Chumphon Raptor Watch 27th September 2010

Well my second day at the raptor watch was not much better than the first. There really weren't any opportunities to photograph the raptors as they were too high in the sky for my digiscope and there were too few of them as well. I did manage some shots of this very elegant dragonfly and I hope to tell you more about it in the next few weeks. There are an enormous number of these dragonflies around the raptorwatch site together with noisy flocks of blue-tailed bee-eaters and swallows.

However I had a great time talking with Mr Raptor, Bob de Candido. Bob has been involved in this watch since its inception in 2003 and together with Chukiat Nualsri, they have developed the watch into an important international event. Chukiat is Mr Birder in the Chumphon area and it was his curiosity about the large flocks of big birds that could be seen high in the sky for a few months every year that led to Bob first coming to Thailand in 2003. Since that time it has become an annual event.

Apart from the lack of photo opportunities it was a great trip. I suspect I am going to make a couple of southern sorties by train, travelling by sleeper through the night in both directions, to reach some new birding sites.