jack2964

Thanks for your posts. Still no sure method to block AA. I'll keep posting nasty comments on their FB page or mark their mail as spam.

I don't know about you but the mere mention of this unscrupulous company makes me wanna puke. Anyone who has flown with them knows about their devious underhand means they employ to make you part with your hard earned money-unwittingly.

Today I am not here to take issue with their shifty ways of extracting your money. I am way past that as I simply refuse to fly with them. Today's rant is about their unsolicited emails to me. Yes, I have clicked 'unsubscribe' but as expected the link is dead and their crap keeps coming into my inbox. I have made a request via their FB page but of course no response.

Some folks have told me simply to ignore their mail and mark them as spam but that isn't the issue, AA should have the decency and respect my choice of not wanting anything to do with them. Any advice please on how to block their mail. Thanks in advance.

Jack, if you can find an unharvested field among a lot of harvested fields, that's the place to go, at least for Avadavats and YB Buntings.

Got back from my stroll around the rice fields, no luck. Yes I did find a patch of uncut rice amongst several already cut and all I found were munias about 50 individuals easily and probably scaly-breasted. Even through bins it was tough to be sure but scaly-breasted is most common here.

About 6 or 7 prinias were seen too, their tails almost as long as their bodies not sure whether they were plain or yellow-bellied. These were seen at the cut patches.

I usually see them actually on the main track (unsurfaced) running through the paddy, or on the rice just at the side of the track. In flight they look very dark, and very small..

I saw a nice male Avadavat this morning.... doing exactly what I said they did! Most of the rice has been harvested, but there are still a couple of fields uncut. That's where all the birds which feed on the rice go.

Also there this morning were a couple of Yellow-breasted Buntings (another annual visitor for me), which are now classified as Endangered. This is because of their rapid decline in recent years, not actual scarcity.... yet.

Thanks for this update, I'll take a trek through some of the harvested fields away from traffic and see if I do any good.

I think the Vigo DVD player will only play DVD disks.

You could try the free "Freemake" video converter http://www.freemake.com/ and convert your YouTube files.

If not some paid for program like the VSO ConvertX to DVD http://www.vso-software.fr/ should work.

You realize the DVD player would not work while the car is moving

Yeah I am aware video works only when truck is stationary with park brake engaged.

Would be cool to bypass the brake interlock switch...that could be topic of another thread?

Anyway, I've got it to work now and busy searching youtube for more music videos.

Cheers.

OK guys....bit of finger problem. After ruining a few more DVD blanks, got it to work.

Mod please close thread. Thank you.

I d/loaded some youtube music videos in MP4 and FLV format and had them converted to .VOB via WinX DVD author.

I wish to play them in my Toyota Vigo stock DVD player but they won't work. They will play on my desktop PC though.

Any suggestions or have I burnt the wrong format? Thanks.

Yes, I get a few every year, usually in November. This year, three. It's in a big stretch of paddyfields.

Thanks. I take this to mean just before harvest and they come to feed on the rice.

I'll have to look harder.

Red avadavat-has anyone sighted this bird in Isaan? If so would like to know what kind of habitat you saw it in.

I am surrounded by rice fields, corn and cassava but have never seen it.

That one was not really in local habitat.

It was in a patch of pretty near virgin forest in the botanical gardens between Lop buri and Sara buri, a couple of hours from home, will go again in a couple of weeks.

Saw Treepai, and got a glimpse of what was probably a Black Laughing thrush and another bird about the same size that I only saw the head of, a chestnut colored head with a bright red bill, I have no clue as to what it was.

Plus several smaller birds one of which I have a couple of reasonable photos of, have not gone in to what it might be yet.

The BNM was at the Bangrachan heroes monument but I have seen them closer to home.

Was it a Racket-tailed treepie?

There aren't many laughing thrush sized birds with red bills. Some Scimitar babblers come to mind but I doubt the habitat is right.

I think Hainan Blue Flycatcher.

blue flycatcher.JPG

No doubt Goshalk you will be able to confirm or deny for me.

Seems like your patch has similar habitat to mine. You should be able to see Tickell's blue too.

I have black-naped monarch as well and Asian paradise flycatcher-the brown ones.

Whenever i go to Samitivej they take my blood pressure whilst sitting down BUT the arm is not supported (wrist left dangling down to my lap). I thought the arm is supposed to be supported so that the velcro pressure sleeve is level with the heart (well that's what the instructions that came with my machine say).

This goes to show even the hospitals do not adopt a uniform standard. I remember I've even had my BP taken from my right arm by a clinic.

If your BP when seated is >140/>90 there is no getting around the need to lower it.

If you are reluctant to take medication, can try:

- weight loss - will almost always reduce BP

- reduced intake of sodium (salt and preserved foods)

-increased regular exercise

These will often be enough to bring people with mild hypertension down to normal range.

However if they are not -- or if realistically you are not willing/able to take these steps - then go on the meds. The alternatives (stroke, incapacity, deaths etc) are a whole lot worse.

Yeah it is inevitable, with age the old arteries are not what they used to be. I believe genetics is a major factor on one's longevity or lack of.

Time to get the runners out again.

I've posted this mainly because I am on the verge of starting medication and I believe once started I'll have to continue for the rest of my life.

Seeking information on websites led to this interesting article http://www.nature.com/jhh/journal/v17/n7/full/1001573a.html#bib2.

It would appear there are many variables for a truly accurate reading of BP; be it arm/body position or device type.

Sitting upright with legs uncrossed and left arm at heart level does seem to be the standard though...not good for me!

I've spoken to my Thai GP about variations of my BP when taken at home with an Omron model M5 device.

He says the true reading is when taken while seated in a chair. I am not doubting him but would like to hear from others.

I am considered hypertensive with regular readings of 140+/90+ when readings are taken sitting down. However if I were to lie on my

right side on the bed the readings are good at 110+/70+. Lying on the left or on the back in bed gives 130+/80+.

Before I consult another GP, anyone here has noticed these variations or know what position to adopt for a 'true' reading?

Thanks.

New tick for my patch:

Tickell's blue flycatcher

Had a look at all the photos of them (Sooty-headed bulbul pycnontus aurigaster) that I have and most I cant see the color of the vent because of what they are sitting on.

The ones I can see are all orange.

The book I have shows the other one as having a yellow vent.

The common one has an orangey-yellow vent. The reddish vented ones probably are sub-species. Thought I saw one some time back but could be mistaken.

And I thought those spots were normal. Should have looked closer..the entire pic is speckled...LOL

Sunning itself early in the morning.

It's the orange vented which is very common. Anyone seen the red-vented ones?

The Magnificent Seven...

Lesser Whistling Duck

Nice shot. Never seen them up so close, didn't know they sport this 'speckled dots' all over.

This post should be of interest to anglers who target this fish. I don't know about your fishing holes but over where I am (lower Isaan) the reservoir brimmed about 2 months back and levels are now just starting to fall back. Results over the last 2 months were dismal-thousands of casts made with only a few throw-back juveniles to show.

However over the last few days things are looking up again. Still not exactly easy but decent fish of up to about the 2kg mark are hitting lures again.

Trolling give good results too. Anyone else catching fish lately?

This weeks surprise was a large bird that flew around and landed on a coconut palm.

It had me fooled with its upright stance but when I got home and put the photo on the computer there is no doubt that it is a Black-crowned Night Heron.

night heron.JPG

I have only ever seen 2 of these before and both were in a more typical hunched up posture, all the photos I have seen are the same.

Yup unusual upright stance and perch too. Agree with your ID.

2 separate species alright. But the split is Red-breasted & Red-throated (Taiga)

i remember the first record for Britain of Taiga Flycatcher... back in 2003, one turned up at Flamborough Head! Twitchers from all over the UK flocked to Yorkshire to see it. Was quite an event for British birding. It was also mist netted.

Thanks for the clarification Goshawk. Further googling says Red-breasted (F.parva) winters in S.Asia and what we get here is the Taiga (F.albicilla).