What birds are these and why are they there ?

[Speedo1968]

Could any one tell me the name of the birds in the photo ?

The previous day I had seen a similar bird flying solo in the evening about a kilometre away.

 

The sighting of the flock of birds was a strange event.  

Driving past the same area in to town ( 2+ km ) there were no birds but, rain was falling in a very confined area of less than 100 metres.

An hour later I returned, still no rain until until reaching the same location where slight rain was falling and this time there was the flock of birds in the photo.

There was rain falling in a very small area around the birds, probably not larger than a hundred meters. 

The birds did not seem to be moving around very much, no sounds just some raising of heads and wing stretching.

 

Could anyone suggest why the birds were there ( there is a small lake about 100mt away ) ?

Is it in advance of a moving weather pattern e,g, storms ?

[smutcakes]

Not sure where you are but possibly they are just migratory birds moving south who have stopped for a rest, drink, food.

 

There are numerous relatively unknown places to watch migratory birds in Thailand, Khao Dinsor just north of Chumphon airport is one place many go to watch migratory Raptors.

[Rimmer]

Looks like an Asian Openbill but could also be a White stork.

Too far away to tell as body and markings similar, main difference is the openbill has a plain color bill, legs and feet and the stork has a red bill and red legs and feet

[BobBKK]

They always seem to be in Chiang Mai and I assumed they were cranes of some sort?

[samuttodd]

Storks.  

 

They are masters of thermal riding.   They will ride a thermal front if a storm for as long as they like.   Sometimes they will ascend to 3-4000feet above the ground.  

 

 

They will eat mice,  fish,  frogs, lizards... Some storks migrate thousands of miles each year...  There are some storks that summer in europe and then soar back into africa for winter.    Some of them have to cross the sahara.   That is a hell of a long flight with no water or food.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by samuttodd

[malt25]

13 hours ago, samuttodd said:

Storks.  

 

They are masters of thermal riding.   They will ride a thermal front if a storm for as long as they like.   Sometimes they will ascend to 3-4000feet above the ground.  

 

 

They will eat mice,  fish,  frogs, lizards... Some storks migrate thousands of miles each year...  There are some storks that summer in europe and then soar back into africa for winter.    Some of them have to cross the sahara.   That is a hell of a long flight with no water or food.

 

 

"Sometimes they will ascend to 3-4000feet above the ground."  As opposed to ?

[samuttodd]

38 minutes ago, malt25 said:

"Sometimes they will ascend to 3-4000feet above the ground."  As opposed to ?

Ok Mrs Grammarly,   guilty as charged.

[AsterixThai]

https://fr.dreamstime.com/photo-stock-cigogne-asiatique-d-openbill-oiseau-en-thaïlande-image75934624

 

[fantom]

23 hours ago, malt25 said:

"Sometimes they will ascend to 3-4000feet above the ground."  As opposed to ?

As opposed to 'ASl or above sea level.'

[Thingamabob]

Storks.

 

[HHTel]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:08 AM, Rimmer said:

Looks like an Asian Openbill but could also be a White stork.

Too far away to tell as body and markings similar, main difference is the openbill has a plain color bill, legs and feet and the stork has a red bill and red legs and feet

My Thai family agreed with you immediately.  They are Openbills.

[Sir Swagman]

On 7/2/2019 at 6:41 PM, samuttodd said:

 

 

They will eat mice,  fish,  frogs, lizards... Some storks migrate thousands of miles each year...  There are some storks that summer in europe and then soar back into africa for winter.    Some of them have to cross the sahara.   That is a hell of a long flight with no water or food.

 

Sounds like a standard airline these days

 

[chiangraifalang]

Thank you for explaining the openbills. I did not know the distinction. Anyway it seems openbills are part of the stork family. I found this at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_openbill

 

I see a lot of this birds this year here in the Chiang Rai area. I like them, but It's the first time in 12 years i see them in so many big groups. Because of that i asked myself like the OP, why are they here. Something must have changed for them, to stay here now, instead other places like the years before. If i remember right, i've seen them first time this year around 6 to 8 weeks ago. As Wikipedia says "they make long distance movements in response to weather and food availability." My guess is, weather or food availability (or both) has changed for them. As they are related to the India subcontinent it seems possible they coming because of the heat in India this year. But this is only my personal guess.
 

[Briggsy]

Asian Openbills (a species of stork).

 

They were almost certainly there to feed. They tend to focus heavily on large snails.

 

They are a success story in Thailand. Their numbers and range were much reduced in the 70's and 80's due to habitat loss (wetland) and destruction of their breeding colonies (they breed in amazing colonies of hundreds of nests) but due to conservation efforts they have recovered and can now be seen over a wider area again. They migrate longitudinally which is unusual (i.e. east to west).

[Ulic]

My guess is storks, and probably bringing babies. 

[dotpoom]

See many questions similar to this one on here

....whether it be birds, snakes, reptiles, insects etc.,...and wonder why people wish to know the name of the species ...does it really matter?

[Briggsy]

22 minutes ago, chiangraifalang said:

I see a lot of this birds this year here in the Chiang Rai area. I like them, but It's the first time in 12 years i see them in so many big groups. Because of that i asked myself like the OP, why are they here. Something must have changed for them, to stay here now, instead other places like the years before.

See my comments about population recovery above. They were dramatically reduced in population and range in Thailand but over the last 20 years have staged a recovery. The change will be most noticeable in the North of Thailand. They were pretty much wiped out there in the 80's. Now they're back.

[Briggsy]

4 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

See many questions similar to this one on here

....whether it be birds, snakes, reptiles, insects etc.,...and wonder why people wish to know the name of the species ...does it really matter?

In life you have mechanics and engineers. Mechanics fix stuff but they don't understand it. Engineers understand stuff but they can't fix it. 

 

It is way of thinking about things. You are a mechanic. For you, engineers are a different species. You can't relate to them. 

[cheshiremusicman]

1 hour ago, dotpoom said:

See many questions similar to this one on here

....whether it be birds, snakes, reptiles, insects etc.,...and wonder why people wish to know the name of the species ...does it really matter?

If you don't ask you will never find out. Trying to learn something new every day keeps the brain ticking over and you feel better. 

[xylophone]

On 7/2/2019 at 6:41 PM, samuttodd said:

There are some storks that summer in europe and then soar back into africa for winter.    Some of them have to cross the sahara.   That is a hell of a long flight with no water or food.

Whilst working in an oil field in the Sahara, there were times when I would see a Stork (or possibly Heron?) Flying overhead on its way south and it would often be attacked by the Hawks which were prevalent in this particular area because of the large pool of water which had been man-made.

 

The water was as a result of the waste from the camp being directed into an area from which they thought they could grow some crops, only to find out that taking wastewater from the likes of toilets etc and growing melons meant that a lot of people got diarrhoea. However it did attract migrating birds and there would be quite a few different species, which made it a great resting place for the Hawks which would sit on a metal fence, looking skyward for their next meal.

 

It was interesting to see the battles going on and although the Hawks would make easy pickings of the smaller birds, I never saw them take down one of these Storks.

[mike324]

I live right outside of bangkok, I see them almost on a daily basis. Not in big group though, at most 2-3 together at once. But usually they are by them self. 

[LawrenceN]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:08 AM, Rimmer said:

Looks like an Asian Openbill but could also be a White stork.

Too far away to tell as body and markings similar, main difference is the openbill has a plain color bill, legs and feet and the stork has a red bill and red legs and feet

Asian Openbill Stork. It is a stork, too. My apology if you already know that. Your wording seemed to imply two different things, storks and openbills.

 

They're common in the fields around Chiang Mai. I once stopped to ask a farmer why I hadn't seen any for a couple of years. He said farmers run them off because they stomp on the new rice plants. That costs money.

[Briggsy]

6 hours ago, cheshiremusicman said:

If you don't ask you will never find out.

He is a mechanic.

[Briggsy]

If you ever get the chance to see one of the Asian Openbill breeding colonies, I recommend you go. It is amazing. Like something out of Jurassic Park. Wear a hat though for obvious reasons. There used to be a very famous at Wat Phai Lom in Pathum Thani. No idea if these birds still nest there.

 

Google Maps ref

[Skeptic7]

Asian Openbill (Stork). There also is a 1 Great Egret in the photo...the slender all white bird with long S-shaped neck, 5th from the right. 

 

Rimmer also suggested White Stork, a great suggestion, but White Stork is an extremely rare species in Thailand...classified as "accidental" here, as Thailand is well out of this species range. Although it is listed in A Guide to the Birds of Thailand (Lekagul/Round, 1991)...it also mentions that there has only been 1 accepted sight record and I have not been able to find any records since. This many would be a sensational find! But alas, they are Openbills as the diagnostic clincher is that White Stork have long, sharply pointed, bright red-orange bills. The birds here clearly have grey bills. 

 

[featography]

10 hours ago, AsterixThai said:

https://fr.dreamstime.com/photo-stock-cigogne-asiatique-d-openbill-oiseau-en-thaïlande-image75934624

 

This is an openbill stork. The field of birds, the wife says are Egrets. 

 

[featography]

18 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

Asian Openbill (Stork). There also is a 1 Great Egret in the photo...the slender all white bird with long S-shaped neck, 5th from the right. 

 

Rimmer also suggested White Stork, a great suggestion, but White Stork is an extremely rare species in Thailand...classified as "accidental" here, as Thailand is well out of this species range. Although it is listed in A Guide to the Birds of Thailand (Lekagul/Round, 1991)...it also mentions that there has only been 1 accepted sight record and I have not been able to find any records since. This many would be a sensational find! But alas, they are Openbills as the diagnostic clincher is that White Stork have long, sharply pointed, bright red-orange bills. The birds here clearly have grey bills. 

 

the wife things they are all Egrets. On her family farm the come into the fields where the cattle and water buffalo are and eat the dung beetles. 

 

[Skeptic7]

31 minutes ago, featography said:

the wife things they are all Egrets. On her family farm the come into the fields where the cattle and water buffalo are and eat the dung beetles. 

 

Sorry, she is mistaken. Only 1 Egret...clearly seen in the cut out I included. The rest are all Asian Openbill Stork. Besides...NO egret in Thailand has any black plumage at all, except for the dark-phase Pacific Reef Egret, which is completely dark grey and coastal. The all-white bird in the cut out is the only Egret.  Also, Great Egrets generally have yellow bills. In breeding season...which is now...they have black bills. Here is a photo I took of a non-breeding Great Egret a few months back...

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Skeptic7

[Samuel Smith]

3 hours ago, LawrenceN said:

Asian Openbill Stork. It is a stork, too. My apology if you already know that. Your wording seemed to imply two different things, storks and openbills.

 

They're common in the fields around Chiang Mai. I once stopped to ask a farmer why I hadn't seen any for a couple of years. He said farmers run them off because they stomp on the new rice plants. That costs money.

They only started coming here in numbers a few years ago.  Then the last couple of years I didn't see any.  This year, they're back in big numbers ????  Wish the farmers would clear off.  Fed up of their burning & over use of pesticides & herbicides ???? 

[bontang]

10 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Asian Openbills (a species of stork).

 

They were almost certainly there to feed. They tend to focus heavily on large snails.

 

They are a success story in Thailand. Their numbers and range were much reduced in the 70's and 80's due to habitat loss (wetland) and destruction of their breeding colonies (they breed in amazing colonies of hundreds of nests) but due to conservation efforts they have recovered and can now be seen over a wider area again. They migrate longitudinally which is unusual (i.e. east to west).

Them Birds hang out with  Buffalo's Heard's seen them many times resting on the Buffalo's back,                Has anybody seen any Crows in Thailand, Thousands of them in Ghana Africa,