Birds in your garden

[Badrabbit]

Two large very white birds flying about at 3am eagle size, could they be sea eagles or a large owl?

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[overherebc]

Hoopoo is back around but haven't managed to get a photo yet.

[Skeptic7]

Prepare for a REALLY rare bird pic. A Rock Pigeon in a tree! 

[Bredbury Blue]

As mentioned above, i am currently working abroad in Vietnam but was back home this past weekend. We have a smallish garden, but plenty of trees, and to one side we have a khlong and pla-salid fields, so plenty of birds, snakes, monitors, etc.

 

After being in Vietnam where birds are a rarity  - I've hardly seen or heard any, seriously, and sadly i pass 3 shops which sell egrets kept in large communal cages, for eating I've been advised - i was reveling in the birds in my garden, nothing unusual, plenty of doves, mynas, wagtails, and one large woop-woop bird (as the kids call them) cautiously checking out the free bread on the grass outside the kitchen window; what a magnificent bird.

 

I thought i'd heard a new bird this morning, in distress, but it turned out to be a squirrel (i think they chirp when they are distressed or calling a mate).

 

Anybody been bird-watching in Vietnam...bet that would be a waste of time and money.

 

[thetefldon]

No 75 and 76 on patch list:

Rufous Winged Buzzard

Siberian/Eastern Stonechat

 

Sorry no good pics!

 

[tutsiwarrior]

On 2/27/2017 at 10:16 PM, Bredbury Blue said:

As mentioned above, i am currently working abroad in Vietnam but was back home this past weekend. We have a smallish garden, but plenty of trees, and to one side we have a khlong and pla-salid fields, so plenty of birds, snakes, monitors, etc.

 

After being in Vietnam where birds are a rarity  - I've hardly seen or heard any, seriously, and sadly i pass 3 shops which sell egrets kept in large communal cages, for eating I've been advised - i was reveling in the birds in my garden, nothing unusual, plenty of doves, mynas, wagtails, and one large woop-woop bird (as the kids call them) cautiously checking out the free bread on the grass outside the kitchen window; what a magnificent bird.

 

I thought i'd heard a new bird this morning, in distress, but it turned out to be a squirrel (i think they chirp when they are distressed or calling a mate).

 

Anybody been bird-watching in Vietnam...bet that would be a waste of time and money.

 

 

I spent a year in Ha Tinh province on the north central coast where the bombing and defoliation was extreme, close to the top of the HCM Trail, and there are egrets in the paddies and house sparrows around...but they are hardy species...I lived at the beach and there were seabirds around on occasion, maybe migratory...

 

who knows how many species were lost during the war...very lovely country around there, lush forested hillsides, etc...a place unknown to tourists...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kỳ_Anh_District

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by tutsiwarrior

[jak2002003]

10 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 

I spent a year in Ha Tinh province on the north central coast where the bombing and defoliation was extreme, close to the top of the HCM Trail, and there are egrets in the paddies and house sparrows around...but they are hardy species...I lived at the beach and there were seabirds around on occasion, maybe migratory...

 

who knows how many species were lost during the war...very lovely country around there, lush forested hillsides, etc...a place unknown to tourists...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kỳ_Anh_District

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes that is very sad... but if you say there are still lush forested hillsides and other habitat still there they birds will eventually come back.  However, when I went there I saw many more caged wild caught birds in cages then in the wild. 

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

4 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

Yes that is very sad... but if you say there are still lush forested hillsides and other habitat still there they birds will eventually come back.  However, when I went there I saw many more caged wild caught birds in cages then in the wild. 

 

 

 

the vietnamese are amazingly resilient...Vinh City just to the north that has a seaport was flattened during the war (you can see the devastation when driving from the airport) but was rebuilt and is now vibrant...

 

them forested hllsides maybe survived the bombing or were replanted, I never bothered to find out...but yeah, there is habitat there fer sure...

 

plenty of chickens at the local Ky Anh market; ye choose one and it's slaughtered and plucked on the spot...no foolin' around...I preferred the already slaughtered pork and the fresh tofu with my veges...better suited to my western sensibilities...

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

The advice i received from my work colleagues here, on the lack of birds in Vietnam, is it is due to catching to eat. I don't know if that's true or not, although having seen the cages of egret i suspect it is true. In nearly 6 months I've seen very few birds, a handful of dogs, barely a cat, no monitor lizards (i'm in a rural area similar to the coast provinces next to BKK). I've see some sparrows, a few mynahs and one drongo. Surprisingly, as i am based on the coast, I've hardly seen any coastal birds. 

 

We don't realise how lucky we are in Thailand!

[Bredbury Blue]

Apologies for diverting this to Vietnam...back to Thailand birds boys please.

[meatboy]

the magpie robins have come home,its music to our ears every morning.i hope its the same ones that nested in our garden as last yr.

i called him TOM J.

the hen sounds like KATHRYN JENKINS.what a bird.

[AjarnNorth]

I'm sorry to inform the members of this and all other bird forums on Thaivisa that "Isanbirder" passed away last week as a result of an ongoing struggle with cancer.

 

IB started what I understand was the first birding-related thread on Thaivisa - "Birdwatching in Isan" in the "Isaan" section - and it was that thread that I stumbled  across when I had just stared birding (2008) and hardly knew my Mynas from my Starlings and certainly couldn't begin to separate one warbler from another.

 

IB was a big help to me in the beginning and he then put me in touch with folks who helped even more, especially when IB and I disagreed on IDs, and as I was in Surin and he in Buriram, we eventually met in person and went birding together on a number of occasions, including a "wild sparrow chase" to follow-up on credible reports of a possible odd sparrow species in the northeast (we didn't turn up anything). He was a guest of my wife and I when we were in Surin and we made visits to him in Buriram over the years when we could, even after relocating to Chonburi. 

 

He was a consistent contributor to this thread, the one he started I mentioned above, the "for the birds" thread in the photo section, as well as other threads. His knowledge of birds and his voice on these forums will be missed, as will his friendship. 

[kgpr]

Very sorry to hear about this..R.I.P.

[meatboy]

that is one very sad news.he helped us when we were having big problems with our beloved dog.

i cant recall him ever mentioning his illness.

so ISANBIRDER from meatboy,mrs.meat and our beloved sam R.I.P.

[samuijimmy]

Sad news indeed... He was a good contributor to the forum...

[thetefldon]

Yes, RIP Isanbirder, I never knew you, but your input here and on other threads helped and encouraged my birding/photography no end.

[thetefldon]

No 77 on patch list albeit a flyover!

Striated Swallow

[balo]

I am sorry to ask but I need some answers.

 

A bird wakes me up from 3 AM and continue all through the morning.    It's a moody whistling sound repeated 10-15 times.  Forget barking dogs , this noise is making me want to hunt it down. I normally love birds though but It just never stops.  And outside my window every day . This is in Chiang Mai .  Thanks. 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2017 by balo

[Skeptic7]

6 hours ago, balo said:

I am sorry to ask but I need some answers.

 

A bird wakes me up from 3 AM and continue all through the morning.    It's a moody whistling sound repeated 10-15 times.  Forget barking dogs , this noise is making me want to hunt it down. I normally love birds though but It just never stops.  And outside my window every day . This is in Chiang Mai .  Thanks. 

 

 

 

Sounds like a Plaintive Cuckoo. They frequently sing at night, especially during the breeding season.

[balo]

2 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Sounds like a Plaintive Cuckoo.

 

Thanks , I did some research online and I found out who the culprit is. 

 

It's an Asian Koel , and the bad news is the noise will not stop until May , it's breeding season.   And the bird choose to sing from the big tree outside my window  .   What can I do to scare it away ? 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

[Skeptic7]

The "GOW-WOW" bird! The loudest bird in Thailand. He is also a prolific night caller, but the 'moody whistling' description threw me. The Plaintive Cuckoo is a moody whistler in his 2 songs...one upbeat and one melancholy. The Koel is more like loud & intrusive screaming. Haha. Pleasant dreams!

[jak2002003]

13 hours ago, balo said:

 

Thanks , I did some research online and I found out who the culprit is. 

 

It's an Asian Koel , and the bad news is the noise will not stop until May , it's breeding season.   And the bird choose to sing from the big tree outside my window  .   What can I do to scare it away ? 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Believe me you will not notice it after a few more days. 

 

I have a neighbor with several really loud roosters... when he first got them the noise drove me mad and woke me up in the night many times.  Now I never notice the noise... but when guests come to stay they always tell me they were woken up in the night by the noisy roosters.

 

I also have a few of those Asian Koel birds in my garden.  There are about 3 of them and they are noisy chasing the females about and fighting with the pied starlings when they try to put their eggs into their nests.  But, again I don't notice them any more.  Just takes a week or 2. 

 

The only noise I have not gotten used to is the loud music from the temple, the loud trumpet blowing and Bollywood music from the Hindu retreat, the children screaming and shouting and riding their motorbikes with modified loud exhaust pipes up and down our street to play in the swimming pool.

 

Thailand has lots of noise.  I would swap your Asian Koel for my temple.

 

 

[balo]

16 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Believe me you will not notice it after a few more days. 

 

I hope you're right but I normally start sleeping way past midnight , sometimes not before 2 am and that bird starts very early ! So when I finally are ready to sleep the bird is awake and that noise is repeated 15 times , then a break for maybe 1 minute and another 15 times.  It goes on and on and on .   If I'm tired enough I will sleep but I am not getting used to it. 

[jack2964]

Having just found this thread I am sorry to hear of Isanbirder's passing. He and Ajarn north had helped me countless times with bird ID and related birding stuff over at 'Isan birding' thread. 

 

Thanks too to Bredbury Blue for starting this thread. Now following.

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Sorry Balo, but my two favourite bird sounds, are Koel (i have them regular in the orchard next to us) and Whoop Whoop bird (Coucal) .

[thetefldon]

No 78 on patch list @ Na Ngua Phetchabun.

 

Eastern Marsh Harrier-nice flyover near the house this AM

[thetefldon]

No 79 on patch list a flyover again!

 

Brown-backed Needletail. Pic taken in heavy rain as birds hunting emerging winged termites. So spots all over the pic are rain drop-  its not great!

[jak2002003]

Sorry no photos... but this year got a nice surprise as a flock of about 20 black winged stilts have too up residence on flooded but unused rice fields at the back of my house. Been here about a week now. 

 

Also have some kind of plovers and at night a large flock of lesser whistling ducks.  There are hundreds of these ducks on a lake in my village during the day this year.  Each years seems there are more and more... forming big rafts in the middle or the lake.

 

I live in Chiang Mai near Doi Suket.

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

Bangkok Yard list: #22 Asian Brown Shrike; #23 Black-collared Starling. Not very exciting, but there it is...

[Skeptic7]

Good day yesterday with #61 Painted Stork soaring over. Also Peregrine Falcon and Red Turtle (red collared) Dove, neither which is new but always nice to see.