Migration

A text from Phil Round on Saturday morning advised of the first White-faced Plovers and a Chinese Egret this "winter" at the Laem Pak Bia sandspit ; my dear wife alerted me to an unfamiliar call in the trees opposite our house a few hours later and on looking we saw our first soi Brown Shrike of the season; also good numbers of Drongos back. Reports from the Chumphon Raptorwatch advise of the passage of a first Chinese Sparrowhawk to join the many Japanese Sparrowhawks that have already gone south along with small numbers of Crested Goshawks and Oriental Honey Buzzards. So basically migration is really happening right now and hopefully there will be further reports of great birds arriving in Thailand for the winter or on passage to other parts of the warmer southern hemisphere.

Early Sunday morning at Huay Mai Teng reservoir there were 3 River Lapwing and elsewhere a further 7 Blossom-headed Parakeets which rather kindly allowed me to get set up and then legged it with the utmost haste! I didn't manage to see any flycatchers but there was one Brown Shrike and a lot of Drongos along with the usual species. I sat down for 30 minutes or so near a lily pond surrounded by trees in the hope of seeing some some flycatchers and warblers. I picked up this very well disguised Lesser  Whistling Duck and nearby a pair of very fast moving juvenile White-breasted Waterhens. I've cropped and sharpened the Duck shot think but I've included the unmodified original. It was about 30 m away so it wasn't too close and I must say I am happy with the focus and capture. But no flycatchers or warblers.