AjarnNorth

First day of the Great Backyard Bird Count (see above). 23 species from the yard today. One morning session and one late afternoon/evening session. Nothing unexpected and a few of the expected and probables didn't show, but then I got off to a bit of a late start. See what tomorrow brings.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is on. Worldwide. It's easy. Read the attached. Sign up. ID the birds in your yard (or any other location - a park, from your apartment, anywhere) for any length of time between 15 and 18 February, then report what you saw.

https://earthsky.org/earth/register-participate-great-backyard-bird-count?fbclid=IwAR3eBGqZ2rNMqwlmdZMpL7KO8LRx1hfYBsB2d8BNsAmj1mqMj7fjRLsVcMc

Today's top morning yard visitor. Brown-throated Sunbird. Used to see them regularly in Surin, but only a few sightings here and there here in Chonburi. I was actually trying to get decent photos of what was likely an Inornate warbler, when this BT sunbird just popped into view and scared the warbler off. 

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

Now about the other sp...Rufous-winged. The 2 field guides differ on not only common name, which is not uncommon, but the scientific name, as well...which means SPLITS and subspecies, of which there are many. TMI, but seems there is no longer a Rufous-winged (only Australasian and sub sp) and Singing and it's 4 sub sp does not include Indochinese, which is a single sp. TMI...I know. 

Yep. When I opened my Lekagul-Round just now, under Singing I have a small post-it that says "Australasian / Mirafra javanica" and just above Rufous-winged a post-it that says "Indochinese / Mirafra erythrocephala." The post-it notes go back at least 10 years so I can't remember where that information came from, but it's probable it came directly from Philip Round as I had really no other source of info at the time. Unless that came from the old edition of the Robson (I can check that later). But those names match the current Thai checklist. They also match the info in Birds of Bangkok Area I am sure you already know. So still another Bushlark for you to tick in Kan. Also checked my Surin notes and had both fairly regularly and would have taken all precautions to have properly ID'd each. 

25 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

Sold! Great call on the Bushlark. Patch list up to 46...thanks! Thought it rather odd a Pipit on a wire, but outside of BKK and still far removed from my comfort zone.

Now which one? Pretty sure it's a Singing Bushlark (Australasian), as wings and tail don't appear rufous enough...AND does appear that outer tail feathers show some white, which both Round and Robson say is diagnostic. 

I also had it as probable Australasian. A bit hard to tell from the pics, but I would tick it as that. Likely you'll get both there eventually anyway. 

18 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

This sux! Leaving the Kingdom on the 15th for a few weeks. Would have been camped out on my BKK lanai all weekend. ????

I will be working on and off so can't do the whole weekend, but will do as much as I can. Why not do it from wherever you are going? They also encourage folks to have a look around beyond their yards, though I do like the excuse to sit around and give my yard area a real good look. 

Yard visitors this morning. Red-breasted Parakeet and Common Iora. Thus far this year, no new additions to the yard list. 

On 1/20/2019 at 1:40 PM, tutsiwarrior said:

saw a bright yellow little guy out on the front terrace this morning that I hadn't seen before...is there more migration in these parts (central Thailand) during the cold weather than other times of the year?

 

 

In a very general sense, winter visitors mostly arrive around September and depart around April. Of course many species fall outside that range. Little, yellow and eating bananas on the ground could be Oriental White-eye, depending where you live. Other small yellow birds would include some of the sunbirds - which can appear yellow - or the Common Iora, but these would likely be in trees and not on the ground. Google those possibilities and you may find your bird. Those are all residents, not winter visitors. See if you can get a photo. Even a fuzzy jpeg from a phone s often enough for a positive ID.

On 1/31/2019 at 9:09 PM, Skeptic7 said:

Looking again (and again) at the Pipit pix I posted above, seems the 3rd pic is of a different bird than the top 2. Noticed that the bird in the top 2 pix has dark lores, while the bird in the 3rd has light colored lores. There actually were 2 pipits in the yard at that time. 

 

2 sources makes mention of the lores saying that Paddyfield generally has darker lores, while Richard's usually or always light...but it is not diagnostic. P. Round in "Birds of the Bangkok Area" gives the best comparison. Also this article for anyone interested. 

 

https://digdeep1962.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/identification-of-paddyfield-richards-and-blyths-pipits-in-malaysia/

Pretty certain that third bird is one of the Bushlarks. I used to be good at separating Richard's from Paddyfield, or I thought I was anyway, as I often had them right next to each other and there were things I knew - but can't recall offhand - about size and stance and such like. That was when i was in Surin and saw them all the time. Here in Chonburi I only see them when i go out to certain areas and don't pay all that much attention. Likewise, I was good at the Bushlarks (and the Skylark) but mostly on behavior and call. You won't often see Paddyfield or Richard's on wires, though, or really anywhere but on the ground. 

Great Backyard Bird Count next weekend, Feb 15-18: https://www.audubon.org/news/how-take-part-great-backyard-bird-count?ms=digital-eng-social-facebook-x-20190200_fb_link&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=20190200_fb_link&fbclid=IwAR3hg_Gwp-mmxsQdI4_c_aIOcqxPZ6qUI8b2IBk-_DV4xn-BwuR_1Sr8GbY

Plain Prinia are common residents and much easier to see than Dusky Warblers. They like to take to the top of reeds or small trees and show themselves. 

Dusky Warblers are winter visitors and very skulking. They flit around in under brush and bushes and reeds, almost always close to water, and will only occasionally come out for a brief few seconds here and there to allow a decent look (or photo). Not the most skulking of the warblers by any means - those prizes would have to go to Lanceolated and Pallas's Grasshopper. In many years of birding, I have had only one good look at a Lancey (and an OK, IDable photo) and because I was familiar with the call of the PGW, I spent nearly an entire day next to a reed bed listening to it before it popped up once and I grabbed a look and a photo. 

Keep an eye - and an ear - out for Yellow-bellied Prinia as well. One of their calls almost sounds like a crying kitten. 

7 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 

yeah, that sorta looks like them...would need to hear the bird call which is a cric. cric. cric...plenty of long grass behind the house, a canal/klong wall collapsed and the area is perpetually flooded...tons of birds around and plenty of well fed monitor lizards...

 

I'm in the Songphinong district in south Suphanburi...

 

 

Your call description matches Dusky Warbler, which is a winter visitor that likes wet areas such as you describe above. You can listen here. https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Phylloscopus-fuscatus

Click the files that list "call" rather than "song." The top one s a good example of the call. 

Your "finch like" description suggests Munia, but they're not exactly cream colored and don't match the call. 

Though it's also sometimes the case that one sees a bird and hears a call and the call can actually be from another bird in close proximity that is not being seen. 

6 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

ah, such a relief that this topic has started again...people and their dogs make me wanna uurgh...

 

recently there have been lotsa little fellas around with cream colored feathers and a cri-cri-cricking call...I'm wondering if they are migratory as I don't see them often, sorta finch like...

 

is there a lot of migratory activity this time of year? seems quite late...

 

 

There are a lot of winter visitors around between September and April, but that doesn't mean that what you are seeing are necessarily winter visitors. Can you get a photo? Even a phone photo can go a long way towards an ID. 

Yard bird of the day, yesterday, as I rarely leave the yard on NY's Eve. Black-winged Cuckooshrike. Resident in north Thailand but winter visitor to central. I get a few sightings a year, and nearly always from my yard.

I don't usually travel for birds, but had some time off and decided to visit Laem Pak Bia - Pak Thale to see, one hopes, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, as well as a number of other species here I have never seen. Arrived in Pak Thale with 90 mins of sunlight left and clocked three species new to me. Ruddy Shelduck (rare winter visitor) , Caspian Tern, Broad-billed Sandpiper. Looking forward to tomorrow. 

And this was great to see, also at Khao Soi Dao. White-throated Rock-Thrush (male). Uncommon winter visitor. Only the second I have seen in ten years of birding, the first in Surin in March of 2011, also a male. 

Birds belong in the wild. That's my opinion. Take it or leave it.

Skeptic, this may help (attached). It's the updated 2018 Thai checklist. 

Jak, it may be just a case of "common name" vs. Scientific name confusion. 

That photo from Oriental Bird List is from Bang Pra Non-hunting Area just down the road from me and I bird there from time to time and is the only place I have - I think - seen Blue-breasted Quail but have yet to get a good enough look or photo to put it down for sure. (It was a female so harder to tell)

All the books I use - Round and Robson - refer to it as Blue-breasted Quail (common) or Coturnix Chinensis (scientific) yet the updated checklist has the scientific name as Excalfactoria chinensis.

It is possible you may have this species occur up where you are, but kind of impossible to make a definitive call based on the description. One thing you could do is go back and try and listen for - or even better , record - calls and make comparisons there. Though a good photo would be best. 

Good luck. 

Checklist_ThaiBirds_2018_for_download.xlsx

9 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

No, but that's not saying much since most my birding is done in my patch in BKK. 

 

Agree with AN that possibly Snipe, but there are some Quail and Buttonquail species that are smaller than Snipe. Your location would help. 

Yep. Quail and Buttonquail - in my experience - never let you get that close. Nightjars do, but wrong habitat. Snipe is my guess. 

And as Skeptic said, location is key.

Bangsaen yard-bird of the day. Green-billed Malkoha. Very common throughout Thailand but always a bird I like to see from home and not so easy to get decent photos of.