25 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Was thinking the other day how I haven't heard any Koel calls in recent times around my house. One of my favourite sounds; THE sound of southeast Asia for me. Never understand why people dislike or get upset by koels

The other morning I was enjoying them chit chattin' away, as they do everyday.

 

 

Not in the garden, but saw my first Kestrel, actually 2 of them, a few kms away from the house.  Saw the 1, turned the corner, then another on the hunt.

 

 

24 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Was thinking the other day how I haven't heard any Koel calls in recent times around my house. One of my favourite sounds; THE sound of southeast Asia for me. Never understand why people dislike or get upset by koels calling each other. Doesn't bother me at all, in fact I like it, when I hear them calling in the wee hours.

Any reason they might move moved? Nothing particularly has changed in my area. Might they return? Are they only noisy during mating season?

 

Edit: my wife says she hears them, must be me switching off.

 

My wife's favourite is the bird that sings "I didn't do it, I didn't do it"  - lapwing 

They are quite vocal now here in Chon Buri. As you know, they can be vocal year round and at night, but usually moreso when the hormones kick in and they are looking for mates during breeding season(s). Both males and females vocalize. They do seem to go quiet during certain times of the year, but not for the extended stretches of months like the Plaintive Cuckoo. 

 

Think you are correct though...if others are hearing them, then you're just tuning them out. When birding, especially in new areas, I tend to almost completely tune out the most common species in order to focus on less common/unfamiliar calls and songs. Later when compiling the checklist, have to really think as to whether I heard any Koels, Coucals, Plaintive Cuckoos, etc. 

I read that female Koels are elusive. Can vouch for that. In 19 years in this house, seen a female twice, males easy to see.

37 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

I read that female Koels are elusive. Can vouch for that. In 19 years in this house, seen a female twice, males easy to see.

See prob 1 female to every 4-5 males. 

4 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Was thinking the other day how I haven't heard any Koel calls in recent times around my house. One of my favourite sounds; THE sound of southeast Asia for me. Never understand why people dislike or get upset by koels calling each other. Doesn't bother me at all, in fact I like it, when I hear them calling in the wee hours.

Any reason they might move moved? Nothing particularly has changed in my area. Might they return? Are they only noisy during mating season?

 

Edit: my wife says she hears them, must be me switching off.

 

My wife's favourite is the bird that sings "I didn't do it, I didn't do it"  - lapwing 

It is approaching their breeding season now.  Outside the breeding season they don't make the calls.  It's the males calling as they chase the females through the tree tops as part of their courtship.  You should start hearing them again anytime now.

 

They are a very interesting bird in terms of their life cycles and behaviour.  I have rescued and had reared 3 of them over the years....ones that have been thrown out of the nests as the other birds recognised them as imposters.  They are basically a kind of large parasitic cuckoo. 

  

I have a couple of mynahs nesting in my fire escape. They are fascinating creatures to observe, but I wish I knew more about them. Does anybody know of any useful resources regarding mynah bird behaviour and communication?
 

Just on other side of our perimeter wall ...

7 hours ago, wenshidi said:

I have a couple of mynahs nesting in my fire escape. They are fascinating creatures to observe, but I wish I knew more about them. Does anybody know of any useful resources regarding mynah bird behaviour and communication?
 

There is lots of stuff O. You tube.  Also wiki has a page about them.  I had a pet one... The kind with the spiky crest. It learnt to talk too.  Rescued it from the middle of the road on my way home from the bar.  It had fell out of a nest and was covered in ants and had a broken leg.  

 

He was the best pet I had.  He found a female one year and they nested in the roof space of our out building and had one chick. 

 

After that they all flew off to join the big flocks.  

 

It was funny seeing him sitting on the trees and speaking English words to his mate.  

I could only find short videos of their antics on Youtube. I was really looking for something a bit more in-depth, like a full length nature documentary.

 

Do you have any links like this?

Some early morning grooming ...

 

 

On 12/10/2022 at 10:36 AM, Bredbury Blue said:

Was thinking the other day how I haven't heard any Koel calls in recent times around my house. One of my favourite sounds; THE sound of southeast Asia for me. Never understand why people dislike or get upset by koels calling each other. Doesn't bother me at all, in fact I like it, when I hear them calling in the wee hours.

Any reason they might move moved? Nothing particularly has changed in my area. Might they return? Are they only noisy during mating season?

 

Edit: my wife says she hears them, must be me switching off.

 

My wife's favourite is the bird that sings "I didn't do it, I didn't do it"  - lapwing 

Funny how not hearing/seeing koels or coucals, now I can't stop hearing/seeing them around the house.

 

The wife was singing to me a kiddies song in thai about koels putting their eggs in other birds nests, so seems its a fact thais grow up with.

 

10 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Funny how not hearing/seeing koels or coucals, now I can't stop hearing/seeing them around the house.

 

The wife was singing to me a kiddies song in thai about koels putting their eggs in other birds nests, so seems its a fact thais grow up with.

 

Yes. I know that song. It is true though...parasites lol. 

Got a magpie robin in my garden, never stopped singing for the past 2 days, patrolling the garden, had another robin pinned down and i had to stop the fight. Hear they are very territorial. Doesn't seem bothered by any other bird types, only robins.

 

Could somebody ID this bird i saw recently in a wat in Chonburi. Let me get incredibly close then it shot off.

 

 

Possibly Asian Golden Weaver, a juvenile.

Had a pair of pigeons I've never seen before sat high up in a tree opposite my place for a few days. Orange breast, green head. Just had a moment on google and see that there is such a bird know as orange-breasted green pigeon. Common or rare (bkk area)?

 

9 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Had a pair of pigeons I've never seen before sat high up in a tree opposite my place for a few days. Orange breast, green head. Just had a moment on google and see that there is such a bird know as orange-breasted green pigeon. Common or rare (bkk area)?

Apparently fairly common to TH, though not sure about Bkk.

Only 130 photos of, in TH, on eBird

2 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Had a pair of pigeons I've never seen before sat high up in a tree opposite my place for a few days. Orange breast, green head. Just had a moment on google and see that there is such a bird know as orange-breasted green pigeon. Common or rare (bkk area)?

 

Oh, they are beautiful looking birds.  They should replace the city pigeons with them. ????

3 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Had a pair of pigeons I've never seen before sat high up in a tree opposite my place for a few days. Orange breast, green head. Just had a moment on google and see that there is such a bird know as orange-breasted green pigeon. Common or rare (bkk area)?

 

More likely to be Pink-necked Green Pigeon than Orange-breasted Green Pigeon in your area as they are much more commonly reported in and around BKK. However if the head of the male was definitely green (and not gray), could well have been Orange-breasted. Without a pic, impossible to know now. And sometimes even with a pic, can still be difficult to discern. They are very similar. 

 

I had up to a dozen Pink-necked Green just a half km off Sukhumvit year-round in Bang Chak area of BKK when I lived there a few years back. Below is a Pink-necked Green I snapped in BKK in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

47 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great pics, thanks.

56 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merops Orientalis. Very similar to the Merops Ornatus which inhabits much of Australia.

Drinking coffee on veranda, look up, and notice this one 15 meters away. By the time I got camera, half way up the tree, back to me, then up under the palms ... Greater Flameback - Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus

https://ebird.org/species/grefla1

 

10 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Greater Flameback

Nice yardbird either way, but that bill looks a bit small for Greater and eyestripe narrow. Possibly Common Flameback. Any other angles or views of it's head and face? 

2 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

Nice yardbird either way, but that bill looks a bit small for Greater and eyestripe narrow. Possibly Common Flameback. Any other angles or views of it's head and face? 

No better angle unfortunately.  It was going round & around, profiling nicely for me, until I got my camera ????

 

41 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

No better angle unfortunately.  It was going round & around, profiling nicely for me, until I got my camera ????

 

Better angle of "Common Flameback" above:

 

On 1/15/2023 at 5:24 PM, KhunLA said:

Better angle of "Common Flameback" above:

Besides the shorter bill and narrower eyestripe is the all-black nape of Common. Greater has some white back there. 

A few from the veranda today, and just the usual suspects hanging about.