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.

My 'New' Nikon P6000

Common Snipe

Ratchaburi

24.11.11

I have to say I am getting a really good feel about my 'new' digiscoping camera, a used Nikon P6000 I bought off a fellow digiscoper in the US. In fact it feels better than the one that died and caused me so much grief. It's been a little bit frustrating this week because the light at the moment is usually on the wane from about 17:00h and gone completely by about 17:40h. Far from ideal for digiscoping. However this snipe in the local rice paddy in Ratchaburi was in the setting sun tonight with me in between. I am quite pleased with the shot. I used a sun shade which came with the camera. Normally I use a loupe with a diopter. I don't think the focus is perfect in this shot but I think it is better than when using the diopter. A little bit too early to say for sure. Hopefully this weekend I'll get out into some decent light and see what the results are. But I am really encouraged by this.

Ratchaburi : The Local Rice Paddy

Wood Sandpiper

Tringa glareola

29.10.11

The local rice paddy in Ratchaburi covers a substantial area of low, flat terrain with Thailand's southern railway line running through it. The powerful  thrust and vibration of the diesel locomotives add atmosphere to this very verdant setting. The flatness allows a gentle and welcome breeze to provide a little cooling. Like much of Thailand we are inundated with rain at the moment but unlike Bangkok and the Central Plains we are not flooding. However it is very wet and very green, much more so than normal. 

Wood Sandpiper

Tringa glareola

29.10.11

I have had a lot of fun birding this rice paddy over the last couple of years: it is quite literally on my doorstep so it provides an opportunity to grab a quick hour or so at the end of the day. During the past week I have seen some good birds here: pied harrier, common and painted snipe, wood sandpiper. In view of this I had made a mental note to spend a little bit longer here this weekend. 

Common Snipe

Gallinago gallinago

After completing my domestic duties I made it out just after 3:00 pm today and the rice paddy didn't disappoint.  For me the bird of the day was an Eastern Marsh Harrier, a male, sitting in field. He allowed me to get set up and then went in pursuit of some doves before I could manage a shot; it would have been a marginal shot as the bird was some way off; anyhow that was the last I saw of him! I also had a good view of an aerial Pied Harrier juv and a Black-shouldered Kite which was doing a bit of hovering in the distance. I reckon the Eastern Marsh Harrier has taken up residence in the area so I expect to be get some shots of him in the next month or so. 

Lots of birds, all the commoners, including abundant Barn Swallows, Openbills, Drongos, Red-wattled Lapwing, White-throated Kingfisher, a Common Kingfisher, Pied Starlings,White-breasted Waterhen, Eastern Stonechants, Plain Prinias, Plain-backed Sparrows, Chinese Pond Herons, and so on. The birds I wanted to shoot were Wood Sandpipers and Snipes. The Wood Sandpiper obliged but the Common wouldn't come out into the open for the lens; a beautiful male Painted Snipe broke cover briefly. In the fading light of the day, after yet another shower, an Oriental Reed Warbler slid up and down the reeds.

I think I'll be back for another attempt at the Snipe tomorrow!

Some Notes

Purple Heron

Bang Tung Jak

Phetchaburi 9.01.11

My wife, my son and I took a trip down memory or rather "Drongo" Lane today, Sunday 9th January 2011, just off the Phetchkasem Highway to the north of Phetchaburi town.  This is where we went birding for the first time in Thailand two years ago, probably to the day. I think we saw and recognised a lot more species today than we did back then but there will still 3 unidentified little brown jobs and these were not obvious species either! But I saw a Yellow Bittern flash past and hide itself in the marshes and I knew what the bird was immediately and I guess that is the indicator of progress over these last two years.

I like the picture of the Purple Heron, a digiscoped image . I was so lucky just to capture the shots as this is a very delicate and shy bird and usually takes off at the slightest disturbance. I managed to take up position with cover from some reeds and was able to get a few decent shots dodging the reeds which were partially blocking my view. I am sure I wouldn't have seen the bird two years ago and I wouldn't have been able to get the image 4 months ago. Progress on all fronts!

Common Snipe

Bang Tung Jak

Phetchaburi 9.01.11

There was no sign of Himalayan Griffons or Cinereous Vultures at Wat Norng Blah Lai but there were Imperial, Steppe, Greater Spotted and Booted Eagles. 

At home in our postage stamp front garden we have a Scaly-breasted Munia nest in the Pomegranate Tree and the Tree Sparrows are desperately trying to get into it; we had a female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker in the tree yesterday. Upstairs in our balcony we have a Red-collared Dove building a nest. Maybe I should stay home! Must rig a camera up and watch this develop.