Local News - Cinnamon Bittern

Cinnamon Bittern - juvenile

Ixobrychus cinnamomeus

นกยางไฟธรรมดา

Ratchaburi 22.02.12

The local rice paddy in Ratchaburi, a very extensive, flat stretch of land, is now mainly under water as the next stage of the rice growing cycle begins. On arrival after work a male Pied Harrier flew past. I have to say I was very pleased to see him in his splendour. Unfortunately he didn't hang around and pose but I am just glad that I saw him. First male on the patch since before Christmas. Impressive and awe-inspiring as always. I noted 4 Oriental Pratincoles in the air from their distinct call. There were lots of other interesting sounds including at least one Thick-billed Warbler and others which were unfamiliar to my ear: none of these birds revealed themselves however. A couple of Black-shouldered Kites were doing their trademark hovers. I noted singles of the following species: Yellow-bellied Prinia, female Plaintive Cuckoo, Common Kingfisher and a juvenile Cinnamon Bittern; large numbers of Black-winged Stilts, Cattle Egrets, some starting to show their yellow neck breeding plumage, Little Egrets and good numbers of Wood Sandpiper. This blog and the Oriental Bird Club Image Database helped me identify the Cinnamon Bittern. I didn't get it immediately; in fact I had to do a little bit of work to ID this one and I was on the point of posting on Birdforum for help. Initially I thought it was a Yellow Bittern but when I checked it in the field guides and through the OBC Images I realised it wasn't right, bill not long enough and the streaking too pronounced. I pondered whether it was a Chinese Pond Heron for a while but the head is all wrong for this. Then I remembered I had some good shots of a juvenile Cinnamon Bittern from banding at Laem Pak Bia last year so I had a look and open sesame! The bird let me know it was there as it stumbled and the noise of the reeds moving enabled me to make it out. Shame about the reeds but amazing being able to  shoot at 1/5 second .... thanks to the bird keeping very still!

Cinnamon Bittern - juvenile

Ixobrychus cinnamomeus

นกยางไฟธรรมดา

Ratchaburi 22.02.12

I do like the rice paddy. It was once more drenched in golden sunshine as daylight faded and because it is flat and open there is always a gentle breeze blowing across it. This makes it very comfortable and relaxing. A very pleasant place to get away from it all!

My Locale

I reckon the local rice paddy will be an interesting place over the next couple of weeks as there is a lot of surface water about and scores of birds, mainly common species like Cattle Egrets, Chinese Pond Herons, Common Mynas, Barn Swallows and Little Egrets. The watering is a precursor to planting the next rice crop. So good feeding opportunities.

I took my mind off my woes with a gentle hour or so at the local rice paddy. I managed the above shot of a Yellow-bellied Prinia with a 60 mm lens....heavily cropped.  I might have managed a decent shot of it with the telescope. There were also quite a lot of Plain Prinias and I had some good views of a Common Kingfisher and a couple of Black-shouldered Kites.

I should know the fate of my telescope tomorrow. Tracking shows the package arrived in Tokyo this afternoon so it should be delivered tomorrow. My concern is the contents have been switched. I hope I ma just being paranoid. Hopefully my P6000 will be delivered this week.