Birds in your garden

[Skeptic7]

Yard Bird Bytes...

 

For only the 3rd time had Peregrine Falcon again last evening and the 2nd time the bird had a kill in it's talons. Good hunting round here for sure. Hoping it was a Rock Dove (pigeon).

 

For some reason unknown to me, Scaly Breasted Munia have chosen our lanai, in a potted thorny flowering cactus plant no less, to build their nest. Poor choice for myriad reasons, but if they persist i will post a pic.

 

This edit is because just as I posted, the Peregrine came barreling directly overhead for the 3rd consecutive evening around this time...6pm. Obviously hunting it went into about a 45 degree dive approx 100 meters away. DINNERTIME!

[AjarnNorth]

Bangsaen yard list species #88. Red-billed Blue Magpie. Uncommon to locally common resident. No photo yet. But a great looking and very noisy bird and a good way to start what has been a good day. Only the second I have seen and the first in Bangsaen proper. When I woke up I heard it squawking and immediately knew it was something I'd not had from the garden before. Great looks at short distance and with bins, but as i went for the camera off it flew. Tried a bit of play back from the yard hoping to get it to return for a photo, but to no avail. Maybe tomorrow morning.

[jak2002003]

7 hours ago, AjarnNorth said:

Bangsaen yard list species #88. Red-billed Blue Magpie. Uncommon to locally common resident. No photo yet. But a great looking and very noisy bird and a good way to start what has been a good day. Only the second I have seen and the first in Bangsaen proper. When I woke up I heard it squawking and immediately knew it was something I'd not had from the garden before. Great looks at short distance and with bins, but as i went for the camera off it flew. Tried a bit of play back from the yard hoping to get it to return for a photo, but to no avail. Maybe tomorrow morning.

The Red billed blue Magpie used to be a common sight over much of Thailand many years ago.  Now I hardly see any.  Anyone know what caused this birds massive decline over such a short period?  Seems strange, as magpies as usually such an adaptive species.  Also I have very rarely seen a crow up here in Chiang Mai province. Do you think farmers shoot all the crows and magpies?

 

 

[Skeptic7]

So despite our small 5th floor lanai and our constant comings and goings, the Scaly Breasted Munia pair continue their nest building. Most everyone is well acquainted with my fuzzy fotos, but in all fairness they were taken with my phone thru a tinted window.

 

The first is the nest foundation. In the 2nd pic, one is busy but extremely wary of my presence. In the 3rd highly cropped pic, both birds are present.

[AjarnNorth]

15 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

The Red billed blue Magpie used to be a common sight over much of Thailand many years ago.  Now I hardly see any.  Anyone know what caused this birds massive decline over such a short period?  Seems strange, as magpies as usually such an adaptive species.  Also I have very rarely seen a crow up here in Chiang Mai province. Do you think farmers shoot all the crows and magpies?

 

 

My guess on the Magpies is that perhaps they have gone the way of Red-whiskered Bulbul as a result of the caged-bird trade. The only Red-billed Bue Magpie I saw when I was last in Chiang Mai were in cages.  The Red-whiskered Bulbul should be very common, but I have only seen one in Surin and a few each time I visit Kao Yai. On the other hand, I can see a dozen or more in cages in a two-block radius of my apartment in Bangkok. 

[jak2002003]

7 hours ago, AjarnNorth said:

My guess on the Magpies is that perhaps they have gone the way of Red-whiskered Bulbul as a result of the caged-bird trade. The only Red-billed Bue Magpie I saw when I was last in Chiang Mai were in cages.  The Red-whiskered Bulbul should be very common, but I have only seen one in Surin and a few each time I visit Kao Yai. On the other hand, I can see a dozen or more in cages in a two-block radius of my apartment in Bangkok. 

That could be true.  I did visit a home where someone had several blue magpies in a cage in their garden.

 

But the Red whiskered Bulbul is VERY common up in the North... despite the HUGE numbers caught each year for life in cages.. but I think they reproduce faster and have more young than the Magpie. 

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

12 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

That could be true.  I did visit a home where someone had several blue magpies in a cage in their garden.

 

But the Red whiskered Bulbul is VERY common up in the North... despite the HUGE numbers caught each year for life in cages.. but I think they reproduce faster and have more young than the Magpie. 

 

 

That RWBB are still "very common" in the north is good to know. It's my understanding, though, that they were common throughout Thailand not so long ago and that is definitively no longer the case. In fact, I am fairly certain they are now a protected species due to the rapid decline. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270761857_Red-whiskered_Bulbul_are_trapping_and_unregulated_avicultural_practices_pushing_this_species_towards_extinction_in_Thailand

[Skeptic7]

As for RWBB, couldn't agree more. Seen and heard in cages exclusively...up until recently anyway. When I had a free one on the property here in BKK a year ago, figured it was a one-off escapee. However, earlier this year...Jan-Feb...was seeing them almost daily. For pix and more details, refer back to posts 466 and 470 of this thread. Raised a few questions that are getting attention now but only "crickets" when I posted about it!  555

[jak2002003]

10 hours ago, AjarnNorth said:

That RWBB are still "very common" in the north is good to know. It's my understanding, though, that they were common throughout Thailand not so long ago and that is definitively no longer the case. In fact, I am fairly certain they are now a protected species due to the rapid decline. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270761857_Red-whiskered_Bulbul_are_trapping_and_unregulated_avicultural_practices_pushing_this_species_towards_extinction_in_Thailand

Read that link.. seemed very interesting.  But, it was a bit misinformed.  They suggested the singing bird competitions and value of the prize winning birds was in part to blame in depleting wild populations.  However, no wild caught RWBB will win any prizes in such events, and no members of such clubs will want to own one.  The best singers and best looking (bigger and stronger or unusual coloured birds, like pied or albino) are all bred on bird farms and cold for high prices.  This is the same as the Zebra dove. One taken from the wild will not stand a chance of having the required song.  They are also too small for show.  All birds from the bird farms are close ringed as chicks as guarantee they are from a bird farm... well know ones get the best reputation and highest prices.  It's kind of like people who are into pedigree dogs.. they are not going to want to breed and show some feral mutts. 

 

Up here in Chiang Mai the RWBB is probably in my top 5 common birds I see wild in the villages.. and even in the city. 

 

I think a more likely reason they are declining over the rest of the country is because of changing farming practices and loss of habitat.  Farmers spray all sorts of pesticides and chemical onto the rice fields now.. and around Bangkok there are more and more areas of land being turned into concrete housing developments (and sadly up here now too). 

 

 

[Skeptic7]

11 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Read that link.. seemed very interesting.  But, it was a bit misinformed.  They suggested the singing bird competitions and value of the prize winning birds was in part to blame in depleting wild populations.  However, no wild caught RWBB will win any prizes in such events, and no members of such clubs will want to own one.  The best singers and best looking (bigger and stronger or unusual coloured birds, like pied or albino) are all bred on bird farms and cold for high prices.  This is the same as the Zebra dove. One taken from the wild will not stand a chance of having the required song.  They are also too small for show.  All birds from the bird farms are close ringed as chicks as guarantee they are from a bird farm... well know ones get the best reputation and highest prices.  It's kind of like people who are into pedigree dogs.. they are not going to want to breed and show some feral mutts. 

 

Up here in Chiang Mai the RWBB is probably in my top 5 common birds I see wild in the villages.. and even in the city. 

 

I think a more likely reason they are declining over the rest of the country is because of changing farming practices and loss of habitat.  Farmers spray all sorts of pesticides and chemical onto the rice fields now.. and around Bangkok there are more and more areas of land being turned into concrete housing developments (and sadly up here now too). 

 

 

Not sure exacttly why you consider the article "misinformed". The headline asks a question, it does not make a claim, then the article gives a lot of relevant information, much of which I didn't know...like RWBB clubs and competitions. Seems very well informed.

 

You then raise some interesting points about breeders and such, but the article covers breeders and hybrids adequately, even extensively IMO. Also, it at least takes wild birds to begin a breeding farm and/or hybrid program. Also good points you make about habitat loss and questionable practices of agricultural husbandry, which are certainly major concerns...ALL are contributing to the loss, including extensive capture, and all need to be addressed. The easiest by far would be prohibiting these clubs and competitions and stiff fines for those caging and selling...seemingly anyway.

 

I do know from a couple decades of casual to moderate Thailand birding (was a hardcore birder in the States with a list upwards of 600 species and a GA list well over 300) that of the hundred+ RWBB I've seen here, only about 10 have not been in cages...and some of those possibly repeats in the yard here in BKK just this year. 

 

One last point, just because a species is common in one particular area, which is great to know, doesn't mean there still isn't a greater problem and decline on a much larger scale.

[jak2002003]

2 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Not sure exacttly why you consider the article "misinformed". The headline asks a question, it does not make a claim, then the article gives a lot of relevant information, much of which I didn't know...like RWBB clubs and competitions. Seems very well informed.

 

You then raise some interesting points about breeders and such, but the article covers breeders and hybrids adequately, even extensively IMO. Also, it at least takes wild birds to begin a breeding farm and/or hybrid program. Also good points you make about habitat loss and questionable practices of agricultural husbandry, which are certainly major concerns...ALL are contributing to the loss, including extensive capture, and all need to be addressed. The easiest by far would be prohibiting these clubs and competitions and stiff fines for those caging and selling...seemingly anyway.

 

I do know from a couple decades of casual to moderate Thailand birding (was a hardcore birder in the States with a list upwards of 600 species and a GA list well over 300) that of the hundred+ RWBB I've seen here, only about 10 have not been in cages...and some of those possibly repeats in the yard here in BKK just this year. 

 

One last point, just because a species is common in one particular area, which is great to know, doesn't mean there still isn't a greater problem and decline on a much larger scale.

Sorry, I should have choses a better word than 'misinformed'.

 

However, I  doubt the cage bird trade (for these singing birds)  has any serious impact on the wild bird population.  Imposing fines and making it illegal for these competitions is pointless and taking away a fascinating part of the culture here.  It also distances people away from nature and then they will have no interest in birds or conserving them in the wild. 

 

I am from the UK.  Its illegal to trap and cage any native wild bird species and has been for many years.  These days no one keeps wild British birds.  But the UK songbird population for most species is declining year by year at an alarming rate.  Back in the day, when my Grandfather kept goldfinches, Bullfinches, etc there were  big populations of these birds.. and many people keeping them as pets too.  I remember him telling my of the huge flocks of Yellowhammers, buntings, and the white throats and thrushes... these days they are absent from the countryside.  So, how can it be these birds were most plentiful when people would catch and cage some... and now.. a long time after making it illegal, the bird populations are in steep decline with numbers being a fraction of what there were in the past?

 

Blaming Thailand singing bird competitions of the decline of its native birds does not hold water. Please not I am not talking about the illegal pet trade and smuggling rare and endangered bird or animals species!  And I don't agree with taking birds from the wild on moral grounds, but I still can not agree with that article that the song bird competitions are a big part of the Bulbuls population decline.  Seems to me that most birds here are declining... even species that are no kept as pets, or eaten.  Something else is going wrong... and I suspect habitat loss and degradation, together with pollution and persecution. 

[jak2002003]

On a different note... 

 

Is this chicken a Jungle Fowl?

 

I have this one and 2 females come visit my orchard (which is near the base of the mountains in Chiang Mai).  They come to steal my own chicken's food.  They are very flighty and I can't get to the hens to take a photo without them flying off.  The rooster I can get about 10 ft away from him.  They are small size and fly well.  I am in a very rural area.. and lots of forest.  Only have 3 neighbours and none of them keep chickens. 

 

Thanks. 

[Skeptic7]

Red Junglefowl. Which btw is THE ancestor of the domestic chicken. Still found wild in your area but as Round states in A Guide To The Birds Of Thailand..."much reduced due to hunting". Note the book was published in 1991.

[AjarnNorth]

On 3/27/2017 at 1:22 PM, jak2002003 said:

Sorry, I should have choses a better word than 'misinformed'.

 

However, I  doubt the cage bird trade (for these singing birds)  has any serious impact on the wild bird population.  Imposing fines and making it illegal for these competitions is pointless and taking away a fascinating part of the culture here.  It also distances people away from nature and then they will have no interest in birds or conserving them in the wild. 

 

I am from the UK.  Its illegal to trap and cage any native wild bird species and has been for many years.  These days no one keeps wild British birds.  But the UK songbird population for most species is declining year by year at an alarming rate.  Back in the day, when my Grandfather kept goldfinches, Bullfinches, etc there were  big populations of these birds.. and many people keeping them as pets too.  I remember him telling my of the huge flocks of Yellowhammers, buntings, and the white throats and thrushes... these days they are absent from the countryside.  So, how can it be these birds were most plentiful when people would catch and cage some... and now.. a long time after making it illegal, the bird populations are in steep decline with numbers being a fraction of what there were in the past?

 

Blaming Thailand singing bird competitions of the decline of its native birds does not hold water. Please not I am not talking about the illegal pet trade and smuggling rare and endangered bird or animals species!  And I don't agree with taking birds from the wild on moral grounds, but I still can not agree with that article that the song bird competitions are a big part of the Bulbuls population decline.  Seems to me that most birds here are declining... even species that are no kept as pets, or eaten.  Something else is going wrong... and I suspect habitat loss and degradation, together with pollution and persecution. 

Did you read just the abstract that link leads to or the entire paper? The reason I ask is because the paper discusses almost all the points you mention and does not put sole blame on the "Thailand singing bird competitions of the decline of its native birds" as you suggest. It simply points put that "Some Thai government authorities have inadvertently encouraged the illegal sale and capture of Red-whiskered Bulbuls through, for example, the active promotion of Red-whiskered Bulbul singing contests." And that trapping for the cage-bird trade is is a contributing factor to the decline of the species, as it has been for other species (Straw-headed Bulbul, various Parakeet species, etc.).  

 

I doubt many (if any) of the dozens of RWBB I see every day in cages in Bangkok are used for competitions. But I don't doubt those competitions didn't help in the sense that they have popularized the species as a cage bird. 

 

You say you doubt the cage bird trade "has any serious impact" on the population of the Red-whiskered Bulbul, but the experts say otherwise (See also Round, "Birds of the Bangkok Area") and do so based on years of records and research. Of course habitat destruction and etc. has played a major role, but so has trapping. No shortage of Streak-eared Bulbul, for example. Yellow-vented seem to be doing well enough and in fact increasing their range. But when I want to know why a bird is or seems to be in decline, I defer to those who have put the years in and have all the data. That they are common in Chiang Mai doesn't explain why they are so scarce in Central Thailand and the south. In fact the south seems to be where the singing contests originated and according to Round "...trapping has virtually eliminated it in the south."

 

 

[Briggsy]

I was surprised to see Blue Magpies breeding in Khao Mai Kaeo protected forest area just outside Pattaya this morning. I have not got them south of Khao Khieow in Chonburi. Khao Khieow being a much larger area of forest.

 

There are some tall trees on the forest edge. Whenever I have encountered blue magpies, they are in the tops of tall trees or not far from them.

[BLACKJACK2]

On 3/20/2017 at 1:49 AM, thetefldon said:

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!

thetefldon, can i ask what camera you use

[thetefldon]

Hi Blackjack 2

I use a Canon EOS 80D and perhaps more importantly a Canon 400mm f5.6 lens-the lens is not image stabalised(No IS)but is a cracking lens for BIF shots-not bad on stationary stuff either.

 

It's taken me  while but I can now handhold and get fairly sharp shots-the Needletail is not a good example for the reasons stated but here are a couple of better shots of common birds, by no means perfect but I feel I am getting there:

Red Collared Dove

Shikra

Red Wattled Lapwing

BTW all these birds photographed at my house from 1st floor terrace, I live North of Phetchabun

:

 

[jack2964]

Cool bif shots. Mind sharing exif and mode used? Thanks.

[Skeptic7]

#62 this afternoon...Hoopoe fly thru.

Cool!

[BLACKJACK2]

Great photos.

Can someone help with identifying these, thanks.

 

[thetefldon]

19 hours ago, jack2964 said:

Cool bif shots. Mind sharing exif and mode used? Thanks.

No problem. On the EOS 80D(+400mm f5.6) for BIF I use manual mode, f5.6 or f6.3(for a bit more DOF), 1/2000th, AF in servo mode(not sure name on other camera makes), I always use Auto ISO. My EOS 80D(24MP) will produce acceptable images(for me) up to ISO 3200 with cropping! I also use bust mode to get a few images if possible-camera has 7 fps speed if I remember correctly.

 

Occasionally I find big birds on wide open aperture can lack DOF and for example wing tips, tail or head might be out of focus compared to rest of image. f7.1 seems to help but I rarely use it!

 

The two flight shots were both taken at f6.3 1/2000th with auto ISO which came out at ISO 500(it was low light at sunset) and if you look closely the head on Red Wattled Lapwing is soft(more obvious when zoomed in).

 

There is no IS on the lens I use and the shots are all handheld. So for stationary stuff I still use a high shutter speed either in Manual mode or TV mode again with auto ISO and f5.6 or 6.3.

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

 

[thetefldon]

6 hours ago, BLACKJACK2 said:

Great photos.

Can someone help with identifying these, thanks.

 

Taiga Flycatcher and Plain Prinia I think! Just possible flycatcher could be Asian Brown

[jack2964]

@thetefldon. Thanks for details of your bif shots. I have the same 400/5.6 as you and it's a very sharp lens in adequate light but it struggles in the shade.  Excellent for bif in open well lit spaces. 

I like to shoot at 5.6 even if dof is shallow. Blurred wing tips don't bother me much as long as eyes are tack sharp....Of course easier said than done. Lol.

[AjarnNorth]

Funny. With all the recent talk about Red-whiskered Bulbul, I was on m way back from a couple hours of birding the shoreline as well as local fishponds in Bangsean, Chonburi when iabout half a kilometer from my place I looked up and saw two of them on a wire. I didn't get shots, just good looks with bins before they flew off. I waited a while and walked around the area to no avail. After some food at my place, i rode back there and there they were. Same wire. In about 9 years of pretty serious birding, I have only seen this bird free-flying in Surin (1 bird one time) and a few in Kao Yai each time I visit (where it should be abundant). It's possible the two I saw today were merit releases as it was in a temple area, or also possible they are escapes. One hopes they're a breeding pair either way. Attached is a fuzzy jpeg of one of the two. 

[jack2964]

Over where I am (lower NE Isaan) I recall seeing a pair visit my backyard a number of years ago. Never seen them again.

However I am puzzled by the disappearance of what used to be fairly common Sooty-headed bulbuls. Theyused to come to bathe and drink from my bird bath. All I have left now are Streak-eared bulbuls. Even the Yellow-vented are increasingly scarce.

Strange.

[thetefldon]

On 4/1/2017 at 9:56 AM, jack2964 said:

@thetefldon. Thanks for details of your bif shots. I have the same 400/5.6 as you and it's a very sharp lens in adequate light but it struggles in the shade.  Excellent for bif in open well lit spaces. 

I like to shoot at 5.6 even if dof is shallow. Blurred wing tips don't bother me much as long as eyes are tack sharp....Of course easier said than done. Lol.

You're welcome. Your stationary stuff(are birds ever still) on the other thread is excellent. I would be interested to know if the shots are handheld and what sort of settings do you use to get the results.

 

I have a big problem hand holding the f5.6 at anything less than around 1/1600th for stationary stuff. Bif's not an issue- but as you say sometimes easier said than done.

 

BTW totally agree about light with his lens.

 

Perhaps I should post my query on "for the birds?" Don't want to hijack this thread with tech stuff

[thetefldon]

16 hours ago, jack2964 said:

Over where I am (lower NE Isaan) I recall seeing a pair visit my backyard a number of years ago. Never seen them again.

However I am puzzled by the disappearance of what used to be fairly common Sooty-headed bulbuls. Theyused to come to bathe and drink from my bird bath. All I have left now are Streak-eared bulbuls. Even the Yellow-vented are increasingly scarce.

Strange.

For what it's worth, here in Phetchabun plenty of Sooties and I have a few Yellow-vented too. Streak-eared in droves!! I do see Red Whiskered Bulbul BUT only in Tad Mok NP, not on my patch. Occasional showings of Black-crested and Black-headed on patch but quite prevelant in Tad Mok.

[Skeptic7]

Progression of a Scaly-breasted Munia nest. After a 2 day hiatus, the munias have diligently resumed their nest building, in a thorny flowering cactus on our lanai. The nest is actually a small cave, which will unfortunately prevent pix of eggs and offspring.

 

Notice in the first pic, the frond strips are placed like a hand as the base.

 

The last 2 pix show the entrance hole looking from the outside in towards the lanai. 

[jack2964]

I heard screeching Indian mynas out my backyard and knew something was bothering them. Grabbed the camera and made it to the backyard just in time to see this being mobbed by a pair of mynas.

Sorry for the truly awful pic but could this be Shikra?

 

 

 

[Skeptic7]

Definitely an Accipiter and probably a Shikra, which is the most common and the default go-to when unsure. Accipiters are tough to ID in areas where different species are found. However with your locale and pic, almost certainly a Shikra...unless someone else sees something in the bird that I'm missing.

 

BTW...If you got a look at the bird's back and it was grey like the bird in thetefldon's awesome pic in post #531, then you had a male Shikra.