Great Knots colour-ringed and en masse

Still going through the left over things from Thailand. On Christmas Eve, in the Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale area, Great Knots were a common sight which was great. Across the saltpans, probably thousands present although quite skittish and always alert. Really distinctive jizz, despite their comparatively none descript winter plumage.

 

 

In amongst the masses of this species, was a colour-flagged bird green over orange 'EP'.

colour-flagged Great Knot, Pak Thale, Thailand 24th Dec 2012

Simon Buckell kindly sorted me out with a list of possible flagging schemes on the Asian flyway -  where it was quickly apparent it was a Chinese flagged bird - and then duly sent the details away. And a quick reply revealed: -
'this GK was banded at Yalujiang, China on 15 April 2012, with a capture body mass of 212g. The bird was also attached with a radio tag in spring 2012. The radio tag on the bird should have been lost during moult... and the bird was last seen at the ringing site on 19 May 2012.' Thanks to Simon and Clare Morton for promptly getting all this info together.

More waders from the land of the smiles

Reality hit today. I was back at work. However, the Thai trip memories are still pretty vivid and during the last few days of the trip, I managed to add a couple of quality waders to the already impressive list at a small bridge over a sandy river to the east of Takua Pa, Phang Nga province. These two were freshwater wader species, the first one aptly named due to where it lives, on rivers.

River Lapwing, 1st January 2013

The River Lapwing is listed as near threatened by Birdlife International on the basis that it's predicted to decline quite rapidly over the next 100 years or so due to human pressures on river ecosystems and dam construction. It has a relatively limited distribution in SE Asia too, and was actually a new wader species for me so a nice bird to see.

Grey-headed Lapwing, 1st January 2013

On the same stretch of the river as the 3 River Lapwings were 5 Grey-headed Lapwings - pretty impressive, large, thick-billed and long-legged beasts. Forgotten how decent looking this species is since I last saw them a decade or so ago.

Lapwing habitat near Takua Pa, Phang Nga province

Mangroves of the south

Birding in southern Thailand in December is tricky; quite slow and hard work. Peter Ericsson told me this, and when I bumped into another British birder at the end of the mangrove boardwalk at Krabi he shared the same view. Nevertheless, mangrove habitats are being depleted around the world and host a specialist array of species in Thailand. For example I was fortunate enough to get cracking views of Brown-winged Kingfisher from a boat in the mangroves at Krabi; a species I'd seen in Malaysia a couple of years ago, but no way as close as here.

Brown-winged Kingfisher, Krabi 3rd January 2013

There were also plenty of Black-capped Kingfishers, Striated Herons and White-bellied Sea Eagles and Brahminy Kites patrolled the skies. Although my quest for Mangrove Pitta was a forlorn one, despite a real concerted effort, they just weren't calling this early in the season and will have to wait for another trip. However, the search did reveal a Yellow Bittern, a couple of Ashy Tailorbirds and two delightful Forest Wagtails at Phang Nga.

Forest Wagtail Phang Nga 2nd January 2013

Southern Thailand is however awash with Brits, Scands, Russians, Germans and Aussies of the lowest common denominator - so much so that you really couldn't get much of authentic Thailand on the coast itself. Just a load of unsustainable tourism catering for dumbasses. But head away a short distance and you soon find yourself on your own again...

Karst scenery at Khao Sok NP

I returned to London a few hours ago, and in the gloom of the British winter, the bright skies from the 'land of the smiles' seemed an all too distant memory. Along with the copious amounts of prawns and Tom Yum soup. At least I've got more gulls to sort through here than in Thailand though!

Laem Pakarang waders

I've been on the Andaman coast for a few days now, staying in Khao Lak. The waders at Laem Pakarang have more than made up for the slow going elsewhere. Like the last post, you may want to call me ungrateful - with broadbills and barbets in the forest (I have seen a couple), these have played second fiddle to my wader fixation. Pride of place goes to a Grey-tailed Tattler that I found on New Year's Eve (and still present today); not a common sight here by all accounts and the first one I've seen for a few years.

There are also loads of other waders too, especially in the high tide roost - testament to the ferocious power of nature, waders use rocks dredged up by the Boxing Day tsunami to roost on (as well as the more conventional sandbar). 40 or so Terek Sandpipers, loads of Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers (much more straightforward identification wise than watching the two species in Kuwait two winters ago - race differences in Lesser are remarkable!), 100+ Pacific Golden Plovers, a few Red-necked Stints as well as commoner stuff like Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone and Grey Plover. Really enjoyable wadering in a quiet and remote setting.

Greater Sand Plover Laem Pakarang

Pacific Golden Plover Laem Pakarang

And nice to end up in the nearby beach shack, with a cold drink. Being a Geography teacher, I'm all too aware of the plight of this area as I teach the Boxing Day tsunami 2004 each year, so it's heartening to see the area packed out with tourists and locals getting on with things.

The lowlands of Northern Thailand

Call me slightly ungrateful, or perhaps I'm just not really into 'high brow' Thai birding. Give me a few paddyfields, some scrub and a load of easy, good birds to see and I'm happy. Thick-billed Warblers, Brown Shrikes, Sibe and Pied Stonechats, Olive-backed Pipits and Amur Wagtails galore with any scrappy bit of bushes housing a Taiga Fly or two - it's like WP seventh heaven and a liftetime of east coast autumns all come at once. You can take the boy out of the WP, but you can't take the WP out of the boy...

1st-winter Taiga Flycatcher

Amur Wagtail (or White Wagtail of the race leucopsis)

Brown Shrike

Pied Stonechat

Thick-billed Warbler - just like the one I saw on Fair Isle :)

In particular I visited a couple of sites just outside Chiang Mai - Huay Tung Thao and the particularly impressive Mae Hia Agricultural College. It was at this latter site that I managed to see a handful of Wire-tailed Swallows, a nice Burmese Shrike along with a load of other nice bits such as Little Bee-eater, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Lesser Whistling Duck, Chestnut-tailed Starling and some Ashy Woodswallows. Later the same day, a river cruise on the river to the north of Chiang Mai produced a further 25 or so Wire-tailed Swallows, just hawking over the river.

Wire-tailed Swallow (with Barn Swallow)

Ashy Woodswallow

Oriental HB

Little Bee-eater

And a bit of early morning scenery. And Happy New Year everyone.

Mae Hia Agricultural College, Chiang Mai

dudeing at Doi Inthanon

Sometimes you pack loads of things in each day, so much so that you're totally shattered by the evening. That's how it has been recently. So I'll take you back a couple of days to a leisurely day at Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain. You're not going to read about White-rumped Falcons and Black-tailed Crakes here, as this was a kind of dudey smash and grab/reacquaint myself with the place type of trip, as I did the place thoroughly a decade ago. But Karen and I still got up there for dawn and sunrise.

There was a queue for the summit car park, as this is holiday time of year and also when Thais get excited about the phenomenon of frost, a rare event that demands copious amounts of photos apparently. Birds quickly started to show, with sunbirds ever present - both Green-tailed and Mrs Gould's.

Mrs Gould's Sunbird

Green-tailed Sunbird

A walk around the mossy boardwalk Lord of the Rings style was punctuated by a White-browed Shortwing, a few phylloscs including Ashy-throated Leaf Warbler but most bizarrely was a bird that flew in calling. I must admit that, at the time I didn't realise the true significance but when I heard a Brambling calling, that's exactly what I got as it flew in to the bushes just a few yards away. A nice female, apparently c.6th for Thailand! I never realised that finding rare birds could be so underwhelming. Give me a pitta any day!

Chestnut-tailed Minlas and Dark-backed Sibias showed nicely too - the latter coming to flowers in the botanical gardens near the two chedis.

Chestnut-tailed Minla

Dark-backed Sibia

Enjoyed seeing Snowy-browed Flycatcher again, while a walk along the jeep track at km 37.5 revealed some nice bits including a Chestnut-crowned Warbler, a couple of Rufous-winged Fulvettas amongst the much commoner Grey-cheeked Fulvettas as well as a Blyth's Leaf Warbler, a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and a couple of Short-billed Minivets. Lower down the mountain, a Slaty-backed Forktail showed briefly at Wachirathan waterfall and we had a nice bit of a chill out at Mr Daeng's. Time has passed that place by!

Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

We got ourselves back into Chiang Mai for the evening, ready for the hordes at the night market. A strange contrast to a day up the mountain.

More from Thailand's wetlands and parks

When I finished my notes for the day around Laem Pak Bia and Pak Thale, they were 6 sides long. Of course it abounded with those quality waders mentioned in my previous post, but there was much more 'regular' stuff that isn't actually that regular to us northern Europeans. So here are a few shots: -

Asian Openbills

Little Cormorant

Marsh Sandpiper

Red-wattled Lapwing (race atronuchalis) - note more extensive black nape and just a white cheek surround compared to Middle Eastern birds

Whiskered Tern

Paddyfield Pipit

And a couple of shots from Lumphini Park - it's Bangkok's equivalent to Hyde Park just with a fair bit of outdoor dancing, tai chi and the whole place stopping on the hour for the national anthem. Here are a couple of bits of Thai dross from there: -

Pied Fantail

Oriental Magpie Robin

I'm now in Northern Thailand, all templed out after a couple of days in Chiang Mai. Looking forward to a bit of Doi Inthanon in the morning.