The Urban Birder

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Thailand - the final instalment

White-fronted Plover??

Male (below) and female Red Collared Dove

Common Sandpiper

Pied Asian Starling

Collared Kingfisher

Asian Openbill Stork

Paddyfield Pipit

A great holiday with some great birds. Read the full account of my birding in Chiang Mai in a forthcoming issue of Birdwatching Magazine.

In the meantime, I'm back in grey and chilly Blighty. As a little reminder of my time in Thailand I've included the complete list of birds that I identified. As you may imagine, there were a ton of birds that I just couldn't work out!

Little Cormorant

Little Egret

Pacific Reef Egret

Great Egret

Eastern Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Chinese Pond Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

Grey Heron

Brahminy Kite

Osprey

Crested Serpant Eagle

Peregrine

Asian Openbill

White-breasted Waterhen

Common Moorhen

Mountain Bamboo Partridge

Mrs Hume’s Pheasant

Red-wattled Lapwing

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Malaysian Plover

Lesser Sandplover

Greater Sandplover

Pacific Golden Plover

Pied Avocet

Black-winged Stilt

Spotted Redshank

Common Greenshank

Marsh Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Red-necked Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Eurasian Curlew (heard)

Heuglin’s Gull

Brown-headed Gull

Caspian Tern

Greater Crested Tern

Common Tern

Roseate Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Little Tern

Whiskered Tern

Feral Pigeon

Mountain Imperial Pigeon

Oriental Turtle Dove

Spotted Dove

Red-collared Dove

Little Cuckoo Dove

Peaceful Dove

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

Greater Coucal

Asian Emerald Cuckoo

Asian Koel

Green-billed Malkoha

Asian Barred Owlet

Large-tailed Nightjar

Himalayan Swiftlet

Asian Palm Swift

Pacific Swift

Cook’s Swift

House Swift

Common Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher

Black-capped Kingfisher

Collared Kingfisher

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Indian Roller

Lesser Yellownape

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

Stripe-breasted Woodpecker

Coppersmith Barbet

Asian House Martin

Sand Martin

Bank Swallow

Wire-tailed Swallow

Paddyfield Pipit

Olive-backed Pipit

White Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Grey Bushchat

Siberian Stonechat

Blue Whistling Thrush

Rufescent Prinia

Plain Prinia

Common Tailorbird

Thick-billed Warbler

Dusky Warbler

((Raddes Warbler))

Two-barred Greenish Warbler

Pallas’ Leaf Warbler

Yellow-browed Warbler

Hume’s Yellow-browed Warbler

Chestnut-flanked White-eye

Oriental White-eye

Japanese White-eye

Grey-crowned Warbler

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Taiga Flycatcher

((Little Pied Flycatcher))

Hill Blue Flycatcher

Chinese Blue Flycatcher

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Great Tit

Yellow-cheeked Tit

Chestnut-vented Nuthatch

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Giant Nuthatch

Brown Shrike

Grey-backed Shrike

Black Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Spangled Drongo

Black-naped Oriole

Slender-billed Oriole

Maroon Oriole

Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike

Large Cuckoo-shrike

Grey-chinned Minivet

Long-tailed Minivet

Scarlet Minivet

Pied Fantail

Common Iora

Oriental Magpie Robin

Ashy Woodswallow

Black-headed Bulbul

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Sooty-headed Bulbul

Flavescent Bulbul

Streak-eared Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Black Bulbul

White-browed Scimitar Babbler

White-browed Shrike Babbler

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Olive-backed Sunbird

Purple Sunbird

Mrs Gould’s Sunbird

Eurasian Jay

Grey Treepie

Large-billed Crow

Asian Pied Starling

Black-collared Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Common Myna

White-vented Myna

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Baya Weaver

Red Avadavat

Scaly-breasted Munia

161 species

50 lifers

Sunday, 6 January 2013

More from Pak Thale, Thailand

Black-winged Stilt

Whiskered Tern

Marsh Sandpipers

Black-tailed Godwit

Little Egret

Spoon-billed Sandpiper - fuzzy shot, I know!

Red Collared Dove

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Friday, 4 January 2013

Images from Pak Thale

Red-wattled Lapwing

Black-winged Stilt

Pacific Golden Plover

Little Egret

Common Greenshank

Little Ringed Plover

Little Cormorant

Wood Sandpiper

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

My last morning in Chiang Mai

Thick-billed Warbler

Brown Shrike in the mist

Tree Sparrow

Common Myna

My last morning down at my adopted patch resulted in another lifer - this time a Thick-billed Warbler. I am sure that I glimpsed one yesterday, but today's bird stood right out in the open churring away. Superficially, it looked like one of the many similarly coloured Streak-eared Bulbul that also hung out in the scrubby bushes. However, closer examination revealed that this bird had the typical reed warbler look. What struck me apart from the sheer size of the bird was its rounded reddish tail, plain face with black beady eye and its white throat. I was well happy with another self found lifer to the list.

My parting gift from my trusty patch was another brief look at an Asian Barred Owlet. As soon as it was aware that I was trying to train my camera in its direction it bolted.

For those interested I have drawn up the list of species that I saw at my patch over three mornings. Meanwhile, I am travelling south to Hua Hin. Check in again tomorrow.

My Chiang Mai patch list

Little Egret - a couple seen over the three days.
Chinese Pond Heron - frequently seen.
White-breasted Waterhen - frequently seen along the watercourse.
Common Moorhen - commonly seen often with the waterhens.
Feral Pigeon - common.
Spotted Dove - common.
Peaceful Dove - 1 seen today. Probably far more common.
Greater Coucal - commonly seen.
Asian Koel - commonly heard.
Green-billed Malkoha - several seen feeding in the trees yesterday.
Himalayan Swiftlet - commonly seen.
Asian Barred Owlet - seen 2 occasions perhaps indicating resident bird.
Collared Kingfisher - 1 briefly. Supposidly a summer visiter to the region.
Barn Swallow - commonly seen.
Wire-tailed Swallow - commonly seen.
White Wagtail - 1 pair seen daily.
Red-whiskered Bulbul - commonly seen.
Streak-eared Bulbul - commonly seen.
Common Stonechat - a female seen on a couple days. Buffy rump & longish tail.
Plain Prinia - commonly seen.
Common Tailorbird - 1 male seen yesterday.
Thick-billed Warbler - at least 1 obliging bird seen today.
Dusky Warbler - commonly heard, rarely glimpsed apart from 1 obliging bird yesterday.
Two-barred Greenish Warbler - 1 watched yesterday.
Yellow-browed Warbler - commonly seen and heard.
Taiga Flycatcher - at least 1 seen daily.
Oriental Magpie Robin - regularly seen.
Brown Shrike - at least 1 really obvious bird seen daily.
Black Drongo - seen reasonably often.
Black-collared Starling - a few birds seen yesterday.
Chestnut-tailed Starling - a few overflying flocks encountered every morning. A beautiful bird.
Common Myna - commonly seen.
White-vented Myna - commonly seen.
Tree Sparrow - very commonly seen.
Baya Weaver - 1 seen on the first two mornings.
Scaly-breasted Munia - commonly seen.

36 species including 2 lifers

A lifer on my patch!

Barn Swallow

Dropped into my Chiang Mai local patch this morning and effectively saw the birds that I saw yesterday. All was pretty quiet at first sight. I did enjoy prolonged views of a Dusky Warbler in a tree. This was a feat that was nigh on impossible yesterday when I spent the best part of three hours just catching the barest of fleeting glimpses of this unobtrusive warbler.

I decided to move on after about an hour to explore another section of my patch that snaked to the west following the meander of the lily clogged stream that ran through the heart of the area. After being woofed at by a gang of Thai dogs I settled in an area of open woodland that also stank to high heaven of human faeces. Perfection!

I was rewarded with several Black Drongos, Asian Koels large pheasant-like brown and black cuckoos and a hunting Brown Shrike. I managed to score a lifer in the shape of several Green-billed Malkoha - another large though gaily plumaged cuckoo with a lime green bill.

Tomorrow's my last day in the city before journeying south to Hua Hin on the coast. So, that will be one last morning on my patch. Let's hope it's a good one.....

Monday, 31 December 2012

Happy New Year - from my temporary local patch in Chiang Mai!!

Firstly, I would like to wish all the followers of this blog and anybody else not indulging in the pleasure in reading this entry a very special, very healthy and a prosperous (both in wealth and birds) 2013!

For the last few days I have been experiencing the delights of Bangkok and latterly Chiang Mai. The former city I had experienced before last Christmas but Chiang Mai, up in the north, was a new thing for me. Aside from the usual temple visits and general sightseeing I've also been getting some birding under my belt. Visits were made to Doi Inthanon National Park, home to Thailand's highest mountain peak, led by Neil Scott who for the summer months of the year is the warden of the Natural Trust's Scolt Head Island Reserve in Norfolk (http://norfolkbirderinthailand.blogspot.com/). I also went to Huay Teung Tao, a large recreational area fairly close to Chiang Mai that is owned by the military. Finally, yesterday I was reunited with my old Bangkok based friend, Dave Gandy (http://bangkokcitybirding.blogspot.com/), who took me around Doi Suthep - again close to the heart of the city - packed with people and a couple of good birds including Martens's Warbler, a bird I had never heard of before!

Today I visited a patch of land 10 minutes from my hotel in east of the city, east of the River Ping. At around 10 acres, it is surrounded by humanity with all it's garbage. The site has a lily choked stream running through it and on either side of its banks is scrubby land with a few large trees.

The ugly housing block that presides over the eastern end of my nameless patch

The lily choked water course

I got there at dawn this morning and had an array of species. Wire-tailed and Barn Swallows swilled overhead alongside Himalayan Swiftlets. White-breasted Waterhens and Moorhens frequented the marshy bits. I even found a Asian Barred Owlet briefly before it saw me and powered off ploughing into a nearby tree sending every other bird piling out in the opposite direction!