Boom-boxes-happy campers and the army

TOP - Mae Hia - The office pond
BOTTOM - Huay Tung Tao

(December 30th HTT) Big mistake going to Huay Tung Tao this morning (Saturday) – happy and noisy campers at one end of the lake and army recruit training, firing automatic rifle, at the other. I’m not sure whether I preferred the boom-boxes or the bangs! Let’s face it, neither!
But there was some bird activity. It’s strange that there are always dozens of Rufous Treepies at HTT but not one reported at Mae Hia down the road. The habitat is similar but something must be missing. These treepies certainly make their presence known with raucous cries and the occasional musical note. Two adult Little Grebes and one immature were seen but compared to other years they have been more difficult to spot.

(January 2nd. Mae Hia) A new bird for the area and it was a rather forlorn looking immature Little Egret. It had the grey legs and grey bill of a young bird and is usually to be found in groups rather than alone. Was surprised to see such a large flock of Red Junglefowl, it consisted of 6 males an 7 females. I usually grit my teeth at the noisy motorbikes that ply the road on their way to work but this time it was a very noisy bike that frightened the junglefowl out of a hedgerow into a field, so I quietly thanked him. 2 Eurasian Jays seen imitating the pit-piu call of the Rufous-winged Buzzard. I’m sure they use this call to alert other birds of this raptor’s presence. There happened to be 3 of these small buzzards in the vicinty at the time.

(January 3rd HTT) Today I saw a bird that I consider to be special, a Striated Warbler (25cm). Up here in the north it is not a common bird and I have only seen it 3 or 4 times before, so it was my bird of the day. Another bird that I saw this morning and one that I don’t see to often at Huay Tung Tao was the Blue Whistling Thrush. This one was the migrant variety with a black bill not the yellow-billed one so I was pleased to see that one too.

(January 5th HTT) A good morning 71 species seen 6 identified by call. Caught a bird wave at a marshy bend including; Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Grey-headed Flycatcher, Black-naped Monarch, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Verditer flycatcher, Two-barred Warbler and the Inornate Warbler which formed the base of the wave. Worth a mention, two Common Rosefinches, male and female and a flock of 31 Grey Herons seen spiralling down into the lake in the army area. Also interesting were the White-crested Laughingthrushes, three separate flocks calling from different areas around the site.

(January 8th Mae Hia) A tree with red blossoms was the centre of great attraction, Two Rufous-winged Buzzards, two Balck Drongos, six Hair-crested Drongos, two Purple Sunbirds, and three Olive-backed Sunbirds. What was surprising was that the other birds took no notice of the roosting buzzards.

(January 10th Mae Hia) Another new bird for the area (205 spp) and a fairly good one at that, the Stub-tailed Bush Warbler. I almost stepped on it before it flitted off into some deeper undergrowth, very mouse-like in its behaviour.