Huay Mai Teng Reservoir

Oriental Pratincole

Glareola maldivarum

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Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi Province, 21.03.12

I never tire of Huay Mai Teng Reservoir -  the more I visit it the more I like it. On arrival this afternoon in the heat I was really in two minds about the wisdom of being out birding. I am still shaking off the lurgy and felt quite delicate. However as I drove to the water edge on the south side I picked up some water fowl in the air and they were not a familiar species. The duck situation is pretty simple here: Lesser Whistling Duck and err, more Lesser Whistling Duck. This is something which surprises me. These were not LWD with greyish heads, and a whitish upper trailing edge to the wings. I couldn't figure. I set up the scope and thought probably Cotton Pygmy-goose but they were too far away. So I decided to drive into the south side land area that is progressively growing as the water level drops. No surprises: Yellow Wagtail, Wood Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Red-throated Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit, ( x2 possible Richard's but won't claim until I can get a verified photograph), hundreds of Oriental Pratincoles, and equally vast numbers of Open-bills, Little Cormorants and Herons, and good numbers of LWD.

Red-throated Pipit

Anthus cervinus

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Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi Province, 21.03.12

I took advantage of the light to take some shots. The Red-throated Pipit is abundant at the moment and gets reasonably close but it is difficult to capture because of incessant movement.

Purple Heron

Ardea purpurea

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Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi Province, 21.03.12

The Purple Heron is a testimony to the Panasonic EVF. As I moved around I was able to confirm the water fowl were Cotton Pygmy-goose which I have never seen in the main reservoir in numbers before; usually in small numbers, singles, pairs and threesomes, in smaller pools. A large Osprey was perched on a post.

Rain Quail

Coturnix coromandelica

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Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi Province, 21.03.12

I drove to the north side for the last of the light. On arrival I was sad to note one solitary Small Pratincole. However Rain Quail were out in numbers, at least 20, like children in the school playground. They were on a piece of recently burned scrub. It doesn't matter what camera is used when the light is fading rapidly, the birds are 30-40 yards away and they have a vigorous feeding action and lot of motion - it is impossible to get a decent photograph. But I have never seen so many Rain Quail out in the open, playing and having fun.  I was happy to enjoy the show and was well aware that if I tried to close in on them I would scare them away - so I sat and observed. They were joined by a flock of Plain-backed Sparrows and two Indochinese Bushlarks dropped out of the sky to join the fun. I am going to try and got close tomorrow in the morning if I can get up early enough.