Rufous-bellied Woodpecker

They say the secret to patience is to stay busy while you are waiting.
Well, I have waited for years to have an opportunity to see the Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, never having been in an area where it is found here in Thailand. So, on the 13th of Dec Nick Upton reported one at Mae Ping not too far from Chiang Mai. A number of people quickly went to see it but I had to wait till 2 days before the end of the year when I spent an afternoon and a morning without finding it.
So, after my fun trip with Peter Sharland and his wife Jenny I decided to give it another try.
This afternoon I arrived at the area for the bird at 3:45. It was dead quiet and hot. A few birds started vocalizing and I could tell Grey-headed Parakeets, Common Flameback, Lineated Barbet, Hooded Oriole were around........then I heard the strident call of the Rufous-bellied WP. Quite similar to Greater Flameback.
I moved towards the bird but must have scared it off as it quickly started calling from behind me.
This time I just stood there and waited. It didn't take long before I got brief but clear views of this little stunner! Years of waiting for an opportunity had finally arrived.
It is the only sap sucking woodpecker here and it was interesting to see the many holes in this one tree.

A recording I did of the bird is found here:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/209509

Comments

John Holmes said…

It's a handsome bird, no doubt.

Worth waiting for !

March 1, 2015 at 6:47 PM

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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