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!

A Gentle Afternoon at Huay Mai Teng Reservoir

Asian Brown Flycatcher

I managed a few hours this afternoon at Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi province, but it was very ordinary. I can't report good numbers of Small Pratincoles or quail: I heard one Small and not a suggestion of a quail. The undoubted highlight was a stunning male Pied Harrier quartering the main birding site and almost plucking what I think was a Savanna Nightjar out of the air. This harrier,with its very distinct black and white markings, is one of my favourite birds: it exudes bossiness in the field. I noted just shy of 200 Oriental Pratincoles. And I'd be happy if I've got the ID on the Asian Brown Flycatcher wrong and you tell me it is a Brown-streaked Fly.........but it is surely ABF? Right I am tired. Good to be out birding for the first time since last weekend. The highlight this week was a Common Tailorbird in our front garden and tonight in the same tree two Tree Shrews.

Harriers back!

I am pleased to say that harriers are back in the local rice paddy here in Ratchaburi: tonight I saw a female Pied Harrier and an Eastern Marsh. One of the local farmers told me they would be flooding the paddy next week so that should draw in many more birds. I really want to get a male Pied in my sights and try and get a decent shot of it. Tonight I'll just have to settle on this Plain Prinia.

Aquila Eagles at Norng Bla Lai, Phetchburi Province

Greater Spotted Eagle

I am surrounded by avian richness and a 35-40 minute drive today took me early afternoon to Norng Blah Lai in Phetchburi Province. This is home to wintering aquila eagles; these must be some of the most spectacular birds I have seen: big, majestic birds and a magnificent spectacle. The official count today  was 17 Greater Spotted Eagles, 5 Imperial Eagles, 4 Steppe Eagles, 3 Booted eagles, 4 Peregrine Falcons, a few Eastern Marsh & Pied Harriers, a couple of Brahminy Kites, a few Black-shouldered Kites and lots of Black Kites. These are the figures provided by Mr Paan, one of the leading lights in the raptor scene - I saw all the aquila species this afternoon, and only missed out on the Peregrines. You could say the place was buzzing - at times it was a bit like a fly past. Great to see Paan again too.

Eastern Imperial Eagle

I must add it didn't start out too promisingly. As is the tradition here the recently harvested fields were on fire this afternoon, and this meant a huge amount of smoke was being blown northwards across the main viewing area. However I noticed a number of black kites perched on a tree just above the wind and headed in to this area. 

There were plenty of Black Kites on the ground in this area and then the flyby began. In fact the Imperial Eagles came down from high and I was so excited that I messed up the shot! I've got shots of Steppe Eagles too, high in the sky, but they are good enough for identification purposes but not much else. So I won't post them here. The Imperial just qualifies for use here! Amazing to see the four aquila species on the same day in the space of a few hours.

A very pleasant afternoon today and truly sensational birding.

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.

Ratchaburi Raptors

There were a lot of raptors in the rice paddy tonight : at least five, three Pied Harriers ( 2 male and 1 female) and two Eastern Marsh Harriers, both male. Before heading out I was thinking that male Pied Harriers have been much rarer sightings so far this winter. So I was pleased to see the boys strutting their stuff tonight. There were probably more birds out there than the five but it was pretty difficult to keep tabs on them all at the same time as they were spread out over a very large area. I can be sure the male Pied Harriers and Eastern Marsh Harriers were different birds as they were in the air at the same time but in different parts of the paddy.

Now that I have managed to add Grey-head Lapwing to my list my next target is to get some decent raptor shots and I want to get a decent shot of Common Kingfisher. I am working on the raptors and came close to producing some publishable shots tonight. I think it may take until into the New Year as I badly need a bit more light. Trying to shoot raptors in flight in fading light with a digiscoping rig is certainly a challenge. But as I say I am refining my technique and getting close to it. If I finally get a decent shot or two I'll tell you about the technique! No sign tonight of the aforementioned Grey-headed Lapwings: something tells me they are morning birds.

A Very Short One in the Rice Paddy

I managed an hour in the rice paddy late afternoon. A Thick-billed Warbler, a Yellow Bittern, a Pied Harrier, an Eastern Marsh Harrier, and once more no photographs. Lots of common species. I also managed to lose my spectacles in the rice paddy and I am unable to read without them. My new P6000 cleared Thai customs today so maybe it will be delivered tomorrow or Monday. Hope to get out this weekend.

Perfection in the Paddy

Circumstances right now, work and its demands on my time, in particular, are against me in terms of birding. Sad because the weather and light are perfect. Yesterday evening I made it into the local rice paddy in Ratchaburi for about 30 beautiful minutes, the remains of the day draped in deep, rich setting sun contrasting a blue sky adding to the intensity of the rich, green rice plants stretching out in all directions to the horizon. I was rewarded by the show put on just above the rice by a pair of Pied Harriers, a male and female, cavorting, in fact revelling in this splendid setting, swooping up and down and then towards each other and then away. I  didn't bother trying to photograph this scene: too much movement and not enough light combined with the birds just being a tad too far away to take a usable picture. I simply observed it through my telescope. A perfect scenario, good for the soul. I have to say not photographing means I am looking much more closely at the birds and in consequence seeing a lot more. I think my identification skills and development have suffered as I have been too focused on photography these last few months: these last few days have been a good reminder of the need to spend more time observing. Three distant ducks flew past: these were most certainly not the common Lesser Whistling species but definitely something else, I wonder what. Sadly just not enough time for birding right now; even here in Thailand, relatively close to the equator the length of daylight changes; after December's winter solstice daylight will start to lengthen here and as it extends we'll get about a critical extra hour of light.

Circus Melanoleucos

Pied Harrier

Circus Melanoleucos

เหยี่ยวด่างดำขาว

Ratchaburi 16.02.11

Unfortunately when I got to the rice paddy tonight I had the wrong lens on my camera, it was set at ISO 3200 and +2 EV,and I had a very restless 19 month old boy in the passenger seat and he was throwing things out of the window like a screwdriver, a digiscoping adaptor........ and this beauty was sitting about 70 yards away.........and just for good measure the display on my camera froze and I was unable to change settings! Anyhow I managed a few decentish shots. I should have filled my boots with great shots because this fellow was very obliging. Who knows what I might have done had I got the digiscope onto him. Mustn't grumble, Pied Harrier is a special bird, nice to have him so close to home and not at all camera shy!

The Soi List

Olive-backed Sunbird

Soi 11.02.11

ซอย pronounced Soi means street in Thai. It doesn't mean the main drag rather a smaller road, think of Sukhumwit in Bangkok and the hundreds of sois that run off it. We live in a soi and our soi like most sois has soi dogs! We have a lot of stray dogs all over Thailand.  Our soi also has a lot of birds and I think the time has come to start a soi list. I say this because I was amazed by the number of species I saw in the course of an hour while pushing my baby boy about in his pram after work in the late afternoon.

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Soi 11.02.11

Our house is situated in a small estate facing  a golf driving range. There are a couple of little side streets running off the main soi and they abut onto rice paddy but the village does not have a through road so apart from when the soi dogs kick off it is fairly peaceful here. While the area is residential it is not too built up and beyond the golf range it is very much cultivated rice paddy with pockets of trees and scrub and various natural and man made irrigation channels. The driving range is busy late afternoon and early evening so not many birds then but in the mornings there can be several hundred cattle egrets feeding on the grass.

 Green Bee-eater

Soi 11.02.11

The criterion for getting onto the soi list will be that the bird can be seen from the soi. Number one on this new list will be Pied Harrier, a male, which I watched flying over the little bit of rice paddy nearby before flying off in the direction of the main rice paddy area. Next Scaly Breasted Munia, Little Egret, Common Myna, Pied Fantail, Brown Shrike, Red-collared Dove, Spotted Dove, Peaceful Dove, Streak-eared Bulbul, White-vented Myna, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Plain-Backed Sparrow, Yellow-Vented Bulbul, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Asian Pied Starling, Asian Koel (heard), Green Bee-eater, Olive-backed Sunbird and Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker. Excluding the Koel that gives the soi list a kick start of 20 species! I'll not add sightings prior to today and I will try to get photographs of as many of these birds as possible.

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.

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.

Rainy Season Special - Huay Mai Teng Reservoir

Green bee-eater

Merops orientalis

นกจาบคาเล็ก

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

An early start this morning from the comfort of my own bed. On getting up the first thing that hit me was the cool air so off went the fan for the first time in many months. I headed out to the reservoir with memories of almost running over four black kites last year and wondering what might lie in wait. 

Thailand early in the morning is always interesting. The monks, bare-footed and dressed in saffron or brown robes are out collecting alms and the faithful are out waiting for them to pass. It's called pindabat and it always serves to remind me what a remarkable place Thailand is because this is happening everywhere in Thailand, from the centre of Bangkok to the more remote parts of the Kingdom.

Green bee-eaters

Merops orientalis

นกจาบคาเล็ก

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

Huay Mai Teng reservoir took me by complete surprise. Due to the volume of rain over the last four weeks the reservoir is virtually full, almost overflowing. You have to see it to believe it and so I can understand how severe the flooding must have been elsewhere in Thailand. So there was no possibility of running over kites or any other bird because there was so much water that the slip roads into the reservoir were virtually covered. Four weeks ago the reservoir was really low. It covers an extensive area so for the water to reach its current level, the highest I have ever seen it, there must have been a truly almighty deluge. 

Houses on the edge of the reservoir

Huay Mai Teng Rerservoir

30.10.10

The water is basically metres from these houses where once it was about 0.75 km. If there is much more rain this area will be covered by water.

There was not shortage of birds and almost immediately I managed a lifer in a Richard's pipit. I claim this simply on the basis that there were so many Paddyfield pipits around and this one looked bigger and had a much clearer breast markings. I was looking for the extra long rear toe but it was not visible in the grass. It had to be a Richard's and I feel confident now that I have checked the guide book. So it gets a tick but no photographs.

Green bee-eater

Merops orientalis

นกจาบคาเล็ก

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

There were plenty of green bee-eaters around looking quite magnificent.  I managed a few shots of these fellows as they were perched and not quite as manic as the the other birds. As you can see they are moulting but they are envertheless beautiful,striking birds.All I can say is I am grateful I am not a bee; I really wouldn't want to be speared by that frightening looking bill! 

Great Egret

Casmerodius albus

นกยางโทนใฆญ่

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

 A great egret, a little egret, a white-throated kingfisher, a glimpse of an unmistakable pied kingfisher, common sandpiper, little cormorant, black drongo, chinese pond heron, plain-backed sparrow, sooty-headed bulbul, streak-eared bulbul, a first asian flycatcher of the "winter", a black-naped oriole and a juvenile, hundreds of barn swallows and then a magnificent female pied harrier. So pleasing to know the harriers are back. I couldn't get a decent shot of the harrier but there is one coming. This bird had the diagnostic white uppertail covert. A few minutes later a black kite appeared on the scene and took a little interest in my presence. I would say this one was milvus migrans as there was a lot of white on the underwings and the main underside from the head down to the belly was heavily streaked. There were some very obliging little ringed plover, one still sporting his breeding plumes and the other non-breeding.Also a yellow wagtail, motacilla flava thunbergi, but the photograph leaves a lot to be desired. Abundant red-wattled lapwing too.

Little Ringed Plover

Charadrius dubius

Top - breeding

Bottom - non-breeding

นกหัวโตเล็กขาเหลีอง

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

I then drove over to my normal patch and not only was the road across completely covered but the water has virtually encroached on peoples' houses. See above photo. I then proceeded to another favourite spot and here access was barred because the road has crumbled as water rises on both sides. Rain indeed but fantastic to see this water is being saved especially when in six months time it will be so badly needed. 

Pied Harrier - male

Circus melanoleucos

เหยี่ยวด่างดำขาว

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10

What a lovely way to spend a few hours in the morning! I had some business to take care of mid-morning but I managed to persuade Luna to come back with me in the afternoon. We almost ran over a male pied harrier. What a stunning bird! With my EOS Kiss X3 and humble EFS 55-250 mm lens zoom I managed to snap it. I really want to get the digiscope onto this fellow to do him justice. Looks like I will be investing in a portable hide and trapping mice to tempt these fellows into range. I also saw two quail which got me thinking but  they really were a flash in the pan and no sooner had I seen them than they had disappeared. 


I offer this common kingfisher shot as an indicator of the improvement in my shooting skills. This was taken in poor light at a distance and nearby a very elegant common moorhen was paddling around -  too far away and too gloomy to take a shot of it. What a great day!

Common Kingfisher

Alcedo athis bengalensis

นกกะเต็นน้อยธรรมดา

Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi

30.10.10