Help Id These Birds..

[jaideeguy]

A couple of days ago, we saw a huge flock of these birds for the first time....maybe 150-200of them and they took flight as we approached and started circling with hawk like circles....gliding on thermals? That was the first siting, but last night around dusk, they came to perch on a tree and i got this distant foto off before they were frightened by a motorcycle and took off.

There were about 30 or so trying to roost for the night,

but were frightened away just a few minutes after taking this shot.

They had a wingspan of at least 4-5 ft, webbed feet, long legs and

lite brown on their undersides and darker on top and if you can zoom

in, you will see the classic{?} heron bill.

Anyone know these birds??

[Maejo Man]

_Photo??

[jaideeguy]

Sorry......pic didn't attach. I'll try again.

[Maejo Man]

Looks like a stork...see if you can recognise it from here..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Thailand

[neilrob]

Quite a sight---wish I'd seen them. Maybe purple herons, which are visitors to this area. I would suggest great-billed herons, except that my book shows these as possibly extirpated in N. Thailand, and this area does not seem like their sort of habitat.

[cmbe]

MaeJo man is right, in Thai they called Nok Takrum and this is another link: http://www.unep-wcmc-apps.org/isdb/Taxonomy/tax-common-result.cfm?source=animals&displaylanguage=THA&Common=13982&Country=&tabname=photos

[cmbe]

It is same family of heron, only the size is smaller.

[Goshawk]

They're Asian Openbill Storks (Anastomus oscitans)

you saw them in Chiangmai? a flock of 150 - 200 is a remarkable sighting this far north if you did..

[cmbe]

Thank you Goshawk. Sorry, that my guesses is wrong, they are not Nok Ta Krum as I posted above.

Asian open bill stork in Thai language is Nok Paak Hang.

http://www.dailynews.co.th/thailand/6160

http://www.thairath.co.th/content/region/254865

[Maejo Man]

Thank you Goshawk. Sorry, that my guesses is wrong, they are not Nok Ta Krum as I posted above.

Asian open bill stork in Thai language is Nok Paak Hang.

Nok Paak Hang indeed, and what an unusual and incredible sight.

[jaideeguy]

They're Asian Openbill Storks (Anastomus oscitans)

you saw them in Chiangmai? a flock of 150 - 200 is a remarkable sighting this far north if you did..

Thanks Goshawk, you could be correct in the ID and I read up on them to find out that we are a bit out of their normal range. They didn't return to roost in the same tree and we went on our morning walk with camera in hand, but no sightings of course.

As you can see by the pic I posted, their color and markings are hard to distinguish in low light and at that distance, but the photos on that bird site confirmed that you are probably correct in your ID.

The Thai wife reminds me of sighting them in rice fields just north of BKK on our last trip down, but my eyes were focused on the hiway @ 120kph and only got a glance.....but could be??

on a side note.....the other 'bird sighting' that remains in my mind was once, while on the motorcycle in the ricefields, I saw a multicolored tight flock of birds comming at me and what a site that was.....pinks, greens, blues yellows all in a flock of maybe 50 birds. They passed in front of me and I saw they were parakeets....maybe gone wild??

[Thailand]

That is quite amazing and to see them live must have been great.

We have a very large Bodhi tree in our garden which attracts thousand of migratory birds every year both southbound and northbound but I have never seen anything like that.

[Mekong Bob]

I'm putting my money on นกกระยาง (nok kra-yang), or egret.

Hope the bird experts will confirm or deny.

[Maejo Man]

I'm putting my money on นกกระยาง (nok kra-yang), or egret.

Hope the bird experts will confirm or deny.

There is less than a handful of egrets that are found in Thailand, and only a couple are not rare, and winter visitors. Looking at the OP's photo it looks like they have colouring or markings, where as all the egrets are bordering on white with vurtually no distinguishing plumage.

Just my observations

Edited June 4, 2012 by Maejo Man

[isanbirder]

They're Asian Openbills, as Goshawk said. They've been seen in various unusual places this year; as far north as Uttaradit, over near Udon, and huge numbers on Tonle Sap in Cambodia. A flock at Sansai was noted on the Isaan Forum a month or so ago.

[Goshawk]

Thanks Goshawk, you could be correct in the ID and I read up on them to find out that we are a bit out of their normal range. They didn't return to roost in the same tree and we went on our morning walk with camera in hand, but no sightings of course.

As you can see by the pic I posted, their color and markings are hard to distinguish in low light and at that distance, but the photos on that bird site confirmed that you are probably correct in your ID.

The Thai wife reminds me of sighting them in rice fields just north of BKK on our last trip down, but my eyes were focused on the hiway @ 120kph and only got a glance.....but could be??

on a side note.....the other 'bird sighting' that remains in my mind was once, while on the motorcycle in the ricefields, I saw a multicolored tight flock of birds comming at me and what a site that was.....pinks, greens, blues yellows all in a flock of maybe 50 birds. They passed in front of me and I saw they were parakeets....maybe gone wild??

yep.. very unusual to see so many openbill's around Chiangmai. I occasionally see the odd 3 or 4 around some of the larger more open wetter areas, but never 200 in a flock. That is a good record for the north.

Around Bangkok yes, its not unusual to see a large flock kettling in the distance. I've even seen them doing this on the approach flight path to suvarnabhumi, which is interesting to say the least..

Parakeets often congregate into large flocks, particularly at roost time. There's 4 naturally occurring breeding species of them in Thailand & all can be found in the north so when you say 'gone wild', don't assume that they are feral or escapees - they are truly wild birds.