along with a boatman. The birds have only fairly recently arrived from their breeding grounds in Siberia and were quite skittish. It was not as easy as I had hoped to get close to them. We counted 36 Nordmann's Greenshanks and 1 Grey-tailed Tattler besides the many Grey Plovers, Great Knots, Whimbrels, Bar-tailed Godwits, Common Redshanks and oodles of Sand Plovers. As I got home and checked my images I was pleasantly surprised to find this Spoon-billed Sandpiper in one of the images. This is the 1st time I have come across one outside of the sites on the Western coast of the Inner Gulf of Thailand.                                 Nordmann's Greenshanks h

I still have some T-shirts left of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper! The shirt is made in soft 100% cotton and comes in different sizes: M,L,XL,2XL. The price is 20US$ inclusive of shipping anywhere  in the world! Payment through Paypal account: pkknjj@yahoo.com Get yours before it is too late! Collectors item they are! 

For some reason I have a special interest in shorebirds and try to visit whenever I can. It is rather long to get to Paktaley (2 hours drive) which makes it a bit of an undertaking. November is an interesting month though that normally produce big numbers of birds. I reckon some of them are still on the move but most will settle for winter in the Inner Gulf of Thailand. The prime target is always Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshanks and Asian Dowitchers. Having seen all of them already I spent time with everything else. I had come across a group of 30 some Red-necked Phalaropes and seen a few scattered ones in the area. I was aware of the 1st and so far only sighting of Red/Grey Phalarope some years back and so tried to see if any would be one of this kind. Since there is still a lot of water in the pans many birds were found 'knee deep'. I set out to photograph some Marsh Sandpipers when this Phalarope came real close to me. It wasn't until I poste

Ever since I heard of a Pied Cuckoo (Jacobin Cuckoo) being seen at Phuket I always wanted to see one. Then a couple of years later a pair showed up at Chiang Rai by the Mae Kong River but I didn't fancy a 1000 km drive. Thridly, last year another was spotted at Beung Borapet when I was in Europe. So when I saw a posting of this bird by Thanarot I knew I had my chance.  Thanarok kindly invited me to his home and we enjoyed a true Thai meal at a restaurant by the river.                                                      Thank you Thanarot! Very yummie! In the morning we did general birding in the wetlands surrounding Beung Borapet (240km North of Bangkok) and saw a lot of birds including a roosting Savanna Nightjar, Glossy Ibises and plenty of Streaked Weavers.......We then sat down to view the trees he had seen the Cuckoos in. After 2 and a half hours and no bird I thought; 'better pack up, bet that will bring it in, a bit sarcastically'. Before we got our s

Man Nai Island, Rayong, Thailand 24 th of April 20014 For the last two years Fairy Pitta has been photographed at this island as the birds pass through on their way to their breeding grounds in China and Taiwan, having spent the winter in tropical Borneo. (Or elsewhere?) This year I found myself in Thailand in April, something I try to avoid due to the intense warm weather during this time. So, I hoped for the opportunity to visit the Island and was waiting and waiting for someone to give the ‘green light’, meaning the birds were not only showing but possible to photograph. Well, this year a banding station had been set up for the entire month of April which make access to the hill side not possible. In other words there were no regular Fairy Pittas being reported coming for worms. In the end I decided I better go anyhow before it was too late. Seeing the island itself is a worthy experience and the possibility of various migrants is exhilarating. I joined u

I don't know what it takes to readily ID any of the many variations of White's Thrush there are.  This individual showed up at the King's Park in Greater Bangkok area. It has stockier bill then the Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma) and instead of 12 tail feathers it has 14. It is also said to be more pale in the plumage but apparently that is not a reliable feature. So  here is the Zoothera auera aka White's Thrush.

I went to visit the park together with Ike Suriwong. Nick Upton had reported a Sakhalin Leaf Warbler singing in the park last weekend and that is something I haven't experienced.  We ended up seeing two Pale-legged/Sakhalin's Leaf Warblers. None of them were calling but one was singing, clearly revealing its identity. The two species have very different songs and can only be separated safely by song or in the hand.  There were other migrants in the area. 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Arctic Warbler, 1 male Green-backed Flycatcher seen by Ike and sadly not by me, 1 female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and a very active flock of 40 Ashy Minivets. Also two cute Forest Wagtails on the floor added to the migratory bird list.                                                                       Female                                                                       Male                                                                       Male