Sunday 28 November 2010

Laem Pak Bia: A Great Day's Birding

 Black-faced Spoonbill
Platelea Minor
นกปากช้อนหน้าดำ
Pak Thale, Petchaburi Province

I always have a great day's birding when I join up with Tom and our trip to Laem Pak Bia on Saturday was probably one of the best day's birding I have ever had. From my perspective it is great to bird with such a knoweldgeable and experienced birder and we both saw some great birds.

No sooner had we started just to the north of Cha-am in Bang Kao hoping to see Ruddy Shelduck than Tom is saying "Look a parakeet" and sure enough a noisy, small, green mass darts in off the sea and moves rapidly inland. That's as far as the identification went but it would literally and metaphorically have gone over my head had I been on my own. Bang Kao did offer great views of eight beautiful Painted Stork in the early morning sun and a host of shorebirds and brown-headed gulls and an Eastern Marsh Harrier glided over just as we were leaving. I am not sure about the status of the RSDs. No sign of them this morning nor later in the day when I returned to collect my car. [Update from T Backlund: one RSD was seen here on Monday 29.11.10]

Black-headed Ibis
Threskiornis Melanocephalus
นกช้อนหอยขาว
Wat Khao Takhrao, Petchaburi Province
27.11.10

Next stop at the abandoned building in Laem Pak Bia where we bumped into three Hungarian birders who confirmed the presence of a Long-billed Dowitcher and a Black-faced Spoonbill further north at Pak Thale. This news had Tom itching. Nothing much to report here but we went into the King's Project and had a nice time photographing a Little Grebe and Grey Heron. We were looking at a flock of black-tailed godwits parked in a salt pan nearby when the loud crack of canon fire from the nearby temple caused their sudden flight. These miniature style canons are used in temples to mark the beginning of events or the arrival of a special time. Tom got his camera out and started shooting the flock of birds. The resulting photographs show the presence of an Asian Dowitcher in the flock - by any standards a very decent bird. Of course this was the surprise in the can, so to speak, as neither of us was aware of this bird in the flock and Tom only realised it when he processed his photos on getting home. Elsewhere in a  flock of brown-headed gulls we saw a few Caspian Terns with their distinctive big bright orange bills.

Red-necked Phalaropes
Phalaropus Lobatus
นกลอยทะเลคอแดง
Red-necked Phalarope
Pak Thale, Petchaburi Province
27.11.10

So we then headed north to Pak Thale to what is known as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper site in pursuit of the Black-faced Spoonbill. There were plenty of shorebirds, thousands, but we were looking for a flock of egrets with the Black-faced in their midst. We had a fruitless march around during which Tom pointed out some Red-necked Phalaropes "spinning" in one of the salt-pans. Very elegant and really distinctive birds and lifers for me! We noticed that our Hungarian friends had come back to this site so Tom went off to check locations with them while I photographed the phalaropes. Fortunately we were looking in the wrong location so off we went. This meant I wasn't able to photograph the two Spoon-billed Sandpipers which were in the salt pan and of course when we came back they had gone!


Anyhow we walked into another salt pan as directed and the Black-faced Spoonbill was there surrounded by between 45 - 50 Painted Stork. What an amazing sight! I was grateful for the digiscope as I was able to get some decent record shots. We were probably between 150 - 200 meters away and this is the last sort of bird you want to scare off. A second lifer, a real beauty of a bird and something of a rarity in these parts.  

Photo credit © Tom Backlund
Asian Dowitcher
Limnodromus Semipalmatus
นกช่อมทะเลปากยาว
Kings Project, Petchaburi Province
27.11.10

We then headed north to Wat Khao Takhrao and after a spot of lunch we went in pursuit of the reported Black-headed Ibises. Over lunch I made the mistake of looking at my photographs and decided to change the  exposure setting as I thought my photographs were too dark. Well as a result my pictures of the Ibises are a bit washed out. I had the correct exposure! We quickly found the Ibises sitting in a bit of a marsh, two adults and a juvenile. Nearby a Black-shouldered Kite and Black Kite were perched in trees. I had already seen the Ibises before at Bueng Boraphet but nevertheless great birds to see and look at.

Thereafter we went back to Pak Thale in vain pursuit of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and we had a spin around the marshes and rice paddies looking, also in vain, for Grey-headed Lapwing. Pak Thale yielded lots of Marsh Sandpipers, Curlews, a small flock of Gull-billed Terns, and the usual suspets including one Sanderling. I think I had a Temminck's Stint, a stint with greenish legs, but it flew before I was able to be sure. I am happy to report there are lots of birds, lots of birds indeed. 

Tom headed home so we drove back to Bang Kao. From there I checked on the Ruddy Shelducks, nope, and then I drove back to see if I could take some more photographs of the Black-faced Spoonbill; not a bird to be seen at the site. I then headed home with an eye open for Grey-headed Lapwing but to no avail. 

What a great day's birding!

Wednesday 24 November 2010

The Boys are Back in Town!


The local rice paddy yielded about 6 pied harriers in the late afternoon today. I say about 6 because perhaps I saw the same bird twice as they were moving about. I would say at least 5! What I can tell you is there were two males, really striking looking hawks. I am not sure how many females, at least one and I think at least one subadult but I cannot find a field description or photograph to compare it to so I might need to correct this. In any event I think we have a little roost nearby and I will endeavour to keep a close eye on this patch over the next few months. Unfortunately I was photographing at 5:30 pm in very poor light, so the photograph is more of a record shot.

Sunday 21 November 2010

Twitching Ruddy Shelduck - A Cautionary Tale


The unexpected arrival of some friends on Saturday led to a change of plans. I was planning on spending last night in Bangkok and then to head to the Bird Fair at Bang Pu this morning. Alas no. My friends are about today as well, so no trip to Bangkok and no Bird Fair.  Instead I got up early and drove south for about 90 minutes to twitch Ruddy Shelduck between Cha-am and Puk Tian beach in Phetchaburi province, about 10 km south of the main action area in Laem Pak Bia. I was also hoping to add Grey- headed Lapwing as this too has been reported in the Laem Pak Bia area.


I don't know about twitching. This is the first time I have been in the Laem Pak Bia area and not visited either the Kings Project or Pak Thale. God alone knows how many good birds I sacrificed because of the twitch and I can tell you from driving through the area that some of the salt pans were bursting with flocks of birds. However I had limited time today in view of visitors and family commitments so this was the right thing to do for me - who knows how long the RSDs will hang around for?

Remarkably I managed to find the reported location and drove in and, lo and behold, in among the hundreds of black-tailed godwits, brown-headed gulls, black-winged-stilts, four painted stork, and smaller pockets of shore birds and hundreds of egrets were eight unmistakable ruddy shelducks. Beautiful biggish ducks with a washed out orange appearance. I got the glasses on them and was thinking over how to approach the photographs when off they went! The other birds stayed but these guys simply upped and offed. I wasn't set up so sadly no photgraphs and I have no doubt they would have made a good shot!

So there is twitching for you! Fortunately I saw the target species and it becomes my latest life bird but I don't really feel as though I know this bird or that we have spent any meaningful time together! A flash in the pan so to speak.  No doubt many a birder has travelled a considerably longer distance to draw a blank. I doubt I would be prepared to go on this kind of twitch. When the Masked Finfoot was found in Khao Yai earlier this year I wasn't prepared to make the effort. I would have wanted to see it had I been in the area but I wasn't prepared to embark on a 12-15 hour round trip.
c
I have to say there were great numbers of Painted Stork in the area today. I reckon I observed easily in excess of fifty birds today. A review of the above picture shows a Caspian tern, with its stonking great orange bill, in the midst of the gulls.

I made a little detour into the deserted building in Laem Pak Bia as Spooners have been reported there in the last two weeks. I was looking for an easy spot today and the possibilities were too much like hard work and looked impossible to access so I let them be. I was in pursuit of Grey-headed Lapwing and headed on. I got to the reported location but there was no sign of them so I headed on through Laem Pak Bia in a homeward direction and made a brief stop in the Wat Khao Takrao area where there were also many painted stork, grey heron and other heron. I managed to photograph this black-shouldered kite who posed a little for me.

Saturday 20 November 2010

Grey-breasted Prinia at the Reservoir


I was thinking that my trip to Huai Mai Teng Resservoir this morning was a bit disappointing. However this little chap is a grey-breasted prinia and he is a lifer! I must also say that the digiscoped pictures have been a great assistance in the identification and of course Craig Robson's A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia (Asia Books, Bangkok, 2008) provided the description. I am really in awe of Mr Robson right now. Let me quote his description of the adult non-breeding :"Difficult to separate from Rufescent Prinia but has slightly thinner bill, little (typically pre-ocular only) or no supercilium, less rufescent upperparts and tail and often a greyish wash on sides of neck and breast. Note distinctive voice. " Now I knew it wasn't a plain prinia because of its voice, plus it appeared to be a bit smaller, in fact, tiny. On the above photo it is difficult to separate without the call. However the picture below shows a very slight eye brow ("supercilium") between the eye and bill, which is what "pre-ocular" must mean! Note the eyebrow does not extend back behind the eye. This bird was in a very active small flock moving rapidly through the scrub. I was lucky to capture it. 



I suppose I felt disappointed because my access to the far side of the reservoir was blocked due to Loy Kratong festivities. This is a big nationwide celebration and there is a four day festival taking place at the barrier side, the side nearest to Ratchaburi. The reservoir will be a popular place as water and floating kratongs are major parts of it. The bright lights and noise would have scared off most birds.

I had a bit of a recconoître in view of this disturbance and lack of access. I went into some dry scrub areas and I reckon these will yield some good birds in time to come. This is where I saw the grey-breasted prinia and while there were abundant streak-earred bulbuls, yellow-vented bulbuls, green bee-eaters, pied fantails and drongos, there were other birds which were not as obliging as the prinia. Sadly these were unidentified as they were just too quick for me and had this ability to get deep into cover and stay there.

On my way out with the digiscope packed up I snapped this long-tailed shriked with the DSLR. A nice bird and a first for the patch.


In the afternoon I had a brief look in the local rice paddy and espied her ladyship the female pied harrier and another bird which may have been a juvenile but I am not sure. Loads of Siberian stonechats, drongos, egrets and hundreds of plan prinias dropping out of the sky with their very distinctive voice and a solitary asian brown flycatcher and white-throated kingfisher;  I did not photograph the latter and I had not set up my rig in time for the former. I was feeling knackered so I quit early and had a little drive around and discovered a few possible sites which I may try to investigate some time soon.



Friday 19 November 2010

Daily Kingfisher!


I am reasonably pleased with this shot of a Common Kingfisher taken today in the local rice paddy at about 5:40 pm in the embers of the day. Very poor light and ISO 200 used which is the maximum on my Coolpix P5100. Hopefully one day soon I'll get some decent shots in the middle of the day when it will be interesting to see if I can get a better capture! I am also reasonably pleased with this very common Cattle Egret shot in similar conditions.


In both instances I managed to get the aperture fully opened with a lot of vignetting in the frame and have cropped this away. This is the way forward! I hope to bring you some new birds in the next few days!

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Bird of the Day

Black-capped kingfisher
Halcyon pileata
นกกะเด็นหัวดำ
Ratchaburi, 17.11.10

The local rice paddy gave me this perched black-capped kingfisher. It is not the clearest picture on account of distance and light and the pose does little to show this bird's best features. If you look closely you will see he has a field crab in his bill, a bit of supper! Having captured this crab the kingfisher flew off to the trees  to fully enjoy his prey. This species is in the area but it is the first time I have seen one in the middle of the rice paddy. It's not uncommon at this time of the year. Not much else to report, her ladyship, the pied harrier, was briefly in the distance, a black-shouldered kite was perched on a tree, both well out of range; the usual large numbers of openbills, chinese pond herons and drongos with a good few white-throated kingfishers, plain prinias and siberian stonechats.

Further afield I have read reports of 2 Ruddy Shelduck being sighted to the south of Laem Pak Bia, towards Cha-am,  and one Spooner, an Asian Dowitcher and a number of Nordmann's Greenshanks being sighted in the usual places in the Pak Thale area of Laem Pak Bia.

Monday 15 November 2010

Lazy Sunday afternoon.....

The rice paddy at Wat Norng Blah Lai with the crags of Khao Yoi in the distance
Petchaburi Province
14.11.10

I returned to Wat Norng Blah Lai Sunday afternoon and had an idyllic couple of hours doing very little other than sitting on the edge of the rice paddy in a vain hope that some eagles might drop down for a late afternoon rest ..... as they did last year! Alas no such luck today. On arrival two aerial greater spotted eagles were very interested in me and there was an "encounter" on the rice paddy between a female pied harrier and a male  eastern harrier. I am not going to publish any photographs but I got some shots of the pied harrier in flight at a distance and I am very encouraged by the results. Simply getting some shots of the bird was a big step forward and from this I learned a little about what to do in future, like wait and wait some more! Also shutter speed was showing 1/250 and 1/500 of a second so no need to worry about blurring!

Here is a picture of the rice paddy with the crags of Khao Yoi in the distance. A beautiful Sunday afternoon, temperature in the high 20ºCs, a gentle, balmy breeze, the only downside being the proximity to the highway and the noise from the traffic. I was listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 online this afternoon and I jolted when I heard the temperature in Glasgow was -4ºC. I am not sure I could survive that for very long!

The Khao Yoi area is where it all started almost two years ago, heading down what we call "Drongo Lane" and the joy of seeing the drongos, green bee-eaters, chinese pond herons, the excitement at seeing white-throated and collared kingfishers and not knowing the difference between a cattle egret and a little egret..... We didn't know at that time that we were so close to such an important spot for aquila eagles. I'll come back here early December for another look.

Sunday 14 November 2010

Photograph of the Day: Plaintive Cuckoo

Plaintive Cuckoo - female hepatic morph
Wat Norng Blah Lai
Petchaburi Province
14.11.10

A Greater Spotted Eagle

I was down at Wat Norng Blah Lai this morning, very briefly, about a 35 minute drive from home,  and the first bird I saw was a Greater Spotted Eagle perched on a tree just as you drive into the rice paddy. I might not be the most reliable caller of a bird's ID but I would say this was unmistakable: big, dark brown, yellow bill and white flecking on the wings as it sat there. The dark brown appeared uniform except for the white flecking on its wings hence I call this a Greater Spotted as the others usually have some distinguishing colours on or around their heads, necks and upper bodies. Once more no camera ready so I assembled everything in the car, sneaked out, tried to set up my tripod and off it went! Well the good news is there is at least one eagle back in this area and there will hopefully be a lot more. This is a great site for visitors as it can be easily reached on the journey south from Bangkok to Laem Pak Bia and Kaeng Krachan: it is quite literally within spitting distance of the main highway.

Saturday 13 November 2010

Up at the Reservoir this afternoon

Eastern yellow wagtail
Motacilla tschutschensis
Huai Mai Teng Reservoir
Ratchaburi 13.11.10

I was a good husband and attended to some domestic chores this morning as opposed to the usual dawn start. So I went up to Huai Mai Teng Reservoir this afternoon with the objective of taking pictures. On arrival at my normal watch area my car flushed a common kestrel from a nearby tree which initially I thought was a red-collared dove, but almost immediately realised it was too big. The kestrel parked on a nearby tree for long enough to allow me to get my bins on it but sadly I hadn't a camera ready so no photograph as it flew off soon after. This is a new species for the patch but I did see it last year in Petchaburi in the Wat Nong Bla Lai area. It is a stunning looking bird, brown back flecked with black, a grey head and a lot of yellow in and around the eyes. I often wonder why many birders are so sartorially challenged when they spend so much time looking at such perfectly colour co-ordinated creatures as birds, and the common kestrel perfectly epitomises this! I think if I ever have to wear a suit again I will wear a brown one with a grey shirt and a yellow tie!

Little ringed plover
Charadrius dubius
นกหัวโตเล็กขาเหลือง
Huai Mai Teng Reservoir
Ratchaburi 13.11.10


I am pleased with the photograph of the eastern yellow wagtail grey wagtail, a female methinks, (edit 14.11.10: thanks to Paan for correcting me: this is an eastern yellow wagtail....I am still pleased with the photograph!) as the bird never seems to stand still and the very dainty little ringed plover, above, kept on chasing him away. The plover photo is interesting: I opened the aperture to f2.8, its widest, which means the resulting image was heavily vignetted. I have cropped the photo and this is the outcome. Not bad given that it was taken at 5:00 pm.

I sat in my armchair for the afternoon hoping that the kestrel might return or a pied harrier or two. But none materialised. What did materialise were lots of green bee-eaters, paddyfield pipits and I believe some Richard's pipits but I have to say I am not sure about these two latter species. I think my claiming a Richard's pipit a few week's ago was premature and I think I better remove it until I am certain.


Red wattled lapwing
Vanellus indicus
นกกระแตแต้แวด
Huai Mai Teng Reservoir
Ratchaburi 13.11.10


I am very pleased with this lapwing simply on account of it being a good digiscoped image. Lots of other common birds. Maybe it is time to head to the coast and get some practise on shorebirds. Whatever there is a lot to be said for sitting on a chair watching the world go past. Very peaceful, very relaxing.

Friday 12 November 2010

Today's White-Throated Kingfisher!

White-throated kingfisher
Halcyon smyrnensis
นกกะเด็นอกขวา
Ratchaburi
12.11.10
I add this because it is probably the best digiscoped photograph I have managed since taking up the challenge, taken today after work in the local rice paddy. I think it is wholly different in quality and charater to yesterday's offering and it was a lot further away, maybe 70 metres away. I am glad to say that I can see progress. I am hoping to go out in the midday sun tomorrow and see what I can produce with that strength of light. I should add the female pied harrier showed briefly but well out of range in very poor light.

Midweek Odds and Sods

Siberian stonechat  -  digiscoped

There is more good news on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper front. In addition to three sightings at Pak Thale a further three have been sighted at another location, undisclosed, in the same area and two more have been sighted at Khok Kham. I haven't yet ventured forth in search of the Spooner myself and will probably head down that way early December 2010. I must add I don't have a good track record with the Spooner. I have only seen it once, three birds last November and I am not sure that I would have picked them out had I not been assisted by Phil Round and Mr Dtee, our man in Khok Kham. Mr Dtee appears to have a seventh sense for finding the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Openbills
EOS Kiss X3

On the local scene there are pied harriers about the rice paddy. On Wednesday I saw a male and female at a distance and Thursday I saw a female briefly. So I am hopeful of getting some decent shots.As always there is an abundance of openbills, hundreds of them in fact and it is interesting to watch them assemble and disperse as the day draws to a close. strange looking, primordial creatures. Likewise lots of Siberian stonechats, black drongos and plain prinias.

On the technical front I am hopeful of getting my scope repaired. The tripod barrel does not lock properly and this may be an issue in explaining why so many of my digiscoped photographs lack sharpness. I am awaiting to hear if it can be repaired in Thailand or if it needs to go to Japan. I hope it can be fixed here.

White-throated Kingfisher
Canon EOS Kiss X3

Meanwhile I have been using my Canon SLR a little and here is a kingfisher that perched nicely for me last night. I am thinking of purchasing a Tokina 80-400 mm zoom lens to see how I get on. It is cheapish and I think it will suit my style of birding as I like to be on the move.

Monday 8 November 2010

Pied Harrier in the Local Rice Paddy, Ratchaburi





Pied harrier - female
Circus melanoleucos
เหยี่ยวด่างดำขาว
Rose Garden rice paddy
Ratchaburi
8.11.10

With clear sun in the sky I rushed home from school at 4:00 pm with the sole intention of getting round to the rice paddy with hopes of seeing a pied harrier or two. First of all I went to the far side of the paddy where my route was blocked by a mechanical digger and a mound of gravel. I was getting ready to walk on when I thought to myself:"No self respecting raptor is going to hang around this racket, let's get out of here"! So I turned around and went to my usual place and was setting up stall so to speak, taking shots of a pole in the middle of the paddy to get a sense of the light, when my attention was drawn to a brown shape sticking out. Nine times out of ten this usually turns out to be a post or stake or anything but a bird; this time it was this beautiful pied harrier, the female of the species. So I snapped away in the available light and these are my better shots allowing for light and for the fact that the bird didn't perform.It stayed covered up like this and didn't so much as take a bow or a sniff around. A herd of cattle and a noisy motorbike finally scared off the harrier and off she  went. Had I been a bit more savvy I would have prepared for her eventual take off. But one can always be wise after the event! I could have set the camera for one side and our girl might have gone in the other direction or straight up! She's a beauty and I hope over the next few months I will get a few more shots of her, her fellow and her youth and any friends that drop by. I have also started to talk to a couple of the farmers who seem very interested and came to tell me they had seen the "hew-ow", Thai for a hawk, and smiled when I showed them the pics. 

I am reasonably pleased with the photographs. I was compensating down this afternoon and it seems to be getting me better results. For good measure I add this little egret who was hanging off a palm tree. Note the diagnostic lime green feet.

Little egret
Egretta garzetta
นกยางเปีย
Rose Garden rice paddy
Ratchaburi
8.11.10


I hung around until after dark mainly because I had a chat with a couple of the local farmers and was then packing up when an unidentified bird, biggish, flew across the road and disappeared into the darkness of the rice paddy. It made quite a distinct high-pitched screech and another bird returned the same call. My gut reaction was owls. Obviously this is highly speculative but I have some work to do here, maybe learn a few owl calls and see if I can get a better look next time.




Spoon-billed Sandpiper is back in Thailand!

I am simply the messenger in this respect, an unofficial messenger, but Discovery Thai has news of three Spoon-billed sandpipers being sighted at Pak Thale, Laem Pak Bia, Petchaburi province on 6th November 2010. There is a photograph provided. This link will take you to a Thai language board which will open with fantastic pictures of a Great-crested tern, worth looking at in their own right;  if you scroll down "Ood" posts a news update: the sighting of three Spooners by his friend but that he only managed to view one himself.  The text in the photograph says it was photographed at Pak Thale on 6th November 2010. When I look at the photographs there I really feel like............. Anyway Thailand's most charismatic bird is back and no doubt a fair few people will be heading to Laem Pak Bia and watching events very closely.

Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom

Fulvous-breasted woodpecker
Dendrocopos macei
นกหัวขวานด่างอกลายจุด
Kamphaeng Saen Scout Camp
Nakhon Pathom Province
7.11.10

I had some work stuff to do in the Nakhon Pathom area Sunday morning so afterwards I headed about 30 km north to Kamphaeng Saen where I visited the Scout Camp, the Arboreturm and the campus of Kasetsart University.

Now I may not have made it to the Scout Camp because the English language signs ran out! It looked like a camp of some sort and there was no one at the gate so I drove in and had a look around. Really ideal bird habitat, trees, rivers, ponds, marshes and shrubs. Lots of black drongos, lapwings, Indian rollers, streak-eared bulbuls, chestnut-headed bee-eaters, a few black-capped kingfishers moving too fastly to photograph and then something not quite so common, a fulvous-breasted woodpecker. Just at the moment where I had the bird in exactly the light needed he flew off!

Indian Roller
Coracias benghalensis
นกตะขาบทุ่ง
 Kamphaeng Saen Scout Camp
Nakhon Pathom Province
7.11.10

I drove around a little just to make sure I hadn't missed the Scout Camp and ended up in the Arboretum and I have to say this looks very promising too as I flushed a huge great raptor. Not sure what as it was gone in a flash and all I got was a flash of a dark brown/grey upperside. So a gentle tip toe might yield some interesting results.

The Kasetsart campus is a well known site and has produced lots of rarities and good birds over the years. It is well watched too because it houses Science & Veterinary Medicine faculties. It is  a great place for a day out as it has restaurants and good facilities, including a small golf course. I didn't see anything today to get the heart beating but it was pleasant  driving around the huge campus. I spent a little bit of time near the perimeter looking at bronze-winged jacanas and openbills. The former seemed to be very big specimens.

Bronze-winged jacana
Metopidius indicus
นกพริก
Kasetsart Unversity Kamphaeng Saen Campus
Nakhon Pathom Province
7.11.10

I have to say I am having a wretched time with the digiscope to such an extent that I think I might be better with a 400 mm lens on my SLR. I must say a lot of good opportunities did not materialise today and sub-standard photographs are the result. I  think I am overexposing my shots and not getting correct focus. Hence most of my photographs look washed out and flat. Very frustrating because there are plenty of birds giving me great opportunities. More importantly  I am getting the birds in frame now, well most of the time! The problem is I don't know what to do in terms of upgrading equipment. I have a notion that my little camera is not focusing correctly but truth is it works fine when I snap people and places. I am not even sure the issue is equipment. I am tempted to try to use my SLR with the scope but from reading the user groups that too has difficulties.
Asian Open-bill
Anastomus oscitans
นกปากห่าง
Kasetsart Unversity Kamphaeng Saen Campus
Nakhon Pathom Province
7.11.10

Saturday 6 November 2010

An Ordinary Sort of Day at the Reservoir

Little ringed plover
Huai Mai Teng Reservoir
Ratchaburi
6th November 2010

An early start had me at Huai Mai Teng Reservoir this morning at about 06:15h and all the usual suspects were present and correct including three species of egret, little, intermediate and great,  three species of kingfisher: common, white-throated and pied, little cormorants, chinese pond heron, grey heron, purple heron, red-wattled lapwing, common sandpiper, black-winged stilt; an abundance of common birds. I saw a lot of pied kingfisher today, maybe 10 different birds. Alas no decent photographs so frustrating in this respect.

A harrier appeared briefly but retreated before I could call it. In all likelihood a pied harrier, either a juvenile or female, but it had one look at me from above and retreated. All I can say is that it was not an eagle or kite!

A frustrating morning on account of not being able to produce a few decent images but a good species count.

I can also report that last night at about 5:00pm I saw a first pied harrier,a female, in the local rice paddy. However I am struggling with the camera, feel a real clut! Watch this space!

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Mid-week Bulletin

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir
Ratchaburi Province
31.10.10

Four weeks ago a road continued to the other side of Huay Mai Teng reservoir where you can see a small piece of roof in the above picture!

On Sunday I went back to the reservoir early in the morning and had a good look at the female pied harrier and a black kite. I also had a pair of common kingfishers in my sights but I just couldn't take a decent photograph of either. So below is a blooper and I am not really sure what went wrong. Perhaps it was just too early in the morning and the light was not good enough, ASA too low, very gray early morning light or maybe I wasn't good enough. Most likely a combination of them all! Whatever it is good to know that the harriers are back and I expect they will arrive in Ratchaburi soon.

Common kingfisher - digiscoped blooper!

The EOS saves the day!



EOS snaps of Green Bee-eater
Paddyfield Pipit
Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi
31.10.10
News filters through of an Amur Falcon being seen at the Chumphon Raptor Watch and more significantly of about another 1,750 Amur falcons, 2 Himalayan Griffons, 2 Steppe Eagles and 1 Imperial Eagle being observed at Chiang Dao in the far north of Thailand. One of the Thai language boards has reports of Heuglin Gulls at Laem Pak Bia. I was reading Wansteadbirder's blog about a twitch from London to the South-West of England to view an American bittern. He's posted an amazing photograph of the mass of people  assembled to view the bird and the account of the twitch is highly entertaining. Well I am not heading north or south to pursue the Amur falcons! Such crowds are unheard of in connection with bird watching in Thailand. Thank God! There would have been a time in my life when I would have gone for it but thank God for a bit of common sense in my life these days! Not that much I hasten to add.

I went out locally last night hoping to see harriers sweeping the rice paddy. Instead I  saw a black-capped kingfisher, the first of the winter and tonight it was in the same location with a white-throated and a common kingfisher in the very near vicinity. Three species of kingfisher within a kilometre of home is good! The black-capped is very elegant with very striking collars and a very distinctive red bill. If I am right he is a migrant.


I have been taking soundings on an internet digiscoping board and hope I can apply some of the help and tips that have been offered and publish a few more decent shots this weekend. If you would like to see a brilliant picture of a great egret please go to my friend Tara's flickr.com gallery. More at the weekend, I hope, but I have significant work commitments this weekend so may be only a little bit of a blog!