AjarnNorth

On 9/13/2018 at 2:25 PM, Bredbury Blue said:

 

Keep seeing this pair (once a saw 3 together) of Black-collared Starlings, in the same spot, at the same time of the day (around 5pm - never any other time). They are incredibly nervy. See me coming they move the other direction so i've yet to get a decent picture of them. I have still never seen this type of bird anywhere else (this is next to Chaophya river, BKK) - do others see them around in your neighbourhood?

 

Here are some pics of Asian Pied Starling that you may look out for in addition to your BCS. I have better pics somewhere but these are from today so easily accessible. I have seen both when I lived in Bangkok. 

On 9/14/2018 at 1:00 PM, tutsiwarrior said:

 

what distinguishes herons from egrets? is it just the plumage or are they biologically different?

 

in the river valleys along the north coast in the US we useta get huge magnificent herons...whoosh, whoosh...and the egrets usually stuck to the coastal wetlands...in Thailand you can see both in the recently tilled rice paddies...looked out my kitchen window a couple a times recently and there was a heron (brown) I'd never seen before but there's usually some egrets (snowy white) hanging around most of the time...

 

 

It's a good question. And I think the popular names vary from place to place, which is why we have the scientific names though they are much harder to remember. I go by the popular names in the most common Thai Bird Guide Books. So the egrets are pretty much all the white ones, excluding the dark morph Pacific Reef Egrets, while the herons are the larger ones you probably see in rice fields - Grey and Purple - the smaller Pond Herons (Chinese mostly, but Javan by the coasts and Indian as well sometimes), also the smaller Little Heron and Black-capped Night heron and etc. 

In the pics I posted above, the third pic is a Great Egret and a Little Egret, showing the vast difference in size. But there are other diagnostic characteristics as well. But I recently birded with a guy from the south-west USA and he called the same birds herons. 

The sixth picture is a Pond Heron, likely Chinese or Javan. 

All of the above are of the same family: Ardeidae

That's why keeping up with the common popular names via local guidebooks can help a lot. This link is somewhat helpful: http://www.galleryofbirds.com/Thailand/Herons.htm

40 minutes ago, AjarnNorth said:

Black-collared Starling. 

Sorry. Meant to answer the question and then something went wrong. Here in Chonburi, I have seen them but not many. Asian Pied Starling are more common here. But when I lived in Surin, BCS were very common. I believe they are generally classified as common throughout Thailand. 

7 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

 

Keep seeing this pair (once a saw 3 together) of Black-collared Starlings, in the same spot, at the same time of the day (around 5pm - never any other time). They are incredibly nervy. See me coming they move the other direction so i've yet to get a decent picture of them. I have still never seen this type of bird anywhere else (this is next to Chaophya river, BKK) - do others see them around in your neighbourhood?

 

Black-collared Starling. 

Could be Lesser maybe, but looks more like Greater - though hard to tell without better pic of head and etc. What was the location?

Well, that's nature. I have caught and removed at least a half dozen reticulated pythons from my garden here in Chon (as well as a couple cobras and etc). One had recently eaten our cat so not at all small. Nest raids are common for pythons so it's natural enough for birds to get their hackles up when they see one and kill it if they can. 

20 hours ago, jack2964 said:

Good to see this not in a cage.

 

One of my favorites. And one of the birds that got me hooked on birding when i was up in Surin. I have actually never seen one in a cage. Were they caged pet birds or "merit releases"?

Olive-backed Sunbird

14 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

^Cheers guys...lovely birds.

Yep. You can see the crest in Skeptic's blow up. Definitely BC Bulbul. Cool birds. And YB Tailorbird are Philipines only, I think. But you (your wife) are right that Grajib is Thai for Tailorbird. And while you may have been seeing and hearing mostly bulbuls, it's likely tailorbirds were around wherever that guest house is. Of the 5 species in Thailand, two are common throughout - Common TB and Dark-necked TB. So the guest house is probably not improperly named. By the way, google tailorbirds and get a look at how they nest build to find out why they are called tailorbirds. Pretty amazing...

It's definitely not a tailorbird.

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

 

Hard to tell from this distance and the play/pause button is right over the bird, but best guess without a decent still photo is Black-crested Bulbul. 

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Staying in a b&b called Gajib. Loads of nok gajib here. Think they are yellow-breasted tailorbirds. Correct?

 

 

 

 

Don't think those occur here. Got any photos?

6 hours ago, thetefldon said:

My rules are a bit less strict, basically anything I can see(photograph) from the house.

I currently have a figure of 153 for surrounding area which includes Tat Mok NP, Khao Kho and one visit to Nam Nao which was cut short when I got leeched!

Find attached links to my website:

Map of area

Species List

Nah, same rules. There were just a couple I saw just a few steps off my property that I may not have seen from my property so I didn't include them. One was a Siberian Rubythroat and the other was a Verditer FC. Photos of both and just steps awy, but definitively not from my property line which was well marked off with a low wall. That was Surin and I think I sent you that information. 

Nice. You just surpassed my Surin Yard List of 109, though I did a keep at least a couple off that list that I saw literally steps away from my yard. Stickler for the rules, I suppose. Surin was 109 yard and 176 surrounding area (about 25 square kilometers). 

My current Bangsaen, Chonburi list is somewhere around 90, but I would have to go back in this thread and check. 

What is your location again? Love to see the location and the full list. Keep it up. 

On 5/16/2018 at 9:18 AM, jak2002003 said:

I would love to see some Brahminy kites!  Apparently there were very common all over the country up unti recently.  Any know if there are any about in Chiang Mai area?

 

 

I would be surprised to hear that there aren't. When I lived on a wetlands in Surin I saw as many as a dozen or more Brahminy Kites a day. I now live in Bangsaen, Chonburi - about half way between Bangkok and Pattaya - and see them very regularly here as well. And in my travels, I have seen them often but have not birded in Chiang Mai much. As for WB Sea Eagles, I also saw them when last in Ko Chang and occasionally see them here. 

You are unlikely to see a "new" line of sparrow to appear in your lifetime. What you are almost surely seeing is Eurasian-tree, which favor nesting in houses and buildings, light fixtures, etc. - Plain-backed, which favor trees in fields - and House Sparrow, a colonizing species that has made its way from the western edges of Thailand in the early 90s to almost all parts of the country and now up into Laos.

Also, your strange Myna mystery seems to have been solved. As I mentioned a few posts ago, yes, I have seen a fair share of "bald" mynas, usually Common, over the years. However, I would guess it's not a part of the moulting process of all Mynas otherwise we'd all be seeing it much more often. I see Common Mynas every day at my home and at my place of work and in other locations I have lived in Thailand and have seen very few "bald" ones. The jury is out as to whether it's a vitamin deficiency, a result of mites of some sort, or etc. If you find conclusive research to argue one or the other cause I would love to see it. 

Had you mentioned that your "Yellow-headed" birds had no head plumage that would have been a shorter conversation. 

I don't know what you mean by, "Guess there was a throwback in the birds genes," but that is also unlikely.

Thailand is observed my hundreds and hundreds of people. It is very well documented and researched and a lot of that information is found in a few books that would serve anyone well who is interested in IDing birds anywhere in the country. There is also a periodical put out by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, though it is mostly in Thai. And they have facebook sites where one can submit phot records for ID help and etc. 

There are surprises still to be found, though they USUALLY tend to be in the way of behavior or range extension. This doesn't rule out the possibility of bigger surprises, though, but new species are unlikely from the garden. I once went on a hunt for a "strange sparrow" in Isaan based on a video clip of a captured bird that seemed to have an odd call. We were given the location and drove out there but were unsuccessful in our attempts to turn up anything in the area other than Eurasian-tree, disappointingly.  

If you had a decent guide book this would help you a lot. The more you look the more you will learn. But the more information you find out about the possibilities in your area based on what is known of range of this or that species, variations in plumage, etc. and so on, the faster you will get to point of being able to make on-spot IDs without all that much question, except in the case of very difficult species such as warblers, accipiters, and etc.  

2 hours ago, Speedo1968 said:

Thank you for the pics and your mention of my earlier question in January.     The birds I see are myna's and have a full head and complete neck in yellow.     They are not golden crested mynas.

There are only 5 kinds of Mynas in Thailand and only one of them - Golden-crested - has a yellow head and neck. So either you are seeing Golden-crested or not seeing Mynas. Of course, as Skeptic pointed out already, Mynas and Starlings are of the same family, and so that leaves the possibility of your seeing Black-collared Starling, which have a yellow area around the eye and a creamy colored head and neck. Google those and have a look. But if that doesn't match, then you are not seeing Mynas or Starlings, you are seeing something else. 

Yeah, I know it's not "hair" by the way, but that seemed the best description. I may have pics somewhere but would be hard pressed to find them. I have only seen this with Mynas and i think the occasional sick looking rock pigeon. Have you read about the "Bare-faced Bulbul" found in Laos in 2009? Pretty interesting.

How are you differentiating male hoopoes by behavior, especially if there are only male hoopoes?

Genetic faults and hybrids are not as common as you seem to think. It's more likely your mynas or starlings are one species or another and perhaps juveniles or females vs. males, or something else altogether, than that they are "genetic faults." I have seen Mynas with no hair on their heads. Some sort of illness, I presume. 

Your sparrows are likely limited to two species, possibly three, depending on your surrounds: Eurasian Tree, House, and/or Plain-backed.

A guidebook and some time are your best bet. 

How are you differentiating male from female Hoopoe?

Your loud bird at 5 AM is likely a Koel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRXLshD-yRA

Yellow headed Myna would likely be Golden-crested. You'll know if you look at pics. Depends on what you mean by "yellow-headed." Any other Myna you are seeing are likely either Common or White-vented. Myna's with white in eyes could be mynas or one of the starling.

I recommend you get a guide book.

14 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Long expected and long awaited...a pair of Baya Weaver this morning in the patch for #64. (patch count was over by 1 in the last post). 

 

Nice getting 2 in mid-April! When first moved to this apt a bit over 2 years ago, never dreamed 64 sp was reachable. Back then 50-55 was my target...and that on the high end! 

Keep your eyes open through April. One of my first years back in Bangsaen, hiding from Songkran for the duration so only birding the yard, I had my first and only Green-backed Flycatcher ("rare to scarce passage migrant"), my first Christmas Frigate Birds (seen a few since), and my first and only Chonburi Dollar Bird (seen elsewhere but not again here). And those all in one day! 

"Clear as mud" is right. Somewhere around 2011, when I was working on an avifaunal survey paper of a wetlands in Surin, I asked a prominent ornithologist whether I should change my "purple swamphen" to one (or both) of the newly split possibilities. Pretty sure I have photo records of birds that would match for Grey-headed and others that would match for Black-backed, but would have to bo gack and review thousands of photos. Anyway, he was clear he did not agree with the split AT THAT TIME. I have no idea if he has changed his opinion on that split.

That same year, 2011, I wrote to a friend of mine who is a biologist - not an ornithologist, in fact his specialty is Gibbon vocalizations - and he replied as follows:

You had a question about splitters...I assume that you mean those that call variants a unique species vs.  'lumpers' who simply see varieties or subspecies. I don't know much about such things, but it is often largely a matter of taste. Also, a splitter can make a name for him or herself by 'discovering' a new species. Dividing two very similar species really should depend to a large degree on the available behavioral info and known range of a species...info that is often incomplete. This is the case because species are usually defined as a group of animals that normally interbreeds and produces reproductively viable offspring in the wild (regardless of differences in superficial appearance). Of course you can see two very different looking birds that are not necessarily different species, for a whole host of reasons. There are also lumper-splitter controversies at the so-called 'higher' taxonomic levels...in regards to cladistic vs more traditional ways of building phylogenies. The biological world doesn't always conform well to our categorization schemes. And unfortunately, some of the people who get heavily into categorization tend to be anal/rigid personalities, so you get lots of fights between schools (look up cladistics for example). I know this doesn't help at all...but there it is. 

I realize that there have been and will continue to be many splits based on all sorts of new information, dna especially, but the fact that some splits are re-lumped is troubling to say the least. 

For a while, I had Yellow-streaked Warbler on my list there in addition to Raddes, based on vocalization difference. But with no recording, though excellent photos, I decided to err on the side of caution and just put it down as a possible and thus remove it from the official list. 

I guess I am a cautious "lumper" to some extent. I leave the splits to the experts though feel better about them when they can all, or mostly, agree.