A Birdwatcher's Diary (Thailand)

A Morning At Doi Lang

2008-03-23T10:49:00.002+07:00

Red-faced Liocichla - photo by Sujan

March 22nd. 2008 - Doi Lang is a mountain and part of the Doi Phahompok range on the Burmese border in north Thailand, the Thai army was in charge of that border road but they were fairly laid-back and friendly, which isn’t always the case. This latter mountain is the second highest in Thailand at 2,285 metres and at its highest Doi Lang is 2,100 metres. We got as high as 2,047 metres (courtesy of John’s GPS thingamabob) and searched for that elusive 53 metres but they were nowhere to be seen. ‘We’ included my pal John Moore. When I said a morning at Doi Lang, it wasn’t that easy as it is a three and a half hour drive from Chiang Mai and it makes sense to stay at least one night. We stayed at the Garden Home Nature Resort for the night (tel. 053 373015) but I couldn’t tell you what it looked like because we arrived in the dark and left the next morning, also in the dark. The rooms were excellent, very clean, airconditioned (600 baht) and if you needed entertaining the rooms come with cable TV. We had dinner in the very pleasant riverside restaurant and the food was good and incredibly cheap, no dish over 100 baht and most of them just over half of that.

But on to what we went for. This was my first visit to this particular area and bird-wise I was very pleasantly surprised. We documented 78 species during the morning and four of note were the Crimson-breasted Woodpecker (male) which was a new bird for me and it’s not very often that that happens to me nowadays. The other three were Jerdon’s Bushchat, one male, a Red-faced Liocichla which obliged us by singing its heart out and we obliged it by recording its song for posterity. Then there were the Crested Finchbills , they were everywhere in the higher reaches of the mountain, if a bird flew across the road it was invariably a finchbill. We also got some recordings of this birds call but it was a battle against the persistent shrieking of Cicadas and they came out even louder when I was editing the calls. But I managed to salvage a recognisable version in the end. This is one of the best times of the year for recording birdcalls as all the male birds are proclaiming their readiness for breeding.

The only thing that clouded the trip was the poisonous air created by the ‘slash and burn’ by the local villagers. In the dark the mountains were covered in ring fires, semi-circles of fire (some a kilometre long) obviously created by humans. So some of the more spectacular views were spoilt by the smog that resulted. All this after the horrendous fires last year and nobody is doing anything about it, Thaton should be declared a disaster area! But, having said that, it was well worth the visit – many birds were still active later in the morning than is usually the case anywhere else. At this time of year the hot weather would put most species into siesta mode around 9.30 to 10am.

Another disappointment was the fact that the border road at one point was impassable due to a landslide and the soldiers at the checkpoint didn’t think it would be removed any time soon. We had planned to do the return trip all along that mountain road to Chiang Dao but instead had to backtrack to Thaton and return along the busy Fang road (route 107).
I have to end on a happier note and say that even the ‘slash and burn’ didn’t spoil our enjoyment and the results made it all worthwhile.

Home-makers, a very productive time

2008-03-17T12:04:00.002+07:00

Grey-headed Parakeet - Photo by John Moore

(March 17th. HTT) A very interesting morning and probably the sighting of the morning was a pair of Chinese Francolin with the male displaying to a female in the rice stubble. She looked as if she didn’t want any part of it, running this way and that to elude him. Obviously she was leading him on otherwise she could have just taken wing and left him all fluffed up and excited.

Another bird I had my suspicions about was a Ruddy-breasted Crake. Now normally this bird is very shy and skulks but this one was strutting about within 3 or 4 metres of me but not a female in sight. Anyway, this is the closest I have been to one of these birds for any length of time, so it was another exciting moment.

Now for the continuing saga of ‘The Hole In The Tree’ as mentioned in my last piece. The Chestnut-tailed Starlings did take over the tenancy of the hole and the Plain-backed Sparrows seemed to have lost out. But – they have now found another abode just down the block in the same tree. This hole is actually on the underside of the branch but is proving no problem for these acrobatic birds. This hole was probably originally hacked out by Coppersmith Barbets as I have seen many of them nest in holes on the underside of branches.

A Grey-headed Parakeet was spotted feeding on seeds in a tree. Now this one I can tell you, with certainty, was an Ex-Con (an escapee), how do I know? It had a silver chain and a red tag attached to one leg. What did worry me was the chance that this chain might, in the future, get snagged on a branch or twig and that could prove fatal for this bird. But it was nice to see that it had adapted to living in the wild. One hope is that it will join up with a flock that is occasionally seen in the area.

Three separate Olive-backed Sunbirds nest were seen, all in the process of being built. It is no mistake or sloppy workmanship that these nests look like rubbish thrown into a tree, if you didn’t know what you were looking for you would never mistake them for a nest, does that make sense? All three nests were identical down to the ‘rubbish’ hanging
underneath.

ALL IN THE NAME OF LOVE?

2008-02-29T17:06:00.002+07:00

Common Koel (female parasitic cuckoo) photo by John Moore

(February 26th. KMP) This mountain road never ceases to produce, this morning three new species brought our figure for the area to 200 species they were the Bamboo Woodpecker, Brown Hawk-Owl and the Black Baza, and would you believe it John forgot to bring the champagne – I think he didn’t believe that we would reach that mark this morning. Anyway, champagne or not this road is always a pleasant diversion from my usual sites and this morning was no exception. The dawn chorus played like an orchestra with the Barbets forming the rhythm section and the other birds taking on the melody. The only way to enjoy this is to sit, eat breakfast and take it all in.

( February 29th. HTT) The holding pattern is over and things are coming to life. This is mostly due to the breeding season being upon us. Most birds are calling louder than usual and this applies more so to the Common Koel with its earsplitting, never-ending kow-wow call.

There are skirmishes for the best nesting holes and three in particular have provided great excitement over the past few years. One instance this morning was a nesting hole that had just ended a nesting cycle and the lucky first tenant was the Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker. Over the last few weeks I have watched it enter the hole, first to lay and brood the eggs and then making repeated visits to feed the young. This ended as the young left the nest but as you’ve probably guessed that wasn’t the end of the story. This morning the first in line for the second tenancy were a pair of Plain-backed Sparrows. The female was giving the hole the once-over and seemed to approve of it but it was not to be. A pair of Chestnut-tailed Starlings also showed great interest in this obviously up-market abode and and in no uncertain terms showed them the door. The sparrows sat on a nearby branch and looked on, if sparrows could look crestfallen that’s how they looked. But for these contenders there is no loser in this house-hunting game, each will have its turn if they show a little patience.

Also seen this morning was a stunning female Emerald Cuckoo – her irridescent green upperparts glistened brightly in the sunshine and the contrast of her orange head and black and white barred underparts came together to form a sight to behold!

So there you have it, for me we have arrived at the most interesting time of year, the songsters are at their most melodic, waxing lyrical, and the hooligans at their most raucous but either way this is how they show their feelings for their temporary or sometimes permanent partners. And let’s not forget our numerous parasitic cuckoo species, they are sneaking around looking to lay their eggs in some unsuspecting host bird’s nest, what was Nature thinking about when it created these lazy birds?

A not so glossy Glossy Ibis

2008-02-08T12:23:00.000+07:00

The Glossy Ibis - not the actual bird we saw but a borrowed picture (not a decent camera between us)

(February 6th Mae Jo) I got a call from Paul Mackenzie, a Canadian, reporting a sighting of a Glossy Ibis (very rare in Thailand). He was staying in an up-market housing complex on the Mae Jo road and it backs onto a wetlands area. So the next evening fully armed with all my equipment consisting of pistol-grip microphone and recorder (well you never know, it might squawk or something), my binoculars and telescope I arrived at the wall overlooking the wetlands where Paul was waiting for me. It only took a couple of minutes before we spotted the Ibis and we watched it for about 40 minutes. It didn’t appear very ‘glossy’ but that was either due to worn plumage or the fact that it was evening and there was no direct sunlight to reflect off the feathers. From our viewpoint we could see over close to two acres.

Other birds seen were: 15+ Purple Swamphens, 10 Common Redshanks, 80+ Black-winged Stilts, 20+ Snipe (not sure which one’s) , 2 Little Egrets, dozens of Common Moorhens and heard the drawn out trill of the Ruddy-breasted Crake. The evening before Paul said he saw a Water Rail.

What I did find amazing was that these wetlands should exist in a fairly well built-up area bordered by a highway, another busy road that leads to Chiang Rai and this housing complex. The birds seemed perfectly at ease surrounded by the hurly-burly going on around them.

(February 8th. Mae Hia) Quite a good morning for raptors, A Peregrine Falcon was spotted sitting in a dead tree, a Rufous-winged Buzzard, a Shikra and a Crested Serpent Eagle seen and heard soaring above. The latter bird was using its full five note ascending call, the first three notes fairly fast and the last two drawn out. I’m not noted for my bird imitations but I did my best with its call and it hastened over and was obviously intrigued by this biped who was having an identity crisis, but the purpose was served and I got a closer look at it.

It doesn’t rain but it pours with Racket-tailed Treepies, I don’t see them for weeks and then, like today, they are all over the place, nice to see them. This morning I saw the biggest flock of Junglefowl I’ve ever seen at Mae Hia, at least eight females and three and a half males, one was a juvenile and was just growing into its comb and splendid plumage.

Things are just ticking over

2008-01-27T07:32:00.000+07:00

Long-tailed Broadbill - photo by Chatree Pitakpaivan

(January 14th. HTT) I was just coming to the conclusion that the Black-capped Kingfisher which, in previous years, has stayed with us instead of passing through on its way south had abandoned us. Well, I spotted one this morning. As you might have gathered this bird is a passage migrant up here in the north. In the previous three years it was regularly seen during the winter months until it was time to migrate back north.

A flock of Crested Treeswifts was spotted this morning. The first indication of this bird’s presence is usually its kee-kyew call as it flies overhead. Even knowing it’s there it can sometimes be difficult to spot, like all swifts it is built for speed with narrow body and wings.

As nothing much else happened this morning I thought it worthwhile mentioning some of the birds that inhabit the overgrown lot at the back of my house. Two or three Siberian Rubythroats can be heard ‘cherking’ and ‘squeaking’ in the early morning in the thorny mimosa bushes, two Brown Shrikes sitting on vantage points spend quite a lot of time ‘churring’ at each other, no doubt defending their territory. Plain Prinias and the Grey-throated Prinias are often seen lurking in the undergrowth together with unknown numbers of White-breasted Waterhens. A Blue Rock Thrush (male) can usually be found perched on our rooftop carrying out its usual bobbing and tail-cocking posturing. In fact one could spend a morning looking out of my bedroom window and not get bored at all. The calls of the Asian Barred Owlet, the Greater Coucal, the Coppersmith Barbet, and various Bulbuls form a background orchestra to all this activity.

(January 22nd. HTT) Took out a party of four this morning and managed a count of 53 species seen and 5 identified by call. One bird of note seen was an Osprey flying low over the lake – having guests with me it was a good bird to come across. Others seen were a flock of 12 Blue Magpies feeding in a Silk cotton Tree (Bombax Ceiba). This is the time of year when many of the trees start flowering and these flowers attract many different species of birds. One could spend hours just watching as the different species come and go from these trees.

(Saturday 26th. KMP) Up in the mountains today at Ka Mu Phuket with friend John and we added another two species to our list bringing it to 197 species. These were the Great Tit and the Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush. The latter bird I almost mistook for the Blue Rock-Thrush (M..s. philippensis) It wasn’t until I saw the female on the next branch with its scaly belly and distinctive pale throat and neck markings that I realised it was the male Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush.

Another pleasant surprise was to see a flock of 10+ Long-tailed Broadbills flying across a gap in the trees, an amazingly colourful bird and with such clear delineation between the colours that it could have been dreamt up by Walt Disney for one of his animated films. Finally, the ever present Silver-eared Mesias were there, in fact we were hearing flocks of them every 100 metres or so.

Winter happens at night in Thailand

2008-01-12T08:17:00.000+07:00

Mae Hia - at 7am the temperature was 9c.

(January 8th. HTT) Now I know where all the Common Moorhens have gone, there was a dearth of them on the big lake but today I discovered at least 8 on a distant pond on the other side of the causeway. Obviously they find it quieter in that distant pond. At the other end of the lake a not often seen Striated Warbler was observed preening whilst sitting in the long grass.

Just around the corner from there is my ‘Breakfast Tree’ and it produced as usual. In addition to those regulars was a male Long-tailed Minivet and a hunched up Asian Barred Owlet trying to keep a low profile. When it finally flew off there was a great diving about and protesting shrieks from the other birds in the tree and then they settled down as if nothing had happened. They must have known it was there so why all that fuss when it decided to leave?

Seven Grey Herons were seen flying overhead. Normally they would have distributed themselves around the lake but recently they have taken to ignoring our lake and carrying on into the military area where there is another lake which is forbidden to us civilians! How do I know they are there? Because I have sneaked into that area to confirm it. I did a stint in the Royal Marines, 45 Commando, plus I was in my jungle greens so my infiltration was carried out with comparative ease, with my long Sennheiser microphone plus pistol grip at the ready for any outburst of bird-calls!

(January 11th. Mae Hia) Number-wise not a bad morning, 64 species seen and 9 identified by call. An exceptionally cold morning, 9c at 7am. But it soon warmed up as it always does. I have to admit, rather sheepishly after my recent outburst, that the burnt out area of mimosa bushes and undergrowth produced this morning. Two Red Avadavats, male and female, were spotted along with a few Baya Weavers, 6 or 7 Plain Prinias were busy feeding along with various warblers, Thick-billed, inornate and dusky. A couple of Stonechats, a flock of Chestnut-capped Babblers, a Lesser Coucal, a White-breasted Waterhen and various bulbuls.

Others seen was a lone Cattle Egret scurrying around the feet of ten Friesian cows, two Rufous-winged Buzzards, a lone male Eurasian Kestrel and a Black-shouldered Kite. On one stretch of road five Asian Barred Owlets were heard calling from all points of the compass. Common Koels have become more noticeable with their resounding kow-wow calls which generally means that they will soon be on the lookout for suitable mates. Four Hair-crested Drongos were seen in the distant foothills in their usual tree with large white flowers. Finally four different species of shrikes were seen.

Back to the ‘slash and burn’ around the ponds and other places at Mae Hia. This area is the Agricultural Training Centre for the Chiang Mai University and by their actions they are telling the students that it’s okay to farm this way. This is in contradiction to the laws laid down by the Thai government. The latest tightening of these laws was brought about by last years devasting clouds of smoke that covered S.E. Asia causing the deaths of the elderly and children and they are still being ignored by the University. I pick them out as they are a state university and should therefore set the standard for others to follow.

A shrinkage of birds ?

2008-01-04T07:47:00.000+07:00

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker by Yurie Ball

(December 24th. HTT) This year there seem to be a drop in numbers within the species seen. For example the Common Moorhen down to 2-3 whereas we we used to see 10+. Both Kingfishers, the common and white-throated are always there but in lesser numbers. no Little Grebes have been seen on the lake this year compared to 3-4 in previous years.A lone Common Sandpiper was seen today which again leads me to mention that the waders are also in short supply – not as many Common Snipe seen as in usual years along with the, normally solitary, Green Sandpiper. The Richard’s Pipit and the Rufous-winged Bushlark are also sparse on the ground. But, today produced a fairly respectable count of 56 species seen and 10 species identified by call, go figure! (I always wanted to use that expression).

(December 31st. HTT) My ‘Breakfast Tree’ was fairly busy this morning. The Yellow-vented Flowerpecker made its usual entrance at the top of the tree and then disappeared into the dense foliage. A Verditer Flycatcher put in a brief appearance, A flock of 15+ Japanese White-eyes made there way busily through the tree, a male and female Black-naped Monarch were also seen giving their pwish-pwash call. A Grey-headed Flycatcher entertained us with its usual aerobatics in the lower branches plus 3 or 4 Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers, a few Inornate Warblers were also present and sundry Bulbuls. All this in the time it took me to eat my thick pea and ham soup.
In one patch of woodland there was a mobbing scene going on but I couldn’t see what was being mobbed. Obviously a flock of 20+ White-crested Laughingthrushes could as they were cackling away, taking no notice of me. Along with them were 2 male White-rumped Shamas churring away and a whole host of smaller birds adding their shrieks of indignation.
Another fruiting tree was taken over by 10+ Lineated Barbets. By fruit we imagine apples, oranges, pears etc. but these fruit were clumps of small unappetising looking brown berries, but each to his own.

(January 3rd. 2008 Mae Hia) Rather a shock to find that one of my popular ponds had its surrounding mimosa bushes and reeds cut right down to the bare earth. Contemplating my navel would have been more productive than trying to find a bird around that pond!! Also a lot of the other wild patches have been burnt but just enough was left to make it worthwhile for the birds to visit. So the count wasn’t bad at 61 species seen and 9 identified by call.
Some of the birds seen in the burnt out area were a flock of 40+ Baya Weavers, male and females indistinguishable at this time of year. The Long-tailed Shrike, nominate race, was still persevering against all odds to eke out a living in this burnt patch. Yet another exhibitionistic male Siberian Rubythroat put in an appearance and churked and squeaked in indignation at us for daring to get so close to it. Another fruiting tree produced a splash of bright yellow which turned out to be a Black-naped Oriole and it was accompanied by a host of mixed bulbuls. Farther on a Banded Bay Cuckoo was heard calling using its ascending series of notes. A Ruddy-breasted Crake was seen skulking in some overhanging undergrowth in another pond and what stood out were its bright reddish/orange eyes and the black and white barring under its tail. And finally but in fact the first birds of note we came across was a flock of Lesser-whistling Ducks in the Office Pond. I say they were in the pond but as we put in an appearance they all took off together and I estimated that there were 400+ in the flock. At least that pond has been left alone but one wonders for how long!

Pray for the prey?

2007-12-18T12:21:00.000+07:00

Excellent photo borrowed from Jonathan Kwong

(December 18th. HTT) Not a bad morning – one new bird and it made a grand but deadly entrance to the list. It was the Crested Goshawk (45cm). I first saw it as it downed a bird close to the ground and then flew into the low branch of a nearby tree. It flew back down to its prey and it was then I caught sight of its brown, wavy barred underparts, the crest was hardly noticeable. A couple of soldiers passed us on a motorbike and saw what had happened and the pillion passenger jumped off and made his way over to the struggle. The Goshawk flew up clutching its prey but the soldier was coming close so it lost its nerve and dropped it. The soldier picked it up and brought it over to us, it was a Spotted Dove (30cm) and the upper thigh was mangled. He laid it on the ground and then, much to our surprise, it launched itself into the air and flew off. One could hardly call it lucky and its chances of survival, with that mangled leg, would be very remote.

This is becoming ridiculous, the only Black-headed Bulbul seen this morning was a grey morph – it’s become an embarrassment reporting this ‘rare’ bird day after day! But then again, it must say something about the breeding of these birds, at the moment I’m not quite sure what but as they become less rare maybe they are producing more of themselves, possibly?

A Bright-capped Cisticola presented itself close to us and gave us a great view of all its markings down to the streaked back, rusty nape and streaked head (winter plumage), pictures don’t do it justice. Its relative the Zitting Cisticola was also seen nearby and I have to say that when someone points it out and asks me what it is I quite often get a cynical look when I tell them. Someone even went so far as to say that I was making up the name, until I showed them the book. I have to say that besides misnomers there are some pretty weird names given to some birds.

As I have mentioned before the Siberian Rubythroat can be difficult to spot due to its habit of skulking in low bushes and undergrowth. Well today a male made a liar out of me. It paraded its scarlet throat and cherk-ed at me for one whole minute and there was nobody to show it to, isn’t that always the case?

And finally a Thick-billed Flowerpecker put in an appearance. Now this bird has nothing to recommend it, it is the original LBJ (little brown job) and is almost certainly overlooked, I’ve probably only seen it seven or eight times. The one thing that brings it to one’s attention is the silly little wiggle of its bottom as it is busily feeding its way through the foliage.

It's hard to swallow

2007-12-11T18:46:00.000+07:00

(December 11th. HTT) Weather-wise things have warmed up a little, this morning it was 14c at 7am. Bird-wise things were also pretty good with 56 species seen and 10 identified by call.
We always have a few Wire-tailed Swallows in the area and there are usually two that seem to like the octagonal’Sala’ that sticks out into the lake. Their problem is that every year they fly under the sala, with mud in their beaks, to build a nest and yet I have watched them, year after year, give up before the nest is built or at least before any young are produced. Today two were sitting on the wooden pier and then one at a time they would make an exploratory flight under the sala. ‘The Book’ says thet they breed between January and November and I have watched them throughout December at least making these exploratory flights, so let’s assume that they nest all year round and they need to if those two are any example. (photo above was taken with a digital camera through the lense of my telescope)
The large fruiting tree that I mentioned last time was full of Coppersmith Barbets (20+), plus 2 Lineated Barbets and as we arrived 15+ Thick-billed Pigeons flew out, a very pleasant surprise!
The Red-wattled Lapwings that had remained hidden in the growing rice for the last few months had their concealment harvested away and there were 30 or so left standing stock-still in the stubble trying to act as if they weren’t there. They did a pretty good job of it because, at first glance the field appeared to be empty, then I picked out one and eventually realised the field was full of them.
A small flock of Blue Magpies drew my attention as they churred and chattered away, it was their alarm call. They took no notice of me and continued to flutter from branch to branch in a fairly big tree. Suddenly a big ginger tom cat sprang from the lower branches and sprinted off into the undergrowth.
Another favourite tree of mine is what I call my ‘Breakfast Tree’, I sit there sipping my cream of something soup and just wait. Today it produced a flock of Japanese White-eyes, 2 Golden-fronted Leafbirds, a Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, a Grey-headed Flycatcher making itself obvious with its aerial a acrobatices, usually from the lower branches of the tree and an assortment of Bulbuls.

2007-12-03T12:42:00.000+07:00

Ka Mu Phuket - morning mist over the mountains

Red Avadavat

(November 28th. Mae Hia) MH turned up trumps today for guests Steve and Marie-Cecile and the bird of the day was the Red Avadavat. We got excellent views of this bird and it posed for Steve’s camera. Just to put the icing on the cake it brought along a lady friend and posed again. Altogether the numbers were up (67 spp.) compared to the past few weeks of numbers in the 50’s. Other birds of note was a single Black Eagle seen on the last two visits, a very dainty Cinnamon Bittern in a very bright cinnamon coat, never seen one quite so bright, especially at this time of year, the Crested Serpent Eagle and the Crested Honey-Buzzard. It is always nice to show an unusual bird to visitors and today it was the grey backed Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius Schach), nominate race (Vietnam). It is ‘old hat’ for me as it has returned to the same spot for at least the last 3 years and is waiting every morning to greet us. Our local resident Long-tailed Shrike (L.s.longicaudatus) is much more striking.

(November 29th. KMP) The numbers this morning were a bit disappointing 35 species seen 11 identified by call. But Ka Mu Pukhet is a beautiful site in a rugged mountain setting so the lack of birds was somewhat made up for by the spectacular views. That is not to say that we didn’t get some interesting birds. One that was new on my checklist for that area was a Japanese Sparrowhawk – this one was brought to our attention by the mobbing calls of various small birds that took exception to its presence, we spotted it as it flew away. Another striking bird that caught our eyes was the Emerald Cuckoo, the upperparts,head and chest an irridescent green sparkling in the sunshine set off by the orange-yellow beak and the black and white barred underparts. It’s not a shy bird so we were able study it at our leisure.
Birding is not without it surprises and on one occasion as we disembarked from the car there was an almighty racket all around us us. This was caused by 4-5 Junglefowl fleeing the area from the surrounding trees. Another pleasant interlude was brought about by a Little Spiderhunter. It had discovered a patch of red flowers in a tree and it was going into paroxysms of delight as it flew, and sometimes hovered, from flower to flower uttering chip-chip-chips of excitement. Also spotted were some Maroon Orioles, a Black-naped Oriole, and a flock of Crested Treeswifts soaring in the sky overhead.

(December 3rd. Huay Tung Tao) The numbers this morning were 57 species seen and 11 identified by call. At 7am the temperature was a very cold 12c. Surprise, surprise – another Red Avadavat seen, this time at HTT, I have gone years without seeing one and now 2 in one week! One fruiting tree attracted quite a few birds this morning and amongst them were 2 Lineated Barbets, 2 Coppersmith Barbets, 6 Blue Magpies, 3 Golden-fronted Leafbirds, a flock of Japanese White-eyes and some Black-headed Bulbuls one of which was a grey morph. There are always quite a few Siberian Rubythroats around but the trouble is that they are skulkers so, although we heard 4 or 5 we didn’t see one. Three different flocks of White-crested Laughingthrushes were heard cackling away at the same time in three different parts of the area so there is no shortage of these birds at HTT. A single female Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker was seen prospecting for grubs in a dead tree, it seemed to have hit the jackpot as I saw it pulling out five grubs from the same branch. Another skulker, the Ruddy-breasted Crake was heard but not seen, it has a drawn out trilling call. A single Grey Heron lifted heavily off a tree stump some way out in the lake and four Rufous-winged Buzzards were also seen.

Huay Tung Tao isn’t quite a ‘Phu Khieo’

2007-11-15T09:57:00.000+07:00

Long-tailed Shrike - nominate race (Vietnam) photo by Tony Ball

I won’t say it was an anti-climax to get back to the more human oriented surroundings of Huay Tung Tao after Phu Khieo but in the last few months at HTT there have not been as many birds about as in normal years. What that’s all about I have no idea! It could be a combination of reasons, the continual ‘pruning’ of all vegetation in the area and the build up of ‘entertainments’ like the additional dining rafts that are creeping along the shoreline and the paint ball battlefield, which I have to say that no one seems to use that much. But some interesting birds still turn up even if the birdcount is down

HTT 13th. Nov. – A Black-headed Bulbul, grey morph, was seen, I notice that ‘the book’ has them down as rare but at fruiting time when these bulbuls gather in fairly large flocks to feed one and sometimes two can be seen.
Spotted today not a rare bird but one that stood out from its fellow birds in a flock of roosting Barn Swallows was the H.r. tytleri. When seen head on roosting in a reed bed it stands out like a sore thumb, literally, with its reddish-chestnut underparts standing out from the other 200 plus swallows with white underparts.

Mae Hia 14th. Nov. – I hadn’t visited MH since April but due to the paucity of birdlife at HTT I decided to check it out. Again the bird count has dropped but is higher than HTT and it was good to see that the grey-backed, Long-tailed Shrike (a migrant probably from China or Vietnam) has made it back to exactly same spot as it has for the last 3-4 years. Our local Long-tailed Shrike, with a light rufous back, is a resident species here in Thailand. Another bird of note spotted was a Black Eagle, I had seen it once before at Mae Hia in almost the same spot.

I'm back - at least for a short while

2007-11-10T12:36:00.000+07:00

Taking a jungle breather - photo by John Moore

Siamese Fireback - Photo by David Sewell

I couldn’t miss this opportunity, it was an invitation to visit a conservation area called Phu Khieo (Green Mountain), an eight hour drive from Chiang Mai in the direction of Khon Kaen . It is not open to the public and therefore amazingly well protected and 440 species of birds have been documented there. It is an area of 1,500 square kilometres (a million rai, sounds more impressive) consisting of pristine forest, grassland and lakes. Its main claim to fame, bird-wise, must be the Oriental Darter and the White-winged Duck.

Unfortunately we didn’t see them, it was a comedy of errors, we were told that they had been seen at one particular lake the day before. We ‘camped out’ in the evening, on that lake at the time they were expected but they didn’t turn up, only to be told, on our return, that they had been seen on another lake. We checked all the lakes over the 4 days we were there but as I said we failed to be in the right place at the right time. In all that large space the only visitors were John (my entomologist friend), myself and khun Chart the person who got us the invitation. It was quiet, magnificently quiet, the only sounds were the birds and the ear-shattering call of the odd barking deer. Ah – a correction, one set of hooligans did raise a ruckus and they were the Gibbons. Their howling song could be heard ringing out at all times of the day but mostly in the morning when they were busy notifying their most distant relatives that they had survived yet another night. But this was one of the sounds that really reminded one where one was and that was in a South East Asian jungle. On the subject of ‘sounds’ it is quite amazing how the birds of the same species have a different ‘accent’in different parts of the country. One good example we came across was the Puff-throated Babbler, we heard its 3 note call ,‘we miss you’, but the last note went up whereas in Chiang Mai the last note goes down. We had the same problem recognising a White-browed Scimitar-Babbler – we’d never heard one call that it produced but the park superintendent put us right.

We documented 111 species during our visit and amongst them was a White-rumped Falcon, Great Hornbills, Oriental Pied Hornbills, Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo, Siamese Firebacks and others too numerous to mention. One Fireback, a male, was interesting in that it showed no fear of us. We were driving along a jungle track (some tracks were quite horrendous) and just ahead of us the Fireback male crossed the track with 5 subservient females dragging their feet behind him. We hastily disembarked hoping to catch a tail-end view as they skulked off into the undergrowth. But no, the male bird wasn’t going to stand any interference from us. He stood there trumpeting, clucking and squeaking, thrashing his wings at us and generally showing his displeasure at our close proximity to his harem (approximately 5 metres away), we eventually left him at it as we drove off with excellent recordings of his displeasure. Hill Mynas were all over the place, in flocks and the odd solitary one, making themselves known with their piercing whistles. Both the Bar-backed Partridges and the Scaly-breasted Partridges were duetting every morning and it got quite frustrating trying to record one group while the other group kept butting in but we eventually got what we wanted. Other good recordings were made of the Black-throated Laughingthrush, probably one of the best songsters I know, the Red-billed Scimitar Babbler and the Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo. A Blue-bearded Bee-eater was seen digging out a hole in a sandy bank – a little out of season for breeding, they usually breed between March and August, maybe it was getting in some practice for next year? A solitary Purple Heron was seen and it was a sight to behold as it stood at full stretch in the setting sun at the edge of a lake with a background of forested hills.

As for the local fauna there were signs of elephants (large droppings), Gaur (a very large ox-like animal) tracks seen at a watering hole, The Dhole (red dog) was also there in quite good numbers so we were told. One Ranger who was a dab hand at photography had some great pictures of the aforementioned animals, down to a pack of Dholes feeding on a Hog Deer carcase – no tigers were seen but they are there, probably in the less accessible areas. He also had a photo of a crocodile. Sambar Deer, Barking Deer and Hog Deer were seen in fairly large numbers even into the HQ area. In fact one night we were searching about in the back of our truck with our torches when we were gently nudged aside by some furry monster which turned out to be a female Sambar looking for John’s honey cake. It took quite some heaving to dissuade her from stealing John’s midnight snacks! But, as their presence radiated out from the HQ area so did their attitude towards us, they reverted to being ‘wild’ animals. On separate days and on separate lakes we saw 2 large Monitor Lizards swimming far out in the middle, they were certainly more than a metre long. We also disturbed a Pig-tailed Macacque as it was drinking at the edge of a lake and it hurriedly loped back across the track into the thickly wooded jungle grunting its annoyance at being disturbed. The only roads were in the immediate vicinity of the HQ area and after that it was negotiable or sometimes unnegotiable tracks, and only with 4 wheel drive. All in all it was a fantastic trip even if my legs suffered for it, it was all worth while.

I've done shuffling about

2007-05-23T07:07:00.000+07:00

Sadly my birdwatching career has come to an end. This is due to a breakdown in just about everything including equipment, transport and myself. I am not prepared to renew the above or buy spare body-parts at my age. The final straw was although I could compose a blog and send it to my blog-site It wouldn't let me in to see it.But I will be keeping up my 'rant and rave' blog at the following URL http://uk.360.yahoo.com/ball_antony . Now I will have time to sit back and write my memoirs which should fill all of one or two pages.

A rubbish dump of a nest

2007-05-21T11:24:00.000+07:00

Above is evidence that the Red-whiskered Bulbul has no aesthetic sense, but it’s not the only bird guilty of this. It was photographed this morning in my 10ft x 10ft garden – as for the size of the garden I admit that I chose the house just because of the garden’s size, I don’t have a green thumb and I’m lazy!

(May 18th HTT) This morning I recorded a Lineated Barbet using its most unusual croaking call. When I first heard this call some years ago it stumped me, it was ages before I actually saw one making it, problem solved.
Migrants seen: 1 Common Moorhen and 1 Barn Swallow.

(May 19th HTT) I had just finished recording a flock of noisy White-crested Laughingthrushes that were passing by when two Chestnut-winged Cuckoos showed up. They were obviously on the trail of these birds and would eventually lay their eggs in one of their nests. I managed to record them muttering away with hoarse grating and squeaking calls and just one loud whistle, this is the first time I have recorded them. It’s a pity, though, that they weren’t using their louder calls as I had to compete against the all pervading calls of the resident cicadas. This was in the same patch of woodland that I spotted the other Chestnut-winged Cuckoo on the 18th. of April.
A male White-rumped Shama was seen attacking a female and I have to, shamefacedly, admit it was my fault and I promise not to do it again. I was recording the male which was in fine voice but it stopped short of what I needed so I played it back. Now this is something one shouldn’t do especially at this time of year as it drives the males mad, but It had no reason to attack a female! But seriously one really shouldn’t do it. If you feel you have to attract their attention try using a raptor call as I did the other day, it doesn’t seem to stress them. The reason that hearing their own call played back stresses them is that they think that it’s another male that has invaded their territory, they don’t recognise their own voices.
For the first time this year I heard the ‘zee-zee brink’ of the Bright-capped Cisticola. Last year they started on April 21st and they were at it almost continuously until July 7th.
Just about all the Lesser Whistling Ducks in the area have paired up and can be seen flying around together most of the morning.
Migrants seen: 2 Olive-backed Pipits. The last one’s seen at HTT last year was on the 7th. of April.

(May 21st HTT) A Eurasian Jay was seen calling but you wouldn’t have known it was a jay unless you saw it calling. It had hi-jacked the call of the Rufous-winged Buzzard and had it down to perfection.
A leafless tree provided the next attraction, there was a Lineated Barbet on the left side minding its own business, a few feet away a male and female Common Koel were mating, in the centre a Rufous-winged Buzzard was tearing away at a frog clutched in its talons, on the right an adult Coppersmith Barbet was feeding its young and four Collared Doves were looking on. But no partridges in a dead tree.
The patch of woodland provided the opportunity of recording the complaints of a pair of Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, the cacophany of sound they created forced me to turn down the volume, the needle was in the red.
One of the young Shikras, almost fully fledged now, was sitting on a branch a few feet away from the nest, no sign of the other one but it was probably in the nest.
Migrant seen: 1 lonely Barn Swallow.

Taken on by the Mob!

2007-05-17T11:12:00.000+07:00

Red-whiskered Bulbul by Yurie Ball

(May 14th HTT) It wasn’t supposed to rain according to the forecaste but it did. Low count again (37-12) as the birds were keeping under cover.
3 bedraggled Rufous Woodpeckers, 2 male and one female were seen together, the males were buffeting each other with their wings, eventually all three flew off. Just a little farther on a male Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker was working on an old hole which I had been watching for further occupancy.
A male and female Greater Painted Snipe were seen in the flooded paddy stubble. A reminder that it is the female that has the colour and the male a dull brown, she is polygamous and he broods the eggs and looks after the young.
Migrants seen: A Little Heron and two Chinese Pond-Herons in non-breeding plumage.

(May 15th HTT) An interesting accident. I was rewinding my tape and went back too far into another recording I had made earlier in the morning. It was of a Rufous-winged Buzzard and I let it run. Suddenly the woods came alive, birds were moving in on me and up to that moment things had been pretty quiet. Among those ‘mobbing’ me were a female Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, a Yellow-bellied Warbler, a White-rumped Shama, a Black-naped Monarch, 4 or 5 Striped Tit-Babblers, 2 Greater Racket-tailed Drongos, 2 Rufous Treepies, 2 Puff-throated Babblers, 1 Rufous-fronted Babbler, 3 or 4 Red-whiskered Bulbuls and a chorus of White-crested Laughingthrushes in the background. Quite amazing considering how quiet it was a few minutes before!
No migrants seen this morning.

(May 16th HTT) Got some good recordings of an Asian Barred Owlet with its trilling and yelping calls. More importantly on replaying it I realised that I had also recorded the call of a White-bellied Yuhina and even more importantly this worthy bird brings the figure for the area to 250 species! This happened in my new patch of woodland and as soon as I realised what it was I went back in and finally got a look at it. Just as I was leaving the area a group of workmen were on their way in, they were carrying a bandsaw and axes, they at least had the decency to look sheepish as they trooped by me, they knew that what they were about to do was forbidden. I left the area to the sound of the saw and axes in action. Am I paranoid or are they following me and then chopping up my best spots?
Two male Common Koels seen facing off, there was a lot of tail flicking and bobbing but nothing really physical, although their screeching did batter my ears.
Saw a Velvet-fronted Nuthatch which is worth a mention as I’ve only seen it once before in the area. Again, it was hearing its call that put me onto it.
Migrants seen: Two Common Moorhens in two different spots.

(May 17th HTT) The lake is full to overflowing and the lakeside trees have marched into the lake up to their knees.
As I was watching one Shikra chick peering over the edge of the nest the female flew in to feed it, the meal was a lizard. It’s interesting that the losing of the down starts at the rear end of the chick working it way up to its head. It’s the same when a young fledged bird changing from speckled brown, in the case of the Oriental Magpie Robin, to black and white, it starts with the tail and works it way up the body. Saw the White-bellied Yuhina again, also the Yellow-bellied Warbler. At the same time a Crested Serpent Eagle was seen soaring and calling with its two note call.
Migrants seen: 2 Common Moorhens

"Let's Dance" for a lark

2007-05-12T10:43:00.000+07:00

Yellow-vented Flowerpecker by Yurie Ball

(May 10th HTT) Quite an interesting morning, A flock of ten Grey-headed Parakeets seen flying overhead. I haven’t seen that many before in the area, sometimes three or four but never more.
Two male Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers seen jousting for the favours of a female but when either of them approached she crouched and opened her beak wide at them. This was not a ‘I want to be fed’ posture it was definitely a threat posture , she was not giving her favours to either of them and taking the hint they both left.
I was recording a Black-throated Laughingthrush which was in good voice and then a White-rumped Shama burst in with its very melodic song but interspersed with part of the laughingthrush’s song, the shama does, quite often, incorporate other birdsongs into its own.
Recorded another bird, the Thick-billed Warbler, with its scratchy song and in the background were a couple of Lesser Coucals having a go at each other with their hiccupping and hooting calls, a nice combination.
Two Rufous-winged Bushlarks were doing quite an unusual number but this time it was a dance. They would do a fast mincing step running parallell to each other, then one would charge the other and stop within inches and go back into the parallell dance and this went on for about five minutes, obviously two males and again quite entertaining and it was much more entertaining than my description.
After all the rain we have been having the lake is back to full so we have lost our mud-banks and the Ruddy-breasted Crake has lost its promenade.
Migrants seen: 1 Black-naped Oriole, 2 Thick-billed Warblers, 1 Chinese Pond-Heron and 6 Common Moorhens. The moorhens are difficult to keep a check on as there are a lot of fishermen who get to the lakeside at dawn and if they are there before me the moorhens go into hiding amongst the reed and mimosa, this morning I was there first.

(May 11th HTT) Low count this morning 44-12, it must have been the weather. The rain was monsoonal just before we left home and then slowed to a light drizzle. It also caused a blackout so my morning cup of tea was brought to me by candlelight.
Two Oriental Turtle Doves seen, could easily be confused with the Spotted Dove in the field. One way of telling them apart is to check the tails as they land, they will flare out and the tips of the turtle dove will be grey and the spotted will be white.
There is a tree that at certain times of the year will generally yield a Yellow-vented Flowerpecker or two, but I hadn’t seen one for a few months, this morning one was back in the same tree.
A Little Heron has turned up, I haven’t seen one since April 23rd and before that I would see one almost every day so naturally I assumed they had all migrated.
A nomadic fisherman, one who roams the lakeside casting a spinner, beat me to my favourite spot for moorhens so none were visible but I did finally see one in another spot. So those were the only migrants seen today.

(May 12th HTT) The Shikra’s nest showed signs of life this morning, a young one dressed in creamy buff down was seen lying dangerously close to the edge of the nest. It finally made the right move back into the nest.
A Black Drongo was spotted sitting on a small neat nest made of intertwined twigs. I’ve noticed that drongos tend to make small nests compared to their size.
Four White-throated Kingfishers sitting in a dead tree, two of them were doing the wing-flicking display.
Migrants seen: 2 Common Moorhens and one Chinese Pond-Heron in non-breeding plumage.

Poncho Paradise

2007-05-09T11:16:00.000+07:00

Black-naped Oriole by Yurie Ball

Well the weather really is interfering with the work, more specifically the rain is. I don’t mind the discomfort, a poncho can keep me dry but the birds are keeping quiet and undercover and are more difficult to find. The important one’s are the migrants at this time of the year and the only one’s that have not been affected by the rain are the water birds. Of the migrants the Common Moorhen is going to be the easiest to keep a check on as it saunters up and down the shoreline searching for food come rain or shine (Last year I saw the last one on May 16th.) Some Chinese Pond-Herons are still showing up but I feel that these are birds that started their migration from farther south. But the other shore birds such as snipe, herons, little and grey, sandpipers and egrets seem to have left already, some stragglers may pass through but that’s about it. Last year the Mango rains started on May 11th. , this year May 4th. .

(May 7th. HTT) Rather amusing to see a Black-collared Starling try to cope with a plastic bag, circa 1ft.X 1ft., it finally did manage to struggle off the ground with it and flew off. Some birds do use odd material in building their nests.
A Chestnut-headed Bee-eater was seen on the telegraph wires, I almost took it as a juvenile Green Bee-eater with its yellow throat but then saw the dark gorget. I don’t often see it in the area.
I forgot to mention that the White-throated Kingfishers had started to flick their wings in display about a week ago, the idea must be to shown the white wing patches, they do stand out and they were doing it again today.
A Little Grebe was seen in one of the smaller ponds, they’ve been pretty scarce this year. I think the increase in human activity around the lake can be blamed for that.
Three pairs of Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers were seen in different parts of the area, also a pair of Rufous Woodpeckers were seen.

(May 8th HTT) The Common Koels still very noisy during the heavy rain and the Plaintive Cuckoos persistent in their calling, four or five going at the same time. They are mostly using their descending call but I have noticed that if I make their three note ascending call they will often reply with it.
Migrants seen: 5 Chinese Pond-Herons, 2 Brown Shrikes, 8 Moorhens and one Thick-billed Warbler.

(May 9th HTT) A male and female Golden-fronted Leafbirds were seen flying to and from their nest carrying food on the inward journey, obviously feeding young. I couldn’t actually see the nest as it was covered by leaves. Otherwise nothing unusual although the count wasn’t bad, 50spp seen and 17 identified by call.
Migrants seen: 1 Black-naped Oriole, 1 Thick-billed Warbler, 1 Barn Swallow, 1 Chinese Pond-Heron and 1 Moorhen, almost a mass exodus of Moorhens since yesterday.

Mango Rains have set in

2007-05-05T11:16:00.000+07:00

Special birds at HTT over the years

Bar-headed Goose (26.11.2005) Anser indicus
Northern Sparrowhawk (21.2.2004) Accipiter nisus
Amur Falcon (2.11.2005) Falco amurensis
Northern Hobby (20.10.2004) Falco subbuteo
Water Rail (17.10.2006) Rallus aquaticus
Black-tailed Crake (24.3.2004) Porzana bicolor
Spot-billed Starling (19.2.2007) Saroglossa spiloptera
Golden-crested Mynah (25.11.2004) Ampeliceps coronatus

(May 2nd HTT) That patch of woodland that I discovered the other day is a gem! It’s home to a host of birds and some of them quite special, at least birds that I don’t see everyday elsewhere in the project area. One is the Asian Paradise Flycatcher male and its amazingly flexible tail which seems to have trouble keeping up with it as it performs aerobatic flights after insects. The Yellow-bellied Warbler always lets me know it’s around with its loud, high pitched tinkling song. The White-crested Laughingthrush which becomes more visible there than anywhere else. The Black-naped Monarch with its loud monotone trill that lets you know it’s around and a pair of Shikras which at the moment are nesting about 15 metres up at the top of a tree. I spend about an hour each morning confined to just this small area.
I’ve always know that White-breasted Waterhens can become quite eccentric come breeding time but three I came across this morning took it too far – or should I say too high. I heard them calling then realised that the calls weren’t coming from ground level where one would expect too find them. I looked up into the trees and there were three of them strutting around on branches at the top of a very tall tree caterwauling and ‘wokking’ at each other, quite amusing to watch.

(May 3rd HTT) The weather today was reflected in the bird count, miserable, 46 species seen and 9 identified by call, the drizzle persisted most of the morning. Even my woodland site was as quiet as the grave, the birds were keeping their heads down. Except for the Common Koels, the mating urge still upon them, the males were chasing the seemingly reluctant females from tree to tree uttering their earsplitting calls.
Some Chinese Pond-Herons, in their resplendent breeding plumage, are still passing through and our brown and white one, I’m assuming it is the same one, joins them while they are there.
Also a few pairs of Red Turtle-Doves can be seen and heard at this time with their hoarse, throaty ‘croodle-oo-croo’.

(May 4th HTT) When my sentences start getting longer and really saying nothing much then it was probably raining that morning, as it was this morning, and I’m trying to fill the requisite space in my Diary before I present it to you.
Due to the rain I decided to concentrate on the migrant species as it is that time of year again and the resident species will still be there when they are gone. Also it could be that a passage migrant might be the bird that will bring the number of species I have documented in the area to that tantalising number of 250 species. That didn’t happen today but the migrants spotted were: Chinese Pond-Heron (3), Little Egret (1), Common Moorhen (10), Barn Swallow (1), Thick-billed Warbler (2), and Brown Shrike (1). At the end of the morning I finished soaked to the skin (I forgot my poncho) and nothing much to show for it.

Drumming up competition

2007-05-01T10:46:00.000+07:00

Tree Sparrow by Yurie Ball

(April 28th HTT) More rain last night and by the time I got out this morning there was just a light drizzle which disappeared after the first half hour. The overcast sky persisted until nearly 10am, so it was quite a pleasant, cool morning.
A Blue-bearded Bee-eater made its presence known with its coarse language, gutteral croaking noises, I then spotted it sitting on a bending bamboo frond. It is a big bee-eater at 35 centimetres.
Saw the lone Pond-Heron again but this time it wasn’t alone, it was sitting high up in a tree with another pond-heron, this one was in full breeding plumage so probably won’t stay long.
I’m so full of myself! I heard a Shikra calling so called back to it and gradually it came to me, think again Ball! It turned out that it was coming to its nest which was in the top of a nearby tree and it eventually settled itself onto its eggs. The nest was an untidy collection of twigs. I have what I’m sure is a unique calling ability and this was brought about by my brother as we were somersaulting around a lawn as kids, his shoe clipped me in the teeth and chipped the two front one’s (I have since forgiven him). But this incident now allows me to produce these calls through the gap in the teeth. But I have to admit, some birds will come to any old noise out of curiosity.

(April 30th HTT) Today there were more Brown Shrikes than I’ve ever seen in one morning, there were ten of them, four together. Two of them seemed to be displaying which I thought unusual, I was under the impression that they waited until they got to their breeding grounds before they started that.
Just after I thought we had seen the last of our Barn Swallows a flock of 20+ were seen this morning. I do hope that the lonely one I’ve been seeing joins them in their northerly flight to their breeding grounds.
A pair of Rufous Woodpeckers were seen inspecting a hole in a tree and I’m fairly certain they didn’t dig it out themselves. It was in a pretty obvious place and I’m sure I would have seen them at work if they had.
There are quite a few young birds about, six young Coppersmith Barbets seen in various places around the area, ten Green Bee-eaters also dispersed around the area and three Red-wattled Lapwings trotting along the water margin. These delinquents weren’t obeying the parent birds, whenever there is a hint of danger they are told in no uncertain terms to keep under cover. Meanwhile the parent birds were dive-bombing me and Suk my assistant was laughing her head off, I don’t know why but they never attack her.
In the last 15 visits I have seen the Ruddy-breasted Crake 13 times. I’ve had people who have come over with this bird on their lists as a ‘special’ and I haven’t been able to show it to them, sometimes we heard it but that’s not good enough. Now that it’s promenading most mornings no one is coming to see it, I think that is a prime example of “Murphy’s Law”.

(May 1st HTT) Now that I know the area the Yellow-bellied Warbler prefers it is easier to locate. It’s still elusive but at this time of year it sings a lot so I know it’s still there.
A White-browed Piculet was seen drumming madly on bamboo and that started off another two, each in nearby bamboo thickets.
A lesser Coucal gave a display of how much can go into producing a pretty mediocre call. The body quivers and the neck arches up then forward and down, the quivering is during the hiccupping part and the arching is during the hooting part.
The female Shikra was sitting on the edge of her nest peering down at me peering up at her
Last and least, there seem to be a lot more Tree Sparrows around than I ever remember seeing before, in this particular area.

To migrate or not to migrate? that is the question!

2007-04-27T11:00:00.000+07:00

Chinese Pond-Heron in breeding plumage

Chinese Pond-Heron in non-breeding plumage

(April 25th HTT) An Oriental Magpie-Robin seen building a nest in a hole in tree. From the size of the hole I would guess that it was dug out originally by a Lineated Barbet.
A lonely Barn swallow seen sitting on the telephone wires and at the same time, just above our heads, a Rufous-winged Buzzard was circling with a foot-long snake dangling from its beak. A Red-wattled Lapwing was diving on it and at the same time screaming a repetitive ‘did-he-do-it - did-he-do-it’, hardly a dull moment!
Just one Chinese Pond-Heron seen this morning and it hadn’t even started to change its plumage. My feeling is that the change of plumage triggers off the urge to migrate, I have come across the odd pond-heron during the summer and they have always been in non-breeding plumage. It could of course be the other way round, it doesn’t have the urge to migrate so doesn’t change plumage, was that confusing?
Migrant birds not there: The Stonechats all seem to have disappeared, haven’t seen one for the last five days. There used to be 6-7 perching in the rice stubble or low bushes. Haven’t seen a Red-throated Flycatcher for the same length of time and also the Dusky Warbler. This report only applies to Huay Tung Tao where I’m concentrating my efforts.

(April 26th HTT) It was certainly cooler this morning, we had a storm last night and a little rain this morning. I take it back about there being no Dusky Warblers, one was seen at the lakeside ‘tick-tick-ticking’ merrily away, that’s how I got onto it.
A Puff-throated Babbler came to my ‘we miss you’ call, doesn’t very often do that, and that’s why I don’t very often see it – I hear it all the time. It has three ways of expressing itself, the above call, a chuckling and churring call and an out of tune meandering whistle. The solitary Chinese Pond-Heron is still hanging about, I wonder if it gets lonely on its own? As a matter of interest the latest figure of birds documented for Thailand is 995 species, quite a jump from the 962 species I have been working on. Also interesting is that I have documented around a quarter of those for Huay Tung Tao.

(April 27th HTT) Another short-lived storm this morning, ended at 6am but after, the sky was clear, clean and the air air crispy cool for a while, by 0940 the temperature was 35c.
The Plain-backed Sparrows are hard at work building their nest in that hole in the tree. Now they are using more conventional material, straw and grass.
I have found a nice wooded area behind a campsite and this is where I came across the Yellow-bellied Warbler for the first time, I saw it again today along with a male Asian Paradise Flycatcher, a female Black-naped Monarch, a flock of White-browed Laughingthrushes, 5 male Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers all with their own territories, a male Shikra and a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo that was imitating 4 or 5 different birds. I sat there on the ground just listening and watching, quite a treat.
A Cinnamon Bittern was seen stalking fish. Most of the time its body was stretched forward and level with the water, it was high-stepping carefully through the water and then a sudden stab and it had an inch-long fish in its bill.

The April heatwave is upon us!

2007-04-24T11:04:00.000+07:00

Common Koel (male) photo by John Moore

(April 19th HTT) Was out with two clients, Paul and Pauline and it was a fairly successful morning number-wise, 57 species seen and 9 identified by call. A Forest Wagtail did what it is supposed to do, flew up from the ground when we disturbed it onto a low branch and proceeded to show itself off. It paraded along the branch so that we could get a good look at all of its markings but wagtail is rather a misnomer as it wags its whole body from side to side.
Two Cinnamon Bitterns were seen flying across a small pond. We will see more of them as the breeding season progresses, they become less shy as they ply to and from their nests to feed their young. Also they will become more vocal, clucking and croaking, as they vie for mates.
Odds and Ends. The Ruddy-breasted Crake is still promenading on its own stretch of shoreline. A little Egret has shown up regularly in the last few days, the Little Heron is still with us and the easily identified Black-capped Kingfisher was seen as it was chased out of a tree by a pair of Ashy Wood-Swallows. A Black-naped Oriole was heard calling and then seen sitting in a dead tree.
My assistant Suk as usual provided many birds with her great aptitude on the telescope. She also produced her usual outstanding breakfast of a thick pea and bacon soup, ham and cheese sandwiches, honey cake and bananas, all set out on a table and us seated in comfortable chairs. One really doesn’t have to suffer when looking for birds, more often than not the birds will come to you.

(April 20th HTT) A new bird today the Yellow-bellied Warbler. Another case of ‘why haven’t I seen it before’. This bird has a preference for a bamboo habitat and we have plenty of that at Huay Tung Tao, but better late than never. It was its high, tinkling, short and fast call, of course in the bamboo, that brought it to my attention. That brings the numbers to 248 species for the area.
The pair of Plain-backed Sparrows are still waiting patiently for the Coppersmith Barbet family to vacate their nesting hole. I’m just wondering how many young there are, only one at a time can appear at the entrance to receive food. Usually they produce 2-4 young.
Two more migrant species that are still with us are the Common Snipe and the Eurasian Kestrel. Three Brown Shrikes, also migrants, were seen in their individual territories as opposed to none being seen there yesterday. The Black-capped Kingfisher was seen again as a bright splash of colour, black, red, white, chestnut and blue, against the green mountain as it flew along the shoreline of the lake. Beautiful!

(April 23rd HTT) A new bird for the area, a male Daurian Redstart a really flashy bird and in good plumage (249spp). I had seen one in the vicinity before but that was before I decided to make the area a project site. Another poor day number-wise, either I was flagging or the birds were keeping undercover due to the heat. Heard the ascending call of the Drongo Cuckoo but couldn’t spot it. The Ruddy-breasted Crake still parading in the same spot, this time alongside a Common Sandpiper. The Common Koels are still keeping up their incessant shrieking, mostly the males but also abetted by the females.

(April 24th HTT) Another poor day and this time I decided to take the temperature twice. At 0600 it was 24c and by 0840 it was 42c, no wonder the birds went undercover and that I was flagging! But there was some activity, the Coppersmith Barbet family had vacated their nesting hole and two young were seen being fed by two adults. The Plain-backed Sparrows that had be waiting in line to take up residence moved in. Some of the rubbish they were using to furnish the nest was quite amazing. Most of it was bits of plastic bags, straw and I swear I saw a piece of wire going in. No Pond-Herons seen around the lake but two seen on the way in, most seem to have headed north, I wonder if the hot weather has anything to do with it?

Four Wagtails and a Funeral

2007-04-18T11:21:00.000+07:00

Views on Ka Mu Phuket (KMP) by John Moore

(April 18th HTT) A new bird for the area bringing the total to 247 spp. This was the spectacular Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (46cm.). I’ve only seen this bird 5 times before so I was quite excited at this meeting. It does a sort of migration in reverse, it comes here to breed while all the other migrants are going the other way. I say it comes here to breed but in fact it is a parasitic cuckoo so it searches out host parents. Every time I have seen it, it has been following a flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes and obviously this is its preferred host, at least up here in the north.
A pair of Plain-backed Sparrows seen investigating a Coppersmith Barbet’s nesting hole, the only problem was it was already occupied by a family of these barbets. The female sparrow was clinging to the hole and peering in at one of the already fledged young. I suppose that these sparrows will be taking up the next tenancy of this nesting hole.
One Burmese Shrike seen, probably not a regular but just passing through. The last of the regulars left their territory on the 2nd April and this one was seen in a place where we don’t usually see them.
Another bird I don’t see that often is the Yellow-legged Buttonquail. The one I saw this morning was a female with more chestnut on the upper back and, of course, yellow legs which tells it apart from the Barred Buttonquail.

(April 17th KMP) Today was remarkable due to the fact that we didn’t get a new bird for the area. We always do! We were stunned and started looking for excuses and the only one we could come up with was that it was windy. We all know that birds don’t like wind, don’t we? That’s not to say that it wasn’t an enjoyable trip as you can see from the photos above, we pass through some beautiful scenery.
But all was not lost, I got a good recording of that great songster the White-rumped Shama. It was a call that had me fooled at first, the bird is rather a good mimic and it was doing a pretty good imitation of a Maroon Oriole to start with.
Also I saw my first Forest Wagtail of the year (a passage migrant) and we have at times seen three other species of wagtail up there, plus the fact that the traffic was pouring past us on their way to a funeral being celebrated in the middle of the road. Now that was a bit disjointed but the upshot was that my friend, Entomologist John, suggested that I call this blog “four wagtails and a funeral”, so you can blame him! The funeral party really was in the middle of the road, a marquee and around twenty tables with four chairs at each. We passed it with suitably solemn faces.

(April 16th HTT) Didn’t go out on Saturday and Sunday as it was Songkhran, The Thai New Year. Huay tung Tao becomes packed with Thais celebrating, the noise (music) is enough to make the local migrant species migrate early.
Last night we had some rain so this morning was just about clear of smog, how long will that last I wonder. Temperature at 0630 a cool 19c and for some reason another low count 52-9.
I don’t often see the White-rumped Munias but today a small flock was seen in a dying but seeding stand of bamboo. They were mixed in with their more common relatives the Scaly-breasted Munias.
The Barn Swallow population has diminished and just a few seen this morning. I have a feeling that these are the one’s that have changed their status to ‘resident’ birds, at least I’m hoping so. The resident swallows started off a few years ago in the mountain villages near Fang over a 100 kilometres from Chiang Mai and they have been working their way south ever since. Also there are not so many Chinese Pond-Herons about, most of them have gone north.
A Black-capped Kingfisher (passage migrant) was seen and I’m sure it wasn’t the one that wintered here as it had a more extensive white front. The one that wintered here disappeared a few weeks ago. Also a Common Kingfisher was seen, this one had bright orange/rufous underparts. It is said that these brightly coloured one’s are river birds and the fish they feed on eat more small crustaceans than the lake fish, thus producing this brighter colour in the bird, or so it is said. It is the same process as the flamingos.

A Chinese Ballet?

2007-04-13T11:17:00.000+07:00

A refurbished Purple Sunbird's nest

Doi Suthep in an unsmogged condition due to last night's rain

(April 11th HTT) Temp. at 0630 24c. More fires on Doi Suthep.
Spotted a Red-throated Flycatcher with its new red throat it is certainly living up to its name now.
All the migrant warblers were singing their understated songs today, plus a Siberian Rubythroat added its song, a song that one really has to strain to hear. The Common Koels are still letting us know they are around, their strident calls and bubbling calls drowning out all others, except for, maybe, the Black-collared Starling, only a female Black-collared Starling could fall for this earsplitting screech! Four Black-naped Orioles seen, heard and recorded. Another six Crow-billed Drongos seen and this time I had my recorder ready but they wouldn’t oblige, I don’t have much luck with them.

(April 12th HTT) A pleasant surprise to hear the 5 note ascending whistle of the Drongo Cuckoo, a few minutes later, after I had imitated its call, it flew into a nearby tree and showed me the white chevron markings on the undertail to confirm it. As its name suggests it is very drongo-like in appearance.
Also spotted a Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrike, another bird that is always a pleasure to see. In the same tree a group of Common Ioras were flashing their white rumps and in addition when they flew their wings produced a very noticeable ‘brrrup’ sound, this is part of their display.
Odds and ends: A Violet Cuckoo seen. The Ruddy-breasted Crake is now parading the same piece of shoreline most mornings and finally a display that will forever remain in my mind. This was an aerial ballet performed by 12 Chinese Pond-Herons, in their new gaudy plumage, as they dropped down to the edge of a small pond. I’m sure that they didn’t consciously choreograph this but it was all done with great precision and grace, weaving and swerving and crossing each others path as they descended to the ground, it really deserved more of an audience than just me.

(April 13th HTT) ‘Friday the 13th’ but nothing more sinister happened than an Asian Barred Owlet making an indecisive dive at me when I got too close to its nesting hole. The same owl and same nesting hole I described the other day.
Some weeks ago I mentioned a Purple Sunbird and its nest, well after bringing up the young it abandoned the nest. Today I saw another female, or maybe the same one, working on it. This architect decided it wanted something neo-modern to improve on the old nest and added a blob of what looked like cotton wool to the bottom of the nest (see photo). What did surprise me was that the nest was being re-used, I can’t say that I have come across that before, nesting holes, yes but old nests?
Odds and ends: An Asian Brown Flycatcher seen, they always seem to have a ‘gaunt’ look about them compared to the Red-throated Flycatcher. A Black-throated Laughingthrush seen singing in a tree, not the most melodic rendition I have heard but I’m sure it will improve as the breeding season progresses. A young Coppersmith Barbet seen peering out of its nesting hole. A Crested Serpent Eagle seen and heard calling as it soared skywards and finally a Yellow Bittern seen skulking in the reeds. We had some rain last night and this morning the sky was clear and we could see Doi Suthep in all its beauty.

As the Crow flies

2007-04-07T12:33:00.000+07:00

Asian Barred Owlet by Yurie Ball

(April 4th HTT) Heard the low, scratchy, warbling song of the Thick-billed Warbler for the first time this year. This indicates that it won’t be long before it migrates north to its breeding grounds.
Also heard a Raddes Warbler singing its low key song, also an indication that it will be on its way soon. Why I don’t know, there seems to be mountains of food in Thailand with its temperate climate, I must be missing something. Possibly there is an infestation of insects like mosquitoes wherever it is going which will provide a more than adequate supply of food for the young.
Olive-backed Pipits are also gathering in preparation for their trip north. There is plenty to keep me busy at this time of year, what with these migrants and the resident birds getting into full swing with their breeding.
One female Barred Buttonquail seen taking a dust bath and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Lying on her side, feathers ruffled and scratching away with her legs.

(April 6th HTT) A Rosy Minivet spotted but this time it was a cantonensis similar to the female of the more usual one but with a brighter buff rump and virtually no wing bar in this particular one.
It was nice to see a Ruddy-breasted Crake (22cm), I usually only hear them as they skulk in the reeds and long grass. It was feeding out in the open on the lakeside. Also a White-breasted Waterhen (33cm) was feeding nearby and it was interesting to compare the difference in size, the crake really is quite small.
Another lone Little Egret flew overhead and was later seen feeding in shallow water. I watched it through my telescope and it was plucking fish out of the water varying in size from 3 to 4 inches down to 1 inch.

(April 7th HTT) A new bird for the area the Crow-billed Drongo, there were four of them and they were calling with their musical and sometimes harsh calls and, wouldn’t you believe it, the moment I pointed my microphone at them they stopped. The only recording I have of this bird contains only the harsh part of their call and this time they were adding the harp-like sounds, darn it!
A male and female Plain-backed Sparrow were building a nest in a hole in a dead tree, they were both arriving with beaksful of downy feathers.
A Large-billed Crow was seen flying from north to south and back again, it was on the northbound flight that it was carrying something bulky in its beak. I couldn’t make out what it was but it was obviously feeding young and had obviously found a good source of food as it was passing me every few minutes with its beak full of whatever it was.
An Asian Barred Owlet (23cm – it looks bigger than that as it is a bulky bird) was seen clinging to a nesting hole just like a woodpecker and a few minutes later was seen diving on something in some dead leaves, I couldn’t make out exactly what it was but it looked suspiciously like a big beetle.

Nesting - above and below water

2007-04-03T11:32:00.000+07:00

Ashy Wood-Swallows nesting

(April 2nd HTT) A cool start to the morning for this time of the year at 19c but it soon warmed up. The density of the smog has declined which is very welcome but a large plume of smoke was seen erupting from the top of Doi Suthep, someone’s not listening!
The Common Ioras are getting excited and their downy white rump feathers were in full display. It seems that they were all doing it so both male and females get excited.
Heard the fruity/fluty whistle of the Black-throated Laughingthrush, this must be one of the best songsters, if it can be called that, I have heard, it’s variety and richness is amazing.
Got a good view of the Large Hawk-Cuckoo, it really does look like a hawk in flight.
Six different Chinese Francolins heard calling from all points of the compass, it’s a harsh and grating ‘ti tat taak ta taa>’ . If you get close to this bird you might also hear a softer buk haw haw between the main call.

(April 3rd HTT) Again a cold morning for this time of year at 19c. The smog which seemed to have cleared yesterday came back with a vengeance today.
A Violet Cuckoo presented itself this morning, quite tame no skulking for this bird. It showed as much interest in us as it did in feeding, later on I heard its distinctive shee wiz call.
Two Little Herons, again, were seen sitting on tree stumps in the lake , in close proximity, both were leaning down and were prepared to dive if a fish strayed into their immediate area. Unfortunately no fish came within their reach so I didn’t actually see them dive. While they were waiting a Little Egret flew slowly overhead.
Two Ashy Wood-Swallows (Artamus fuscus) were watched as they built a rather flimsy nest, they each kept diving on me as the other continued building the nest. The ‘Swallow’ in the name is misleading as they are not swallows at all, not even related. They are of the family Artamidae as opposed to the true swallows Hirundinidae. I could write a book on bird misnomers!

Fish nesting
This next item is not about birds but it is about nests. These were fish nests and they were made by sucking the sand and spitting it out at the perimeter of the nest. They then dug smaller holes within the larger one, the photo shows the result. Today I saw one that had produced young and, boy, had they produced young, there were literally hundreds of them, each little bigger than a grain of sand. The two parent fish, one on either side of this cloud, kept other would-be diners away.

An Avian Stand-Off!

2007-03-30T11:12:00.000+07:00

Almost every morning this White-throated Kingfisher can be seen in the same spot

(March 26th HTT) T. 0645 19c plus more virulent smog. But the birds were getting on with their lives even if it was in some cases confrontational. The first one was between a Rufous-winged Buzzard and about 15 other birds, including 5 Black Drongos, 3 Eurasian Jays and a couple of lightweight Olive-backed Sunbirds. They had this buzzard cornered in a tree, what I mean is that they had it surrounded. What was eerie about this confrontation was that it was a static and silent one. They all just stared at the victim until it lost its nerve and flew off.
Another case of an attack, and this one was completely unwarranted, was between a lone Intermediate Egret flying overhead and a gang of bullying Ashy Wood-swallows. The egret is a most inoffensive bird and there they were, these bullying wood-swallows, diving on it from all directions. Completely flustered the egret dropped out of the sky and landed on the edge of a small pond whereupon the bullies lost all interest in it, it had left their sky.

(March 27th Mae Hia) Just before leaving home my attention was caught by a male Blue Rock-Thrush bobbing up and down squeaking and churring on top of my neighbour’s roof. It wasn’t long before I spotted the cause of the uproar, a cat sitting in a gutter close to the bird.
The Eurasian Jay once more causing me to almost make a misidentification of a call. This time it was doing two imitations, one of the Crested Serpent Eagle and the other of the Rufous-winged Buzzard.
A female Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker seen feeding its young in a hole in a dead tree. It was the same dead tree that has caused problems between it and those bullying wood-swallows, this time the woodpecker won the right to make it its home.

(March 28th HTT) T. 0645 19c. a low count this morning 51-13 seen and heard. But still an interesting morning. The place was alive with Plaintive Cuckoos calling, three seen sitting on telegraph wires, one was a hepatic morph.
At least four Crested Honey-Buzzards seen, three of them in the sky at the same time and one was calling with its single note ‘wheeew’ call. Managed to get a fair recording of it.
Two Intermediate Egrets seen at the lakeside feeding, don’t get to see them very often.

(March 30th HTT) T. 0640 23c a good count this morning 61-14. I got a good look at an Oriental Cuckoo, hepatic morph, this morning as it lit on a branch of a small tree about 5 metres from me. It has a larger smudge of brown on the chest than the Common Cuckoo hepatic morph and the black tail barring is more pronounced.
Heard the deep booming call of the Barred Buttonquail for the first time this year. It is said that it is only the female that makes this call, I’ve yet to confirm this.
Asian Brown Flycatcher also seen, haven’t seen one for ages. The Stonechat population has decreased dramatically to one this morning, usually I see 7 or 8 in the rice stubble, they must be heading north.
A friend of mine makes a habit of trespassing on the ‘forbidden Army Zone (no names, no pack drill) and this morning reported seeing two Grey Herons and two Little Grebes.

BIRD FLU GOING CUCKOO?

2007-03-24T12:53:00.000+07:00

Eurasian Jay photo by John Moore

(March 21st HTT) Today the smog had definitely lessened due to the arrival of what we call the ‘Mango Rains’. I hope that we get a few more days of it to really clear things up. It came too late for one Plaintive Cuckoo, it has been wheezing away with its descending call and half the notes don’t quite make it out, a sort of squeaky sound is the result.
The Red-throated Flycatchers are beginning to regain their red throats in preparation for their migration north. This red throat, or lack of it when it’s here, causes embarrassment when I show the bird to clients and the inevitable question arises ‘why is it called a Red-throated Flycatcher?’.
A Common Snipe seen probing, beak deep, in the newly exposed mud of the shrinking lake – I’m looking forward to seeing more waders taking advantage of this situation.
Another Osprey seen again sitting on the top of a dead tree over in the ‘Army forbiddenZone’ (sic). I really would like to get in there as many birds are to be seen descending into that area in preference to our big lake, birds that we don’t see very often in our area now, Grey Herons spring to mind.
A Chinese Pond-Heron was seen sitting proudly (anthropomorphism again) in a tree in its maroon, black and white breeding plumage, it will be off north soon.
I was trying to find the Crested Serpent Eagle that I was hearing quite close by, eventually I located the caller which turned out to be a Eurasian Jay doing an amazing imitation of this raptor.

(March 22nd Mae hia) Still some smog about but not as bad as it has been, maybe the locals are taking the warnings to heart, we’ll see.
Today the grey-backed Long-tailed Shrike was remarkable by its absence. I have seen it every visit since it came back last year, maybe it has migrated.
A mixed flock of Chestnut-capped Babblers and Yellow-eyed Babblers seen and heard calling. I kept on getting quick glimpses of them as they skulked on by through the thorny mimosa.
Three Plaintive Cuckoos seen, two hepatic morphs and one in its more normal plumage. Also a much larger Oriental Cuckoo, hepatic morph, was seen diving into a tree. My first thought was that it was a falcon of some sort, possibly a kestrel, but on getting a closer look it turned out to be the cuckoo. It looked so much like a falcon that it also fooled the birds and they scattered like a sunburst, shrieking, when it arrived in the tree.
Strangely enough I didn’t see one Chinese Pond-Heron even thinking about changing plumage compared to most at Huay Tung Tao, I wonder why?

(March 24th KMP) Another new bird for the Ka Mu Phuket road, the Rufous-winged Babbler and I’m not apologising for it being a common bird, bringing the number for the area to 186spp. Still quite a bit of smog up there in the mountains! Came across two Grey-headed Flycatchers using rocks in a rushing stream as landing spots between their aerobatic flights to catch insects. I can’t say that I have seen them using that sort of behaviour and habitat before, more the habitat of the Plumbeous Redstart that I have seen there before. It was quite windy this morning and that is the reason that we didn’t see as many birds as usual.

Paradise Road

2007-03-17T12:29:00.000+07:00

Top. Coppersmith Barbet's nesting hole
Bottom. Scaly-breasted Munia's nest

(March 15th 2007 Mae Hia) Count for the morning 63-7. One new bird today an Asian Paradise Flycatcher bringing the number to 208 spp. This bird heralded its presence with its rasping call and warbling trill. It’s an easy bird to spot with its elongated central tail feathers lashing around behind it as it dodges about catching insects. In this case the tail feathers had only reached about half the size they would eventually be. This male bird loses the two central feathers after breeding and grows them again in time for the next breeding season.
This stretch of road turned out to be very productive this morning. As I was watching the flycatcher a male Junglefowl burst out of the woods behind me, there was a great clattering of wings as it flapped its way over my head, it gave me quite a start. At the same time a pair of Puff-throated Babblers were rooting around on the ground looking for food. In mid-canopy a flock of Striped Tit-Babblers were busy chattering as they moved by in a wave. A mixed flock of Greater Racket-tailed Drongos and Racket-tailed Treepies gathered around and generally showed their curiosity if not displeasure at my presence. Presiding above this activity was a Great Barbet sitting at the top of a tree minding its own business. During all this I hadn’t moved, only to turn around, and stood there for the best part of 30 minutes with binoculars swivelling to all points of the compass. 24 species were spotted from that one spot in those 30 minutes. Sometimes that road can be the quietest of places but sometimes, as this morning, it can really keep one on one’s toes, literally.

(March 16th HTT) Things a little better pollution-wise. We had a light breeze overnight and the smog has lessened to a more bearable degree. I hope the locals don’t take this as a signal to light more fires!
A Coppersmith Barbet seen feeding its young in a hole in a tree. It’s amazing how symmetrical the hole is.
The 5 or 6 Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers that call the area home seem to have found sounding boards suitable enough to broadcast their messages, they were all at it this morning drumming away like mad.
There was an invasion of Black-collared Starlings, I haven’t seen quite so many at one time before, up to 100 in 3 or 4 trees. Later on a pair of them were seen building a nest and wouldn’t you know it a female Common Koel came to see how they were progressing. They gave her short shrift and sent her packing, for the time being. I hope their work isn’t going to be wasted and they find themselves rearing a monster.
Both the Thick-billed Warbler and the Siberian Rubythroat have become much less the skulkers and more the on-parade types. One Rubythroat came hopping towards me on a grassy track, leading with its blood red throat, and virtually ignored me. The Thick-billed Warblers can be seen in the lower branches to mid-canopy of trees hopping from branch to branch feeding, they do become more daring just before migrating. I’m expecting both species to break out into their delightful , if scratchy, low key warbling songs soon.

(March 17th HTT) The Smog is back with a vengeance this morning, smelling of wood fire mostly – the eyes are back to stinging and the chest aching. The locals obviously did take yesterdays let-up as a signal to start again! The bird count was also low 52-8, seen and heard. Three Purple Sunbird nests watched as parents raced back and forth feeding their young, also two Olive-backed nests with the parent birds doing the same.
Correction to my remark about the Thick-billed Warbler, one seen today at the top of a tree, 60-70 feet high.
Another fruiting tree drew my attention this morning, it was stuffed with birds, Black-collared Starlings, White-vented Mynahs, Common Mynahs, Common Koels, Coppersmith Barbets, Lineated Barbets and a host of different Bulbuls.

2007-03-14T12:50:00.000+07:00

Female Purple Sunbird feeding young in nest

(March 9th 2007 HTT) A new bird for the area, a single Great Iora. It is down in the book as common but I must admit that when I saw this one it elicited a ‘Wow’ from me. You will gather from that that I don’t see it very often. The number for the area is now 245spp.
Two Streak-eared Bulbul seen building a nest and two Wire-tailed Swallows seen flying under the Sala at the big Buddha. They were carrying downy white feathers which indicated to me that they had finished the basic nest and were finishing off with a lining. For the last 3 years I have watched pairs building nests in the same place but each time they have disappeared and not followed through.
The lake is shrinking at last and today a Green Sandpiper and a Common Sandpiper were seen feeding in the mud that has been exposed. It has come at the right time as we will have a few more passage migrants passing through soon (waders) and they will have somewhere to feed.
I know now that we have at least 3 Ruddy-breasted Crakes in the area as they were trilling away at each other this morning. I used to hear only one trilling and it sounded quite lonely, there never was a reply until now.

(March 12th 2007 HTT) A lone Pompadour Pigeon seen sitting high up in a tree and suddenly it gave a burst of weird whistles as I was watching. Needless to say the moment I got out my recorder it never gave another peep.
A Purple Sunbird seen feeding its young in the nest just 2 metres up in some bamboo. Both parent birds were doing the feeding but as soon as we brought out the camera the male became camera shy.
A Blue-winged Leafbird was seen and heard singing, not a patch on The Golden-fronted Leafbird’s song but a pleasure to see as it doesn’t appear too often in the area.

(March 14th 2007 HTT) Both the Lesser Coucal and the Chinese Pond Herons are now changing into their breeding plumage. Most of the Pond herons have already left for their breeding grounds in the north but we can look forward to the displaying and calling of the coucal with its hoots and hiccups.
I was surprised at seeing 20+ Red Turtle Doves a few weeks ago but today I saw 70+. They were jinking and swooping through the air as they went from one tall tree to another.

Pollution. I caught one of the workers lighting two small fires this morning. I said to her in my limited Thai ‘mai dai’ ( you can’t do that), her reply was to say ‘nitnoy-nitnoy’ (little, little), then I pointed to various points of the compass and said nitnoy, nitnoy, nitnoy, nitnoy and then threw my arms heavenwards and said mak, mak (a lot, a lot – of course referring to the smoke). She grinned sheepishly and carried on setting fire to more heaps of leaves.

A Burning Question? Tell it to the Birds.

2007-03-09T12:51:00.000+07:00

Okay, I said I wasn’t going to mention the smog anymore but it really has to be publicised so that people know what they’re letting themselves in for if they come to Thailand, especially the north. Above is a satellite picture of Thailand and surrounding countries. The grey is the smoke resulting from thousands of fires. The red dots are the fires themselves and they must be whopping fires to be seen from the satellite. Burma and Laos appear to produce more fires, thus smoke, than Thailand but if you live here in north Thailand the effects on one’s respiratory system is devastating.

The photo above is one of the fires we produce in Thailand and it might not look so big and dangerous but when you get hundreds of these fires in close proximity the result is a virulent smog. This picture was taken at Huay Tung Tao and it was, as the local firefighters said, a controlled burning. Have you ever heard anything so daft? They said it as if, because it was controlled, it wouldn’t produce any harmful effects. Controlled or otherwise the resulting smoke produces the same effects as the illegal fires and that is a poisonous smog. There are areas all around the lake that have suffered ‘controlled burning’ and I honestly can’t see the reason for it. It’s not as if they are going to grow anything and within a few months the area will look the same as before, beautiful. Thais just don’t seem to like things that grow naturally, brown is the colour of choice! In the meantime people with respiratory ailments will be dying off, and Thais seem to be alright with that, it’s the natural way of things. Well it may be but look at the longevity figures for Thailand, they don’t even reach their seventies, and that is not the natural way of things, that is due to gross negligence on the part of the Government and local officials.

And to end on a happier note, you can turn the beast into a beauty and imagine a morning mist where there is nothing but poison in the air

A Little Heron takes a dive

2007-03-07T18:47:00.000+07:00

Little Heron before the dive

(March 1st HTT) I keep on hearing about ‘early morning mist’ this is a euphemism for the virulent smog that lasts all day and it was particularly virulent today. Fires burning on the Suthep range in about a dozen different places. The Hilltribes are busy with their slashing and burning.
But life goes on and the birds are still there in their numbers. This morning a Grey Bushchat turned up, I don’t see this bird too often only when it passes through on migration, so maybe it is preparing to go north.
I’m always happy to see the Siberian Rubythroat, especially the male. Its scarlet throat makes something of an otherwise ordinary bird. Two males appeared this morning and sat for a moment on the top of some Mimosa bushes and then quickly dropped out of sight.

(March 3rd HTT) I'm not going to mention the smog again, suffice to say that it will be with us for many months to come. Watched a flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes harassing a Shikra which was sitting in the mid-level of a leafy tree minding its own business. It wasn’t allowed to do this for long, the laughingthrushes were making individual dashes at until it flew off to find peace and quiet elsewhere. Included in this flock was at least one Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrush.
A female Olive-backed Sunbird was seen building its very untidy hanging nest. You really wouldn’t be able to find it unless you knew it was there, and that’s the whole idea, it looks like a piece of rubbish thrown into the tree.
I watched a Little Heron sitting on a tree stump some way into the lake. Now it was about one metre above the water and there was no way it could reach down to pluck out a fish. Finally it dived, not completely under water, and scooped up a fish. I had seen this once or twice before and it seems most unheron-like behaviour.

(March 5th HTT) Count for today 63 species seen and 13 identified by call – temperature at 0700 16c. A solitary Intermediate Egret seen flying overhead, they don’t very often put in an appearance in the area so it’s nice to know they are still around.
Another bird I don’t see that often is the Large-tailed Nightjar and one, a female, showed up this morning. It flitted around for about 15 minutes, flying a short distance and then dropping to the ground. Very hawk-like in appearance and quite a large bird at 30 centimetres. The female has a yellow splash near the tips of its wings.
I had almost given up seeing a Little Grebe on the big lake but one appeared this morning. They don’t like all the activities that have been generated around the lake and stick to the more secluded ponds. Incidentally I haven’t seen the Great-crested Grebe again, it stayed around for three days and then not a sign of it.

(March 7th KMP) Now I’m not going to mention smog but as we drove up to Ka Mu Phuket in the dark the mountainside was alight with fires. They were dotted all over the place which again points to the Hilltribes and Thai villagers who live in the vicinity. There are also newly placed signs along the road saying ‘Don’t light fires, you’re burning our country’ and all along that road workers were busy burning the mountainside, the mind boggles!
Anyway, we got three new birds, A Green Magpie which I was surprised that we hadn’t got before, a Rosy Minivet and a Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrike which was brought to our attention by its call, wii-wii-teew-teew. This brings our checklist for the area to 185 species. We also came across a flock of 6 or 7 White-necked Laughingthrushes which isn’t an everyday occurrence for me. They thrust themselves upon us with their maniacal laughter. They kept on popping up from the undergrowth into the lower branches of the trees to get a good look at us. Finally they thought we weren’t worth the effort and left.

The Grouse season is upon me!

2007-02-27T12:03:00.000+07:00

Part of the Bodhi Tree (ficus religiosa)

(February 20th HTT) Temp. at 0700 15c. - The Rufous-winged Bushlark is now becoming easier to see as it goes into its display flights. It flies straight up into the air (about 20 metres) and then parachutes down with wings in a V shape and legs stuck straight down, quite comical.
I was getting a little bit worried at not having seen our Black-capped Kingfisher for about a week when it suddenly reappeared. It really shouldn’t have been here in the first place as it is down as a passage migrant here in the north. Last year one also decided that it had gone far enough and settled in for the winter.
Well now I know that we have at least three Spotted Owlets in the area. They were screeching at each other for at least 15 minutes without let-up.
Something else happening without let-up is the noise and dust produced by a mechanical digger. It seems to me that the driver is giving the illusion of doing something useful but on carefully watching him I realised that he was just pushing the same piles of dirt backwards and forwards. Am I missing something or is he just trying to keep his job?

(February 23rd Mae Hia) Temp. at 0700 13c. Smog was particularly bad, by the end of the morning I was wheezing like an old man – wait a minute, I am an old man, but I’ve never wheezed the way I did this morning.
A Rufous-winged Buzzard was seen building a nest. For the next few months we’ll know where to find one.
The Junglefowl are way ahead of this buzzard, one female was seen with six chicks.
Another tree of interest is the Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa). This morning I was drawn to it by the racket the Common Koels were making. It turned out that there were at least ten of them plus five Coppersmith Barbets and untold numbers of bulbuls and mynahs. The fruit were just the right size to go down in one swallow for the larger birds (1.2 to 1.5 centimetres) and the smaller birds were taking chunks out of them.
Another bird that has been keeping to itself is the Rufous Woodpecker. This morning I heard its drumming with the hesitant stutter at the end and then caught sight of it. It’s not quite as outgoing as the Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, with its drumming, but its cackling laughter can often be heard at this time of year.

(February 27th Mae Hia) Temperature at 0700 20c. A very hot morning and the birds weren’t so active as they have been. The Common Koels were back in the fig tree in their numbers and as noisy as they have been for last few days, along with the Barbets, bulbuls and other smaller birds.
I watched the Rufous-winged Buzzard making fine adjustments to the twigs in the nest, it really did seem fussy about where every twig went. Finally satisfied it went off to collect some more.
Two Hoopoes seen, one with a really raggedy crest, not in the best of plumage but calling away. Its calls brought in the second one.
GROUSE. The Thais don’t appear to like greenery. Most of the lakes and ponds have been shorn of the long grass, reeds and mimosa bushes almost to the edges of the lakes to the detriment of bird life. Luckily they couldn’t get it all without the digger falling into the water. One result of this cutting is that the soil starts to erode away due to there being no roots to hold it together but the Thais don’t seem to understand this. What makes it worse is that Mae Hia is an agricultural research centre and you’d think they would know about this sort of thing! The end result is that we now have more dust in the air adding to the already high density of smog due to bonfires, construction and car fumes. There we are, I’ve had my grouse!

Spotted a Spot-winged Starling

2007-02-19T11:54:00.000+07:00

Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush photo by John Moore

(February 14th Mae Hia) Temp. at 7am 13c. - Saw a Hoopoe this morning and soon after seeing it heard its quite distinctive two or three note - hoop, hoop, hoop – call. Also came across a Crested Honey-Buzzard (dark morph) flying low enough to make out that it was carrying something shiny in its talons but not low enough that I could make out what it was. Could it have been part of a honeycomb? I don’t know. It was eating whatever it was, on the wing. Both the Banded Bay Cuckoo (calling at the time) and the Plaintive Cuckoo were seen, always nice to see a cuckoo, even though they are parasites.

(February 16th HTT) Temp. at 7am 15c. - I don’t very often see the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird but when I do they are usually on bamboo. Today I saw one male picking at a curled leaf, it was obviously after some sort of grubs sheltering in this leaf. It stayed long enough that I was able to get my scope on it and have a good look, a beautiful bird. Another bird I don’t get to see that often is the Red-rumped Swallow of the race H.d.badia. Saw two today and the deep chestnut underparts are conspicuous. The Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker is becoming more obvious as it picks out a drumming site. This morning a male, with the red cap, was testing some dead trees for the loudest sound and when it found the one it liked it then started sending out messages. It was soon joined by two others in the distance. Other birds that are testing out their songs are the White-rumped Shamas, the Common Koel and the Magpie Robin. Up until the last few days they have all been relatively quiet.

(February 19th HTT) Temp. at 7am 15c. – Yet another new bird for the area (244spp) and a good one at that, a female Spot-winged Starling. It was seen feeding in a red flowered tree (Butea monosperma) at the top end of the lake over the rice paddies, it was mixed in with a flock of Chestnut-tailed Starlings. At the time of writing these are the only two red flowered trees in the area still with flowers. Another bird worth seeing again was a solitary Striated Warbler, it’s a big warbler,has a long uneven ended tail and has a distinctive streaked back. A wire-tailed Swallow was seen with only one and a half wires. I always thought that when most birds moulted that two equivalent feathers on either side of the body moulted at the same time to help with flight balance, moulting out of sync? Maybe this one snapped off half of the tail, who knows. Also one Green Sandpiper seen and three Common Snipe. Came across another flock of around ten White-crested Laughingthrushes and mixed in with them was at least one Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush. That came as a bit of a surprise as usually I see the greater mixed in with the Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrushes.

A Mountain Symphony

2007-02-14T10:55:00.000+07:00

Black-collared Starlings by Yurie Ball

(January 30th Mae Hia) 0700 temperature 11c – Three Rufous-winged Buzzards seen roosting in red flowering tree (Butea monosperma), two Crested Serpent Eagles seen flying overhead, the black and white stripes along the trailing edges of there wings and black and white barred tails very obvious. Also they were calling to each other with their distinctive call ‘hu-hu-hu pleew pleew’, sometimes only using the last two notes. Two Crested Honey Buzzards also seen along with a Common Buzzard and a Eurasian Kestrel, a good morning for raptors. A flock of Ashy Minivets, along with Inornate Warblers and various other small birds passed through in a feeding wave. A flock of 100+ Asian House Martins seen feeding low over a tree, obviously some flying insects were up there.

(January 31st HTT) I don’t often see the Zebra Doves and Eurasian Wrynecks at HTT (many of the former and some of the latter at Mae Hia) but today saw four doves and one wryneck in the same small dead tree. Two of the doves were mating. One Bombax ceiba tree (I think it’s known as the kapok tree or Cotton tree) that I hadn’t noticed before was brought to my attention by the noisy chattering of some Blue Magpies, Rufous Treepies and two Greater Racket-tailed Drongos, it was beginning to lose its red flowers so will also lose its popularity when they have all gone.

(February 5th HTT) A solitary Rosy Minivet seen and scores of Asian House Martin in the last couple of visits. A Banded Bay Cuckoo seen and heard using both of its repetitive calls. Five Black-winged Stilts spotted flying round the lake. In normal years the water level of the lake would be much lower leaving mudbanks for waders to feed and roost. So not may waders around this year.

(February 7th Mae Hia) Flock of White-rumped Munias and two Common Rosefinches feeding on dying bamboo. I believe that bamboo of a certain type, or the same type, all die at the same time and their ‘swan song’ is the seeds that it produces at this time. I heard a story about this phenomenon in China. It appears that all the bamboo that the pandas prefer were all dying off at the same time and so the pandas were also dying, can anyone enlarge on this? Another instance of the Golden-fronted Leafbird being a bully. One was seen chasing off smaller birds, including a Verditer Flycatcher, from its favourite tree, it really goes into a tantrum at this time and that is most of the time. Three Little Grebes seen, two in their plain winter plumage and the other in breeding plumage. I have come across many that stay in their breeding plumage all year round, sometimes not quite so bright. The Common Koels are really in good voice, they have been for the last week. This brings to mind their host parents, the Black-collared Starlings. All year they fly around in pairs, doting couples, and they foolishly bring up the young of another species, doesn’t seem fair!

(February 12th KMP) Two new species for the area, the Eurasian Wryneck and the Gould’s Sunbird, a very colourful indivdual. The birds were busy along the Ka Mu Phuket road this morning, they just kept coming until almost 11am. The most obvious one’s were the barbets, the Great Barbet, the Blue-throated and the Blue-eared. They provided the rhythm section and the myriad songbirds provided the melody, it was a pleasure to just sit and listen to this symphony. All we had to do to get a variation in the melody was to move a couple of kilometres along the road. One constant in the melody were the ubiquitous Silver-eared Mesias! The only problem this morning, there was much more traffic along this usually quiet road, I hope it hasn’t been discovered by the general public.

MY WARBLING MADDENS A WARBLER

2007-01-29T19:22:00.000+07:00

Rufous Treepie by Yurie Ball

(January 23rd HTT) Got a really good close-up of a male Blue Rock Thrush through my telescope this morning it was the Monticola Solitarius not the philippensis. Why I mention this is because I got a good look at the undertail coverts and they were chestnut with dark barring, the rest of the bird was dark blue as expected, no books seem to mention this. The other race has a chestnut belly and undertail coverts.
Thought I saw a Great Crested Grebe but it was at the far end of the lake and there was a heat shimmer in the air. By the time I reached the other side it had disappeared.

(January 24th Mae Hia) Two Cinnamon Bitterns seen sparring on the edge of a reed bed and then chasing each other around the Little Grebe Pond. They aren’t usually so visible at this time of year, it is only during the breeding season that they can be seen vying for females and then flying backwards and forwards feeding young. Incidentally Little Grebe Pond hasn’t produce a Little Grebe in over two weeks. As I mentioned before I think it’s due to the invasion of the pond by 4 or 5 aggressive Common Moorhens, may have to rename the pond.
Two Siberian Rubythroats came out of the undergrowth to my most unbirdlike ‘cherk, cherk’ calls. There must have been something there that they recognised, that same call will also aggravate the Thick-billed Warbler. He goes into a paroxysm of rage at my calls, yet his is really nothing like the one I’m attempting.

(January 25th HTT) Well it was the Great Crested Grebe I saw the other day, this time I got a good view through my scope. The long white throat and the brown neck with the slight crest at the back of its head were plainly visible (non-breeding plumage). A very rare bird here and that brings the total for the area to 243 species. Also a dozen or so Rufous Treepies causing a raucous racket, I couldn’t find the reason for their tantrums but something had upset them.

(January 28th Mae Hia) A new bird for the area and that was a lone Great Egret seen flying overhead. Not a special bird but they always become special when they are the first seen in the area. Three Barbets, lineated, Great and Coppersmith seen in the same dead tree at the same time, it’s not the first time either.

(January 29th HTT) A flock of about 10 Blue Magpies heard making a racket and then they trailed out of the trees one at a time, in line with them was a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. It must have been having an identity crisis as it was imitating the magpies calls to perfection. It occasionally gave itself away by throwing in one of its own more bell-like calls and, of course, it looked nothing like a magpie.

The Office Pond – Well And Truly Ducked

2007-01-22T11:26:00.000+07:00

Olive-backed Sunbird by Yurie Ball

(January 11th. 2007 Mae Hia) Today I was out with a client, Karen Petersen, and my bird of the day was probably the Emerald Cuckoo. We also got some excellent views of the Siberian Rubythroat and Eurasian Wryneck, both fairly common in the area. Also three barbets, Great, Coppersmith and Lineated. The Green Bee-eater impressed Karen the most. The immature Grey-faced Buzzard is still loitering in the area. Mae Hia is definitely the better of my two sites for raptors, we regularly see two or three species and sometimes up to seven. First stop of the morning was the Office Pond and 300 + Lesser Whistling Ducks took to the air on our approach, all whistling like mad! Morning count was 60 seen and 7 identified by call.

(January 13th. Mae Hia) The red flowering trees are getting redder by the day and producing more birds per tree than ever. I always give these trees around 20 minutes of my time. This morning a couple of Eurasian Jays were upset at the presence of two Rufous-winged Buzzards in one flowering tree and were swearing at it in Crested Serpent Eagle language. I suppose they thought that using the eagles call would frighten off the smaller buzzards or am I anthropomorphising them? In the same tree were 10+ Olive-backed Sunbirds. Two immature Spotted Owlets seen sitting on a shed roof preening themselves.

(January 15th. HTT) A Blue Whistling Thrush seen feeding on the sluice that drains the lake when it gets too full, this one was of the resident variety with the yellow bill. A red flowered tree again, 40+ Red Turtle Doves seen feeding in one. That must be the most I have seen in one flock. Heard two White-browed Piculets having some sort of argument, they were drumming on bamboo and trilling at each other. Would you believe it, my batteries had run out so I couldn’t record them.

(January 22nd . Mae Hia) A new bird for the area, a Drongo Cuckoo (205 spp.). This bird is uncommon up here and first I thought I was looking at a Bronzed Drongo but when it turned its head my way I saw the thin decurved bill. It landed about five metres away from me and that was unusual for a start, then it turned and I saw the white barring under the tail. This is one of the parasitic cuckoos. A Crested Honey Buzzard flew low overhead and it was gratifying to get such a good look at its underparts. Its tail is diagnostic, the tip is black with a thick off-white bar and then another black bar (some do vary in their plumage). The tail of the Crested Serpent Eagle is similar but this bird has clear black and white trailing edges to the underwing which differentiates it from the buzzard. A cold start to the morning, temperature was 9.5 centigrade at 7am.

Boom-boxes-happy campers and the army

2007-01-10T18:16:00.000+07:00

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.

The Scarlet Gentleman

2006-12-28T12:49:00.000+07:00

Yellow-cheeked Tit by Yurie Ball

(December 22nd Mae Hia) A new bird for the area, a Pompadour Pigeon sitting high up in a tree, bringing the numbers up to 203spp. The Black Eagle was seen again and at the time it was flying over a dead tree which contained a Crested Serpent-Eagle. The latter bird then flew off and it was interesting to see that the Black Eagle was appreciably bigger.

(December 25th HTT) 12 Grey Herons seen flying in the direction of the army lakes. They have obviously decided that the main lake is too busy, we used to see 3 or 4 in the trees or at the lakeside before, now we’re lucky if we see one. The Lesser Whistling Ducks are still favouring us with their presence, 200+ seen today, but I wonder how long they will put up with the ever increasing activity around the lake. The immature Eurasian Kestrel is still to be found on its haystack early in the morning.

(December 26th Mae Hia) An immature Little Grebe seen on Little Grebe Pond, much lighter than the adult, but no adult birds seen. The farmyard scene was replicated with a Hoopoe and 3 male Junglefowl feeding around the cows feeding on the rather too aromatic cabbage leaves infested with flies.

(December 28th KMP) Can’t wait! This was a very special bird, a male Scarlet Finch up at the start of the Chae Sorn national park at about 1,700m just before the km.5 marker. I saw this red blob sitting at the top of a dead tree, got my scope on it and couldn’t believe my eyes. If my legs would have allowed me I would have pranced like a young gazelle but as it was a mere shuffle had to suffice. John was quite amused at my excitement but even he had to admit it was well worth looking at. And two other new birds for the area, the Asian House-Martin and the Black-headed Sibia bringing the numbers to 180spp.

The first 7 kilometres along this road comes alive with birds early in the morning. Bar-backed Partridges can be heard duetting, one with the repetitive ti-hu, ti-hu, ti-hu, and the other with a faster kew-kew-kew, sadly they are more often heard than seen. I put this down to hunting and they now keep well away from the road. Other birds that add their voices to the chorus are the Great Barbet, the Blue-throated Barbet, occasionally the Golden-throated and the Blue-eared Barbet. Another bird seen, and heard, this morning was the Large Cuckoo-Shrike – it announces itself with a strident klee-eep call. Also seen a flock of Yellow-cheeked Tits.

Barbets Galore!

2006-12-21T11:26:00.001+07:00

Common Koel Photo by John Moore

(December 14th Doi Pui) Took a trip up Doi Suthep/Pui with John and Chan, not a very busy morning birdwise. At km. 16 we saw a Crested Goshawk sitting at the top of a dead tree all huddled up against the cold. Another bird heard in the same place was the Silver-breasted Broadbill, its melancholy 'pee-lu' call held our attention for about a minute. The main excitement of the morning was the traffic jam at the King’s Palace, one solitary policeman looking quite stressed and desperate, you had to feel sorry for him.

(December 18th Mae Hia) New bird for the area (201spp) an uncommon Chinese Sparrowhawk, nearly wrote it off as a Shikra until closer examination. At the risk of going on about this, ad nauseam, six more raptor species seen this morning. It was brought home to me that the Richards Pipit we most often see is the A. n. rufulus.I say this because this morning I came across two A.n. ricardi, they are giants compared to the others and their legs are pinker. The Hair-crested Drongos are being seen more often due to these large trees with large white flowers. They are easy to see because this tree loses it leaves and then the flowers appear.

(December 20th Mae Hia) An excellent new bird for the area this morning (202spp), but you wouldn’t think that to look at it, the rare Russet Sparrow. I almost overlooked it, it was in amongst a flock of Scaly-breasted Munias and the thing that brought it to my attention was the thin bib on its chest and then the rusty head and back. First I thought it was a Plain-backed Sparrow but it had no yellow and then the rest fell into place. Smelly Field came into its own this morning, four male Junglefowl and one female feeding among the cows. The scene did seem to lack authenticity, it looked more like some farmyard with cows and chickens feeding on cabbage leaves. I could have wished for a more jungle-like scene but beggars can’t be choosers. A Hoopoe and two more Richard Pipits A.n. ricardi seen in the same field. I have decided to rename this bend, instead of Stench Bend it will henceforth be known as Flaming Flies Bend. The stench is intermittent but the flies are constant! 15+ Hair-crested Drongos seen in their regular white-flowered tree.

(December 21st HTT) A funny day today, funny peculiar that is. Two Little Egrets flew overhead (yellow feet, black legs and black bill seen) and that’s not unusual but one had its neck stretched straight out and its head twisted down. I watched until out of sight and it never settled its head back into its shoulders as all egrets do when flying. I assume that it must have had some sort of accident. Next, for the last few days there has be an immature Eurasian Kestrel lying/sitting on top of a pyramid shaped haystack in the early morning. My theory is that it is getting the effects of internal combustion from inside the haystack, these have been cold mornings. A leafless fruiting tree has been taken over by 15+ Coppersmith Barbets and 4-5 Lineated Barbets and one female Common Koel. This bird is quite interesting, it is connected to the cuckoo family and is parasitic. I have noticed that they prefer Black-collared Starling as host parents whenever I have come across them up here but they also use Mynahs as hosts.

The Harrier got harried!

2006-12-13T12:41:00.000+07:00

Great Barbet by Yurie Ball

(December 8, 2006 HTT) count 67-9, a fairly good count for HTT and among them was a juvenile Red Avadavat. The only thing that kept it from being labelled a ‘little brown job’ was its bright orange bill. The uncommon Oriental Turtle-Dove occasionally becomes common for a while. Four seen today and in February and March a flock of up to 12 birds was seen almost every day. As for the Ruddy-breasted Crake heard again today, it is a very frustrating bird, heard often but seldom seen. I now speak of it with the emphasis on the Ruddy, as in ‘where is that Ruddy-breasted crake!' A lone Grey Heron was seen in its effortless flight going down the length of the lake, a beautiful sight.
I know it’s not a bird but it’s worth a mention and that is the mongoose. I see them quite often as I did today, wandering along a track or just crossing it, shades of Rudyard Kipling’s Riki Tiki Tavi.

(December 9th Mae Hia) Six raptors today, they are almost becoming ‘Old Hat’, Ah, but one of them was nothing like an old hat. It was a Black eagle! It’s a whopping bird at nearly 80cm. and it flew at tree-height over our heads with yellow legs plainly in sight. I’ve only ever seen it once before. It’s a new bird for the area along with a Great Barbet. The barbet was a little surprising as it is usually found above 600m. but I do have it down as having been seen at Huay Tung Tao, once. This brings the number for Mae Hia to 200spp.
Weatherwise things have been warming up. From early morning temperatures of 11-12c the previous week, today’s temperature was 19c. and yesterday’s 18c.

(December 11th HTT) A new bird for the area, a Plain Flowerpecker and it has earned its name. It really qualifies as an LBJ (little brown job). It has nothing to redeem it except, of course, that it now brings the number up to 241 spp. I forgot that today was the last day of a long weekend. The place was packed with joggers, cyclists and noisy campers.

(December 13th HTT) And yet another new bird for the area, a White-browed Fantail bringing the figure to 242spp. A delightful bird to watch but it must get tired. Not only is it forever fanning its tail but it twitches its body from side to side without stopping. But the bird of the day was a male Pied Harrier, it was sitting on the ground when first spotted. It soon flew off when a mob of smaller birds took umbrage at its presence. This male is one of the easier harriers to identify being black and white. To differentiate between the females one has to look for other identifying marks, and on the wing and at a distance they can be difficult to spot. A Blue-throated Barbet was seen and is unusual at this level, only seen once before at HTT. The White-vented Mynahs and the Common Mynahs seem to have deserted the area, didn’t see one today. Even the Black-collared Starlings are few and far between.

A BLIZZARD OF BUZZARDS?

2006-12-07T18:53:00.000+07:00

Verditer Flycatcher by Yurie Ball

(November 30th HTT) Found another good fruiting tree which is attracting some interesting birds. Problem is I can’t identify the tree but its position is being mapped and dated for future reference. The Coppersmith Barbets and Lineated Barbets were in the majority. A small flock of Black-headed Bulbuls were also seen in the tree including another grey morph. This strengthens my view that they are not as rare as the book would have it. A Verditer Flycatcher was seen at the top of the tree but didn’t appear to be taking any part in the feeding frenzy.

Other birds putting in an appearance this morning were a Ruddy-breasted Crake. This bird has a very distinctive trill and it is this call that usually brings it to one’s attention, more often seen than heard as it is a skulker.

(December 1st Mae Hia) Not too much to report but at Stench Bend, looking into the foothills of Doi Suthep quite a few raptors have been turning up. Today produced two Rufous-winged Buzzards, two Crested Honey Buzzards and a Crested Serpent Eagle.

Nothing to do with birds but an interesting happening. One of the many stray dogs that roam both HTT and MH was spotted with the half eaten carcase of a Thai hare. A few minutes later another hare bounded towards us as if looking for something but turned off on seeing us. Now I don’t believe in anthropomorphism but it did seem that this hare was in distress – draw your own conclusions.

(December 2nd HTT) A bumper four hours this morning, 70 species seen and 9 identified by call. A little late to be important as returnees but 2 male and 2 female Rosy Minivets seen. Another interesting sighting was a flock of 20+ Long-tailed Minivets. According to the book they should be above 900 metres but of course they can’t read the book. They were seen on a regular basis down here last year.

December 4th Mae Hia) Another good morning with 68-8. It was the raptors again that surprised me. 4 Black Bazas harassing 3 Crested Honey Buzzards, a Black-shouldered Kite seen hovering over a newly harvested rice field, a Common Buzzard, a Shikra, a Kestrel and 2 Rufous-winged Buzzards. It can’t last!

(December 7th Mae Hia) A returnee Grey-faced Buzzard, the last one I saw just before migrating was on May 19th . Also seen, another Verditer Flycatcher and a solitary Thick-billed Pigeon.

SCARVES AND SWEATER WEATHER

2006-11-29T11:58:00.000+07:00

Emerald Dove by John Moore

(November 24th HTT) There is a tree that I have been able to put a name to,albeit a Latin name, and that is the Pterocarpus macrocarpus. This tree has a thin round seed base with the seed stuck in the middle of it somewhat like an amoeba. The reason I mention this tree is because it seems to attract many different interesting species of birds around this time of year. Some of them are - the Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, Violet Cuckoo, Golden-fronted Leafbird and two White-eyes, the Japanese and the Chestnut-flanked and the Grey-headed Flycatcher.

Spotted a Black-headed Bulbul grey morph this morning. The book says they are rare but when a certain tree is fruiting (near the big Buddha at HTT) flocks of these birds appear and feed on them. At these times I have come across one or two grey morphs out of a flock of 12-15 birds. This morning another Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker seen digging out a nesting hole in a dead tree.

(November 25th Mae Hia) Temperature at 0640 11c. Interesting behaviour – A Plaintive Cuckoo and a Greater Coucal both seen with their backs to the sun and the back feathers raised to expose the dark underfeathers. This was early on a very cold morning and the dark feathers were obviously absorbing the heat of the sun. Another White-browed Piculet seen today in its usual bamboo habitat.

(November 27th KMP) Another bumper day today at Ka Mu Phuket, six new birds for the area bringing the figure to 177spp. Rufous-throated Partridge, Pale-legged Warbler, Blue Whistling Thrush (which I felt we had seen before), White-crested Laughingthrush, Chestnut-flanked White-eye and the special bird, the uncommon Black-headed Woodpecker. I have only ever seen this bird three times before and one of those times it was in a cage at the Rai Im-Aim resort near the Sukothai airport. It was here that I got an excellent recording of its maniacal, laughing call. The Laughingthrush was close to its upper-known limit of 1,200 metres. Also spotted two Emerald Doves after hearing their very low key call, a soft tuk-wooo, repeated every two or three seconds.

(November 29th Mae Hia) Just to prove my point I spotted another Black-headed Bulbul grey morph at Mae Hia this morning. I have put it down as a new bird for the area just to keep it separate from the more common one, now 198 species for MH.

DOWN WITH THE GREENS?

2006-11-23T12:44:00.000+07:00

Blue Magpie by John Moore

(November 20th HTT) A White-browed Piculet seen drumming, very interesting, it drums mostly on bamboo and sounds a little like someone tapping out morse code. So close to morse code, in fact, that I’m sure I picked out an S.O.S. but it didn’t appear to be in any trouble. One returnee today a Common Sandpiper. The Black-capped Kingfisher, a passage migrant, is still with us and today I managed to record its call which is very similar to the call of the White-throated Kingfisher. A juvenile Common Buzzard seen making some extremely clumsy landings as it flew ahead of us from tree to tree. As it’s a migrant one wonders how it made the journey from the northern climes to us here in Chiang Mai.

(November 21st Mae Hia) We have five different Spotted Owlets in the area, two can usually be found sitting on telephone lines and the other three on an exposed branch in a leafy tree. They will sit there staring down at you and occasionally move their heads from side to side to get a better look at you. They could certainly stare me down.

Raptors galore today, 3 Crested Honey-Buzzards (one dark morph), 12 Black Bazas circling in the sky, 1 Common Buzzard and a Rufous-winged Buzzard. This latter bird was sitting on a dead tree and interestingly had a snake clamped in its talons. We managed to get quite close and the snake, what was left of it, was about 70-80 centimetres long.The buzzard had started with the head and that was long gone by the time we arrived on the scene but every time the bird tore a strip off it its body writhed and curled up on itself. The thing was dead but was still reacting, amazing.

(November 23rd Mae Hia) 50+ Chestnut-tailed Starlings seen, in those sort of numbers they must have been heading for a fruiting or flowering tree. Talking of numbers, at least 12 Blue Magpies were seen. They don’t exactly fly in a flock but one at a time float across the sky to their next destination, giving their little screeches as they go.

I’m a little worried about our rare Long-tailed Shrike (Chinese/Vietnamese-Nominate race) as there is a spate of chopping and mowing going on and its habitat is fast disappearing. A few Siberian Rubythroats will also be affected but I’m not too worried as there are dozens of them around the area. They skulk in low bushes and long grass but occasionally pop up to take a look around. A flock of Baya Weavers were seen and all the males were in their drab winter plumage and resembling females.

So finally, what with ‘progress’ I don’t expect things to get any better, habitat destruction is part of this so-called progress. It may benefit us humans in the short term but in the long term will be our downfall.

Caught in the crossfire by Shamas

2006-11-19T08:49:00.001+07:00

White-rumped Shama by John Moore

(November 9th Mae Hia) A bumper crop today (74-6) including two new birds for the area, a Greenish Warbler (also a returnee) and a Blue Rock-Thrush, a male of the race M.s. Philippensis, this bird is blue and chestnut. It wasn’t in the best of plumage and was probably a young one. I don’t recall ever having seen one up here in the north but have seen it at Khao Yai National Park, near Bangkok. Although I regularly see the other thrush during the winter, I have put this sub-species as a new bird.

Other birds of note today were one Thick-billed Pigeon, 1 Hoopoe and 4 White-rumped Shamas. There is nothing special about these latter birds but it was the scene they were creating, I was caught right in the middle of a ‘Turf’ battle. They were hurling songs at each other as if the end of the world had arrived. Now there breeding is usually carried out between March and September so I assume that this was purely a territorial dispute, not fighting for a mate.

(November 11th Mae Hia) Two more birds to add to the number for Mae Hia, the Chestnut-eared Bunting and the Blue-eared Barbet. The latter bird surprised me with its repetitive metallic call which sounds like ko-tek ko-tek ko-tek and then I spotted it high up in a leafy tree. Normally it is to be found above 600 metres and Mae Hia is 350 metres above sea-level. This brings the number of species seen to 197. Another returnee, the Golden-spectacled Warbler. I heard its call first, which is quite often the case, a boring chip call every two seconds or so.

That cane-like plant that I was talking about? It has all gone. The workers razed a whole field of it and now all those birds that used to use it have had to move on. So now I have to work more diligently to find their new haunts. One of them, the Siberian Rubythroat is still quite easily found, in fact one can be found every 100 metres or so, tucked away in low bushes and long grass. They are heard more often than seen.

(November 16th Mae Hia) Today I took out Kate and Tom Shower. They had been over here four years ago when I took them on an extensive tour of Doi Inthanon and other areas. This time we decided to do my lowland site at Mae Hia where we got some new life-birds to add to their list. What was amazing was that Tom is 92 years old and if I had let him he would have run me off my feet. I won’t tell you how old Kate is, one doesn’t, does one? We were lucky to get some raptors, the Crested Serpent Eagle, three Black Bazas and a Crested Honey-Buzzard. I think that altogether Tom and Kate added nine new birds to their life-list.

(November 17th HTT) Kate and Tom decided that they wanted another day as they had enjoyed Mae Hia so much, but this time at Huay Tung Tao. We had a good day with more raptors and a relaxing breakfast which Suk set up, table and chairs, producing delicious cheese and ham sandwiches and one of her famous pea and bacon soups. Two pleasant mornings in very pleasant company.

THE BLACK BAND

2006-11-08T11:05:00.002+07:00

Mountain Hawk-Eagle by Yurie Ball

(November 1st Mae Hia) Two Common Moorhens seen fighting in Little Grebe Pond. They were using their usual form of attack which is laying backwards, this time in water, wings outstretched and pedalling at each other with their legs. This went on for a few minutes and then they turned 180 degrees and, necks outstretched along the water, wings arched up and tail straight up under the wings, they swam away. I don’t know what problem they solved but both seemed satisfied with the result. Two cuckoos also seen, a Plaintive Cuckoo and a Banded Bay Cuckoo. They were in swath of some cane-like plants which harbours many different species, it’s always worth a half hour of my time. Other birds seen there at different times are Siberian Rubythroats, Lesser Coucals, Eurasian Wrynecks, Chestnut-capped Babblers and Yellow-eyed Babblers. The latter bird actually has bright orange eyes. (morning count 61 seen – 9 heard)

(November 3rd. Mae Hia) Two Hoopoes seen and one immature Grey-headed Lapwing seen again. Nothing else to report.

(November 4th HTT) A Red Avadavat seen again, amazing I haven’t seen one for years and then two in a matter of days, there’s no accounting for it. A Black-capped Kingfisher was spotted bashing a really large caterpillar against a branch, preparatory to eating it. Both this kingfisher and the White-throated Kingfisher seem to prefer land-based insects, grubs, small reptiles etc. to fish. (morning count 60-13).

(November 6th KMP) Another morning with John up in the mountains and four new birds for the area, the Plain Flowerpecker, Little Cuckoo Dove, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler and the Mountain Imperial Pigeon. The latter bird is rather surprising as we have never heard it calling. It has a very distinctive and far-carrying repetitive oomp-oomp call. John also went up there on his own the other day and spotted the spectacular Mountain Hawk-Eagle, darn it!! Figure for the area now 171 spp.

(November 8th HTT) Eight Black Bazas seen in two dead trees, probably migrants passing through. A Black-headed Bulbul was giving its usual boring chip call when suddenly it burst into song. Well it hardly burst into song but compared to its normal call that’s the only way to describe it. The Book gives a very good description and here it is. “A hesitant series of short, tuneless whistles”. My report card would read, “Could do better but is a definite improvement on his normal voice, elocution lessons recommended”

The Black Band of tar around the top end of the HTT lake has been completed but it appears that the workers have got their second wind. They are now busy despoiling the roadside vegetation, once they get into their stride there’s no stopping them. The only saving factor is that the other activities ATV, Paintball Battlefield and the Trampolining that I mentioned before don’t get going until the afternoon so they don’t disturb me. But we’ll have to wait and see how the birds are affected!

THE DESECRATION OF HUAY TUNG TAO

2006-10-31T11:57:00.001+07:00

Hill Blue Flycatcher by Yurie Ball

CHOP-CHOP, LET'S GET RID OF THIS GREENERY

(October 27th Mae Hia) Spotted a Crested Honey buzzard today, which isn’t unusual but this time it was a dark morph. They are so much easier to identify with their white underwing patch against a background of dark brown underparts. I don’t very often see this variation.

(October 28th. HTT) Another new bird for the area, a White-shouldered Starling, it’s not that common up here in the north, now 240 species for HTT. By road the area covers about five kilometres in all, forming a loop. One returnee also this morning, an Inornate Warbler. It’s lucky that I don’t suffer from a weak heart, I was walking through some fairly short grass and from right under my foot a Common snipe took off. A great whirring of wings and a grating call that comes across as scarrrp set my heart thumping. Normally they don’t wait that long to take off and we both usually suffer from just a mild surprise not a near coronary as was the case this time.

(October 30th Mae Hia) Another returnee today and it was also a new bird for the area, an Ashy Minivet, in fact it was a flock of 10+. Not seen too often by me up here in the north but maybe I’m just missing them. Caught a Ruddy-breasted Crake trying to sneak across a grassy track but when it realised the game was up it rushed the last few feet into a rice field. Birds do know when they have been spotted. Quite a few Eurasian Wrynecks around at the moment but I think they will soon scatter and find territories farther afield. Most of the Lesser Coucals I’m seeing now have donned their less showy winter plumage.

(October 31st HTT) And yet another returnee, an Eastern Marsh Harrier. It caused quite a stir as it quartered the rice fields putting up all sorts of birds. 7 or 8 Common snipe, 2 Green Sandpipers, some Zitting Cisticolas and the ubiquitous Chinese Pond Herons amongst them. A Hill Blue Flycatcher was also spotted, I don’t often see them this low, we are at about 350m above sea-level here in Chiang Mai.

A Grouse (more like the size of a Capercaillie) I should have realised there was something devious behind the building of that road at the top end of the lake at Huay Tung Tao. It wasn’t to save my tyres from puncturing on the rough track of yesterday as I naively thought. They have now brought in more heavy machinery and are hacking down anything that is green, undergrowth, bushes and trees. They have more or less completed an ATV (all terrain vehicle) circuit and paintball battleground and what little is left they are turning into camping sites. It’s like a disease creeping around the lake. So bang goes my favourite lowland birding site. I suppose that even a negative can be made positive and I am now looking forward to documenting the effect that these various activities will have on the bird-life – if there is any left by the time they finish.

I'm having difficulty fitting them all in

2006-10-26T11:34:00.003+07:00

Eurasian Jay by John Moore

(October 26th HTT) Well this can’t wait – three new birds today and good ones at that. First was the uncommon Red Avadavat next The Siberian Blue Robin, I got onto this one when I heard its squeaky se-ic call and after a few minutes searching spotted it. Finally the Garganey (a duck), twenty were first seen flying and I had a fair idea what they were at that stage but then thankfully they landed not too far away and were clearly identified. The surprising thing was that all three species were seen from one spot at the top end of the lake. The Garganey and Blue Robin also count as returning migrants. The figure now for HTT is 239 spp. 69 of which are migrants, so as you can see we lose quite a percentage when they go north to breed.

After all that kerfuffle the Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers seem to have lost their nesting hole to a pair of Plain-backed Sparrows (this change of tenancy happens quite often). This morning the sparrows were seen busily bringing grass and building a nest in the hole. A pair of woodpeckers were seen in the immediate vicinty but were showing no interest in the proceedings. Another note of interest was a pair of Eurasian Jays who were communicating in what I can only call a foreign language. They were using the calls of the Crested Serpent Eagle and the Shikra (trilingual no less). This is not unusual and the danger is that if you don’t see the bird making the call you might misidentify it. The Greater Racket-tailed Drongo is another bird guilty of this mimicking but usually gives itself away by throwing in some of his own calls. Also another 6 Black Bazas were seen circling overhead.

Birds of a feather flock together - and how !

2006-10-25T12:51:00.000+07:00

Silver-eared Mesia by Yurie Ball

(October 25th KMP) Today a pleasant change from my two lowland sites, a trip with John up to our new road at Ka Mu Phuket (up to 1600m). Added two more species to our list and they were the Slender-billed Oriole and the Lesser Coucal, nothing special about the two birds but we just hadn’t spotted them before. Other birds we saw were special and that was another uncommon Green Cochoa, a Long-tailed Broadbill and some Silver-eared Mesias. I say some but what made these one’s special was their numbers, there must have been close to a hundred of them in the flock. We had been watching them on one side of the road in thickly leaved bushes, thinking there were about 10-15 of them, as usual, and then they decided to change sides. The stream seemed never-ending, we stood there, jaws dropped, confounded at their numbers. The broadbill is an amazingly colourful bird, it could have been dreamed up by Walt Disney, a black helmet on its head, a yellow face, upperparts and underparts two shades of green and a blue tail. It is almost unreal.

It is also interesting to hear the calls of birds other than the lowland one’s that I hear mostly, spending six mornings a week at Mae Hia or Huay Tung Tao. Which then brings me to the Dawn Chorus. There is very little of one in the open lowland areas but in the higher forested levels and especially on the roadside it is much more spectacular. I have recordings of as many as 15 species, or more, all giving thanks, at the same time, for having survived the night and proclaiming to others that they are still in charge of their territories.

(October 23rd HTT) A new bird for HTT an Eastern-crowned Warbler, it also counts as a returning migrant, now bringing the figure for the area to 236 spp. Another good sighting was a flotilla of 10 nearly fully grown Lesser Whistling Ducks together with one adult. Quite an amusing sight as they swam away from us with their heads cocked sideways to make sure we didn’t try anything underhanded. I came across two pairs of Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers fighting over a nesting hole. It’s difficult to say which pair started the excavation of the hole but there was a lot of buffeting going on and birds diving at each other. Finally one pair appeared to give up their attempt to claim ownership and flew off. The other pair went to work diligently, bringing out beaksful of wood chippings. This woodpecker normally nests between December and June so they are pretty close to the mark.

(October 21st MH) A new bird for the area, the Asian Brown Flycatcher bringing the Mae Hia total to 192 spp. The Long-tailed Shrike of the Chinese/Vietnamese Nominate race (L.s. Schach) is still with us. It has confined itself to quite a small area,within about a 100 metre radius, and can be found there just about every morning. It will, no doubt leave us eventually to breed somewhere in north Asia unlike the Lanius Schach which is a resident bird.

.

A MOBBING SCENE

2006-10-20T10:49:00.001+07:00

Red-whiskered Bulbul by Yurie Ball

(October 20th HTT) Well, I take it all back, Huay Tung Tao has shot back into ascendency over Mae Hia. Of course there are always going to be ups and downs but today was certainly on the upswing for HTT. It was helped by a mobbing scene, I never got a look at the cause of this unruly behaviour but it was probably an Asian Barred Owlet. Some of the more interesting participants of the mob scene were the Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, Black-naped Monarch, Violet Cuckoo and Golden-fronted Leafbird. There were about another 10-12 more common species taking part, it was bedlam. The Red-whiskered Bulbul is usually the bird that alerts me to this blatant harassment of owls. He has a very distinctive mobbing call and is usually the first on the scene.

One returnee today and that was the Two-barred Warbler and on checking last years result it returned on the same day. Another migrant warbler that proved interesting today was the Dusky Warbler. It was singing. Usually it saves its voice for when it gets to its northern breeding ground but just sometimes it will sing just before leaving and for a short while on getting back. It’s a simple song but very pleasing to the ear. Otherwise it just has a monotonous tik-tik tik call varying in pitch and separation, a little softer than the Thick-billed Warbler’s call. Another familiar call to be heard around HTT is the call of the Lineated Barbet. It starts off with resounding bubbling notes and then will burst out into a loud repetitive koh-tob, always a pleasure to hear.

Some other birds seen today were the Eurasian Jay, Blue Magpie, Indian Roller, Crested Honey-Buzzard, Pompadour Pigeon, Black-capped Kingfisher, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Eurasian Wryneck and the Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker. Total count for the morning was 62 seen and 6 identified by call.

RARE RAIL AND BEAUTIFUL BEE-EATER

2006-10-17T13:56:00.001+07:00

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater by John Moore

New bird for the area: This was at Huay Tung Tao and would probably rate as my bird of the year – it was the Water Rail. Okay it doesn’t sound exotic, in fact it doesn’t even look exotic but it is rare here. Its outstanding feature and I mean outstanding, was its long reddish/orange beak tipped with black, it is longer than any of the other Rails or Crakes. This now brings the total number of species for HTT to 235

One group of migrants that are still missing are the Leaf Warblers (Phylloscopus) and on checking back on previous years I find that they are comparatively late arrivals. But they should be around in the next week or two, looking forward to seeing them.

(October 16th MH) Another nice surprise was the sighting of four Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters. The books don’t do them justice, they are altogether brighter especially the blue that can be seen on their backs (not on the amazing picture above, I’m afraid, taken by my friend “Entomology” John). I have only seen them at Mae Hia once or twice before. A Thick-billed Warbler was heard with its soft warbling song emanating from a thick clump of mimosa bushes on the edge of Ant Bite Pond. It is a beautiful if somewhat understated song and I record it everytime I hear it. One solitary female Baya Weaver was seen which reminds me that all but one of those ten abandoned weaver nests have disappeared. This may have been due to the rather dramatic weather we have been having recently or been collected for sale.

(October 17th HTT) Besides the Water Rail, two Black Bazas were seen on a dead tree and a Grey-faced Buzzard in another dead tree and a Crested Serpent Eagle was seen circling overhead giving its melancholy cry . All this on a nice sunny morning for a change – I think the cool and sunny season has set in, I hope.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN? WELL, NOT QUITE

2006-10-13T18:30:00.001+07:00

The Chinese Pond-Heron - Before and after

Besides Smelly Field and Stench Bend we now have Ant Bite Pond. It’s usually a very productive walk around this pond but beware the army ants. They are not the large one’s you see in the nature documentaries that would strip you to the bone in five minutes, but the smaller one’s which make them all the more difficult to see. You are most likely to be attacked when you see an exciting bird and don’t check to see where you are standing. But it’s worth the pain and it doesn’t last long. Suk, my assistant has her own early warning system, no socks! I often hear the stamping of feet and her muttered imprecations and incantations against these murderous insects, that’s her view of them..

At Mae Hia the Chinese Pond Herons are around in great profusion. They float ghostlike out of the paddyfields as you pass by, the rice is already high enough to conceal them. They are all in their non-breeding plumage, but other years some of them have returned from the north still in their breeding plumage. In their present state they have this amazing form of camouflage. When they are flying they are white but the moment they land they become brown, this is due to the dropping down of long brown feathers which when flying are pushed along the back. They almost disappear on landing.

(October 5th MH) A family of four Black-naped Orioles seen in the area of Stench Bend. Luckily they were giving their diagnostic kyerr call which meant that I didn’t have to work at distiguishing them from the Slender-billed Oriole. Disgustingly 3 Junglefowl, 1 male and 2 females, were seen feeding off the over-ripe cabbages in Smelly Field, they can’t have any sense of smell.
(October 6th MH) What a coincidence, this time it was a family of four Slender-billed Orioles seen at Stench Bend, the adults are more greenish yellow on the back. Also seen a juvenile Asian Emerald Cuckoo. Two returnees, the Eurasian Kestrel and a Raddes Warbler.
(October 10th MH) Two new birds for the area, 15 Black Bazas were seen circling above, the other bird was a solitary Blue Rock Thrush bringing the figure for the area to 192. They also count as returnees, being migrants.
(October 11th MH) One returnee, a Common Moorhen, it was being harassed by two Little Grebes on Little Grebe Pond. I think they must have taken me seriously when I gave it that name, they certainly acted as if they owned it.
(October 12th MH) Excuse my spelling but it was a raptorous day today. Two Rufous-winged Buzzards, one Crested Serpent Eagle, one Crested Honey Buzzard, one Common Buzzard and one Peregrine Falcon were seen. A single Olive-backed Pipit has returned
(October 13th HTT) I decided to check out the progress on the road at Huay Tung Tao, it is now well graded and a pleasure to travel on. A single Forest Wagtail was spotted and a flock of 20 + Red-rumped Swallows were seen roosting in a dead tree, I can’t recall seeing that many together. Another bird of interest was the Grey-headed Flycatcher, interesting because as far as I can make out it is an altitudinal migrant. It seems to disappear from the lowlands, around here, to breed in the foothills and higher elevations.

Stench Bend

2006-10-07T16:08:00.001+07:00

Grey-headed Lapwing by Yurie Ball

I can’t keep calling that place which has the dead trees and great surrounding woodland which really produces good birds, that place…….. One thing against it is that it smells of rotting vegetables that the farmers feed to their cows, cabbages etc. It also encourages flies that feed on the leftovers, so what short name can I call it? Maybe Stinky Corner would fit or Stench Corner or Pesky Flies Bend. Whatever I call it it continues to produce. This morning (October 6th Mae Hia) one dead tree held an immature female Asian Emerald Cuckoo, light chestnut crown , coppery barred upperparts and black and white barred underparts. It was a new bird for the area bringing the figure of species seen to 190. As you can see from the title and the map above I have decided to call that place...... Stench Bend, for the time being.

(October 3rd HTT ) Two returning migrants, a Grey Heron circled majestically overhead and landed in a dead tree in the middle of the Huay Tung Tao lake. This tree is favoured by these herons and it’s good to see the first one back. The tree has also found favour with the monks as it has worn a saffron robe as long as I’ve been going there, a little faded now.. The other returnee was a Black-capped Kingfisher. The track around the lake is still in a state of disrepair but eventually we will be able to look forward to clean wheels at the end of the morning.

( October 4th Mae Hia) Not a good morning weatherwise, had to call it a day after thirty minutes as the rain came lashing down but not before I spotted a pair of adult Grey-headed Lapwings.

REQUIEM FOR A STARLING

2006-10-02T11:53:00.001+07:00

Black-collared Starlings by Yurie Ball

(September 30th Mae Hia) It’s not really a case of “it never rains but it pours” though seeing two more Black-capped Night Herons comes close after seeing one juvenile a few days ago. This time there was an adult with a juvenile. It was years since I saw my last one, so there is a very happy man sitting here in front of his computer. But that was all of note that happened this morning.

(October 1st Mae Hia) Two new birds for the area and they also happen to be migrants so come under the heading of 'returning migrants'. One solitary Intermediate Egret and the other one is the Ashy Drongo (D.l. leuconensis). This latter bird is a sub-species quite a lighter grey than the original, the main distinguishing feature are the white patches surrounding the eyes and cheek, it's a bird that is not too often seen. (189 spp to date). On the subject of migrants, the Brown Shrike is back in amazing numbers at Mae Hia this year. I must have seen at least 15 individuals on my rounds this morning. This in comparison with 1 Long-tailed Shrike and 2 Burmese Shrikes. We will have to ask these migrants to apply for visas before too long to limit their numbers.

And yet another interesting morning besides those to new birds. I was very pleased to see a flock of Racket-tailed Treepies, I counted 15 as they very conveniently flew in line across the road. I haven’t seen a flock of this size for ages, usually it has been 4 or 5 at a time. Now we’re back to those dead trees , it wasn’t the dead trees themselves that were producing but the immediate surrounding area. The first surprise and it was a surprise for both me and the bird in question. I was just turning around a bend in a track and there, about ten metres in front of me, was a male junglefowl (or more popularly, a cockerel). I froze but the bird did exactly the opposite, it shot straight up in the air and then landed in an untidy heap and finally scuttled off into the undergrowth. This was also the place I saw the new Ashy Drongo. Other birds in that area was a Slender-billed Oriole, a Banded Bay Cuckoo, a Crested Honey Buzzard and a Crested Serpent-Eagle flew overhead. In future I will make that my breakfast spot. I usually breakfast at a small pond while I watch for a pair of Little Grebes and a Common Kingfisher to present themselves.

One unhappy event this morning was the death of a Black-collared Starling under the wheels of the car in front of us. This was on the road immediately after entering the project site. These starlings and their cousins the Common Mynahs and the White-vented Mynahs seem to find food on the road but usually manage to fly off before being hit. This particular starling must have found a juicy worm and was prepared to defend its meal to the death. That’s exactly what happened, it got squashed.

NATURE'S FUNNY SIDE

2006-09-29T12:03:00.000+07:00

White-rumped Shama by Yurie Ball

I’m overwhelmed, I’m speechless, no I could never be accused of being speechless but Mae Hia is amazing me. It certainly has gained ascendancy over Huay Tung Tao birdwise. Over the last 8 days I have documented 10 new species for the area, half of them migrant species.

(September 29th) The two new species today are the Red-breasted Parakeet and a juvenile Grey-headed Lapwing (187 spp). The former bird raises doubt in my mind as it was a solitary bird and usually parakeets are to be seen in flocks, could it have been an escapee? I don’t know. But whatever it was it made a beautiful sight sitting at the top of a dead tree. The Grey-headed Lapwing being a juvenile didn’t actually have a grey head but it did have grey cheek patches and these would eventually grow to cover the head and breast. When it flew it had the black and white wings of an adult. The bill was yellow with a black tip. The lapwing is a migrant so goes down as a returnee along with a Dusky Warbler also spotted.

Other birds of interest today were a Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrike facing off with an Oriental Cuckoo in a dead tree. Sitting above them was a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and when it felt it had had enough of their bickering dived on them and drove them off. I find some of these interactions between different species quite amusing and human-like. Another instance of this this morning was a juvenile Yellow Bittern which we put up from a lakeside reed bed. It started off across the lake and then suddenly a Barn Swallow made a dive, I’m not sure if it was diving at the bittern but the bittern thought so,lost its composure, and fell into the water. I was just beginning to feel sorry for this tragic end when it sort of bounced back out of the water into the air and carried on to the other side of the lake.

We are still hearing a lot of songsters singing although they will sing less and less the farther they get from the breeding season. Two today that were still going strong were the White-rumped Shama with its loud fluty whistle, always a pleasure to listen to. The other one is the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher with its tinkling four or five note song.

A Dancing Dervish

2006-09-28T12:50:00.000+07:00

Black Kite-by Yurie Ball

(September 25th. HTT) I came across a Ruddy-breasted Crake displaying on the edge of a rice field. Very weird behaviour. It would arch its wings above its back and go into a sequence of ducking movements. Then when it got tired of doing that it would stretch its wings out and run in circles just like a child would when imitating the flight of an airplane. It would then go into a frenzied bout of preening and repeat the whole process again.I have to assume that it wasn't doing all this for nothing and that there was a female nearby, probably as bemused as I was by its antics. I watched it for about twenty minutes and then I got tired just watching it and left the bird still going at it. Numbers of species seen this morning was 58 and another 8 species identified by call.

Three more migrants have returned today, the Red-throated Flycatcher (2), Black Baza (4), and the Little Egret (5). The Black Baza is both a resident and a migrant species but when you see them in numbers it usually indicates that they are the migrant variety arriving back from the north. I’ve never understood the purpose of the ridiculous crest it sports, two long feathers sticking straight up from the centre of its head, again just like children dressing up as Red Indians or, to be politically correct, Native Americans.

(September 26th) Other returnees were three Eurasian Wrynecks, I first heard its very distinctive and loud kwee-kwee-kwee-kwee call and finally spotted the first one.

(September 27th) Two new species for the area, the Slender-billed Oriole and the Oriental Turtle-Dove (now 185 for the area). Count for the morning was 57 seen and 8 identified by call .

(September 28th) Another interesting bird, seen today, that I haven’t seen much of lately, and that is the Thick-billed Pigeon. It is one of the thirteen species of green pigeons to be found in Thailand. The surprising thing about today’s sighting was the number in the flock, 30+, and there were more males (with their purple wings) than females. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many together. On a par with that sighting was a lone Black Kite which " The Book" says is a common resident. This was only the third time I have seen one in Thailand. I specify Thailand because once when I was passing through Bombay (PC Mumbai) there were hundreds circling in the sky. Another place was Kamakura in Japan and there again there were hundreds circling in the sky.

Footwear: Suk my assistant has stuck the offending sole back on my left shoe with superglue. I view this with some foreboding as now both soles are singing songs every time I take a step. The cause is that the damp which has seeped in has combined with the air bubbles trapped there. We can only hope that these annoying sounds may attract the birds. Now I carry two extra pairs of shoes in the boot of the car just in case.

THE LOST SHOE AND OTHER THINGS

2006-09-23T10:32:00.000+07:00

White-crested Laughingthrush - by Yurie Ball

My left shoe literally disintegrated this morning in the field. I’m not surprised the amount of abuse I’ve made them suffer, plunging them ankle deep in mud and water. I suddenly found myself walking attached to the upper only and the sole buried in the morass behind me. I should have foreseen this as the left shoe had been giving off wheezy, birdlike squeaks for the last few day which made me think I had discovered a new bird. But this didn’t happen before I had another good day with the birds.

Three new birds for the area which included an Oriental Cuckoo, a passage migrant. Ten Cattle Egrets which were studiously following in the footsteps of those Friesian and Holstein cows that I mentioned before, picking off the insects that the cows disturbed. The final one was the best for me, a juvenile (all brown) Black-crowned Night-Heron (60cm.). When I first saw it it was taking off and looked very much like a fairly large raptor with its lumbering flight but then I spotted the long beak. This now brings the list of birds seen in the area to 183 spp.

The two rare Northern Hobbys are still hanging about and two more Black-naped Orioles were spotted. The Oriental Cuckoo was spotted again along with a Banded Bay Cuckoo. A flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes (12) was seen, raising Cain with their raucous, cackling calls. A Peregrine Falcon was also seen. Mae Hia is certainly producing better birds than Huay Tung Tao at the moment and as HTT is in a bit of a mess, what with the road building, I will be concentrating more on MH. I almost forgot, I was stymied by one bird this morning. It was about the size and shape of a Spangled Drongo (maybe a little bigger) but had curved white wing bars on the wings. When seen from the back these bars formed half an oval. When it opened its wings there was a lot of grey in them. Now after seventeen years here, birdwatching, it’s not often that a bird doesn’t get identified by me, but this one has got me foxed. The closest I could get to it was the Black Magpie but that doesn’t exist up here in the north.

Finally, the Coup d’Etat seems to be fizzling out here but there is a rumour floating about that Thaksin plans some sort of comeback/revenge, see my nasty Blog at:
http://uk.360.yahoo.com/profile-wBQSJZwzeqqLI2swShradMT0_Q (copy and paste)

EVEN A COUP D'ETAT WON'T STOP MY BIRDWATCHING

2006-09-21T12:11:00.000+07:00

Black-naped Oriole by Yurie Ball
Well, this day 21st. September deserves a report. It started off as a drizzly day and weatherwise didn’t improve too much but the birds made my day. First of all there were three new birds for the area and in order of importance they were the rare Northern Hobby (aka. Eurasian Hobby-2 juveniles), Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrike (1) and Black-naped Oriole (1). This brings the number of species documented at Mae Hia to 180.

That dead tree also produced results today - 3 greater Racket-tailed Drongos, 3 Racket-tailed Treepies, 1 Black-naped Oriole (when looking at this bird through the telescope a big fuzzy shape in the background turned out to be a Crested Honey-Buzzard), 1 Black-winged and 1 Indochinese Cuckoo-Shrike (what are the odds of finding those two sitting almost next to each other in the same dead tree?), 3 Spotted Doves, 1 Green-billed Malkoha, 2 Green Bee-eaters, 1 Oriental Magpie-Robin and 6 White-vented Mynahs. Just as we were leaving that tree 12 Blue Magpies flew overhead.

Although I have recorded the Northern Hobby at Huay Tung Tao on two or three occasions at this same time of year there is always a thrill of excitement when getting another one. As I mentioned it was a drizzly day and the bird (one at that time) was not about to fly away and I studied the first bird for about 15 minutes and was easily able to pick out all the distinguishing features. The tail is a good indication of what you are looking at, the wing tips reach to the end of the tail when the bird is sitting, and it had that distinguishing moustache and white cheek patches. Being juveniles (I caught up with both of them later) they had two white patches on the back of the head. Also they had pencil-thin white eyebrows.

Two Little Grebes (aka Dabchicks) seem to have settled into a pond surrounded by reeds, tall grass and thorny mimosa bushes all of which provide ideal cover for these shy birds. Now although these birds are resident they seem to disappear at the same time as the migrants and reappear when the migrants do. I can only assume that they have even more private ponds somewhere to breed in. It was a good day for raptors too, five seen, besides the two already mentioned there was one Osprey, one Rufous-winged Buzzard and one Shikra seen. The last two are regulars.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP AT HUAY TUNG TAO (15th. September)

2006-09-15T19:41:00.001+07:00

Crested Serpent Eagle - By Yurie Ball

I hadn’t been to Huay Tung Tao for 6 days, there didn’t seem any point considering the muddy state of the track. But this morning I decided to see how far the military had got with it. It was in the best condition its ever been, widened and graded to a fairly smooth surface. Next step is asphalting so there may be another gap in my visits there, it depends on how they proceed with it.

And the birds were plentiful, all the returned migrants that I had found at Mae Hia in the last six days were at HTT plus two more. A flock of Intermediate Egrets planed down to the waters edge. This was exciting as at the best of times they are not regular visitors. The other bird or birds were three Little Herons. These two places MH and HTT complement each other, if a bird is difficult to find at one place it can often be found in numbers at the other so I’m going to alternate my visits to each in the future. This way I can keep an eye on more birds.

The returning Brown Shrikes at both places are having a bit of trouble settling in, the local Long-tailed Shrike doesn’t appreciate them moving into its territory. Being bigger it has the last word and it’s usually a loud screech and the smaller shrike moves into a less productive area. Even the Burmese Shrike is higher in the pecking order and also sees it off. But they will all eventually settle into their own territory for the coming winter and things will quieten down. Good for them but not for me, I enjoy watching this interaction between species.

Another local bird seen today and it was living up to its name was the Crested Serpent Eagle. It was sitting at the top of a dead tree and had a metre long snake dangling down from the branch. The Eagle had it firmly held with one talon and was tearing strips of flesh off it as the snake was frantically wriggling, or maybe you didn’t need to know that gory detail but it’s all part of Nature. Another welcome sighting was a flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes and as usual there was at least one Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush included in the flock. I hear the former bird most days but don’t often get to see them as they usually don’t come down close enough to the road.

RETURNING MIGRANTS AND OTHER THINGS

2006-09-14T10:13:00.000+07:00

Little Ringed Plover - by Yurie Ball

I can now report that the migrants are streaming in: (1st. September) Little Ringed Plover and the Stonechat. (4th. September) a juvenile White Wagtail. (6th. September) the rare grey-backed Long-tailed Shrike from China , also a juvenile Osprey. (8th. September) a Green Sandpiper. (11th. September) a Common Buzzard and 7 Wood Sandpipers. (14th. September) a Thick-billed Warbler and a 2 Brown Shrikes, and many more to come.

A new addition today to Mae Hia birds, the Red Turtle Dove, a solitary one in a group of Spotted Doves now 177 species to date. Recently the very colourful Coppersmith Barbets have been flying around in groups of up to 15 birds. This morning 12 were seen in that same dead tree I mentioned last time. They were all facing the sun (7am) I suppose they were warming themselves up, although I was already sweating by this time. Another gathering was that of about 100 Barn Swallows on the telephone wire. Casting my binoculars along the rows of them I suddenly came across a Wire-tailed Swallow. It really stood out, its underparts were whiter than white as the Daz detergent commercial use to say. I wonder if it thought it was a Barn Swallow, I also wondered if there would have been a language problem?

A Pygmy Tree Shrew caused a bit of a laugh, for me not for it, I surprised it on a track about 50 metres ahead, it saw me and tore off along the track. Ahead was a long puddle and it took to the air. Not only did it mis-judge the length of the puddle but also the depth, the depth it could be forgiven for. It landed, legs splayed, it knew it had mis-judged the distance, with a splash and disappeared. When it reappeared it looked like a drowned rat. Its size, in fact, is about the size of a fairly large rat and in this case a seriously wet rat.

A WET, BUT PRODUCTIVE, MORNING AT MAE HIA

2006-09-11T11:34:00.000+07:00

Lineated Barbet (28cm) by Yurie Ball

The number of species seen this morning (11th. September) were only a little above normal (52 seen, 10 identified by call = 62) but it was what was seen and where. Dead trees are always worth a look and, of course, it’s made easier because there are no leaves to block the view. The worry though is that because they are dead the farmers may chop them down. There is one way to prevent this, and it is peculiar to this part of the world, and that is to get the local monks to ‘ordain’ the tree, they actually wrap a saffron robe around it. No one would dare to chop it down then in fear of losing merit. Some farmers have already noticed that I study the birds in these dead trees so they leave them alone for which I am grateful. There is a particular tree at Mae Hia which will usually produce one or two good birds but today the list was as follows: Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (2), Racket-tailed Treepie (3), Lineated Barbet (2), Black Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Green Bee-eater (3), Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul and a Common Koel. All within ten minutes.

At Mae Hia there is a mixed herd of Friesian and Holstein cows and in themselves they are not very interesting but it is what they attract that is. Common Mynahs will come spiralling down out of the sky and land on the cows backs. No reaction from the cows, they just carry on grazing. This is a symbiotic relationship, the mynahs will relieve the cows of their ticks and the cows will disturb the grass as they graze, insects are put up, which the mynahs will then pounce on.

Two more migrant species have returned today, the Common Buzzard and the Wood Sandpiper (7). The latter bird is a new species for Mae Hia bringing the numbers up to 176 species documented.

A GROUSE: Mae Hia and Huay Tung Tao are in a state of confusion, the former because they are holding a horticultural show there in 10 weeks time. They are chopping down the grass and undergrowth and with it the nests, nestlings and eggs of birds like the Grey-breasted and Plain Prinias and the Chestnut-capped Babblers. At Huay Tung Tao the military (they own the property) are turning the track at the top end into an asphalted road. This means that the area is unreachable for who knows how long, it’s a quagmire at the moment. It has cut me off from an area of paddyfields which at this time of the year is the arrival site of many migrant waterbirds and waders.

More from Mae Hia

2006-09-08T10:21:00.000+07:00

White-throated Kingfisher
Illustration by Yurie Ball

September 6th : A very interesting bird has turned up again at Mae Hia. It’s the Long-tailed Shrike but this one is the Nominate race from China. The difference between this one and Lanius schach is that instead of a black head it is dark grey and the mantle instead of being sandy is also dark grey. I said again because it turned up about two years ago and today’s bird was found within the same small area as last time.

Another bird of interest, yesterday, was a juvenile Osprey sitting at the top of a tall tree which is also favoured by many other raptors (one at a time usually). For the first time I noticed that the tuft of feathers that stick out from the back of the head were spotted black and white. It wasn’t having an easy time as it was being buzzed by Ashy Wood-Swallows and Green Bee-eaters. It finally gave up the unequal struggle and flew off. Now this has nothing to do with birds but I thought it gave a hint of Thailand. It was just after the Osprey incident that I noticed this cat-sized furry animal squatting at the side of the track , it turned out to be a mongoose (thank goodness there was only one as the plural would have made me think). More interestingly it seemed to be chewing on something. As I got closer it ran across the track and it was dragging a snake behind it, the snake was about one metre long and brown, probably a young rat snake.

September 8th : Another migrant has returned to Mae Hia and it is the Green Sandpiper. At the end of the morning’s birding I realised I hadn’t seen or heard a White-throated Kingfisher (28cm). Now this is most unusual as they can always be heard with their loud cackling voice or their penetrating whinny, I wonder where they got to? Wherever, I’m sure it’s temporary. Normally I would see around 7 or 8 of them. Also seen today were 4 Indian Rollers and 2 of them were doing their aerobatic rolling display at the time. I haven’t seen that display very often. Finally an anomaly in a Common Kingfisher I spotted this morning. Instead of having the full orange/rufous belly it was mostly grey. Normally the colour of the belly, I believe, would be related to its intake of shrimp or other crustaceans (said to be up to 30% of its diet), so I don't know what this one had been eating! The Common Kingfishers that inhabit streams tend to have a deeper colour which would suggest that they eat more shrimps etc..

I actually wrote this one at the same time last year

2006-09-07T09:54:00.000+07:00

A BIRDWATCHER’S DIARY

Little Heron – by Yurie Ball

The rainy season is coming to an end, or so they tell me, and this month, September, is known to be the wettest month of the year here in the north. Well I can tell you that it is living up to its reputation. The Huay Tung Tao lake is overflowing its banks and trees that are usually on the edge of the lake are up to their knees in water. The sluice is flowing over and the water level in the lake is still rising. All this precipitation hasn’t stopped me going out, it has just made it a little more uncomfortable. I have my poncho but pity those poor birds, they only have the same lightweight feathers that they have all year round and so they just sit in the trees all huddled up and looking thoroughly bedraggled and miserable. There are exceptions to this and they are the wagtails, they always look alert and their name-giving tails are always on the move as are the birds themselves.

The Thai military at Huay Tung Tao keep on cropping up and this time they were on their shooting range and letting go with everything they’d got. From the sound of it they were only a few hundred metres away and it was quite deafening. But what was more interesting was the result it had on the birds. I happened to be watching a Shikra circling overhead looking for breakfast at the time and it took off like a scalded cat jinking and generally performing some really interesting aerobatics. Obviously this bird was dodging bullets that it must have thought were on there way. All its movements were choreographed to coincide with each fresh burst of gunfire coming one on top of the other. The more amazing result was the number of other birds that fled the paddyfields at this outburst. I always knew that there were quite a few pond-herons concealing themselves in the growing rice but I counted at least 100 as they beat a hasty retreat, scores of lapwings, mynahs and a lesser number of snipe, it was quite revealing the number of birds that were hidden in those fields.

Interaction between species: The following incidents are actually not as serious as the heading would indicate maybe they were even a little humorous. The most recent instance of this interaction happened today (Oct 5th) between two Kingfishers, the White-throated (28cm) and the Black-capped (30cm). The latter bird was sitting on a branch minding its own business when the white-throated version dived out of nowhere to the attack. I was watching the Black-capped through my binoculars at the time and there was a sudden blue blur and it fell off the branch, recovered and flew away. More or less the same thing happened about one kilometre away – whether they were the same birds I can’t be sure. The reason for this attack was that the Black-capped was poaching on the other bird’s territory. This victim of the uprovoked attack is in fact a passage migrant up here in the north and even though a bigger bird retreated as it was out of its territory.

The second incident took place a couple of days ago and it was between a Little Heron (46cm) and a male Shikra a small accipiter (hawk) approximately 30cm. in size. When I came upon them they were already almost head to head in a tree and the heron was obviously upset as its black crest was standing up, all spiky, and threatening the smaller bird with its dagger-like beak. The Shikra seemed to be teasing it, moving around it from branch to branch, the heron finally decided it had had enough and flew off and I carried on walking only to come across it a few hundred metres farther on. It was in a dead tree and was in even worse trouble. It had certainly picked the wrong place this time as it was on the ‘turf’ of a gang of Ashy Wood-Swallows. This tree was the hang-out for at least 20 of these birds and they were giving the heron a really hard time, dive bombing it from all directions. The heron was crouched down and was stabbing upwards with its beak, a useful weapon when used against slower moving birds, but in this instance hitting nothing but air as the wood-swallows flashed by. Again it ignominiously fled the battlefield.

Who said birds don’t have a sense of humour ? probably nobody but here’s evidence that they do. Again this one involves a Shikra and the other partner in the comedy was a White-crested Laughingthrush (the same size as a Shikra). I was watching a flock of them when the Shikra alighted on a branch a few feet away, it then made a half-hearted charge at one of the flock and it developed into a game of hunter and hunted each taking their turn in being chaser and the chased. You could see the mock indignation as the farcical chase went up, down and along the branches until both parties tired of the game and the Laughingthrush rejoined the flock that had moved on and the Shikra flew off in the opposite direction.

Finally quite an exciting little episode, a female Eastern Marsh-Harrier (56cm.) was spotted quartering the paddyfields looking for prey at the top end of the Huay Tung Tao lake. Panic-stricken birds were fleeing the scene as the harrier wafted its way back and forth acoss the fields, two to three metres above the ground. I didn’t realise how many snipe were actually feeding in these rice fields but pair after pair, close to twenty in all, would explode out of them as the harrier approached. Other birds had the temerity to attack it, these included White Wagtails, Stonechats and Barn Swallows, but it was incredible how quickly the tables were turned. The harrier would make an amazingly acrobatic turn and very soon the attackers became the attacked. I watched this scene for about twenty minutes until the harrier departed after an unsuccessful hunt. This sudden tide of activity then receded in the somnolent heat of the morning.

Returning Migrants: Black-capped Kingfisher (Sept. 7th), Brown Shrike (Sept. 7th), White Wagtail (Sept. 20th), Two-barred Warbler (Sept. 20th), Eurasian Kestrel (Sept. 22nd), Red-throated Flycatcher (Sept 22nd), Asian Brown Flycatcher (Sept. 22nd), Forest Wagtail (Sept 23rd), Eurasian Wryneck (Sept. 24th). Siberian Rubythroat (Oct. 5th). Eastern Marsh-Harrier (Oct. 10th).

Mae Hia - 1st. September

2006-09-01T18:41:00.001+07:00

Returnees and bird nesting (or not) at Mae Hia

Asian Barred Owlet - by Yurie Ball

I still get a good feeling when I spot my first returnee of a migrant species. This morning (1st. September) it was the turn of the Little-ringed Plover (6) and the Stonechat (1) to give me that feeling. There has also been a greater influx of the Chinese Pond-Heron, fifteen of them rose from a rice paddy as I blundered by, blundered because last night the heavens had opened up and I was up to my ankles in mud and water. I wasn’t even in the flooded fields the water had just overflowed from those fields into the surrounding area. Another returnee spotted the other day was a Forest Wagtail. This one is a passage migrant and only passes through this area to winter farther south. Although it’s called a wagtail it is obviously not happy with the limitations of its name, it wags its whole body, not up and down but from side to side, quite comical.

I really think that the Baya Weavers have abandoned all those ten finished and half finished nests I mentioned before, there has been no sign of activity for the last five days. The other nest I mentioned of the Olive-backed Sunbird that also seems to have gone the same way. I don’t know what the failure rate in nest building is but I have seen nests of the Common Tailorbird where the tailoring was not so good. Sometimes the ‘sewing’ of the leaves together has succeeded right up till the last moment and then the weight of the material inside has proven too heavy and has fallen out of the bottom. That seems to happen more when the tailorbird sews two leaves together, the success rate is higher when they fold one leaf over.

At the moment there are three young Asian Barred Owlets that sit in the same tree every morning as I pass by. If they are not there all I have to do is give a bad imitation of their hooting call and they all come out onto a bare branch and give me a thorough scrutiny. They jerk their heads forward, eyes big and wide, sometimes they bob or push their heads from side to side. A most amusing performance and then when we have had enough they fly back into the safety of the leaves and I go on to my next spot. (If you want to see a nastier side of me visit my other blogsite

http://uk.360.yahoo.com/profile-wBQSJZwzeqqLI2swShradMT0_Q--

RECAP ON A RAINY DAY

2006-08-31T17:17:00.000+07:00

RAIN STOPPED PLAY

It being the rainy season I am sitting here knocking out this recap of what has been going on here birdwise. It really is pelting down outside and a few trickles here and there on the inside.

One passage migrant, the Black-capped Kingfisher, stopped on its way north and decided that there was no point in going any further than the Huay Tung Tao lake as it provided all its needs, It stayed for almost exactly 6 months and then disappeared. One of the highlights of the year was the appearance of a solitary Bar-headed Goose in the middle of the lake. Now this is a very rare winter visitor so I decided to check whether anyone was missing one. The two obvious places to check were the Zoo and the Night Safari Park, not only didn’t they have any but they stared at me blankly and asked what sort of creature was it! I then checked the private collections that I knew about and nobody was missing a goose so it has to have been a wild one. It flew away as I was watching it, never to be reported again, to my knowledge.

My friend John Moore the Entomologist and I have found an interesting new road. We came across it being built about 40 odd kilometres out of Chiang Mai on the Doi Sakhet – Chiang Rai road, it starts at a well known Thai restaurant Ka Mu Phuket. It eventually arrives at Chae Sorn National Park (far side) and only the locals who live in 5 or 6 villages along its route use it. It is alive with interesting birds, some of the species listed below. Considering that the habitat along the route is mostly the same, forested, the 163 species of birds listed by us is not bad.

Unintentional humour in the field – I disturbed an adult Slaty-breasted Rail and four chicks. On noticing me the adult bird took off at a run and the four puff-ball chicks, trying to keep up, were tumbling and running and tumbling and running all the way until disappearing into some long grass.

3 species of Buzzards
5 “ “ Cuckoos
9 “ “ Babblers
4 “ “ Barbets
2 “ “ Broadbills
12 “ “ Bulbuls
3 “ “ Forktails
3 “ “ Nuthatches
5 “ “ Owls/Owlets
2 “ “ Pittas
4 “ “ Wagtails
6 “ “ Woodpeckers
and the Green Cochoa

A morning at Mae Hia

2006-08-29T18:30:00.000+07:00

Common Kingfisher - Illustrated by Yurie Ball

The Mae Hia Agricultural Research Centre is always coming up with some surprises. This morning it was a lone Peahen sitting up near the top of a thinly leafed tree in the foothills of Doi Suthep. Now it's too much to hope that it was a wild one with the local zoo on one side and the Night Safari Park on the other. But escapee or not it is nice to see one roosting in a tree in my project site. The problem is that the keepers in both of these centres are none too careful about closing doors behind them.

But this is an interesting time of year as the migrants have started returning from their breeding grounds in North Asia. A Common Kingfisher sat on a mimosa twig poised to dive on unwary fish (painting by my late wife Yurie). A grey Wagtail was spotted as were seven Chinese Pond-Herons and one lone Common Snipe. Soon there will be a rush as the main body of migrants return.

Other birds spotted this morning were a flock of Racket-tailed Treepies and they do make a racket, there's no missing them. Meanwhile breeding is still going on here and two Chestnut-capped Babblers flitted to-and-fro carrying broad-leafed grass to their nesting site in the grassy undergrowth. The Baya Weavers are busy building their hanging nests at the top of a tall leafy tree and abandoning them half built, I don't know why they do this unless it is that the females have rejected the males building ability. There are ten nests in all and four of them had got to the stage where they would have started to form the long narrow pipe at the bottom but they abandoned them. You can always see how they are getting on because they use fresh green grass and as time goes on the first stages turn to the colour of straw so the bottom half is still green as they add to the nest. Two Olive-backed Sunbirds are busy building their hanging nest which looks just like a piece of rubbish thrown into the tree - good disguise, they even build a porch over the entrance to the nest, which is at the side, as a sun and rain shade.

My main project site at Huay Tung Tao lake is off limits to me at the moment as the military, who own the area, are busy turning a rough track into an asphalted road. But before they started on it some interesting birds were seen in the newly planted paddyfields. A pair of Greater Painted Snipe were seen stalking the dikes the dominant female, in her smarter plumage, in the lead. She is a philanderer and will mate with a few males leaving them in there dull plumage to hide away and incubate and bring up the young. Also seen were a pair of Slaty-breasted Rails with four young (they can have as many as nine) and a Ruddy-breasted Crake.

Ka Mu Phuket - A morning's birdwatching

2006-08-29T18:03:00.001+07:00

The Author (delusions of grandeur)

The weather wasn't too good and we didn't see as many birds as we would have expected but we got a couple of specials. The first was a flock of five Vernal Hanging Parrots and two of them were actually hanging upsidedown on the branch. I have only rarely come across this bird so it really made the morning worthwhile.

The other bird wasn't in itself special but finding its nest was. It was the White-browed Scimitar-Babbler. The nest was on the ground next to the road we were travelling on, it was dome shaped and had a side entrance. Now I did something that I don't normally do, I put mind hand into the nest and extracted one of three eggs, it was white. I did it because it was the first nest of this species that I had come across and was curious to see the colour of its eggs.

The morning was cold, we were at about 1,200 metres, in the clouds most of the time and it was damp. We also got a a new bird for our area checklist, a Rufescent Prinia, not special but it brought our list to 162 for this area.