Birdwatching In Isan

[isanbirder]

Tip of bill to tip of tail in Collared is 23 cms, in Oriental it's 19 cms (Robson's figures). It sounds as if yours may have been the larger of the two.... as I suggested before!

[Robby nz]

Same measurements in the book I have, also said to be the most common, so will go with collared.

Passed by a paddy that had been recently harvested the other day, normally the harvested paddy is dry but this one was partly filled with water and had a lot of birds feeding.

Among the pond heron and a few egrets were a good number of stilts and common sandpiper, was taking a photo of one of the closer ones when a bigger bird walked into the frame, turned out to be a greater painted snipe.

Went back the next morning to try and spot it again, no joy, but what I did see were several spotted redshank and a pheasant tailed jacana, both new for me along with the snipe.

There were some large ponds behind the paddy that I didn't know were there and on one was a small flock of about 6 or 8 P H jacana, no long tails.

There were also a couple of little grebe and what looked like a bronze winged jacana and a cinnamon bittern flew off.

Hoping for crake, rail, watercock or swamphen in that sort of place but not yet, I will return

[Robby nz]

Another from my dunno file.

Only got one shot, taken at Hellfire Pass.

hfp.JPG

Posted this a long time back and the other day I got a photo of an identical bird, it was late in the evening and not good light but enough to be able to say they are the same.

After looking in the books and OBC data base I am picking them to be Striated Grassbird.

[isanbirder]

Sorry, can't do that one, Robby. I was hoping Hanno could oblige, but maybe he's away.

Signs of a bit of movement here.... a Painted Stork (a bit out of season) and a Burmese Shrike this morning... also a Common Sandpiper, which has been more frequent than usual this year.

My Hoopoe's nest... she laid five eggs, and was incubating them, but unlike most Hoopoes, which sit tight, she flew off the nest every time I got within a few yards. A couple of days ago, I found her dead in the nest hole.

[hanno]

Sorry guys, I was on the road....

I do not think it is Grassbird. Tail too short, seems to have a streaked throat and an eye-ring What sort of habitat was it in?

[Robby nz]

Sorry guys, I was on the road....

I do not think it is Grassbird. Tail too short, seems to have a streaked throat and an eye-ring What sort of habitat was it in?

Hi Hanno

The one in that photo was close to the car park at hellfire pass

Will try the poor photos of what looks like the same bird from a swamp in Singburi.

Was late in the evening and in bad light and to far away.

In the early morning, again poor light and distance.

Both flew in and landed, would never have seen them otherwise.

Looked to be about streak eared bulbul size or a little smaller.

[hanno]

Hi Robby, I am pretty sure these are two different birds. Completely different bill, shape, and color. For the second bird I am thinking more of a warbler; way to plain-looking for Grassbird. Thick-billed or Reed perhaps?

[isanbirder]

The first bird, possibly Buff-breasted Babbler?

The second bird, almost certainly an Oriental Reed-warbler. Superciliary rules out Thick-billed.

A bit of action around here. A pair of Red-wattled Lapwings with a running chick. This is proved breeding for the third year running (in Round the species is not given in Isan).

The Brahminy Kite which was vandalised appears to have built a replacement nest (I didn't know raptors would do this)..

The Openbills are back! c100 yesterday, and c300 today.

[hanno]

I would go with that, isanbirder.

[isanbirder]

A great time to see migrant birds in their finest plumage. I saw (at last) a male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher yesterday.... what a stunner!

And just a few minutes ago from my garden the most magnificent male Black-naped Oriole I've ever seen. In fact, I saw this golden gleam against the foliage... and had to get my binoculars to see what it was. A real treat!

[hanno]

A great time to see migrant birds in their finest plumage. I saw (at last) a male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher yesterday.... what a stunner!

Nice!!!

[jack2964]

Hi guys, I am not sure how long the 'migration season' is. I've always thought they leave the northern hemisphere round about late summer/early autumn (northern hemisphere) which would be around Aug/Sept? And then make their way back about now? So whatever migrants we see now are on their return leg and merely passing through?

[Robby nz]

Just got back last night from a few days on Koh Chang island off Ranong.

So far have Id'ed 19 species with a couple still to work out.

Most interesting would probably be the sub species of the Blue Rock Thrush philippensis.

Plenty of Asian Fairy Bluebird, Oriental Pied Hornbill and Brahminy Kites.

Think I have only just scratched the surface of what is there, must go back again sometime.

[isanbirder]

Hi guys, I am not sure how long the 'migration season' is. I've always thought they leave the northern hemisphere round about late summer/early autumn (northern hemisphere) which would be around Aug/Sept? And then make their way back about now? So whatever migrants we see now are on their return leg and merely passing through?

The southward migration of Palaearctic species starts in early August, and goes on roughly until early October. Some species keep drifting in on cold fronts after this. The autumn migration is a fairly leisurely affair, and migrants may stay for a few days in a good feeding area.

The return trip is much more hectic. It lasts from March to early May, but the birds are in a hurry to get to their breeding areas, and don't hang around so much.

Like any generalisations of this sort, this one will have plenty of exceptions, but the overall pattern is right.

[jack2964]

Hi guys, I am not sure how long the 'migration season' is. I've always thought they leave the northern hemisphere round about late summer/early autumn (northern hemisphere) which would be around Aug/Sept? And then make their way back about now? So whatever migrants we see now are on their return leg and merely passing through?

The southward migration of Palaearctic species starts in early August, and goes on roughly until early October. Some species keep drifting in on cold fronts after this. The autumn migration is a fairly leisurely affair, and migrants may stay for a few days in a good feeding area.

The return trip is much more hectic. It lasts from March to early May, but the birds are in a hurry to get to their breeding areas, and don't hang around so much.

Like any generalisations of this sort, this one will have plenty of exceptions, but the overall pattern is right.

Thanks for clearing things up.

[Robby nz]

Back into looking around home again after the trip south.

Went back to the flooded harvested paddy where I had seen a lot of birds before.

There were about 20 Pheasant tailed Jacana coming into breeding plumage, only one with a long tail, quite a number of stilts, a couple of spotted redshank a common greenshank and several wood sandpiper along with the usual javan pond herons with some In breeding plumage.

At a small swamp behind the paddy where there are several bronze winged jacanas I saw a greater painted snipe fly into some long weeds and managed to get some photos, wasn't till I got home and put them on the computer that I realized there were 2, a male and female. I only saw one fly out so it is possible they have a nest in there.

Farther along I was watching a pair of plain backed sparrows building a nest in a hole on a dead tree when a spot breasted woodpecker flew into the picture, seems they have a nest in in a hole in the afternoon side of the tree and a pair are taking turns on the nest.

Went back in the afternoon and saw a changeover, waited a while and the female kept poking her head out of the hole and looking round, as per : Where's that bloody husband of mine, should be back by now.

[isanbirder]

Plain-backed Sparrows and Spot-breasted Woodpeckers compete for nest holes. Three years ago, I used to watch a woodpecker at its nest every morning; it was just near fledging when a pair of Plain-backed took over. I never knew whether the woodpeckers fledged or not. I know that the woodpecker excavated the hole, though.

[Robby nz]

The sparrows were by a natural hole on the opposite side of the tree from the woodpeckers, the female was sitting by the hole and the male was taking bits of grass.

Hopefully they will leave the woodpeckers alone.

[iSabai]

Stumbled upon this thread recently and have been slowly catching up from the beginning when I find the time. Great stuff - and pics - and very interesting.

Thanks for that, and keep up the good work guys! I've finally found something other than the usual boring whinge-fest threads worth reading on TV now!

[hanno]

Birders are really whingers . They might bemoan the one that got away, but if you are not an optimist, birding ain't for you.....

[isanbirder]

Birders are really whingers . They might bemoan the one that got away, but if you are not an optimist, birding ain't for you.....

Hanno, I don't whinge! I enjoy what comes, even if I don't know what it is!

Take this morning for an example.

The first bird of note was a largish bulbul-type, brown, becoming chestnut towards the rump and tail. No particular markings on the head. Underparts buff, getting pinkish on the belly and vent. Largely chestnut when seen in flight (into an impenetrable tree a way off). I got close enough to be right underneath it, and I have no idea what it was. Maybe tomorrow!

As I got near the little wood where my raptors breed, two Shikras flew out, and then one flew back carrying a mouse-like creature. Shikras have bred there the past two seasons, but I'd seen very little of them this year. I walked on to a place where I could look back at a nest I'd been keeping under observation, more in hope than in expectation, for some weeks without any result. And there, perched on the side of the nest, was the female Shikra, one presumes feeding her young.

A few yards further on, the Brahminy Kite was sitting on her nest.

As I left the wood, I saw a small bird in the tree across the path.... an Ashy Minivet (in mid-April!). I tried hard to make it Rosy or Swinhoe's but no, it was an Ashy.

Yesterday, an Indian Roller led me to its nest, and as I got near, two fully-grown birds exploded out of it. My second Roller breeding record.

Why indeed would I whinge?

[hanno]

Oh boy, it was supposed to read "rarely" not "really". That's what happens when you start celebrating New Year early.

[Robby nz]

Farther to the spot breasted woodpeckers,

Went back to have a look at the nest holes in the tree and it looks as if the woodpeckers have been evicted, not by the sparrows who were still there but by a pair of chestnut tailed starlings.

They were jumping around on the tree and taking turns at sticking their heads in the hole, I would have thought if there was a woodpecker still in there it would have been attempting to repel boarders.

[Robby nz]

Been looking through some of last months sightings and came across this one.

Called it a black shouldered kite because they are the most common raptor I see here.

But on second look it does not seem right with the head markings and looks like spots on the breast and maybe a bit to much black on the underwing.

[isanbirder]

It's a Black-shouldered all right. Hovering, too, by the look of it. To me, the most elegant of all the raptors I've seen.

There's really nothing else like it.... and apart from the Kestrel, it is the only species which habitually hovers.

(Young birds have an orange flush on the breast.... rather smart!)

[Robby nz]

Thanks Isanbirder.

This morning I saw a stilt sitting on a nest in a flooded paddy so it looks like the ones that are here are going to take up residence.

Interesting to see the knees sticking out the back, those long legs got to go somewhere when they sit.

[isanbirder]

Nice picture, Robby. The Stilts don't arrive here until the paddy is flooded; at the moment it's mainly dry as a bone.

[isanbirder]

Things seem to have gone a bit quiet on this thread, and they have on the bird front too. We've had some rain, and the fields are wet but not flooded, and so far there has been no sign of the wet season birds here. Openbills, yes, but they turn up any time.

Migration is virtually over; I had a Dark-sided Flycatcher this morning, which is usually for me the final migrant of spring. Winter visitors are almost gone; that means most of the Barn Swallows, and the Chinese Pond Herons, numerous yesterday, but only two birds today.

[jack2964]

Same over my patch. Birdlife appears to have plummeted as compared to previous couple of years.

I've seen the return of Whistling ducks numbering perhaps a hundred or so and Openbills too are back but in small numbers.

Pair of Darters and that's about it.

And then this unidentified LBJ which I shot in early April. It was foraging in this bamboo grove. I initially thought it was the usual Streak-eared bulbul until I looked harder.

[isanbirder]

From the length of the tail it looks like a prinia, but I wouldn't like to say which one.