Where Are All The Birds?

[penzman]

I went to get the camera but it left just as I came back for a pic

I'll keep my eye open and try and get it's mugshot. Maybe install a nectar feeder, see what happens.

P brownstone, are you talking inches or centimeters?

This thing was no bigger than a bumblebee and it's wingbeat was definitely not any slower than a hummingbird.

[p_brownstone]

I went to get the camera but it left just as I came back for a pic 

I'll keep my eye open and try and get it's mugshot. Maybe install a nectar feeder, see what happens.

P brownstone, are you talking inches or centimeters?

This thing was no bigger than a bumblebee and it's wingbeat was definitely not any slower than a hummingbird.

I can only repeat - there are no Hummingbirds in Thailand.

Although there are over 300 species in the 2 families they are all restricted to the New World. A bird could not migrate this far - over an ocean - because they consume so much energy with their rapid wingbeats that they have to spend virtually all their waking hours feeding. It is extremely unlikely to have been an escaped bird since they are almost impossible for an amateur to keep in captivity.

If it was a bird (there are quite a few large, fast flying insects here of course) you saw then it was almost certainly one of the smaller species of Sunbird - don't forget that the 4 inches I am talking about includes 1 inch of bill and probably the same amount of tail, which many people don't take into account when estimating the size of a bird - particularly the smaller ones. Also, whilst a hovering Sunbird may appear to be moving it's wings very quickly - so much so that they appear as a blur, the Ruby Throated Sunbird beats its' wings 55 times per second, in reality much faster than a Sunbird possibly can.

If you get a photograph please Post it, maybe I can identify it.

Patrick

[penzman]

Thanks for all that info. I'll definitely try and get a picture of it.

The measurements I gave included the bill.

[Nordlys]

Has anyone else ever seen hummingbirds here in Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw hummingbird in my Bangkok condo balcony too just yesterday!!! What a nice surprise it was!! It was in the afternoon, just after the rain, hovering around and feeding on nectar from my balcony Mai Moh tree (with small white flowers, sorry don't know the name in English). Long bill and very fast flapping of the wings, was about 3cm long (or smaller, but not including bill) and in dark color. If it's not a hummingbird, is it consistent with the characteristic of a Sunbird? Wing flapping looked as fast as hummingbirds I saw in California (if it was not Sunbirds I saw in my apartment balcony there every morning). Not the speed you can catch its movement with your eyes. My wife thought it was a bee.

Does anybody know a store that sells hummingbird feeder in Thailand?

I used to have one in California, I had that filled with sugar water, had it hanged from balcony ceiling and in a matter of a week they came everyday in the mornings.

Edited July 4, 2005 by Nordlys

[Tarragona]

If it's not a hummingbird, is it consistent with the characteristic of a Sunbird?

I'd agree with p_brownstone. No hummingbirds in Thailand, probably a sunbird.

[Nordlys]

If it's not a hummingbird, is it consistent with the characteristic of a Sunbird?

I'd agree with p_brownstone. No hummingbirds in Thailand, probably a sunbird.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So do they look so much alike that one can easily identify Hummingbird for Sunbird by mistake? How do you distinguish one from the other? Any distinctive difference between Sunbird and Hummingbird?

[aletta]

One website I've found was saying there are no hummingbirds here but mentionned a moth

Saw one yesterday feeding off papaya nectar and its a moth,about an inch long that from a distance looks just like a humming bird in flight.Up close the bill is in fact a proboscis for getting the nectar.

[srisatch]

Have we got lists of species seen or heard in or from our gardens..I never did one for the Sukothai garden..but here in Burgundy the 2 month list is:

Wood Pigeon

Turtle Dove

Collared Dove

Magpie

Jay

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Swallow

House Martin

Sand Martin

Cuckoo

Curlew

Lapwing

Blackcap

Chiff Chaff

Redstart

Stonechat

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Chaffinch

Crow

Rook

Golden Oriole

Meadow Pipit

Mallard

Kestrel

Sparrow Hwk

Buzzard

Black Kite

Starling

Tawny Owl

Barn Owl

Heron

Hoopoe

Green Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Pheasant

Wren

plus some raptors my glasses not up to seing clearly also some warblers and something that looks like a cross between a Linnet and a Siskin!

Thai lists?

[aletta]

Thai lists?

I keep meaning to compile one but i keep getting distracted by dting dtong posters.

[Diggerbasher]

I've got some kind of small grey hawk chasing pigeons around the garden today.

[Tokker]

I am not really experienced in birdwatching so I don't have anything to compare with, but the national park of Saam Roi Yod south of Hua Hin has seemed very interesting, especially the water-related birds wading in the prawn farms after you enter the park.

I plan to develop my birdwatching skills when I move to Thailand in october (up north-chiang rai).

I would be interested to read about this topic occasionally.

[seonai]

Alita (?) try coming to the south for bird watching. We have masses of sea eagles, kites, other sea birds and hornbills.

Seonai

[Sir Burr]

I saw a fish in my garden, is that possible

must be the rain

it was not humming either

Rainy season. Female catfish go walkabout on a rainy night to find a different pond, lay their eggs and die.

[udon]

Alita (?) try coming to the south for bird watching. We have masses of sea eagles, kites, other sea birds and hornbills.

Seonai

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

South! How far south?

[aletta]

Are there many farangs living in the deep South?Don't think i can recall a post from someone in the deep south.

[udon]

Just a note about Nignoy.

I knew he was having post op probs with his back, so I called his home (qld) to see how he was and they have kept him in hospital.

Those of us who like the animal world will miss him on this forum, for now, as his knowledge is fantastic as he is a retired zookeeper.

Get well Nignoy.

[udon]

This maybe a Thai Twitcher's site as I can't read Thai, maybe some one who can read Thai, tell me?

[chatters]

As i sit and type this topic i am looking out of my window here in Korat at the blue sky and it is totally empty of any bird larger than a mynah.So are the fields and trees.Its always been this way even before the bird flu.You would think in a tropical climate the sky would be full of raptors and carrion species.None.A dog or cat gets killed and lives by the road for weeks with no scavenging birds.

Are the locals poisoning them or eating them as in Isarn they do seem to eat anything that moves?

There are not even that many small species of bird and very litttle colour.The only flash of colour is an occasional scarlet backed flowerpecker.Are there any other bird watchers out there or am i the only bird watching geek on the forum.?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your looking at the wrong type of birds i'm afraid

well thre are many reasons ...........1 up udon they eat the birds 2 we have a real pest

in thailand called the minor or as they are called the flying rat keep vv all the nice birds at bay

and i see herein pattayathey have moved into new houses ............ so between the sparrows

and flying rats they have prevented the lovely species staying here............

[Briggsy]

Is anybody still following this thread? I'd be interested if it continued. Regarding the 'hummingbirds', there are definitely none in Thailand. Many birds feed on nectar and many are small (bill to tail 8.5 cm). You almost certainly saw a sunbird or a flowerpecker.

[p_brownstone]

Yes, the smallest Flowerpeckers in Thailand are around 3.5 inches – or 8.5 cm – in length, however their feeding behaviour is different from that of Sunbirds in that they rarely hover in front of a flower to get at the nectar because they mostly have very short Bills and cannot reach into the depths.

Flowerpeckers usually attack the base of a flower from the outside, pecking through the bloom itself.

Sunbirds have long, curved Bills specifically designed to probe deep into a bloom from the front.

As for the apparent dearth of birdlife, you’d be surprised just what is around in your garden if you take the time to look. The best times are early morning and late afternoon and here in the Bangkok suburbs there are around 35 species which I regularly see in my garden, plus perhaps 15 or so which are infrequent visitors.

Patrick

[Allyt]

Same here in Chiangmai. Folks need to take time to look and listen. There are many species skulking around & we're not talking like places renown like Doi Pui or Inthanon.

Just as PB says, early mornings and last afternoons are better, at these times its not so hot and they need to re-fuel because they have been sleeping / hiding all night and need to stock up on food for health.

Ally

[Briggsy]

Yes, the smallest Flowerpeckers in Thailand are around 3.5 inches – or 8.5 cm – in length, however their feeding behaviour is different from that of Sunbirds in that they rarely hover in front of a flower to get at the nectar because they mostly have very short Bills and cannot reach into the depths.

Flowerpeckers usually attack the base of a flower from the outside, pecking through the bloom itself.

Sunbirds have long, curved Bills specifically designed to probe deep into a bloom from the front.

Yes indeed, very good point.

As for the apparent dearth of birdlife, you’d be surprised just what is around in your garden if you take the time to look. The best times are early morning and late afternoon and here in the Bangkok suburbs there are around 35 species which I regularly see in my garden, plus perhaps 15 or so which are infrequent visitors.

Patrick

Also, if you live near any rice farming, you can add many more species as this differing habitat will attract a different range of birds.

I'm in England at present. A stroll round West Ham Park got me 8 species plus 2 unidentified. The same trip round Rot Fai Park usually gets me 30 species.

[udon]

Just curious, do palm oil trees attract any birds/parrots in the LOS?

I know they do in Africa.

[Briggsy]

Just curious, do palm oil trees attract any birds/parrots in the LOS?

I know they do in Africa.

If you mean the large monocrop plantations I found very little there. However palm trees fringing rice fields in the central plains (toddy palms?) often as a refuge for weavers and observation posts for birds of prey such as black kite and marsh harriers. However if you are in Udon, these birds are not found in Nortern Isaan so I don't know what you'd find. One of the locals maybe!

[taxexile]

I've seen these blokes at night walking through my wifes village in Surin, dressed in black, wearing balaclava's and carrying their home made rifles.Looked very suspicious until my wife told me they where only going lamping

lampard hasnt posted for a while , so they must have had a successful nights work.

[nickupton]

Most of the large raptors and waterbirds that used to breed in Thailand have indeed been hunted into extinction, not to mention that a large amount of their habitat has been destroyed. There are many national parks in Thailand where birds can be found, but most of these national parks "protect" hill slopes and upland areas. Lowland forest and wetlands are very poorly represented in Thailands national parks and these areas are the ones of highest biodiversity. In the central regions of Thailand there are quite large numbers of egrets and other birds. In the poorer area of Isaarn I guess there are still high numbers of people hunting birds to eat. Since the end of the war in Cambodia there has been a lot more protection of large birds such as pelicans, cranes, vultures and storks and this is about the only country in Southeast Asia which still has decent populations of these large birds. Since they have enjoyed some level of protection in Cambodia they are beginning to be seen in Thailand more often and indeed the first nests of Glossy ibis were found at Bung Boraphet last year. In Isaarn one of the best places to see birds such as these is the Sanam Bin Non-hunting Area in Buriram.

For loads more information on birdwatching in Thailand see my website thaibirding.com

[nickupton]

Read a lot more of the posts in this thread since my last reply. It seems there are a lot of you that are interested in birds in Thailand. Great.

I promoted my website in the last reply and will bore you with it again thaibirding.com

I created this website to try and inform people such as are on this thread and to try and create a community of bird lovers in Thailand. I've created a forum of my own and mybe some of you would like to use it.

The Oriental bird club supports bird conservation around Asia OBC

The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand is a bird conservation group with a growing influence BCST

Supporting either of these groups will directly help bird conservation in Thailand.