Thaibirds and more

Emerald Cuckoo Today turned out to be a bit of an extraordinary day. It started out with me not feeling very motivated in any particular direction so I decided to leave a little later and mainly get my steps for the day in at a nearby park.    I went to King Rama 9 Park. A leisurely walk and birds started building.    I caught eyes on a Thai girl with binoculars but not dressed as a typical birder (you know the one in birding uniform)….   I thought it would be nice to say hello but then I got distracted by a flock of Small Minivets. Then the girl and her friend came running towards me saying ‘on the wire, Emerald Cuckoo’! Sure enough, a splendid male on the wire.    Both the girls were enthusiastic with a hunger to learn.    We looked at the Cuckoo for a bit and then turned towards a Yellow Wagtail and Paddyfield Pipit on the lawn. They hadn’t realized it was 2 different birds so a nice opportunity to point out a few things. Rama 9 is rather landscaped but there is an area where migr

  Today the charm was back on. Not very sure of where to go this morning as of last night but when I heard of a sighting of Orange-breasted Green Pigeon at Kasertsaht University I felt game.    I arrived early and there were quite a few Green Pigeons around...99% Pink-necked. Orange-breasted has never been recorded in BKK prior to this one and is not an easy bird to ID in the midst of many other green pigeons.   Krit Adirek who had reported the find showed up but had other plans so I was soon left for either a quick find or a long wait. Ha!    Well, I figured I should just park myself at the fruiting tree and see what happened. Birds kept coming and going as is often the case and I had reason to open the fieldguide many a time to remind myself the difference in plumage.    Well, after an hour suddenly the sweet assurance of seeing a male OB appear a bit obscured closer towards the trunk came about. I got a couple of pix, waited for it to come out in the open but it never did. So ofcour