Birds in your garden

[Bredbury Blue]

Day 12. Chick was looking like a fluffy ball with wings at dawn. Wife just told me no chick in the nest now  and parent birds not in usual  places so fingers crossed we think this one made it. I'm a proud dad!

[tutsiwarrior]

On 7/22/2018 at 2:07 PM, Skeptic7 said:

Up close look at 3 Baya Weaver nests. The workmanship is superb. Notice how spectacularly woven the nest...and in the last pic how well and tightly wrapped around the branch the grasses & fronds are for supporting the dangling chamber. Obviously 2 of these are unfinished nests. Speculations on the purpose of these unfinished structures abound and they are always found in nesting colonies. Whether just deserted, or rejected nests by females or sheltered roosts called "canopies", the males have definitely been seen alighting inside on the sheltered perch while the female is incubating.

 

Whether the canopy is deliberately planned as a shelter for one or both birds, or whether it is only a partially built and deserted nest, there can be no doubt that the nonincubatlng male has been seen occupying the structure and using it as a perching convenience; and there is no doubt that, whatever the original purpose of these structures, the canopy does make an admirable refuge from wind, rain and hot sun. (C.A. Wood The Nest of the Baya Weaver Bird, 1926)

 

got loads of these out behind our shop house in undeveloped land...rice paddy level and the bank of the local klong has been breached and the klong water comes in...tons of birds (but you can't see them roosting) and their monitor lizard predators...

 

never seen any birds near the hanging nests, maybe inside? from the photos the weave of the nest is simply amazing, an intricacy like a spider's web...our feathered friends have a lot more than we give them credit for...

 

there is a house sparrow nest under the front eaves of our house and it's very sloppy by comparison, and here comes tutsi just outta bed in the mornin' and grumpy and talkin' to the birds: 'hey! clean up that mess, goddamit...look to see that nice stuff that yer friends got on the other side and you don't even got any murderous lizards to worry about like they do ye lazy bastids...'

 

and I am ignored just like always in Thailand...'what's that clazy falang talkin' about?...'

 

 

 

 

[jak2002003]

12 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

got loads of these out behind our shop house in undeveloped land...rice paddy level and the bank of the local klong has been breached and the klong water comes in...tons of birds (but you can't see them roosting) and their monitor lizard predators...

 

never seen any birds near the hanging nests, maybe inside? from the photos the weave of the nest is simply amazing, an intricacy like a spider's web...our feathered friends have a lot more than we give them credit for...

 

there is a house sparrow nest under the front eaves of our house and it's very sloppy by comparison, and here comes tutsi just outta bed in the mornin' and grumpy and talkin' to the birds: 'hey! clean up that mess, goddamit...look to see that nice stuff that yer friends got on the other side and you don't even got any murderous lizards to worry about like they do ye lazy bastids...'

 

and I am ignored just like always in Thailand...'what's that clazy falang talkin' about?...'

 

 

 

 

I often find these nest too... blow down in the wind in random places.  However, I have yet to seen the birds themselves building them or using them.

 

We have a pair of common mynah birds that have been trying to nest on a ledge under our patio roof for about 6 months.  They are so lazy at building the nest and every morning we have to sweep up piles of sticks and junk they have dropped.  The nest never gets past a few sticks stage, as they keep knocking it off!  I would have thought they gave up and found a new place.. but perhaps they are not serious about making it anyway.

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

12 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

I often find these nest too... blow down in the wind in random places.  However, I have yet to seen the birds themselves building them or using them.

 

We have a pair of common mynah birds that have been trying to nest on a ledge under our patio roof for about 6 months.  They are so lazy at building the nest and every morning we have to sweep up piles of sticks and junk they have dropped.  The nest never gets past a few sticks stage, as they keep knocking it off!  I would have thought they gave up and found a new place.. but perhaps they are not serious about making it anyway.

 

 

I say round up the lazy bastids and send them all to eastern Syria to live with the jihadis who'll probably eat them fer supper...make yer landscape great again...(hey, sounds like a good slogan fer a red baseball cap donations fer which shall be graciously accepted)

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

Obviously not in my garden, but in Kaeng Krachana NP last week. Also saw a lot of Grey Wagtails which are among the earliest of the winter visitors reminding me that it's time to keep my eyes open in my yard and put my new (second hand) camera to use. Winter Visitors will start arriving soon. Here in Chonburi, Grey Wagtail are usually soon followed by Whiskered Tern and then all the usual suspects. 

[Bredbury Blue]

^Impressive.

[Skeptic7]

So since the Munias did not repeat the double nesting in the cactus on our lanai this year, GF had the brilliant idea to place an unfinished Baya Weaver nest in the same cactus. After about 3 days of high scrutiny by a pair, it seems to have passed inspection. Yesterday they started bringing nest materials and continuing today. It will be interesting how they integrate their addition to the existing nest. Assuming they will close off one hole completely and well conceal the other. 

 

The foundation of their handiwork are the curved palm strips and grasses outside the nest hole. 

 

[BLACKJACK2]

White breasted waterhen nesting for the second year in the garden, 7 eggs so far.

[Bredbury Blue]

Wife heard a commotion in the garden just now. It was a coucal killing this baby python…dead when the wife went out to see (see its head) - sorry about the quality of picture. A very small python, probably not very old…but its mum must be not far away! Coucal hasn't returned yet so the wife will leave the snake there for a while to see it returns, if it doesn't it's snake in the bin (asked our neighbour who keeps eagles but they've been fed). Never a dull moment is it!

 

 

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Coucal returns to take its prey...moments later it left with the snake

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

[tutsiwarrior]

4 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

 

I watched the same out my kitchen window to the rear of our house the other day as I was chopping onions...the victim was a hooded baby snake that reared and flared but no matter, the coucal had its number...there were some smaller birds wanting to get in on the action but the larger coucal chased them off...

 

Nature in its merciless and violent majesty does it again...

 

excellent videos...

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Final part of the story. Snake is still in the garden...body not touched but minus head. 

[AjarnNorth]

Well, that's nature. I have caught and removed at least a half dozen reticulated pythons from my garden here in Chon (as well as a couple cobras and etc). One had recently eaten our cat so not at all small. Nest raids are common for pythons so it's natural enough for birds to get their hackles up when they see one and kill it if they can. 

[jak2002003]

9 hours ago, AjarnNorth said:

Well, that's nature. I have caught and removed at least a half dozen reticulated pythons from my garden here in Chon (as well as a couple cobras and etc). One had recently eaten our cat so not at all small. Nest raids are common for pythons so it's natural enough for birds to get their hackles up when they see one and kill it if they can. 

We had a huge python living in the area of our old house that used to come and eat our ducks.. one a week.  Apparently it had been around for years, and is still about.. always avoiding capture.  Not popular with the neighbours who keep chickens.  I found it one night sneaking up on the sleeping ducks.  I remembered all the TV programmes when people just jump on then and grab them behind the head.  Well, those programmes are FIXED for sure... as I found out... just touching it near its head with a palm leaf the snake did a back flip, big loop in the air, and disappeared silently into he lake, with no sound or waves! on the water.  It did this in less than a second.  If I had tried to grab it like on TV it would have bitten me easily as I would have missed the neck.

 

One year I found what I presume was one its babies in our outdoor bar.  I kept it as a pet.. and handled it a lot so it got tame and docile (I love snakes and reptiles). It was a good pet.  Sadly, after 5 years of living with us, it escaped and never returned.  I had to tell my gardener not to kill any snakes if he saw it.  He was so scared of snakes he missed a couple of weeks to come around once he knew it was out.  He could not even go near it when it used to like to ride about wrapped around my shoulders, despite me showing him how placid and tame it was.  

[BLACKJACK2]

What is this, only thing i can find similar is a Greater Necklaced Laughing Thrush but the photos of them the necklace is not as large.

[AjarnNorth]

Could be Lesser maybe, but looks more like Greater - though hard to tell without better pic of head and etc. What was the location?

[BLACKJACK2]

I live Saiyok, Kanchanaburi.

There's been a couple of them in the garden last 4 days. Hard to get a good pic they never stay still long enough.

Just had a Coppersmith Barbet land a few feet from me so 2 new ones for the list.

[Bredbury Blue]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 9:12 AM, Bredbury Blue said:

Keep seeing a pair of these birds. Very nervy birds so can't get close to them. Similar to mynah bird in size but have a white head. Anyone know what they are?

 

 

Keep seeing this pair (once a saw 3 together) of Black-collared Starlings, in the same spot, at the same time of the day (around 5pm - never any other time). They are incredibly nervy. See me coming they move the other direction so i've yet to get a decent picture of them. I have still never seen this type of bird anywhere else (this is next to Chaophya river, BKK) - do others see them around in your neighbourhood?

 

[BLACKJACK2]

Yes I get them, Saiyok Kanchanaburi.

[AjarnNorth]

7 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

 

Keep seeing this pair (once a saw 3 together) of Black-collared Starlings, in the same spot, at the same time of the day (around 5pm - never any other time). They are incredibly nervy. See me coming they move the other direction so i've yet to get a decent picture of them. I have still never seen this type of bird anywhere else (this is next to Chaophya river, BKK) - do others see them around in your neighbourhood?

 

Black-collared Starling. 

[AjarnNorth]

These are not "Birds in my Garden," but birds in my neighborhood, Bangsaen, Chonburi, within two kilometers of my house, morning, 13 September 2108. 

[AjarnNorth]

40 minutes ago, AjarnNorth said:

Black-collared Starling. 

Sorry. Meant to answer the question and then something went wrong. Here in Chonburi, I have seen them but not many. Asian Pied Starling are more common here. But when I lived in Surin, BCS were very common. I believe they are generally classified as common throughout Thailand. 

[tutsiwarrior]

14 hours ago, AjarnNorth said:

These are not "Birds in my Garden," but birds in my neighborhood, Bangsaen, Chonburi, within two kilometers of my house, morning, 13 September 2108. 

 

what distinguishes herons from egrets? is it just the plumage or are they biologically different?

 

in the river valleys along the north coast in the US we useta get huge magnificent herons...whoosh, whoosh...and the egrets usually stuck to the coastal wetlands...in Thailand you can see both in the recently tilled rice paddies...looked out my kitchen window a couple a times recently and there was a heron (brown) I'd never seen before but there's usually some egrets (snowy white) hanging around most of the time...

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

On 9/14/2018 at 1:00 PM, tutsiwarrior said:

 

what distinguishes herons from egrets? is it just the plumage or are they biologically different?

 

in the river valleys along the north coast in the US we useta get huge magnificent herons...whoosh, whoosh...and the egrets usually stuck to the coastal wetlands...in Thailand you can see both in the recently tilled rice paddies...looked out my kitchen window a couple a times recently and there was a heron (brown) I'd never seen before but there's usually some egrets (snowy white) hanging around most of the time...

 

 

It's a good question. And I think the popular names vary from place to place, which is why we have the scientific names though they are much harder to remember. I go by the popular names in the most common Thai Bird Guide Books. So the egrets are pretty much all the white ones, excluding the dark morph Pacific Reef Egrets, while the herons are the larger ones you probably see in rice fields - Grey and Purple - the smaller Pond Herons (Chinese mostly, but Javan by the coasts and Indian as well sometimes), also the smaller Little Heron and Black-capped Night heron and etc. 

 

In the pics I posted above, the third pic is a Great Egret and a Little Egret, showing the vast difference in size. But there are other diagnostic characteristics as well. But I recently birded with a guy from the south-west USA and he called the same birds herons. 

 

The sixth picture is a Pond Heron, likely Chinese or Javan. 

 

All of the above are of the same family: Ardeidae

 

That's why keeping up with the common popular names via local guidebooks can help a lot. This link is somewhat helpful: http://www.galleryofbirds.com/Thailand/Herons.htm

[tutsiwarrior]

1 hour ago, AjarnNorth said:

It's a good question. And I think the popular names vary from place to place, which is why we have the scientific names though they are much harder to remember. I go by the popular names in the most common Thai Bird Guide Books. So the egrets are pretty much all the white ones, excluding the dark morph Pacific Reef Egrets, while the herons are the larger ones you probably see in rice fields - Grey and Purple - the smaller Pond Herons (Chinese mostly, but Javan by the coasts and Indian as well sometimes), also the smaller Little Heron and Black-capped Night heron and etc. 

 

In the pics I posted above, the third pic is a Great Egret and a Little Egret, showing the vast difference in size. But there are other diagnostic characteristics as well. But I recently birded with a guy from the south-west USA and he called the same birds herons. 

 

The sixth picture is a Pond Heron, likely Chinese or Javan. 

 

All of the above are of the same family: Ardeidae

 

That's why keeping up with the common popular names via local guidebooks can help a lot. 

 

you got any suggestions for guide books or links? on occasion I get some little crested fellas out the kitchen window that I'd like to identify...it would be nice to have a resource to connect the audio bird call to the ones that you can observe...

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

42 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 

you got any suggestions for guide books or links? on occasion I get some little crested fellas out the kitchen window that I'd like to identify...it would be nice to have a resource to connect the audio bird call to the ones that you can observe...

 

 

I use Lekagul/Round mostly. It's older and so a bit dated in some respects - and hard to find -  but in my opinion the most user friendly. There is also one by Craig Robson. I have his Birds of SE Asia but he has a more user friendly one on Thailand only. I don't have it but have seen it and it looks good. 

[Skeptic7]

1 hour ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 

you got any suggestions for guide books or links? on occasion I get some little crested fellas out the kitchen window that I'd like to identify...it would be nice to have a resource to connect the audio bird call to the ones that you can observe...

 

 

Go to the link below, then scroll down to Post #34 to see pix of the 2 Thailand field guides described above. Both are very good, but like AN...my go to reference is the first and I own both. Old school though as the Robson guide didn't even come out until 7 years after I purchased the Legakul/Round guide!  Also have the a very old Field Guide to the Birds of SE Asia (not Robson), but it is by far my least used and least favorite. 

 

[AjarnNorth]

On 9/13/2018 at 2:25 PM, Bredbury Blue said:

 

Keep seeing this pair (once a saw 3 together) of Black-collared Starlings, in the same spot, at the same time of the day (around 5pm - never any other time). They are incredibly nervy. See me coming they move the other direction so i've yet to get a decent picture of them. I have still never seen this type of bird anywhere else (this is next to Chaophya river, BKK) - do others see them around in your neighbourhood?

 

Here are some pics of Asian Pied Starling that you may look out for in addition to your BCS. I have better pics somewhere but these are from today so easily accessible. I have seen both when I lived in Bangkok. 

[AjarnNorth]

Differentiating Lesser Sand-Plover from Greater Sand-Plover is difficult unless they are standing next to one another. Unless I am mistaken, this grainy J-peg shows both with the left center bird being a LSP and the one just to its right (and most of the others) GSP. When they are standing alone, very tough. Pretty common coastal winter visitors, but I once had one in Surin. Had that one as an LSP, but because it was alone I sent it to "the authorities" and even he then sent it to a shorebird/plover expert for final confirmation.