Birds in your garden

[BLACKJACK2]

Just found this in the garden, any ideas what bird it's from.

[Joe Mcseismic]

3 minutes ago, BLACKJACK2 said:

Just found this in the garden, any ideas what bird it's from.

Yes, Common Mynah egg.

https://www.google.co.th/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1536&bih=755&ei=cNlUXd2yHf3C3LUPgu69mAQ&q=common+mynah+egg&oq=common+mynah&gs_l=img.1.2.0l3j0i8i30j0i24j0i10i24j0i24l4.785.4940..7847...0.0..0.146.1210.8j4......0....1..gws-wiz-img.yNJWuTBdxh0

[overherebc]

Appeared in the garden as the sun was going down.

Photo not perfect as I had to crop from a screen shot

Ptobably seen 5 or 6 times in 2 or 3 years but this time caught a reasonable photo

Hoopoo.

[Inn Between]

I'd like to have koel birds in my garden. Then they might be close enough to kill.  BWaa ha ha. They make me think evil thoughts. 

 

I love most birds, but the koels living close to my condo was one of the worst things about Thailand I can remember. Their red eyes are proof that they come from hell to make our lives miserable sometimes. There's nothing like a koel whistling at 150 decibels close to one's bedroom window at 4 in the morning.  

[AjarnNorth]

On 8/25/2019 at 1:42 AM, vinniekintana said:

Sorry  ...didn't read the whole thread..

Any sightings of Alexandrine parakeets in your part of Thailand?

Spotted a pair recently in Songkhla 

Never seen any parrots in this part of Thailand before.

 

I used to see them pretty regularly here in Bangsaen, Chonburi, right from my yard, up until a few years ago. They liked to eat the star-fruit off of my neighbors' tree. Could be a feral colony. I don't see them regularly anymore - caught? poisoned? - though have had sporadic sightings of them in flight. Red-breasted Parakeet are very common here, but the Alexadrine stand out even in flight by length and call. 

[jak2002003]

On ‎8‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 12:35 AM, overherebc said:

Appeared in the garden as the sun was going down.

Photo not perfect as I had to crop from a screen shot

Ptobably seen 5 or 6 times in 2 or 3 years but this time caught a reasonable photo

Hoopoo.

One of my favourite birds.  Sadly none in my area now.  At my old house we used to see a few of them regularly in the dry rice fields which bordered out garden.  

[overherebc]

2 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

One of my favourite birds.  Sadly none in my area now.  At my old house we used to see a few of them regularly in the dry rice fields which bordered out garden.  

It didn't seem to worry about landing 6 feet from us and then walked around on the grass picking at whatever. Didn't have a camera so had to use my wife's phone which isn't brilliant.

[sharecropper]

I've never tried to attach video before so here's hoping. 

 

A few months ago, our annual Peregrine falcon visitor was accompanied by a mate. This is what we heard one Saturday morning (first video) and the zoom lens on a fairly small camera is the second video...

[Skeptic7]

Rufous Treepie in the yard today. Sadly I was not home! ???? GF took the pix with her phone. #62 for the total current Kanchanaburi yard list...while I'm still stuck on 61. ☹️

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Went out to my garden and saw an oriental magpie-robin swooping down and attacking a young 1 foot-long monitor lizard. Had the required effect of making the lizard scarper.

 

[AjarnNorth]

Migration season well underway. Many winter visitors already here and more on the way. Good time to be looking around your yard or area. This Asian Brown Shrike from my yard. Common winter visitor. 

[Skeptic7]

Black-shouldered Kite today. #65 for the yard. 

[tutsiwarrior]

On 9/20/2019 at 10:49 AM, AjarnNorth said:

Migration season well underway. Many winter visitors already here and more on the way. Good time to be looking around your yard or area. This Asian Brown Shrike from my yard. Common winter visitor. 

 

very true...lots of little guys showing up that you don't see other times of the year, I got a good viewing location from my kitchen window with lots of vegetation out the back, ain't got no names fer any of them, gotta get a good guide book, useta have the popular one for US west coast birds with the red plastic cover but no good for here (it got lost anyway after 35 years of shufflin' about)...keep an eye peeled...

 

 

[jak2002003]

11 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

 

very true...lots of little guys showing up that you don't see other times of the year, I got a good viewing location from my kitchen window with lots of vegetation out the back, ain't got no names fer any of them, gotta get a good guide book, useta have the popular one for US west coast birds with the red plastic cover but no good for here (it got lost anyway after 35 years of shufflin' about)...keep an eye peeled...

 

 

Are these the birds that make a kind of loud monotonous shrieking screaming sound?  The last few weeks I started hearing this kind of call in my area (countryside in CM).. which I never heard before.  It sounds like a bird in distress, like it's got caught by a cat... but the birds are fine.  Too far away for me to see clearly or get a photo.  They are always single and making that noise sitting on a high up branch.  

[Skeptic7]

Crested (aka Oriental) Honey Buzzard soaring today for #66. And the Kite was still around this morning. 

 

 

 

[Skeptic7]

3 Brown-throated Sunbirds today...2 m & 1 f. Makes 67 on the yard list. Also had an Accipiter sp yesterday with Scaly-breasted Munia dinner in talons! 

 

 

 

 

[AjarnNorth]

Jak2002003 - Shrikes do make a bit of a raspy sound, but it sounds to me like you are talking about Asian Koel. You can look up the bird calls and songs on-line to compare. 

[jak2002003]

1 hour ago, AjarnNorth said:

Jak2002003 - Shrikes do make a bit of a raspy sound, but it sounds to me like you are talking about Asian Koel. You can look up the bird calls and songs on-line to compare. 

Thank you for the reply.. I am sorry, I know its difficult to describe the sound.  It is not the Asian Koel… I am familiar with that sound.

 

Next time I am out I will take a video of it on my mobile and then I can post it on here.

 

Cycling about I hear a few of them each time.  I can see them in the distance, always they are alone and perched on an exposed branch of a tree.  They are similar size to the Drongo, but it's not them either.  This is the first year I have heard this call.  I sounds like a scalding call, or distress call, but its just its normal call.  

[Skeptic7]

19 October is Global Big Day! Can participate from your own backyard... 

 

https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-19-october-2019?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=4fd2c1f09e-ebird+enews+october+2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-4fd2c1f09e-316371165

[AjarnNorth]

Asshy Drongo leucogensis. Last year I had a 28 September record which is among the earliest - of not the earliest - that I have heard of by about a week. This year 30 September. 

[sharecropper]

We had this visitor this week - an Olive-backed sun bird? High up in Jomtien on a pathetic bit of cactus on our balcony.

[Skeptic7]

24 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

We had this visitor this week - an Olive-backed sun bird? High up in Jomtien on a pathetic bit of cactus on our balcony

Yes Olive-backed. Cactus looks good! ????

[Skeptic7]

Perched on my lanai in BKK for most of the day and recorded 33 species for October Global Big Day. Target was over 25, so a successful day just hanging out at home. 

 

Anyone else participate? 

[Speedo1968]

Although not an avid bird watcher but a nature watcher in general can I ask a question about birds here, as there does not seem to be a separate forum ?

[Skeptic7]

43 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

Although not an avid bird watcher but a nature watcher in general can I ask a question about birds here, as there does not seem to be a separate forum ?

yes. the thread is pretty dead, but there are a few...well a couple...maybe just one of us still active. ask away. if wildly off topic or out of our range of expertise...perhaps we can direct to a more appropriate site. 

[Speedo1968]

On 10/20/2019 at 9:38 AM, Skeptic7 said:

yes. the thread is pretty dead, but there are a few...well a couple...maybe just one of us still active. ask away. if wildly off topic or out of our range of expertise...perhaps we can direct to a more appropriate site. 

 

Many thanks Skeptic7  for your prompt response.

As I mentioned I am not a bird watcher per se but look at nature in general as well as the weather.

I do not have field glasses so rely on my eyesight and other senses.

I have lived worked in farming in many countries since the 1970’s and am particularly interested in man’s effect on nature.

Here in Thailand for 20 years for the past 4 years I have lived about 50km south of Khon Kaen.     Outside a small market town with fields and ponds around, the area was, at the end of August, very badly flooded.     I walk in a small local keep fit park and across the fields two or three times a day, 4am, again in the afternoon and then in the early evening.

 

The questions I have may seem a bit strange but then I always like to look ‘outside the box’ for an answer.

1)   Do crows always fly east ( towards where the sun will rise ) in the evening and west in the morning ?

I have observed this every day, in the afternoon the birds start heading towards their roost for the night.    They converge around the park then fly further on to their roost.      They come from basically 2 sometimes 3 sides just north and south of east.   Have counted over 100 birds in 15 minutes.   Seen some ‘midair fighting’ ?

When I first came here there were only 2 birds in a large tree in early morning and late afternoon.    Only since this year have I seen so many birds.

 

2)   Is it unusual to see sparrows ( in town think they are hedge sparrows ) with all white feathered heads and necks ?    They, two of them, are part of the same family group.

 

3)   I see some birds flying, about the size of a swift / swallow ? that have iridescent green feathered backs when the sun shines on it.   Any idea what they might be ?

 

4)   Saw a kingfisher for the first time this year sitting on a power / telephone cable.

 

5)   The first year I was here about 6 or 7 hoopoes, the next year none, last year 2 and this year 3 or 4.      Have only seen one since the flooding.   Sorry can’t tell sex of bird.

 

6)   The first year I was here I saw a yellow feather headed / necked myna, the second year two.    The third year two others in different places within 500 metres of the original bird.    This year after the flooding, none.

 

7)   The second year I was here someone night trap netted about 15 birds, 3 beautiful owls ( one very old ), some hoopoes and other young birds.   The trappers took what they wanted and left the others to die.    The owls were already dead, the remaining birds I was unable to save because the net was so fine.   I reported it to the local council who were only able to shrug their shoulders.     The following year someone trap netted again not far away and some birds were left to die.   I pulled down the poles and had to do this a few times before they gave up.    Unfortunately song birds are still being trapped openly using a covered cage with a bird inside as a lure.

[AjarnNorth]

On 10/22/2019 at 6:20 PM, Speedo1968 said:

 

Many thanks Skeptic7  for your prompt response.

As I mentioned I am not a bird watcher per se but look at nature in general as well as the weather.

I do not have field glasses so rely on my eyesight and other senses.

I have lived worked in farming in many countries since the 1970’s and am particularly interested in man’s effect on nature.

Here in Thailand for 20 years for the past 4 years I have lived about 50km south of Khon Kaen.     Outside a small market town with fields and ponds around, the area was, at the end of August, very badly flooded.     I walk in a small local keep fit park and across the fields two or three times a day, 4am, again in the afternoon and then in the early evening.

 

The questions I have may seem a bit strange but then I always like to look ‘outside the box’ for an answer.

1)   Do crows always fly east ( towards where the sun will rise ) in the evening and west in the morning ?

I have observed this every day, in the afternoon the birds start heading towards their roost for the night.    They converge around the park then fly further on to their roost.      They come from basically 2 sometimes 3 sides just north and south of east.   Have counted over 100 birds in 15 minutes.   Seen some ‘midair fighting’ ?

When I first came here there were only 2 birds in a large tree in early morning and late afternoon.    Only since this year have I seen so many birds.

 

2)   Is it unusual to see sparrows ( in town think they are hedge sparrows ) with all white feathered heads and necks ?    They, two of them, are part of the same family group.

 

3)   I see some birds flying, about the size of a swift / swallow ? that have iridescent green feathered backs when the sun shines on it.   Any idea what they might be ?

 

4)   Saw a kingfisher for the first time this year sitting on a power / telephone cable.

 

5)   The first year I was here about 6 or 7 hoopoes, the next year none, last year 2 and this year 3 or 4.      Have only seen one since the flooding.   Sorry can’t tell sex of bird.

 

6)   The first year I was here I saw a yellow feather headed / necked myna, the second year two.    The third year two others in different places within 500 metres of the original bird.    This year after the flooding, none.

 

7)   The second year I was here someone night trap netted about 15 birds, 3 beautiful owls ( one very old ), some hoopoes and other young birds.   The trappers took what they wanted and left the others to die.    The owls were already dead, the remaining birds I was unable to save because the net was so fine.   I reported it to the local council who were only able to shrug their shoulders.     The following year someone trap netted again not far away and some birds were left to die.   I pulled down the poles and had to do this a few times before they gave up.    Unfortunately song birds are still being trapped openly using a covered cage with a bird inside as a lure.

1. Not sure, but no I don't think so. Birds of all kinds tend to go where the food is and then roosters will return to their roost. I don't think East or West would factor in that equation.

 

2. No. Sparrows are common Sounds like you are describing House Sparrows, which are colonial and over the lst few decades have spread east from the borders of Burma and etc. to poulate the whole country. They are still outnumbered by tree spearrows in most populated areas, but they are taking over in some places. Plain-backed aparrows are also fairly common but tend to areas outside of towns.

 

3. Likely Green Bee-eaters. 

 

4. There are various kinds of kingfishers here, some are resident and some are winter visitors. I would need to know more about what your looked like to identify it, but the most likely are common kingfisher (very smalll) and white-thrated (much larger). Likely winter visitor in Khon Khaen may be Black-capped.

 

5. Hoopoes are fairly common residents with - I think - some areas seeing an influx of winter visitors.

 

6. It depends what you mean by yellow-headed. Common Mynas and White-vented Mynas seem to molt (go bald) in the head and neck sometimes and are not an uncommon site. 

 

7. Mist netting is common throughout. It's an awful practice and a terrible way to collect "food." I would like to see a photo of the song bird traps and know what kind of birds they are using as "lures."

[AjarnNorth]

Every year I see Paciffic Golden Plovers in my usual patch in Chonburi. As yet, none. This is perplexing. I was lucky yesterday to see an Indian Thick-knee (aka Stone-curlew) which I also see every year in the same area, often with PGPs, and sometimes in a pair which may be breeding in my patch. Not the best photos of I have of the bird, but now I know it's around I will likely get better pics soon. Also included from yesterday a Common Kingfisher (Juv), Painted Stork, and Little Heron. 

Edited October 24, 2019 by AjarnNorth

[Skeptic7]

On 10/22/2019 at 7:20 AM, Speedo1968 said:

 

Many thanks Skeptic7  for your prompt response.

As I mentioned I am not a bird watcher per se but look at nature in general as well as the weather.

I do not have field glasses so rely on my eyesight and other senses.

I have lived worked in farming in many countries since the 1970’s and am particularly interested in man’s effect on nature.

Here in Thailand for 20 years for the past 4 years I have lived about 50km south of Khon Kaen.     Outside a small market town with fields and ponds around, the area was, at the end of August, very badly flooded.     I walk in a small local keep fit park and across the fields two or three times a day, 4am, again in the afternoon and then in the early evening.

 

The questions I have may seem a bit strange but then I always like to look ‘outside the box’ for an answer.

1)   Do crows always fly east ( towards where the sun will rise ) in the evening and west in the morning ?

I have observed this every day, in the afternoon the birds start heading towards their roost for the night.    They converge around the park then fly further on to their roost.      They come from basically 2 sometimes 3 sides just north and south of east.   Have counted over 100 birds in 15 minutes.   Seen some ‘midair fighting’ ?

When I first came here there were only 2 birds in a large tree in early morning and late afternoon.    Only since this year have I seen so many birds.

 

2)   Is it unusual to see sparrows ( in town think they are hedge sparrows ) with all white feathered heads and necks ?    They, two of them, are part of the same family group.

 

3)   I see some birds flying, about the size of a swift / swallow ? that have iridescent green feathered backs when the sun shines on it.   Any idea what they might be ?

 

4)   Saw a kingfisher for the first time this year sitting on a power / telephone cable.

 

5)   The first year I was here about 6 or 7 hoopoes, the next year none, last year 2 and this year 3 or 4.      Have only seen one since the flooding.   Sorry can’t tell sex of bird.

 

6)   The first year I was here I saw a yellow feather headed / necked myna, the second year two.    The third year two others in different places within 500 metres of the original bird.    This year after the flooding, none.

 

7)   The second year I was here someone night trap netted about 15 birds, 3 beautiful owls ( one very old ), some hoopoes and other young birds.   The trappers took what they wanted and left the others to die.    The owls were already dead, the remaining birds I was unable to save because the net was so fine.   I reported it to the local council who were only able to shrug their shoulders.     The following year someone trap netted again not far away and some birds were left to die.   I pulled down the poles and had to do this a few times before they gave up.    Unfortunately song birds are still being trapped openly using a covered cage with a bird inside as a lure.

1. No

 

2. No. Not sure you are seeing actual sparrows. None of the sparrows in Thailand have all white heads. 

 

3. Agree with AN as prob Green Bee Eater, but more info would help. Are they graceful and acrobatic flyers like Swifts/Swallows/Bee-eaters? Or do they fly like sparrows? If the latter...could be Coppersmith Barbet or something else.

 

4. Agree w/AN

 

5. Difficult to sex Hoopoes. They are basically identical. 

 

6. Agree w/AN

 

7. Sadly common practice.  ☹️ It sucks. My neighbors in Bum<deleted>istan, Kanchanaburi trap quail and eat them. I've seen Barred Buttonquail a couple times along our soi.  

[Skeptic7]

A little known ID fact about Black Drongo, which will help ID a Black if unsure. They have a small white spot at the base of the bill or "gape", which is a telling field mark and can determine the ID...especially comes in handy when identifying bird photos at a later time. 3 different birds (3 different days anyway...could be same bird) last month in my yard in Kanchanaburi. A bit more difficult to see in the 3rd photo with the bird calling.