The Last Few Days

Barn Swallow - EOS

Alas wretched work commitments mean birding, photography and blogging have to take a second place! Of course I can still manage some birding but just a little. I'll leave these pics of some common birds that I have seen these last few days. News from the major sites is that a Cinereous Vulture remains in the Wat Norng Blah Lai area though no recent sightings of the Himalyan Griffons. In Kaeng Krachan Spot-winged Starlings have been sighted fairly regularily since Christmas. This represents a new record this far south for Thailand.

Scaly-breasted Munia -EOS (front garden)

Zitting Cisticola - EOS

Lotus flowers - digiscoped

Little Egret - digiscoped

Purple Heron - digiscoped

Pied Kingfisher - digiscoped

There are plenty of good birds locally. Yesterday we saw a fair few black-shouldered kites, a black kite and green-billed Malkoha as we toured around the Huay Mai Teng reservoir and its surrounds. Tonight a quick half-hour at the loca rice paddy produced a female Pied Harrier and a Common Kestrel plus Yellow-Rumped and Plain Prinias and an Oriental Reed Warbler. At the school camp, notiwthstanding the racket created by 200 + kids, an unidentified phylloscopus warbler, possibly an Arctic, and one other, two-barred but thereafter who knows and a very pretty Ashy Drongo. I was very pleased to get the digiscope onto the birds for both of the photographs below; the warblers move at speed and the drongo was equally swift. 

Phylloscopus Warbler - unidentified

Ashy Drongo