Thirty-three Pied Avocets at Laem Pak Bia

Encouraged by Saturday's unexpected Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Khok Kham and feeling energetic, I decided to head to Laem Pak Bia this afternoon. I had no expectations. I decided to start at Bang Kaew a small fishing village to the south of Laem Pak Bia to check out what was on the seashore. Nothing unusual but plenty of great photo opportunities and I had a bit of a laugh talking to the fisherman and explaining in my basic Thai how the very prominent brown head on the Brown-headed Gull was its breeding plumage. For a digiscoper it is important every now and then to have good light and co-operative birds. It makes a huge difference being able to shoot at fast shutter speeds. I got that here. In fact soon after the light changed as rain clouds began covering the sky moving from west to east.

At Laem Pak Bia there wasn't much too get excited about although small flocks of waders were on the move. What drew my attention however was a distant group of white birds with a black lateral ridge on their heads - I thought these might be Pied Avocets and so walked in and sure enough, Pied Avocets, quite  a rare bird in Thailand. I made two separate counts, about 30 minutes apart,  both of which matched at 33 birds. Now that was exciting and excitement levels increased as the flock took to the air and swooped and cascaded before settling down again in the salt pans. The effect of this is brilliant due to the monochrome colouring - it really enhances the effect of synchronisation as the birds move.

Four Spot-billed Pelicans were roosting further up in the same saltpan - large immobile lumps looking from a distance like large bean bags. Probably very tired after a long flight. First of the year and it will be interesting to see how their numbers build. Also noteworthy was a distant aerial group of at last 50 Painted Storks, but this species is resident year round and numbers in general are high. So a pleasant afternoon.

In the fading light to the Kings Project which is still under repair. All the pools remain empty and they appear to have hacked down a lot of the perimeter trees favoured by roosting starlings. Little of note here but a Peregrine Falcon perched on a radio transmitter and allowed me to shoot it.

Sterna albifrons

now you know why if "albifrons" means "white forehead"

Small Pratincole

I made it up to the reservoir for 07:00h and managed to scare off the Rain Quail; again there were good numbers feeding plus lots of Plain-backed Sparrows. I waited for the quail but they didn't return and so I had to make do with this lovely Small Pratincole.

The Reservoir

The bird of the day without any shadow of doubt was Rain Quail. About 25 of them came out to feed in the late afternoon at Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi. I managed a couple of decentish shots but  I feel I should have done better. I was in the hide and they were reasonably close. All I can say in my defence is they were on the move in a feeding frenzy and not exactly posing for me.

There were a few more Small Pratincoles in the same place and I rather fancy this is because there has been rain recently. I'd estimate at least six and possibly as many as ten. Likewise there were good numbers of Savannah Nightjars, at least four, and I reckon I'll get a shot of these birds in the next few weeks.

Elsewhere on the southern side of the reservoir I saw seven Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, more than I can ever recall seeing before; there were two Bronze-winged Jacanas, a single Marsh Sandpiper and a single, rather worn, Brown Shrike.

Some reservoir shotd 

shot with my "new" Canon FD 24 mm lens

Spoon-billed Sandpiper @ Khok Kham, Samut Sakhon

Unexpectedly I chanced upon a solitary Spoon-billed Sandpiper late today at Khok Kham, south-west of Bangkok near Samut Sakhon. We had been doing a bit of shopping in Bangkok. I got lost on my way to the main site and so lost virtually all of the available light for photography; we arrived at the SBS site after 18:00h. I saw a family saloon out in the salt pans and deduced this was a birder as the locals drive trucks. Sure enough it was. I need to thank a visiting Thai birder/photographer (Ton was it you?! ......I ask because I noticed your car plate was from Chiang Mai but didn't make the connection at the time we spoke between you and Chiang Mai, plus whoever I spoke to spoke impeccable English...if so, nice to meet you!) who put me onto the birds. I walked out into the salt pans with my rig but the camera had to come off as there wasn't enough light to shoot and I needed to use the scope to see the birds. I got Spoonie in my sights and had a brief look before he flew off with his entourage of Red-necked Stints. So if you are visiting I can assure you SBS is still around at Khok Kham; I don't know its status elsewhere. So funny to end up on one of  the most sought after birds in Thailand. As I drove around unfamiliar roads, constantly checking time, I was saying to my wife and son: "All I want is a photograph of one bird". I narrowed that down to a breeding plumaged Whiskered Tern but none would oblige. Finally I made it to familiar territory and voilà.

Savanna Nightjar

I spent a few hours this afternoon at Huay Mai Teng Reservoir, Ratchaburi province. With migration in full swing I thought there might be possibilities of flycatchers and other passerines. Alas no. In fact very ordinary - 4 Rain Quail, 3 Savanna Nightjars, 1 Small Pratincole and 1 Oriental Honey Buzzard. The weather was awful, completely overcast with rolling thunder and lightning nearby, and strong wind. The latter was very frustrating as leaves were moving everywhere and of course this movement triggers my reactions - normally the movement is a good indicator of a bird. So no photographs today, not a single shot.

 I had good looks tonight at Savanna Nightjar ....... one was perched atop a rock and in the gloom  I could make out white on its throat. It seemed a much bigger bird than the Indian nightjar, much browner. And of course it makes a beautiful rasping sound. Thanks to Dave Sargeant I can give you a flavour of this sound. On our visit to Huay Mai Teng at the beginning of March 2012 Dave made these recordings - to my ear they are top quality. These links take you to the sound files in .mp3 format.

Savanna Nightjar 01
Savanna Nightjar 02
Savanna Nightjar 03
Savanna Nightjar 04

Rare Ornitholigical Books Online

This link will take you to the University of Neuchâtel's electronic rare bird books. Here you can read in electronic format Gould's The Birds of Asia and other classic works of ornithological interest; the plate drawings are quite extraordinary. The text is wonderful and rich too. Try this for an example: a stunning image of a Red-headed Vulture. Let me acknowledge Subramanian Sankar who posted the original link on Keralabirder.

Bronze-winged Jacana - subadult

Bronze-winged Jacana

What better way to wind down after my first day of teaching than to do a little digiscoping? Yes, summer school started today and I signed up for it. Let me state for the record that I really enjoyed myself today at school! There are a number of lotus farms on the nearby Ratchaburi bypass road. As you might expect they are teeming with jacanas. So in the fading light of the day I trained my optics on this fellow, a sub-adult I presume. It's not an easy bird to shoot, let me add. Whatever this is a beautiful bird and I am happy with the shot.