Nearly 2 months after the nest building began, the Scaly-breasted Munias fledged their brood today. After returning fron a few hours away, we were fortunate enough to see the last nestling of 3 or 4 take a flying leap and it's first flight! 

 

GF was thrilled as she had never witnessed such an event. Exciting for all because the nest is in a cactus on our 5th floor lanai and there is no place to go but straight down out of the entrance hole. The little guy did great, making a fine, if a bit wobbly, landing in a mango tree below and mom was right there for support. Soon after more encouragement from both parents, they all 3 flew over to some bamboo and joined the other fledglings.

Managed a few snaps of one of the Scaly-breasted Munia fledglings with a parent. In the last pic the youngster is flying over to join the other parent bird.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice pics, Skeptic !!

On 5/18/2017 at 2:58 PM, KC 71 said:

What makes me laugh is one of the rudest things to say in Thai is kee Nok
Bird shxt ! I always try to tell them if a bird Shxts on you in England it is considered lucky !

What is the statute of limitations? Been crapped on over the years by Chimney Swift, Laughing Gull, American Robin...and a Tree Sparrow just this morning! GF's hand and smartphone got spattered by a Myna last year.

 

Still waiting...but starting to think the UK kee nok story is actually BS!  

Suddenly on a bit of a roll No 82 on patch list is a flyby by a fine pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks

 

 

Not my best BIF so here's a more pleasing shot(for me) of An Eastern Cattle Egret in breeding plumage-have a nice week!

 

 

No 83 on patch list, a flyover by a Little Egret.

 

Quite an interesting one given that I would not have expected it here-more coastal and I'm 400 km inland!

 

Anyone any thoughts?

1 hour ago, thetefldon said:

No 83 on patch list, a flyover by a Little Egret.

 

Quite an interesting one given that I would not have expected it here-more coastal and I'm 400 km inland!

 

Anyone any thoughts?

Kinda surprised it wasn't already on your awesome list! Egrets/herons are by no means strictly coastal. They can be found inland year round and will breed around lakes, ponds, marshes and paddies...although your locale is near the northern edge of it's breeding range. Their winter range covers most of Thailand.

Little Egret were fairly common throughout the year during my time in Surin. 

 

My notes from that time read: 

 

LITTLE EGRET Egretta garzetta. (R/WV) Paddyfields, marshes, edges of reservoir. Present throughout the year and common with numbers peaking in the winter. By April, most are in breeding plumage, with numbers beginning to thin thereafter. Robson (2008) has Little Egret as a scarce to locally common resident in C, SE, and S Thailand only (winter visitor throughout). Regular Summer records from Huai Saneng might therefore support a range extension for this species, though no breeding was observed.

 

As accommodating as we were to the nesting Munias...not so much to the Tree Sparrows that saw an easy nesting opportunity and were claiming the abandoned Munia nest. Nothing like the clean & quiet Munias, loud & dirty are Tree Sparrows, so decided to take down the nest to GF's initial protestations. After hearing their constant boisterous chattering and seeing more "kee nok" around the nest in 2 minutes than we literally saw with the Munias entire 2 months sharing our lanai, she concurred. Upon close inspection of the inside of the nest, amazing it was still spotless clean inside. 

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 2:04 PM, Skeptic7 said:

Kinda surprised it wasn't already on your awesome list! Egrets/herons are by no means strictly coastal. They can be found inland year round and will breed around lakes, ponds, marshes and paddies...although your locale is near the northern edge of it's breeding range. Their winter range covers most of Thailand.

I would have said same regarding seeing this sp. but my reading(Round & Robson) suggests as AjarnNorth eludes to(in post) that the birds are somewhat rarer up here at Northern end of Phetchabun. I often visit local paddies but in the main only see Cattle Egrets. Yesterday for example found 30+ ECE in full breeding plumage feeding behind as a tractor disturbed the paddy.

 

I shall keep an eye out more in the future.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, appreciate your input to help further my understanding.

13 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

As accommodating as we were to the nesting Munias...not so much to the Tree Sparrows that saw an easy nesting opportunity and were claiming the abandoned Munia nest. Nothing like the clean & quiet Munias, loud & dirty are Tree Sparrows, so decided to take down the nest to GF's initial protestations. After hearing their constant boisterous chattering and seeing more "kee nok" around the nest in 2 minutes than we literally saw with the Munias entire 2 months sharing our lanai, she concurred. Upon close inspection of the inside of the nest, amazing it was still spotless clean inside. 

In my garden Scaly-breasted Munia have just taken over a Plain Backed Sparrow nest after birds fledged- good opportunists and perpetual nest builders I fancy

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 0:14 AM, AjarnNorth said:

Little Egret were fairly common throughout the year during my time in Surin. 

 

My notes from that time read: 

 

LITTLE EGRET Egretta garzetta. (R/WV) Paddyfields, marshes, edges of reservoir. Present throughout the year and common with numbers peaking in the winter. By April, most are in breeding plumage, with numbers beginning to thin thereafter. Robson (2008) has Little Egret as a scarce to locally common resident in C, SE, and S Thailand only (winter visitor throughout). Regular Summer records from Huai Saneng might therefore support a range extension for this species, though no breeding was observed.

 

Thanks for your input, as you will see in my reply to Skeptic7 I based my original thoughts on what Robson said.

The bird's nest in my helmet hung from my handlebars is metres away from our front door. We have a decent sized garden with lots of trees and live next to farmland so interesting that the nest is so close to people (its in a covered area, which is patrolled by tookay). Impressive nest.

 

Anybody know what bird it is based on the one egg (nest just noticed this morning so my wife who sent me the pictures doesn't know if its old or the parents are still on it)?

 

 

 

Had Red-whiskered Bulbul the past 2 days again...

 

 

Also got decent snaps of both m & f Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

 

And Black-naped Orioe

9 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

The bird's nest in my helmet hung from my handlebars is metres away from our front door. We have a decent sized garden with lots of trees and live next to farmland so interesting that the nest is so close to people (its in a covered area, which is patrolled by tookay). Impressive nest.

 

Anybody know what bird it is based on the one egg (nest just noticed this morning so my wife who sent me the pictures doesn't know if its old or the parents are still on it)?

 

 

 

Possibly Streak-eared Bulbul

No sooner does AjarnNorth mention Black Bittern than this fella fly's over me on a dusk walk near my house tonight:

 

So No 84 on patch list is male Black Bittern, not my best pic but it was getting dark

 

This was my second Bittern of the day the first was a Cinnamon Bittern.

The helmet is about hip height outside the front door.

 

You can see the parent sitting on the egg.

 

It flies off about 5 metres to the tree to the side when anyone passes. If you're eagle-eyed you can just about see it centre of the photo.

 

Bird is?

 

 

Yellow-vented Bulbul 

We have a 2nd egg today (i never knew birds didn't lay their eggs at the same time)

 

 

Wiki..."This is a species adapted to humans and may even nest in gardens. The yellow-vented bulbul lays 2–5 eggs in February to June."

 

 

 

^Thanks for the id. Yes we see lots of Yellow-vented Bulbul's in the garden...even to my colour-blind eyes the yellow vent is easy to see and very attractive. Wife has confirmed there the's a male and female coming and going

Don't have books with me, but in 91, Lekagul/ Round had YV Bulbul for BKK and south only I think. When I first saw them in Surin some 8 or so years ago it was kind of news. But they are on the move. Now up in Laos as well. 

Good thread this. Keep educating me boys.

Yes some good photos here!

 

Just a tip for you guys posting:

 

After writing text or adding a photo, hit the return button before adding a new image or text.. that way the page will show a single line... better for those who view with small screens!

 

 

#63 for the patch here in BKK and FINALLY my 20+ year Thailand nemesis bird...House Sparrow! 

 

 

 

 

On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 2:17 PM, AjarnNorth said:

Don't have books with me, but in 91, Lekagul/ Round had YV Bulbul for BKK and south only I think. When I first saw them in Surin some 8 or so years ago it was kind of news. But they are on the move. Now up in Laos as well. 

Yes, have a pair in garden, here 350km north of Bangkok

 

1 minute ago, thetefldon said:

Yes, have a pair in garden, here 350km north of Bangkok

 

Yep. When I fist saw a pair in my garden in Surin in April 2009, Isanbirder (who is sadly no longer with us) questioned my sight record. He lived an hour from me and had never seen them in his area. I got photos not long thereafter so that settled that. They weren't common in my garden there (as they are here in Chonburi) but common enough to the area that I generally sighted them once a month or so. 

 

View from our front door of the helmet nest. We can watch from the door or from the window plus the wife has put some steps below the nest.

 

Daytime the bird flies away when we approach. It sits in the nest facing away from our front door with its tail feathers sticking out the rim of the helmet (it can only sit in one direction) with its head slowly moving around checking out all angles - only predator in the area of the nest would be tokay. 

 

Night time it sleeps in the nest and you can get inches away without disturbing it – doesn’t even react to us talking a metre away. Check out the night time photos and video.
 

 

 

VIDEO

LINE_MOVIE_1496417675532.mp4

 

 

Managed to get a BIF of a White-throated Kingfisher-hope you like it