Birds in your garden

[AjarnNorth]

Just saw an Ashy, so I retract the 10 April departure date. Good breeding stuff up your way. The only nest I had was a SE Bulbul nest, two eggs that disappeared probably eaten by a snake.

[kokesaat]

We live in the countryside in Udon and have a wide variety of birds that are in our area. About 5 years ago, out of the blue, a male white-rumped shama flew near our patio where my wife and I were sitting. We'd never seen one in Udon. It became apparent that the bird was trying to find a nesting place.....and after a short while, the female arrived and began to build a nest in our gutter. I didn't like that idea.....as it was the beginning of rainy season. I panicked.....not knowing anything about shama birds. I found an old shoe box, carved out a door, and tied the box to a pillar. Within minutes, the male inspected the box and shortly after, the female began building a nest.

That was 5 years ago and over 60 hatchlings since, usually 5 but sometimes only 4 at a time. We feed them mealworms (lots) and crickets. The female will eat from my hand and the male will take crickets from my extended fingers. While the female is sitting on her eggs, the male will sit in a nearby tree and sing up a storm all day long.

I've probably been here too long.......but I'm convinced the male is our reincarnated gardener who tended our yard for many years and died an untimely death around the same time as the shama showing up. When I tell the mealworm vendor I have a pair of shama in my yard, they look at me all cross-eyed. I don't think they're commonly seen in this neck of the country.

[jak2002003]

Those Shama are beautiful.. and you will have nice bird song in your garden. I have one as a pet.

At my place I was lucky to have a flock of lesser whistling ducks have a few days stop over on our lake. First time I have seen wild ducks here.

We also get 3 different kinds of kingfishers stealing my goldfish.. more now as the natural pools and ricefields have dried up.

Also have lots of white breasted water hens... and the small Asian barred owls. This year we have several nesting pairs of collared starlings and Koel

We tend to get the bigger birds here for some reason.. the smaller ones are missing. But it may be because there is some kind of black hawk here.. which I can not ID.. it is about the size of a female sparrow hawk... it has sadly killed a lot of my budgies through the aviary mesh.. and also taken some bantam chickens! The lady that cleans our house swears it a kind of vulture... but I thought they were extinct here. She told me it is migrating so hopefully it will be gone soon. I keep trying to photograph it.. but its so easily spooked. If I got a photo I will post it for your help ID it.

[isanbirder]

In earlier posts I mentioned the Rufous-winged Buzzards nesting near my house.

Last night we had a thunderstorm. It didn't come right over us, but the wind was quite strong at times.

This morning I went to see how the buzzard chicks were doing. The nest had been destroyed completely by the wind, and nothing was left but a straggle of twigs hanging down. Standing on the branches where the nest had been were the two chicks, now three-quarters grown. They weren't looking too happy about it, but then raptor chicks at that age never do.

[Bredbury Blue]

^" I found an old shoe box, carved out a door, and tied the box to a pillar...".

Any chance you could post a picture of the box and it's surroundings. I'd like to see how you've done it to see if I could replicate it in my garden (my concern is how to offer the birds/chicks security as we get snakes, monitor lizards, etc, in our garden).

[kokesaat]

There's an Oishi tea box with the flap cut on the side panel. Then another similar size box with the flap cut on the front panel. Then in the palms, we have a box we bought at one of the pet stores (about 100 baht), with a hatch on the bottom when the hatchlings leave the nest.....you can clean things out.

We usually set the box on one of our house columns......in the carport or on our extended porch. The box in the palms is set on two wires that I rigged between palms. Right now, we've got two nests a churnin'. I suspect one is the offspring of the original mother.

[Bredbury Blue]

^That's excellent; I'll have to try it.

[thetefldon]

New bird on the patch this morning(45), in fact a pair of them after a very quiet couple of weeks. About the size of a Tailor-bird but no cocked tail and not noisy. Foraging in low level growth in garden, very quick movements.

Photos are not brilliant, taken from above the bird, but can anyone ID please, all shots of same bird, the other bird seemed exactly same markings.

In the first photo looks like there might be some barring on tail feathers.

[isanbirder]

Grey-breasted Prinia. (some of the pictures in google seem to show yellow eyes)

[jak2002003]

Carrying on the theme of migratory birds in Thailand and whether they return to a patch. I have some evidence that this is the case.

At my old house(garden as patch) I had a Eurasian Kestrel roost on the security grill outside my bedroom window for 3 consecutive seasons(Mid September to late March) 2012-2015. I'm sure this was the same bird, given the location of the roost and his growing tolerance to me.

Likewise, although no real proof they were the same birds, over the same time frame I had a Taiga Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher and Siberian Stonechat as consecutive winter season visitors to the garden.

I know in the UK there is a lot of research on birds like Cuckoos and Ospreys, tracking them in migration and watching them return to the same patch the next year.

We had the same pied wagtail come back to our garden every year for 5 years. We knew he was the same one as he had a broken leg that stuck out at a right angle to his body.

The first time we saw him I felt sad because I thought he would die.. as they are ground birds and need to be able to run to catch insects.

At my house he used to eat the mynah bird pellets that my pet mynah threw out of his cage.

However, he was able to cope with his bad leg.. he even had a mate with him each time he came here (but no idea if that was the same mate each time). His mate used to run about catching insects.. and he used to slowly hop about.. no idea how he ever caught anything.

I was very impressed by him.. and how he even managed to migrate each year too. Just shows how tough birds are.

[thetefldon]

Grey-breasted Prinia. (some of the pictures in google seem to show yellow eyes)

I was struggling with this one(yellow eyering). Robsons pics are not a great help but the Google images do indeed show similar examples to my birds and on orient bird club site too. So thats no 45 ticked off.

Many thanks for your help once again.

[Skeptic7]

Grey-breasted Prinia. (some of the pictures in google seem to show yellow eyes)

I concur. The first pic even captures one of the white-tipped outer tail feathers.

[jak2002003]

Grey-breasted Prinia. (some of the pictures in google seem to show yellow eyes)

What about it being a Rufescent Prinia?

[Skeptic7]

Grey-breasted Prinia. (some of the pictures in google seem to show yellow eyes)

What about it being a Rufescent Prinia?

While they are quite similar and even more so in certain plumages, Rufescent almost always shows a white supercilium (eyebrow). Thus, another name for Rufescent is White-browed Prinia. The photographed bird also shows a grey breast band and a white outer tail feather spot in the first pic, whereas Rufescent has grey or buff outer tail tip spots. IMHO Isanbirder is correct in his ID.

[thetefldon]

A slightly better shot of the Grey Breasted Prinia

Thanks for all input on ID etc

[dick dasterdly]

Whilst sitting on the patio this a.m. watching the birds drinking from the bird bath, I remembered this thread and thought I really must start taking some 'photos so that the knowledgeable here can identify their various species. As always, a job for tomorrow....

I do wish the crows would stop washing their fish in the bird bath though! Much as I love the intelligence behind it, I get fed up having to scrub it every couple of days....

Embarrassingly, I only 'recognise' a few birds - the mynahs (which come indoors to eat the dog food)/some type of magpie (black and white with a lovely song)/the doves or pigeons/crows/kingfishers. There are so many others (although not so frequent) and I haven't the faintest idea as to their identity.

[jak2002003]

A slightly better shot of the Grey Breasted Prinia

Thanks for all input on ID etc

Thats a better photo... I never realised how long their legs were.. and its got big knees!

They look nicer in real life than in the book I have.. where they just look like boring brown sparrow things.

I am up North in Chiang Mai.. have never seen a crow up here..... anyone seen one in Chiang Mai province? Do you think the farmers shoot them in my area and thats the reason they are not here?

We have a LOT of noisy red watled lapwings.. calling and flying about day and night. Seem to like chasing each other about in the dried up rice fields. Also lots of oriental skylarks in same area.

Also have quite a few ashy wood-swallows which all line up on the electric wires near the lake each afternoon.

I need to borrow a friends camera.. start taking photos.. as I have to get too close with my phone.

(Lesser whistling ducks have come back again today too).

[dick dasterdly]

A bit off-topic, but I regret not being able to encourage the mynahs as my dogs would kill them .

Everybody else seems to hate them because they crap everywhere, but on a holiday in Phi Phi (many years ago) I have 'photos of them separating our toes with their beaks (looking for anything interesting ) and they brought their babies to our patio for protection whilst they went out foraging. Not to mention tapping on the patio windows early in the morning to remind us that they were waiting for nuts.

Yes, they crap everywhere - but they are wonderful, friendly, intelligent birds.

[BLACKJACK2]

I'm trying to make a list but have only got half a dozen obvious looking birds so far. Thing is they never stay still long enough to be able to tell what they are, even bought a camera (35x zoom) but same problem, they move before i get a shot or i cannot get close enough. How do you get such good photos.

[Bredbury Blue]

Have a baby monitor lizard hanging out in my garden; it lives in the kitchen drain. Saw it this morning in the area I throw the bread to feed the birds in the garden, it was eyeing up a dove but gave up on it. Five minutes later there was a big commotion alongside our 2m high wall; it was a mynah bird jumping about frantically making lots of noise. Turns out the bird was flying at the lizard repeatedly. The lizard was moving along the wall and being repeatedly attacked. I couldn't make out if in the attacks the bird was picking up and flinging the lizard or the lizard was leaping out of the attacks. Quite a sight. When the lizard had disappeared in to the bushes the attacks stopped. I then went out to see the lizard but it quickly scampered up and over the 2m platered wall. Always know when there's a snake in the garden from the mynahs squawking.

[Bredbury Blue]

When I opened this thread, apart from what birds do you get in your garden, I also asked what do you feed them. I throw out bread most days - annoys the wife - and today as I was parked outside a pet shop I thought I'd get some general birdseed/food. They had loads of types in unmarked plastic bags and the person selling wasn't very helpful to my son's asking for gardenbird food...ended up with this one which I've used before. Baht 50 per 1kg.

[dick dasterdly]

When I opened this thread, apart from what birds do you get in your garden, I also asked what do you feed them. I throw out bread most days - annoys the wife - and today as I was parked outside a pet shop I thought I'd get some general birdseed/food. They had loads of types in unmarked plastic bags and the person selling wasn't very helpful to my son's asking for gardenbird food...ended up with this one which I've used before. Baht 50 per 1kg.

20160426_142806.jpg

[Skeptic7]

When I opened this thread, apart from what birds do you get in your garden, I also asked what do you feed them. I throw out bread most days - annoys the wife - and today as I was parked outside a pet shop I thought I'd get some general birdseed/food. They had loads of types in unmarked plastic bags and the person selling wasn't very helpful to my son's asking for gardenbird food...ended up with this one which I've used before. Baht 50 per 1kg.

20160426_142806.jpg

I don't feed the birds here. Have no desire to attract more Mynas and Tree Sparrows, but i did feed them with enthusiasm when I lived in the States. Mainly sunflower, safflower and raw peanuts. Fillers like millet and corn are just that...fillers...just fill the bag and will mostly be discarded to get to the good stuff. Doves and other ground feeding birds, squirrels and other rodents usually clean that up, but I tended to buy the premium stuff with little or no fillers.

When I fed the birds I lived in the in the extreme north end of Atlanta, Georgia and had a yard list of 125 species. Probably the best thing you can do to attract birds is to have some sort of water feature in your yard. A simple bird bath is fine, but a shallow one with trickling or running water is even better. They do require constant cleaning...almost daily...but well worth it.

[Bredbury Blue]

^Know what you mean, but I love the Mynas; like naughty kids. Don't know about anybody else, but the ones in my garden are ultra sensative to my movements and when the see me (kitchen window) they sound the alarm and are off in to the trees. Like the idea of a birdbath but I'm currently trying to teach a neighbour's new cat that it's not welcome in my garden (crapping and scaring the birds away)

[dick dasterdly]

^Know what you mean, but I love the Mynas; like naughty kids. Don't know about anybody else, but the ones in my garden are ultra sensative to my movements and when the see me (kitchen window) they sound the alarm and are off in to the trees. Like the idea of a birdbath but I'm currently trying to teach a neighbour's new cat that it's not welcome in my garden (crapping and scaring the birds away)

I love the mynahs too - as you say, just like naughty kids .

Recently I've tried putting dog food out in the garden, but they ignore it and prefer to come indoors to eat from the dogs' kibble bowl!

Bought a pack of peanuts from Makro this a.m. and thrown a couple of handfuls into the garden. The mynahs were there like a shot, hopefully some other birds will enjoy it too.

[AjarnNorth]

When I opened this thread, apart from what birds do you get in your garden, I also asked what do you feed them. I throw out bread most days - annoys the wife - and today as I was parked outside a pet shop I thought I'd get some general birdseed/food. They had loads of types in unmarked plastic bags and the person selling wasn't very helpful to my son's asking for gardenbird food...ended up with this one which I've used before. Baht 50 per 1kg.

20160426_142806.jpg

Feeding birds can be a little controversial I think, but that depends a whole lot on what kind of environment you live in, what birds, do you or your neighbors have cats? - If so are your feeders in areas that are safe from cats? - etc. and so on.

I have never fed birds unless you count the rock pigeons who come and eat what kibble my dogs have left behind. My yard list here in Chonburi is 86 and if you count out the flyovers, it's still a huge amount of birds I've seen directly from my yard. But that's because I have fruit baring trees on both sides and in the yard. These tend to attract various species of bulbuls and barbets and etc. I know from when I lived in Surin, fruiting banana tees attract sunbirds. None of these would eat bird kibble off the ground as far as I know.

I also know - see above post and pics somewhere in this thread - that Alexandrine Parakeet seem to have a special taste for Star Fruit, which may have lead to their poisoning.

I also have a 3 meter uhf TV antenna on top of my house which is of course completely useless in this day and age but I leave it because I get everything from Raptors to Kingfishers to barbets to black-winged cuckoo shrike etc. and so on.

I guess what I am saying is if the point is to attract birds, plant trees that bear fruit and etc. and think about high perches and where you live. As far as bird kibble on the ground, some birds are ground feeders. Some aren't. The same in a feeder... it will rule out a whole bunch of other species.

[Bredbury Blue]

I think the birds that I'm feeding are the common type that will be in the garden regardless of putting food out or not. I just like feeding them here as I would so in the uk, just to ensure seeing them. Don't think I've seen anything special eating the bread I put out, though I used to enjoy the coucals skulking around (not seen them on the lawn for a while).

[jak2002003]

I think feeding them is fine.. so long as you don't make the birds dependant on your food... and also that you keep the feeding area clean to stop the birds getting diseases.

I feed the bird fruit and other things.. but some days I don't bother.. so they have to go look for food someplace else... that way they don't get dependant on my handouts.

Also we have lots of fruit trees so there is always natural food in the garden for them... I just give them some extra tasty treats.

Also I don't think people should put out feed for birds if they own cats or there are lots of predators around their property.. for obvious reasons.

[dick dasterdly]

I think feeding them is fine.. so long as you don't make the birds dependant on your food... and also that you keep the feeding area clean to stop the birds getting diseases.

I feed the bird fruit and other things.. but some days I don't bother.. so they have to go look for food someplace else... that way they don't get dependant on my handouts.

Also we have lots of fruit trees so there is always natural food in the garden for them... I just give them some extra tasty treats.

Also I don't think people should put out feed for birds if they own cats or there are lots of predators around their property.. for obvious reasons.

I agree, which is why I've only recently started to throw dog kibble and nuts around as normally insects/fruit etc. are easily available in such a hot and humid country.

But its been v hot for a long time, and v dry - so I assume food is scarce for birds?

[jak2002003]

I think feeding them is fine.. so long as you don't make the birds dependant on your food... and also that you keep the feeding area clean to stop the birds getting diseases.

I feed the bird fruit and other things.. but some days I don't bother.. so they have to go look for food someplace else... that way they don't get dependant on my handouts.

Also we have lots of fruit trees so there is always natural food in the garden for them... I just give them some extra tasty treats.

Also I don't think people should put out feed for birds if they own cats or there are lots of predators around their property.. for obvious reasons.

I agree, which is why I've only recently started to throw dog kibble and nuts around as normally insects/fruit etc. are easily available in such a hot and humid country.

But its been v hot for a long time, and v dry - so I assume food is scarce for birds?

You would think so for sure... but I have lots of birds nesting on the property.. starlings, Mynah, Pied Robins, and more... so I think insects are still plentiful... perhaps they are easier to find in the dry short grass.