For The Birds !

[Digitalbanana]

[samuijimmy]

Getting their place for the evening.... a bit of fighting going on!

[Digitalbanana]

[hanno]

That looks like a Marabou. A little far from its home....

[Goshawk]

These little fellas always brighten up my birding day

Collared Falconet

[Robby nz]

Another visitor from the north.

Arctic Warbler, Phu Toei National Park.

[Mousehound]

Another visitor from the north.

Arctic Warbler.1.JPG

Arctic Warbler, Phu Toei National Park.

I had one of these I found on the North Rankin drilling rig off the Pilbara coast, Western Australia. I collected it and gave it to the WA Museum who eventually confirmed it as an Arctic W. I concluded that as the normal range is to the Northern islands od the Indonesian archipelago and only strong headwinds were available then this bird had to have come in on high altitude winds. Further investigation showed extreme tropical thunderstorms over the Indonesian islands for the previous days. Also high altitude winds were consistent with the direction required (30k feet). Thus I believe this bird would have needed to hang in a comatose state at high altitude when in fell to lower altitude and seeing an 'island' made for it where it shortly after expired from exhaustion and lack of food. At the time only one other specimen had been seen in Australia, namely a single bird on Ashmore Reef - much closer to Indonesia. A couple of other records have now been made on the North West coast but at the time I believe this would have been a record of significance.

[Robby nz]

In the first fays of the morning sun

Asian Drongo Cuckoo, Phu Toei National Park

[thetefldon]

Took this woodpecker shot yesterday in the garden of my new house build near Phetchabun using my Canon SX 40. The bird was quite close and not disturbed by the building work.

Question for any SE Asia bird experts out there: is it a Fulvous-breasted or a Spot-breasted Woodpecker(or neither)?

I reckon it's a female by the black cap(more obvious in some other shots).

The "red" vent was not very strong. My Craig Robson birds of Thailand and SE Asia has me leaning towards the Spot-breasted bird.

Any thoughts please.

[Robby nz]

Took this woodpecker shot yesterday in the garden of my new house build near Phetchabun using my Canon SX 40. The bird was quite close and not disturbed by the building work.

Question for any SE Asia bird experts out there: is it a Fulvous-breasted or a Spot-breasted Woodpecker(or neither)?

I reckon it's a female by the black cap(more obvious in some other shots).

The "red" vent was not very strong. My Craig Robson birds of Thailand and SE Asia has me leaning towards the Spot-breasted bird.

Any thoughts please.

Fulvous breasted woodpecker.jpg

Its both actually, they are synonyms for the same species.

See : http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=240

Yes it is a female.

No I'm not an expert, just a learner.

[thetefldon]

Took this woodpecker shot yesterday in the garden of my new house build near Phetchabun using my Canon SX 40. The bird was quite close and not disturbed by the building work.

Question for any SE Asia bird experts out there: is it a Fulvous-breasted or a Spot-breasted Woodpecker(or neither)?

I reckon it's a female by the black cap(more obvious in some other shots).

The "red" vent was not very strong. My Craig Robson birds of Thailand and SE Asia has me leaning towards the Spot-breasted bird.

Any thoughts please.

Fulvous breasted woodpecker.jpg

Its both actually, they are synonyms for the same species.

See : http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=240

Yes it is a female.

No I'm not an expert, just a learner.

Thanks for the explanation and link. Now I may well be thick and I am certainly no expert but I don't understand why the birds have different Latin names(second part) and Robson describes them differently for example he says the Spot-breasted is smaller than the Fulvous-breasted if they are infact one and the same.

Any ideas, or a simple explanation for me.

Many thanks.

[Robby nz]

Took this woodpecker shot yesterday in the garden of my new house build near Phetchabun using my Canon SX 40. The bird was quite close and not disturbed by the building work.

Question for any SE Asia bird experts out there: is it a Fulvous-breasted or a Spot-breasted Woodpecker(or neither)?

I reckon it's a female by the black cap(more obvious in some other shots).

The "red" vent was not very strong. My Craig Robson birds of Thailand and SE Asia has me leaning towards the Spot-breasted bird.

Any thoughts please.

Fulvous breasted woodpecker.jpg

Its both actually, they are synonyms for the same species.

See : http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?Bird_ID=240

Yes it is a female.

No I'm not an expert, just a learner.

Thanks for the explanation and link. Now I may well be thick and I am certainly no expert but I don't understand why the birds have different Latin names(second part) and Robson describes them differently for example he says the Spot-breasted is smaller than the Fulvous-breasted if they are infact one and the same.

Any ideas, or a simple explanation for me.

Many thanks.

Perhaps there is confusion somewhere along the line with the Stripe breasted (atratus) which is said to be a smidgeon bigger and not so common, other than that no idea.

Don't have Robson's book so cant comment on his ID's

As you can see the OBC calls them the same.

[Mousehound]

My "Robson" has them as the same bird. If they are a subspecies it would be the third Latin name that is different. Could also be a remote possibility that they were thought to be different sp. at one point but then re-classified. It does happen. Could be that my edition is a later revision. With all the common names for some sp. it shows why a Latin name can be so important for conclusive and common recognition.

[hanno]

According to HBW, it is Fulvous-breasted.

[Goshawk]

Fulvous-breasted was split in 2013. The difference is now Dendrocopos [macei & analis]. See Avibase here . . . http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=044E1C192BAEC6E9

So for Thailand, the correct bird would now be Dendrocopos analis longipennis . . and the english name would now be 'Spot-breasted Pied Woodpecker' . . . http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=C71C83031050DEA5

Like MH said, it's the latin names that are important . . . common 'english' names usually vary from person to person, or preference to preference . . . as in, ". . is it River Chat or White-capped Water Redstart? answer = up to you"

[Digitalbanana]

[AjarnNorth]

There is also the issue of "Lumpers" vs. "Splitters."

Perhaps someone here can be more articulate about this than I can, But as an example, take the Purple Swamphen now split the Black-backed. an Grey-headed. See an older copy of Robson as compared to the latest edition.

I spoke with one well-respected ornithologist about this some years ago and seem to remember him saying he didn't agree, but it was a lumper / splitter issue and he was clearly on the side of the lumpers. I may remember that not exactly clearly and again I don't know enough about the subject to be very articulate about it.

Of course there are some splits that all agree on, but it's my understanding that there are many splits that not all agree on.

I still call them Purple Swamphen.

Here's a wiki link that touches on the issue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpers_and_splitters

[Robby nz]

There is also the issue of "Lumpers" vs. "Splitters."

Perhaps someone here can be more articulate about this than I can, But as an example, take the Purple Swamphen now split the Black-backed. an Grey-headed. See an older copy of Robson as compared to the latest edition.

I spoke with one well-respected ornithologist about this some years ago and seem to remember him saying he didn't agree, but it was a lumper / splitter issue and he was clearly on the side of the lumpers. I may remember that not exactly clearly and again I don't know enough about the subject to be very articulate about it.

Of course there are some splits that all agree on, but it's my understanding that there are many splits that not all agree on.

I still call them Purple Swamphen.

Here's a wiki link that touches on the issue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpers_and_splitters

Interesting you mention the Purple Swamphen for there is a common bird in NZ called the Pukeko (Maori name) which is a sub species.

It is much slimmer than the variety I see here and more vocal.

Given NZ's isolation and the fact that many of the terrestrial birds are unique it is strange how a bird that normally flies short distance got there.

[Robby nz]

Usually 3 phases of the Ashy Drongo recognized although I once saw somewhere it had been split into around 200 sub species. The 3 are enough for me.

Dark.

Mid

Light

Edited March 31, 2015 by Robby nz

[Goshawk]

In the very distant past & waaay before i came to the LOS for very first time, for me Purple swamphen's were always Purple gallinule's (widely used name in UK & europe). They'e still "Purple gallinule's" . . but now i prefer them as "Purple swamphen's".

[samuijimmy]

Common Egrets...

[Robby nz]

Right beside the house we stayed in at Chaloem Rattaanakosin National Park.

Chinese Sparrowhawk.

Said to be a passage migrant in Thailand.

[Robby nz]

Common Egrets...

Nice photo Jimmy but may I suggest that they are not Common (Little) Egrets.

Possibly Cattle Egrets as the second one would appear to be coloring up into breeding plumage

[Digitalbanana]

[Mousehound]

SammuiJimmy's pics of Cattle Egret bring to mind that the common small Egret is the Little Egret - highly active rushing about with short pauses. The feet are yellow and clearly seen in flight. The bill is fine and black. The Intermediate Egret is often confused with either the Little or The Great Egret. The Intermediate is more refined in shape than the Great and usually stands with the neck quite straight and is more sedate than the Little. . The larger great Egret has a distinct kink in the neck when standing. The Intermediate E. yellow gape (the skin to the base of the beak) stops at the front of the eye whereas the Great E. gape extends to the lower rear of the eye. The Cattle Egret has quite a short stocky appearance compared with the others and as pointed out by RobbyNZ has a distinct orange head and neck (the neck is quite short and the bill appears heavy). The Chinese Egret is a coastal dweller and not recorded inland but as a migrant you never know where it might turn up. My guess is the Chinese E. is more common than thought of, but it just is not recorded as it is put down as a "Common Egret" or a Reef Egret (White form).

[Goshawk]

a strained distance shot . . . at the summit of the 2nd highest peak (firebreak trail) of the many atop Doi Angkang, in the North . . .

Large Niltava (female)

[tolsti]

Wandering the streets on Charoen Krung Bangkok....

[sunshine51]

^^^ Handsome Tom!

[tolsti]

Yes he is and he does all the stamping and huffing as expected. He is a bit of a superstar among the guests in the local restaurants.

[sunshine51]

^^^ I'm surprised he hasn't made it to the menu yet!