White-crested Laughing Thrush

[sabaijai]

A pair of birds have built a nest in a bamboo grove only a few metres from my bedroom window. My wife has taken to watching the female sit on the eggs, and I'm trying to find out how long the eggs of this bird take to hatch.

She says the birds are กะลางหัวงอก (ka-laang hua ngawk) but I can't find anything bird-related on the Internet using those terms, not even กะลาง (ka-laang) alone. By perusing photos of Thailand-native birds on the net I did finally ID the bird as a white-crested laughing thrush.

I'm not a birdwatcher, just curious about this one bird and its nesting habits, if anyone has any info beyond the simple one-liners I've found on the Internet.

[p1p]

I started this reply just as TOT decided in their wisdom to cut off my ADSL. When asked why, they claim non payment of outstanding fees, (paid 2 weeks ago, before the due date.) When asked what is owed, they say nothing, all is paid up!

They now accept they have made a mistake and should never have disconnected the line, but they can not re-connect without payment of a reconnection fee! This is yet another case of typical Thai catch-22 idiocy. Words have failed me and I am nearly loosing my cool – fatal where dealing with petty Thai bureaucrats is concerned.

I must now drive over 30Km round trip to pay a ridiculous charge to enable them to reconnect a line they should never have disconnected in the first place. Reconnection will then take place some time tomorrow!

TOT seems to have a complete dichotomy of staff. Both some of the most helpful of all I have ever found in Thailand and some of the most stupid, idiotic, bureaucratically-minded fools on the planet.

I shall post this when I am back online!

Back to birds! According to my Thai Bird bible, Garrulax leucolophus, the White Crested Laughing Thrush, (กะรางหัวหงอก - I'm afraid you had the wrong Thai spelling) is one of the more common resident birds around CM. This is certainly borne out by the number we see around home and their frequent morning call, a (sometimes terrifying) cackle of mad laughter they have a habit of letting off just outside the bedroom window!

They are intelligent birds and can be domesticated and taught to speak, much like the Hill Mynah, various parrots, starlings or some members of the crow family. Indeed, like the crows, they are somewhat anti social towards other bird species and often raid nests, stealing nesting materials and breaking eggs etc. They are also known to parasitize other bird species, laying their eggs in other birds' nests like the cuckoo, although they sometimes then take over the nest and sit, incubating the eggs themselves.

Breeding season is generally between February and June. They built their nests in undergrowth, or in trees in various varieties of forest. The nest is cup shaped, constructed from leaves, twigs, dried grasses and vines. The egg's shell is white, and decidedly oval shape with a narrowing at one end. They are generally about 7.5 grammes in weight.

They lay up to 7 eggs per clutch, but more generally about 3 or 4. The incubation period is normally from 12 to 13 days

The young normally fledge and leave the nest within a fortnight.

They are pretty much omnivorous, eating insects, fruit, seeds, flowers and even some small lizards and snakes.

I hope this answers your queries.

P

[meadish_sweetball]

I have a couple of those just outside my office window as well. Thank you for the info p1p!

(Was up on Doi Angkhang about a week ago, and the most common bird up there appeared to be a variation with a black crest instead of a white one, and a little red mark on its cheek... otherwise it looked very similar.)

[sabaijai]

Good info, thanks p1p. I should've known my Bangkok-born wife would use an ล in place of a an ร; and I misheard the tone of the final word. Now finding lots of info on the Internet with the correct spelling. I've also found (fewer) listings under the alternate spelling กระรางหัวหงอก