Back at Don Hoi Lod

Little Heron

Butorides striata

นกยางเขียว

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram Province 

31.12.11

As has been my habit during this break I went out birding this afternoon today and once more headed to Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram province, in search of more rare waders. Well none today but just a pleasure to be out again birding in pleasant conditions and, of course, lots of good birds and photo opportunities.

Pacific Golden Plover

Pluvialis fulva

นกหัวโตหลังจุดสีทอง

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram Province 

31.12.11

The Whimbrel flock, about 90 birds today but that number was swelling with arrivals, were in the same place as before and I attempted to get close. I managed to get very muddy but made it to some cover; no sooner did I point my lens than off the pack went! How inconsiderate! I did however manage to get reasonably close to a Pacific Golden Plover. There were loads of Common Redshanks about: this must be the most common species in the area.

Collared Kingfisher

Todiramphus chloris

นกกินเปี้ว

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram Province 

31.12.11

I got a look at the sea this afternoon which isn't always possible in the area as there is extensive mangrove. I had fun with this pair of Collared Kingfishers. A group of local boys were very interested in what I was doing. I became a school teacher for a few minutes and told them to be quiet! Especially when I did it in Thai! They were amazed when I showed them the images of the Kingfishers through the loupe on my LCD. In turn I was amazed when they told me it was a "pee-u"; these kids actually knew its name. "Pee-u" is its Thai name from "nok-geen-pee-u"(นกกินเปี้ยว) and that translates as something like "the bird that eats a type of crab", (viz, the fiddler crab or Ocypodidae uca dussumieri ).

They loved the Little Heron as much as I did and they also obeyed my entreaties once more to be be quiet and this time to sit still as I went in to take the shot. Fortunately the Little Heron was completely focused on its next meal: this meant it was very still. The boys called the bird a "punk"!

Greater Sand-plover

Charadrius leschenaultii

นกหัวโตทรยาใหญ่

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram Province 

31.12.11

I then headed back to my happy hunting ground but this time no big surprises. Lots of plovers, huge numbers of Common Redshanks, many Marsh Sandpipers, a small flock of Brown-headed Gulls, some Common Greenshanks and a fair few Black-tailed Godwits. But none of them came in close today!

So folks, that's it for 2011. Let me wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. May it continue throughout the year and most of all enjoy your birding.

Somewhere West of Samut Songkhram......

Cotton Pygmy-goose

Nettapus coromandelianus

เป็ดคับแค

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

I am not really sure how to describe where I went birding this afternoon but as I have said  many times before, it warrants further investigation. Basically I head to the area west of Samut Songkram and south of the Rama II highway, about 10 kilometres before you reach Wang Manao. My target destination was Klong Khon, to check out the mangrove, but I never made it. But once more I had a great couple of hours' birding.

Cotton Pygmy-goose

Nettapus coromandelianus

เป็ดคับแค

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

I arrived at a large fish pond which had good numbers of Cotton Pygmy-Goose ( 125-150), Lesser Whistling Duck and Little Grebe; there were also a few Common Moorhen. A scan for more waterfowl, more exotic ducks, drew a blank. However Cotton Pygmy to my mind is a splendid bird and it's been a good few months, perhaps even a year, since I last saw one.

Egrets

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

In the adjacent pond, overgrown and grassy, surrounded and almost hidden by shrubbery, there was a veritable cornucopia of jacanas: both Bronze-winged Jacana and Pheasant-tailed JAcana, the latter looking quite ordinary minus its resplendent breeding plumes; there were plenty of juvs. too.  Just too far away to photograph.

Egrets

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

A few kilometres further on I chanced up 12 Grey-headed Lapwing, once more too far away to photograph but lovely to observe as they lounged in the sun. Further on I chanced upon the largest concentration of egrets I have ever seen - a truly impressive sight. I think the safety-in-numbers rule must have applied because only those egrets closest to me moved. There is one solitary Grey Heron in the pack.

Egrets

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

A small kettle of aboout 30 Black Kites hovered above the egrets for a few minutes before proceeding south, presumably to the Khao Yoi roost.  A few of these even came right down and flew between the two columns of egrets.

Black Kite

Milvus migrans

เหยี่ยวดำ

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

The kites offered some photographic opportunities but I am still not happy with the results. These shots are definite improvements. However I think I now know what to do: boost the ISO to 400 or higher  so I can shoot at 1/1000 sec. I am going to try this next time I get the opportunity and the light to shoot birds in the air.

Black Kite

Milvus migrans

เหยี่ยวดำ

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

So I never made it to my intended destination but another fun afternoon. I am happy looking at and photographing birds, the only requirement really being that the birds are wild. I continue to be amazed by the variety of birds within one hour from home and am really glad that I have decided to stay local over these last few days.

Lesser Whistling Duck

Dendrocygna javanica

เป็ดแดง

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

Let me wish you all a very Happy New Year and express the hope that 2012 is a great birding year for you wherever you may be. Bonne Année! Blianadh Bha Ar! ( blee-an-ah-va- aar - the Scots were always a difficult bunch!) โชกดีปีใหม่นะครับ (chok-dee-bee-mai-na-krup).

Whiskered Tern

Childonias hybridus

นกนางนวลแกลบเกราขาว

Samut Songkhram Province

30.12.11

Asian Dowitcher at Samut Songkhram

Asian Dowitcher

Limnodromus semipalmatus

นกซ่อมทะเลอกแง

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

I was a dutiful husband this morning and changed a tap in our kitchen which has been making a terrible racket for the last few months. What I thought would take 20 minutes turned into a 4 hour job so no birding today until this afternoon. So back I went to the salt pans near Don Hoi Lot, Samut Songkhram province to test my assertion that this area would be worth further investigation.

Common Redshank 

Tringa totanus

นกทะเลขาแดงธรรมดา

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

I had a lot of fun observing and photographing the more common species: common redshank, brown-headed gull, little egret. There were a few raptors on the scene : a Brahminy Kite buzzing the gulls, a pair of Pied Harriers, female and juvenile, equally struck terror into the gulls just by flying over and a scruff bag Osprey flew over a couple of times. There were significant numbers of Greenshanks and Marsh Sandpipers, a couple of Little Heron, a Common Kingfisher flew low over the water and lots of egrets and Whiskered Terns. There were a few Caspian terns also for good measure. Conditions were well-nigh perfect: a gentle breeze mitigating the heat of a strong sun.

Gull-billed Tern

Gelochelidion nilotica

นกนางนวลแกลบปากหนา

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

I also made the bird below a Black-headed Gull but the Birdforum gurus reckon it is a Brown-headed  Gull.. I simply don't have the knowledge or experience in these matters. I was persuaded mainly by the dark iris; the Brown-headed has a noticeably lighter iris. If you want to offer an opinion please do so! I am not interested in controversy, let me stress, I just want to better my identification skills!

Brown-headed Gull

Larus brunnicephalus

นกนางนวลธรรมดา

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

I decided late afternoon to head out into the saltpans and try to get some shot of a flock of Brown-headed Gulls. I made it to a shelter which was still a bit too far away from the gulls. There was a Gull-billed Tern within range and then a steady flow of Marsh Sandpipers and Greenshanks started to arrive in the pond nearest to my position. At about 1740h I noticed the arrival of what I thought was a Godwit and in my idle sort of way I thought I should get a shot of it and check out if it was Bar-tailed or Black-tailed. I knew immediately it was a dowitcher when I got the bird in my viewfinder - a distinct black, straight bill. For purely selfish reasons, ie my list, I rather hoped it would be a Long-billed Dowitcher but I thought it was more likely to be Asian Dowitcher. My maestro Tom Backlund has confirmed the ID as Asian.

Marsh Sandpiper

Tringa stagnatilis

นกซายเลนปึง

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

I first saw Asian Dowitcher on the intertidal mudflats at Koh Libong, near Krabi in the south of Thailand, almost two years ago, so no lifer.  This time, however, it was much, much nearer and because of this the shot is about 100 times better! 

Common Greenshank

Tringa nebularia

นกทาะลขาเขียว

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram

29.12.11

The Asian Dowitcher turned a pleasant afternoon into a memorable one. I did not realise the Asian is a much more threatened species than Long-billed; it may simply be in Thailand that the Long-billed is much rarer. But globally the Asian has an IUCN Red List status of 'Near Threatened' and numbers are estimated to be approx 23,000, (BirdLife International). I also did not realise that Don Hoi Lot is a Ramsar site on account of the large numbers of solen regularis, or razor clams, or as my Thai hosts would say, "hoi lod" ( หอยหลอด). The Ramsar site  must be specifically the mudflats of the Maeklong estuary. This may also explain why it is not a wader hotspot: the presence of these molluscs must mean  a significant human presence and a resulting high level of disruption, especially at low tide. 

Such a Perfect Day

Sunset at Don Hoi Lod

Don Hoi Lod, Samut Songkhram Province

Caspian Tern

Sterna Caspia

นกนางนวลแกลบแคสเปียน

Don Hot Loi, Samut Songkhram Province

29.12.11

In the spirit of rest and relaxation that has so far characterised this much needed break my wife and I dropped our son at nursery, did a little shopping and then headed down to Samut Songkhram where the Maeklong river enters the Gulf of Thailand. The mighty Maeklong, which has its source in the mountains of the Myanmar border and then works its way down through Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi, exits into the sea at this point. This is a new area for me so I didn't know what to expect but on the basis of sticking my big toe in today I would say it warrants much closer attention. Of course it is in the heart of the Inner Gulf so it should be possible to see good birds here.

There were significant pockets of waders and gulls in some of the ponds, the most notable being a count of 116 Whimbrels. I rather fancy there was also a Black-headed Gull as it had a very dark eye. There were Common Redshank, scores of Marsh Sandpiper, a reasonable sprinkling of Pacific Golden Plover and a fair few Bar-tailed Godwits. This was in Don Hoi Lod ( ดอนหอยหลอด) an area to the south of Samut Songkhram town; it also has some very good restaurants perched above the sea, one of which we tried. We had some delicious Crab and King Prawn and one of the staff very kindly washed my very muddy shoes!

Caspian Tern

Sterna Caspia

นกนางนวลแกลบแคสเปียน

Don Hot Loi, Samut Songkhram Province

29.12.11

This Caspian Tern was as aggressive and energetic a gull or a tern as I have ever seen. He was scrapping with Brown-headed Gulls and Egrets. Anyways it was good enough to smile for the camera!

Whimbrel

Numenius phaeopus

นกอีก๋อยเล็ก

Don Hot Loi, Samut Songkhram Province

29.12.11

After a leisurely lunch we drove home to collect our son and as we approached Wang Manao, an area I usually associate with Black Kite, I was scanning the sky as usual. What caught my attention was a Greater Spotted Eagle playing above the rice paddy on the north side of the road, about one hundred yards, no more, from the main road. Now these eagles can also be seen further down the road in the Wat Norng Blah Lai area so they are highway friendly!

Not bad for messing around and a very interesting new site, close to home!

In Praise of Common Birds

Chinese Pond Heron

Ardeola bacchus

นกยางกรอกพันธุ์จีน

Ratchaburi

28.12.11

The plan today was to stake out the irrigation canal adjacent to the Ratchaburi rice paddy and attempt to get some decent shots of Pied Kingfisher. They were there yesterday morning and they were there last year! They are also spectacular birds in my humble opinion and so it seemed a good idea to set up in the hide and wait. I failed miserably in terms of the target but I had a lot of fun shooting common species that can be seen very easily in most parts of Thailand. Some of these birds got in close, others were the same distance away as usual but by virtue of being unseen I gave myself a bit more time for the shot.

Plain Prinia

Prinia inornata

นกกระจิบหญ้าสีเรียบ

Ratchaburi

28.12.11

First of all, prior to setting up in the hide, I had a quick scout round the area to see what I could see. Not an awful lot. A few Black Kites. I did battle with a Common Iora - it wouldn't sit still and allow me to photograph it!  It was very close and would have made a pretty shot, but this creature was not co-operating. Of course digiscoping just doesn't allow for fast movement onto a bird that is cavorting.  This creature was having a blast, upside down and all over the place. I remained patient and hopeful for an opportunity. Then it simply flew off! I feel good that I had only taken one duff shot in the 20 minutes or so I devoted to my efforts.  I immediately deleted it too!

So I spent a few hours in the hide and in fact had the unusual experience of one bird being too close to photograph, a Plain Prinia. I think I'll try and bit more of this tomorrow.

Ratchaburi Rice Paddy

Pied Kingfisher

Ceryle Rudis

Ratchaburi 26.12.11

I've been feeling under the weather these last few days and awoke this morning with both nostrils blocked with the cold. So on my first day of leave I was more than happy to spend a few hours birding in the rice paddy in Ratchaburi, as opposed to a longer drive to the main action areas - that is  after dropping my son at nursery and my wife at the hair dresser! This morning the sun was shining brightly.

Indian Roller

Ratchaburi 26.12.11

I drove into a small mixed flock of Little & Great Egrets and some of the latter were still sporting that very distinctive aquamarine colour at the base of their bills normally present in the breeding season. I decided to head to my usual haunt which has yielded Grey-headed Lapwing, Common Snipe, possibly Pintail too,  Woodsandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper but today not offering much in terms of diversity: Red-wattled Lapwing, Chinese Pond-Herons and Streak-earred Bulbuls , the latter darting about the border trees and shrubbery. I stopped to admire a solitary Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker and a closer look at the pole shows it ( and others) are probably residing there.

I have little doubt that the next bird up was a Shikra, light grey colours with black primary tips, and dark undertail bands: in the air and heading away from me. Then in the same area I espied a Barbet high on a bamboo tree....a little distant, but my bins confirmed a barbet and rather a lot of red on top. My instinct was Coppersmith but I had doubts because it looked bigger. I had a look at the field guide which raised more issues: for a Coppersmith this had a distinct lack of yellow around the eyes. And so it remains as a mystery as the bird duly legged it before I could do anything else!

Then I had a virtual point blank on a Thick-billed Warbler whose presence in the shrubbery I noticed from the movement of leaves it was causing, then out popped its head and then everything else and it saw me and my bins about 6 feet away and not surprisingly legged it or rather winged it! In compensation an Indian Roller perched up on the other side of the irrigation canal and I was lucky enough to see it and to be able to photograph it.

With no time pressure on me I drove to another part of the rice paddy where last year I saw some Pied Kingfishers. Well they were there for me today and I managed to get a shot of one who was more interested in his prey than me, but not for very long! No these guys do it for me. They really strike me as extraordinarily beautiful and I doubt I could ever tire of them. I think I'll be out tomorrow with the hide to see if I can really get in close and get some shots of these spectacular birds.

Finally at least three Black Kites were soaring in and around the rice paddy during my visit. No sign of harriers, however.

Christmas Day out West

The Ratchaburi rice paddy was really dead this morning on a brief trip in the continuing gloom. In the afternoon we had our Chhristmas lunch up in Suan Pueng and took a drive higher up into the mountains. This produced an aerial Shikra, I believe, a smallish light grey raptor with black primary tips and a very small head; and later a Crested Goshawk, I think, another light coloured bird, though bigger than the Shikra, with a dark terminal band on its tail. No claims being made here, I stress. I have made a mental note to explore this area again. Once you get out of the main Suan Pueng resort area, a considerable area, the road north towards Kanchanaburi becomes quite mountainous and this is where I saw these two raptor species.

On our return we took a quick spin around the Huay Mai Teng Reservoir site. I have not been here for a while and I was mindful of the fact that on Christmas Day last year I noted the presence of a flock of Small Pratincoles. Quite disappointing to notice the amount of land that has been reclaimed and developed for agriculture. Equally disappointing on the bird front. The highlight was a distant Osprey. Not a sign of a Small Pratincole but both areas where I saw them at this time last year have been changed with large dirt tracks in situ which weren't there last year.

Black-browed Reed-warbler, Thai Lifer ⌗306

Black Kite

Ratchaburi

24.12.11 

A Merry Christmas to you! I managed Thai lifer ⌗306, a Black-browed Reed-warbler,  this afternoon in the rice paddy here in Ratchaburi, a perfect Christmas present. Two noteworthy features: its very clear black brow above a white supercilium and its white underparts. The warbler was skulking in reeds on the edge of the rice paddy adjacent to the irrigation canal. I could so easily have missed this bird and assumed it was an Oriental Reed Warbler but I waited for it to show itself and the black brow shouted at me, so to speak. No photograph as it was rather late in the day and I was in the truck.

Snipe sp

Ratchaburi 24.12.11

It is a joy to be on holiday for a few days and it is equally a joy to be able to go out birding at my leisure at 1430h with absolutely no pressure of time. It was strangely overcast and dull.  The first bird to attract my attention was a Black Kite which parked itself in the rice paddy while it devoured some unfortunate prey. It didn't like me encroaching and soon flew off.

I went to look for "inland waders" in another part of the paddy and met up with the two snipe photographed above. I think these are Pintail Snipes but I am really not sure and I cannot get any confirmation. I didn't get a view of their tails but there were no white trailing edges on their wings as they flew off - the field guides say these are diagnostic in respect of Common Snipe. It is conceivable that I didn't see their white trailing edge, but I was certainly looking for it when they flew. I attach a shot of the snipe's rear.

I am also influneced in favour of Pintail as I think the bill is on the short side and then this issue of the supercilium always being broader than the eyestripe at the base of the bill. If you feel confident about calling this one please let me know!

Red-wattled Lapwing

Ratchaburi

24.12.11

Not many other waders around and no sign of Grey-headed Lapwing either. I took advantage of the opportunity offered by the above obliging Red-wattled Lapwing, one of the more common residents in the rice paddy. An Eastern Marsh Harrier was doing a bit of buzzing and managed to unsettle 5 Black-crowned Night-herons which flew from their perch on a nearby tree, their presence up to that moment unknown to me. A Common Kingfisher  came tantalisingly close to giving me a good shot but as you can see the lower half of the bird's body is wrong. I also think I was in the wrong position too and that more of a side angle, as opposed to this head on, would make for a better image. You will appreciate, however, that if I start moving around the bird is going to take off.

Common Kingfisher

Ratchaburi

24.12.11

And finally there are thousands of ducks in the rice paddy waiting to be let loose on the remnants of the harvest. A strange spectacle but maybe their presence will draw in some more raptors in search of some variety in their diet.

Another Magical Local Hour

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

Dendrocopos macei

นกหัวขวานดา่งอกลายจุด

Ratchaburi 19.12.11

It's always nice to add a new tick to the patch and tonight in the final light of the day two Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers obliged for me in Ratchaburi's rice paddy. Sunset was at 1759h, these shots were taken at 1748h. I was fortunate to notice the birds on a large wooden stake as I drove home.  The birds were good enough to let me get reasonably close which always means a better image.  I was already very happy as I had just seen our solitary Grey-headed Lapwing and prior to that I had been able to get a reasonable image of a Pied Harrier on terra firma. Plus the female Pied and a male and female Eastern Marsh Harrier were also harrying. 

Pied Harrier

Circus melanoleucos

เหยี่ยวดางดำขาว

Ratchaburi 19.12.11

The Pied image really is a showcase for digiscoping. This is no front cover shot but the bird was about 400 - 500  metres away and if you look closely you can see his black iris. It's also cropped but not a bad result. Note that the rice has been harvested and indeed this is ongoing; next thousands of domestic ducks will be let loose on it to eat any residue, then over the next six weeks it will be burned,  ploughed, flooded, churned and new rice planted. Back-breaking work under strong sun.

My harrier flight shots continue to improve too and I expect to post a decent flight shot sometime in the near future. With this year's Winter Solstice due on 22nd December the days will then start to lengthen, just a little, with maybe a gain of an extra hour of daylight over the next few months - this should mean the light at about 17:30h will be strong and all round much better photography conditions.

So another magical, effortless hour in the local rice paddy. I want to get closer to that Pied Harrier!

A Quiet Weekend

A very welcome visit from a nephew, Andrew, and his girlfriend combined with the remnants of a nasty throat infection meant little birding activity this weekend. Of course I took everybody out to the rice paddy for the final hour of Saturday afternoon and I am delighted to say I was able to show my wife, her mother and Andrew and his girlfriend a solitary Grey-headed Lapwing. It was like a magic hour because there were also plenty of Common Snipes, Wood Sandpipers, a few Spotted Redshanks, White-breasted Waterhen, a Brown Shrike, a White-throated Kingfisher, a Common Kingfisher, and all the usual suspects; in the last light of the day a male and female Pied Harrier put in an appearance,  an Eastern Marsh also flashed around and the distinctive fluttering hover of a Black-shouldered Kite revealed its identity against a very dark sky. My guests loved it!

Sunday we had a boat trip on the Meklong River at Amphawa Market, Samut Songkram. A Little Tern, a fair few Whiskered Tern, plenty of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and a Brahminy Kite hovering around. We headed to the Khao Yoi Black Kite roost for the final light of the day and I counted between 250 - 300 Black Kites on the ground. My guests were really impressed by the spectacle.

Roll on the Christmas break - I am looking forward to doing some serious birding.

The Birds of Phetchburi Province

Nordman's Greenshank

Tringa guttifer

นกทะเลขาเขียวลายจุด

Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

A long pleasant day birding in Phetchaburi province which must have the best concentration and variety of birding in Thailand. A second consecutive Monday holiday so what else can a birding teacher do?! 

Temminck's Stint

Calidiris temminckii

นกสติ๊นท์อกเทา

Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

The highlights were 15 Nordmann’s Greenshanks and Thai lifer, #305, Temminck’s Stint, which I caught up with at the Abandoned Building, Laem Pak Bia.

Long-toed Stint

Calidris subminuta

นกสติ๊นท์นิ้วยาว

Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

In the really noticeable early morning cool Pak Thale was quite disappointing: a huge flock of Eurasian Curlews but I couldn't see any Far Eastern in their misdst; nearby a mixed flock of Brown-headed Gulls and Caspian Terns.. At 06:00h the water level was high with a high tide not due until about 08:15h so yesterday's tide must have been very high indeed.

Eurasian Curlew

Numenius arquata

นกอีก๋อยใหญ่

 Pak Thale, 12.12.11

I headed south to the Abandoned Building in Laem Pak Bia and took advantage of the photo-opportunities provided by some small waders that came in close including the Temminck's Stint. The Long-toed Stint is a particularily good-looking bird. I would have to say the pool to the right of the building is as near as damn near possible for a sure thing in so far as Temminck's is concerned. I reckon between three and four birds of that species are hanging out there. Quite a few other birds are passing through too and there were even two Painted Stork on top of the building,  a number of egrets including the Great Egret pictured below a Wood Sandpiper, and Little Ringed Plover. The Black-tailed Godwit at the top of this blog was shot there previously. There is also a big flock of Spotted Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilt parked in the pond adjacent to this on the other side of the track.

Caspian Tern

Sternus caspia

นกนางนวลแกลบแกสเปียน

 Pak Thale, 12.12.11

After lunch I slowly worked my way up towards Bang Kaew. There is a massive concentration of birds about 1 kilometre north of the King's Project, with birds loading the pans on both sides of the road. Great Knot seemed to be the volume bird but in amongst this lot and notwithstanding the sun, I picked out most of the usual suspects but also 15  Nordmann's Greenshanks and 1 Ruff. The Nordmann's even gave me a little pose, not great but enough to capture a record shot.

Great Egret

Casmerodius alba

นกยางโทมใหญ่

 Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

Bang Kaew and Wat Komnaram had no waterfowl and no sign of either Painted or Milky Stork. On a hunch I headed north to Wat Khao Takhrao and there were no waterfowl present there.

Little RInged Plover

Charadrius dubius

นกหัวโตเล้กขาเหลือง

 Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

As I was in the area I drove over to the Khao Yoi Black Kite roost site and they didn't disappoint. En route I drove into a dried out fish pond and there must have been 20 - 25 kites enjoying an afternoon rest on the ground. Normally I expect to see the kites flying into the roost at a reasonably low height, a bit like the queue of planes waiting to lnad at Heathrow Airport, London; tonight a lot of the birds were dropping out of the sky from high up. I don't know if this means anything - maybe  the high birds are new arrivals. However it was an impressive spectacle as always.

A very large flock of waders

The rice is being harvested right now and this was going on in the field next to my viewpoint. By good fortune the harvester flushed the very fine looking female Watercock (below), a bird not easily seen or photographed. I was set and ready for the capture for once and this bird parked itself within range and had a good look around before shooting away. This allowed me to get a couple of shots.

Grey Plover & Great Knot

Laem Pak Bia, 12.12.11

A really excellent day's birding with a good variety of birds.

Waterhen

Khao Yoi 12.12.11

Black Kite

Khao Yoi, 12.12.11