AjarnNorth

22 hours ago, overherebc said:

Somewhere close by in the trees there a bird that calls almost all day and into the early evening. The best description I can give for it's call is a loud shrill  tooWEEEoh. It is quite piercing at times.

Generally the couple of greater couls with their Woopwoopwoop set it off.

I cannot get any sight of at all.

Any ideas?

Asian Koel probably. See and hear here: 

Bangsaen yard list species #89. Oriental Pratincole flyover. Group of 10 or 11. 

On 3/27/2017 at 1:22 PM, jak2002003 said:

Sorry, I should have choses a better word than 'misinformed'.

 

However, I  doubt the cage bird trade (for these singing birds)  has any serious impact on the wild bird population.  Imposing fines and making it illegal for these competitions is pointless and taking away a fascinating part of the culture here.  It also distances people away from nature and then they will have no interest in birds or conserving them in the wild. 

 

I am from the UK.  Its illegal to trap and cage any native wild bird species and has been for many years.  These days no one keeps wild British birds.  But the UK songbird population for most species is declining year by year at an alarming rate.  Back in the day, when my Grandfather kept goldfinches, Bullfinches, etc there were  big populations of these birds.. and many people keeping them as pets too.  I remember him telling my of the huge flocks of Yellowhammers, buntings, and the white throats and thrushes... these days they are absent from the countryside.  So, how can it be these birds were most plentiful when people would catch and cage some... and now.. a long time after making it illegal, the bird populations are in steep decline with numbers being a fraction of what there were in the past?

 

Blaming Thailand singing bird competitions of the decline of its native birds does not hold water. Please not I am not talking about the illegal pet trade and smuggling rare and endangered bird or animals species!  And I don't agree with taking birds from the wild on moral grounds, but I still can not agree with that article that the song bird competitions are a big part of the Bulbuls population decline.  Seems to me that most birds here are declining... even species that are no kept as pets, or eaten.  Something else is going wrong... and I suspect habitat loss and degradation, together with pollution and persecution. 

Did you read just the abstract that link leads to or the entire paper? The reason I ask is because the paper discusses almost all the points you mention and does not put sole blame on the "Thailand singing bird competitions of the decline of its native birds" as you suggest. It simply points put that "Some Thai government authorities have inadvertently encouraged the illegal sale and capture of Red-whiskered Bulbuls through, for example, the active promotion of Red-whiskered Bulbul singing contests." And that trapping for the cage-bird trade is is a contributing factor to the decline of the species, as it has been for other species (Straw-headed Bulbul, various Parakeet species, etc.).  

I doubt many (if any) of the dozens of RWBB I see every day in cages in Bangkok are used for competitions. But I don't doubt those competitions didn't help in the sense that they have popularized the species as a cage bird. 

You say you doubt the cage bird trade "has any serious impact" on the population of the Red-whiskered Bulbul, but the experts say otherwise (See also Round, "Birds of the Bangkok Area") and do so based on years of records and research. Of course habitat destruction and etc. has played a major role, but so has trapping. No shortage of Streak-eared Bulbul, for example. Yellow-vented seem to be doing well enough and in fact increasing their range. But when I want to know why a bird is or seems to be in decline, I defer to those who have put the years in and have all the data. That they are common in Chiang Mai doesn't explain why they are so scarce in Central Thailand and the south. In fact the south seems to be where the singing contests originated and according to Round "...trapping has virtually eliminated it in the south."

12 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

That could be true.  I did visit a home where someone had several blue magpies in a cage in their garden.

 

But the Red whiskered Bulbul is VERY common up in the North... despite the HUGE numbers caught each year for life in cages.. but I think they reproduce faster and have more young than the Magpie. 

 

 

That RWBB are still "very common" in the north is good to know. It's my understanding, though, that they were common throughout Thailand not so long ago and that is definitively no longer the case. In fact, I am fairly certain they are now a protected species due to the rapid decline. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270761857_Red-whiskered_Bulbul_are_trapping_and_unregulated_avicultural_practices_pushing_this_species_towards_extinction_in_Thailand

15 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

The Red billed blue Magpie used to be a common sight over much of Thailand many years ago.  Now I hardly see any.  Anyone know what caused this birds massive decline over such a short period?  Seems strange, as magpies as usually such an adaptive species.  Also I have very rarely seen a crow up here in Chiang Mai province. Do you think farmers shoot all the crows and magpies?

 

 

My guess on the Magpies is that perhaps they have gone the way of Red-whiskered Bulbul as a result of the caged-bird trade. The only Red-billed Bue Magpie I saw when I was last in Chiang Mai were in cages.  The Red-whiskered Bulbul should be very common, but I have only seen one in Surin and a few each time I visit Kao Yai. On the other hand, I can see a dozen or more in cages in a two-block radius of my apartment in Bangkok. 

Bangsaen yard list species #88. Red-billed Blue Magpie. Uncommon to locally common resident. No photo yet. But a great looking and very noisy bird and a good way to start what has been a good day. Only the second I have seen and the first in Bangsaen proper. When I woke up I heard it squawking and immediately knew it was something I'd not had from the garden before. Great looks at short distance and with bins, but as i went for the camera off it flew. Tried a bit of play back from the yard hoping to get it to return for a photo, but to no avail. Maybe tomorrow morning.

Bangkok Yard list: #22 Asian Brown Shrike; #23 Black-collared Starling. Not very exciting, but there it is...

Three recent additions bring the new Bangkok yard list to 21: Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Baya Weaver, Yellow-vented Bulbul. The weaver could be a "merit release" bird form a nearby temple. No way to be sure about that unless i find nearby breeding colonies/nests. 

I am unable to input text into the reply box from my laptop at "home" for reasons unknown. The above photo is the view from the window of my temporary room in downtown Bangkok, Bang Rak area. In two days, the new yard list went to 18, as follows: Ashy Drongo; Black-naped Oriole; Rock Pigeon,  EA Tree Sparrow; House Sparrow; Spotted Dove; Zebra Dove; Pied Fantail; Streaked Bulbul; Common Tailorbird; Large-billed Crow; Plaintive Cuckoo; Oriental Magpie Robin; Olive-backed Sunbird; Little Egret; Common Myna; White-vented Myna; Asian Palm Swift. This will rise as time permits, but I haven't had much time as of late. I can predict the next ten probable species, but still fun to have a new spot to watch even if it is small and surrounded by big city life. 

On 29/12/2559 at 11:42 AM, thetefldon said:

Decline? No, if anything the opposite. Currently 8 birds sat in large tree just outside garden! Been a good year for migrants here although no Asian Brown Flycatcher or Stonechat seen at the new house. Can't complain though 71 species recorded from home this year, mostly in or near garden + flyovers.

Black Drongo for you :-)

 

71! You are creeping up on my thread record. At least I think I have the highest count of folks in this thread. I'm at 87 for my house here in Bangsaen where I live now, but I am getting ready to move back to Bangkok, or somewhere on the outskirts anyway. My yard list from my house in Surin stood at 109 when I left five years ago. 111 if you're a little liberal with the rules, as I had Verditer Flycatcher and Siberian Rubythroat literally just a few steps off my property (but rules are rules,I reckon). Anyway, good luck. I am guessing you'll surpass by Bangsaen 87 fairly soon. 

1 hour ago, ehs818 said:

If you look closely at the picture in the article, you'll notice that there are no Rubbish Bins available to put the trash that tourist generate. This is true in most of Thailand. Most foreign tourists are quite aware of the need to put trash in a proper disposal area. But there are none in most of Thailand. And for the record, most of the tourists that go to Bang Saen, ARE THAI.

I run this same stretch almost every day. There are rubbish bins and plenty of them. And even if there were't it still wouldn't be acceptable behavior. And he knows they're Thai. " He appeared to be blaming the many Thai people who flock to Bang Saen, reports Sanook." Don't get a lot of foreign tourists in Bangsaen, and this guy pretty much runs the town and owns it so pretty sure he's clear on that. Rubbish bins everywhere, sand sifting machinery to clean the beaches, street sweeper trucks,  gangs of street cleaners, still can't keep up. 

Ah, now I understand the question. You thought you heard a Common Cuckoo, as opposed to just a cuckoo, or one of many possible cuckoo species. Tryy and get an audio recording and post that. All smart phones have decent recorders on them now. 

20 hours ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

 

This is not a Cuckoo, but an Asian Koel, common throughout Thailand. 

One of the most common Cuckoos is the Plainitive Cuckoo and I heard them often when i lived in Surin and now hear them in Chonburi. 

2 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

P.S. Just went back thru the forum and noticed you had previously posted pix of Eurasian Thick-knee. Had I remembered that little fact, would have made the ID much easier and saved me considerable time and my GF considerable annoyance at being put on the back burner...AGAIN! 

Ha. Yes, well my wife goes birding with me often but not always and even when she does usually spends her time in "the bush" looking for editable plant-life with which to make a curry or some such while I pursue birds. But yes, she is also used to me silently pouring over photos and books to make sure I have my personal IDs correct. After such and such years of same, she is used to it. 

And yes, I do think it is the same Thick-knee yer after year. But as certain as I am, those calls are hard to make. 

Ha. Yes, well my wife goes birding with me often but not always and even when she does usually spends her time in "the bush" looking for editable plant-life with which to make a curry or some such while I pursue birds. But yes, she is also used to me silently pouring over photos and books to make sure I have my personal IDs correct. After such and such years of same, she is used to it. 

And yes, I do think it is the same Thick-knee yer after year. But as certain as I am, those calls are hard to make. 

Can you spot the bird?