Pied Avocet at Laem Pak Bia

Pied Avocet

Recurvirostra avosetta

นกปากงอน

Laem Pak Bia

16.01.12

It is Teachers Day today and we got a day off  so I headed to Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia in the afternoon, against the tide. There were huge numbers of Curlews and Black-tailed Godwits at Pak Thale, in fact there were large number of waders in the pools towards the sea, but I couldn't make out any Spoon-billed Sandpipers or Nordmann's Greenshanks. I made some effort to seek out Spoon-billed Sandpiper in fact but sorry to say I drew a complete blank. Lots of frantically feeding Red-necked Stints which raised hopes but no sign of that famous spoon bill.

Grey Heron

Ardea Cinerea

นกกระสานวล

The King's Project, Laem Pak Bia

16.01.12

In view of recent experiences with gulls I will never treat a flock of gulls again with indifference or disdain. They may well contain treasure!  Try as I did today, and I tried all the way down to Laem Pak Bia, but I couldn't find anything other than Brown-headed Gulls with a few Caspian Terns. I did however find a solitary Pied Avocet having a feed. I  was measuring up the front cover shot when a lorry load of workers followed by a cavalcade of motor cycles approached and I had to move as I was blocking the narrow track. The noise scared the bird away. Such is life. The Thai field guide describes Pied Avocet as " หายาก", "ha yak", meaning "difficult to see". I saw sixteen of them in the air on my previous visit. So always pleasing to see, and in this instance, photograph the rarer species. 

White-breasted Waterhen

Amaurornis phoenicurus

นกกวัก

The King's Project, Laem Pak Bia

16.01.12

I went into the Kings Project looking for photo opportunities. It is strange there at the moment as the main ponds are all empty. They have been drained due to maintenance. There are still plenty of birds but not as many photo opportunities. I managed shots of a Black-capped Kingfisher, a Grey Heron and a White-breasted Waterhen: fairly common species but all definitely camera shy; hard to get close to these birds without scaring them. It's these birds which really cry out for a handheld camera with a decent lens: they are difficult to digiscope simply because they  don't allow much time.

Black-capped Kingfisher

Halcyon pileata

นกกะเด็นหัวดำ

The King's Project, Laem Pak Bia

16.01.12

It simply takes one good bird to make a good day and today Pied Avocet did it for me.

Chumphon Raptor Watch 2011

Black-capped Kingfisher

Great to be back in Chumphon and to catch up with Bob de Candido who is in his shelter high up in Khao Dinsor, ( Pencil Hill), counting the raptors on their annual southbound migration. As always it is an impressive sight as hundreds of these magnificent birds pass through, often kettling near the watch sight and often coming in very close to provide outstanding photo opportunitues. In fact I would suggest you head to Chumphon Raptor Center on Facebook where you can see the daily digest including some great raptor photography.

It was a quietish day with moderate numbers of Oriental Honey Buzzards, Chinese Sparrowhawks and Japanese Sparrowhawks passing through. I also had sight of a couple of Pied Harriers and an Eastern Marsh Harrier. A small flock of about ten Oriental Pratincoles also passed through and according to Bob there were a fair number of Germaine Swifts. I observed them but I am not going to claim it as I wouldn't have the faintest idea of what it might be if it was perched in front of my front door tomorrow morning. However the weather was poor today and I think this effectively halted movement. That said I did see several sizeable kettles of the three main species.

I didn't manage any shots on Khao Dinsor. I am using my old Nikon P5100, a bit battered and bruised, but a perfectly decent back up. Unfortunately I had the wrong adaptor so I could not attach the camera to my scope. I see little point in trying to shoot distant birds as there is little prospect of getting a decent image. I think this would have applied today even if I had the P6000. If I had the correct adaptor then I might have been able to get some shots of close-up birds but nothing was really coming within that range.

I did manage these shots of a Black-capped Kingfisher which perched up very obligingly for me as I headed along the coast road to Khao Dinsor in the morning. This was a surprise as these birds are usually very skittish and don't welcome proximity to humans. What's more of a surprise is these shots are taken with the camera handheld to the telescope lens and as such I mustn't grumble.

As a further irritation, following Wednesday's disaster, the device I use to position the cable release over the shutter release button broke in two for no apparent reason this afternoon!

I wonder what these shots might have looked like with the P6000 ! Anyhow I am researching a replacement camera and I rather fancy it might be the Panasonic GF - 3 with the 14 - 42 mm lens. The lens has a 52 mm thread so this should  connect easily to existing adaptors. The camera also has the benefit of HD video. I am also interested in the Sony NEX-5 camera. I am not going to rush into a replacement. In fact I'm going to try to get my P6000 repaired and for the moment I'll stick to using the P5100.

So life goes on! Great to be back in Chumphon though we were monstrously overcharged for our dinner this evening....... we'll get over it, I hope!

Out with the Old.....

So to the Abandonned Building, Laem Pak Bia,  this morning and apart from a huge number of Black-tailed Godwits, maybe in excess of 2,000 birds, I managed to find a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in among the Red-necked Stints. I feel very pleased about this as it is the first time I have found this fellow unaided. He was as effervescent as ever. Alas no photos as the birds were on the move and not making it easy.

I headed back to the Abandonned Building, where I had parked the truck,  and watched the Peregrine Falcon above fly in and land on its top and in fact he posed a little for me. A Thai lifer for me though I have seen it in the Philippines. I retreated to the rubbish dump in search of the Brahminy Starling. I thought I was looking at a set from Doctor Who as there were 4 greeen tents with lenses sticking out bang in the middle of a rubbish dump ....... they looked like tanks! It took me a few moments to realise the big lens photographers were on the scene and our dear Brahminy Starling was right under their noses jostling the mynas and other birds in pursuit of the food left out. I had good views for about 10 minutes but alas no photograph as it then flew off and did not return. What a beautiful bird and a lifer.

So I headed off to the Kings Project in pursuit of Long-billed Dowitcher with a spring in my step. There I met some very obliging Pintail Snipe, once more lifers and none too shy of the camera. I originally thought I had spotted a Temminck's Stint but my advisor(!), Tom Bucklund, tells me it is definitely a Long-toed Stint - pictured below

Long-toed Stint

Kings Project

Laem Pak Bia

31.12.10

Nearby a Black-capped Kingfisher offered a few shots. This is one of my favourite birds and species. I could look at this fellow and his ilk all day.

I passed by on the eagles and Cinerous Vulture and headed home. They can wait for another day or year! In the late afternoon I went out into the local rice paddy where I was greeted by a Common Kestrel perched on a pillar in the distance. Not the best picture I ever took but a good record shot and a  new tick for the patch.

Common Kestrel

Ratchaburi

31.12.10

I headed over to the other side of the paddy and had a look at the recently reported Western Marsh Harriers ..... again my advisor tells me these aren't Western but are Eastern Marsh Harriers, specifically a male juvenile. Now that I have looked at the books I have absolutely no problem with this - I got it completely wrong and if I had done my research I would have realised that a Western is something of a rarity, something to crow about....a pun!  News Year Resolution: take time in making IDs and consider the literature and ID guides.

Eastern Marsh Harrier

Ratchaburi

31.12.10

My Dear Readers & Viewers that is it for 2010. Let me wish you a Very Happy New Year and express the hope that you have a great year's birding in 2011. My  birding year in 2010 felt like a privilege, like I was spoiled, spoiled rotten. I have seen some truly memorable birds, been to some great places and met some excellent people. I hope to see you out there in 2011 and when I get a moment I will review the year and give you the numbers. Once more best wishes and a Happy New Year.

Bird of the Day

Black-capped kingfisher

Halcyon pileata

นกกะเด็นหัวดำ

Ratchaburi, 17.11.10

The local rice paddy gave me this perched black-capped kingfisher. It is not the clearest picture on account of distance and light and the pose does little to show this bird's best features. If you look closely you will see he has a field crab in his bill, a bit of supper! Having captured this crab the kingfisher flew off to the trees  to fully enjoy his prey. This species is in the area but it is the first time I have seen one in the middle of the rice paddy. It's not uncommon at this time of the year. Not much else to report, her ladyship, the pied harrier, was briefly in the distance, a black-shouldered kite was perched on a tree, both well out of range; the usual large numbers of openbills, chinese pond herons and drongos with a good few white-throated kingfishers, plain prinias and siberian stonechats.

Further afield I have read reports of 2 Ruddy Shelduck being sighted to the south of Laem Pak Bia, towards Cha-am,  and one Spooner, an Asian Dowitcher and a number of Nordmann's Greenshanks being sighted in the usual places in the Pak Thale area of Laem Pak Bia.