Anyway, I found a really useful site on birdwatching in Thailand, maintained by a guy called Nick Upton, site called thaibirding.com. It has checklists for birds spotted in various areas, so that was some homework for me to do. Its tough when you're a novice and doing it alone. But I think Suan Rot Fai is a good training ground to get used to the small ones. Even though the list has only 3 warblers, I swear to God they drive me nuts! But they are so adorable:)
There are 3 favourites for today, all new, or at least I managed to identify them on my own. By the way, the park is busy with joggers, bikers, families picnicking, and still it was a rewarding day in terms of new birds on my list.
The first fav was the Indian Roller. All sites I read said this bird can be seen perched on wires in the town or close to residential areas, but I had not spotted any. So I was quite determined that I should see one. And lo and behold, it was the first for the day after an unsuccesful attempt to ID one of the tiny birdies. Truly you can't miss the Roller, especially in flight. The turqoise on the crown and wings in the sunlight is stunning! I read the description in the book the night before and thought, that's a lot of colours, but they are there – turqoise, purplish-blue, green, olive, brown. The good thing is the Roller is there for a while so there was enough time to appreciate the fella.
(All pictures taken from the birdinginmalaysia site)
Moving on, there were some of the others, the warbler is tricky but I made it:) And of course the flycatcher too, but it was actually close enough for me to observe even without the binos.
Then my luck! Fav #2 for the day. I had just turned and spotted the Coppersmith Barbet on a tree by the water. He gave me enough time to make out that it was indeed him, and then flew off. Its relatively smaller than the other barbets I've seen but very colourful nevertheless.
Around the corner, I saw the Common Kingfisher and thought of the number of people who walked and jogged pass and didn't see this beautiful bird. I watched it till it dived into the water for feed!
I've been most curious about the bulbuls at my place because I wasn't sure which they were. But this morning I had the chance to watch them for a while at the park and am sure that my neighbours are also the Streak-eared Bulbul.
At some point, I had seen the warbler and decided to observe it for a while, to try and identify all its features. I found a bench and sat there with my binos. All of a sudden, the place became a flurry of activity with the bulbuls, and the Asian Pied Starlings. And among it all I spotted a Small Minivet!
Then off to see the water birds – egrets and the herons. The Chinese Pond Heron is a funny one. He just stands there like he's a chameleon thinking that no one notices it there. He's still for a long time, and then when he thinks he's tricked you, he starts to move. And he's not even hiding between any grass or branches, just out in the open. Funny dude!
Now its been 2 hours and I think I've done quite well for the day, at least knowing most of what I've seen. The park is a nice place to just sit around as there are some small lakes and lots of trees. Maybe the time is right too as its not too hot these few months. But its time to go back. So I pack my binos and head out of the park. Just at this point, the Indian Roller decides to fly past and parks himself on a tree branch close to where the butterfly park is. I notice there's a pair. Out come my binos again and I watch them for about 10 minutes before I frighten them off trying to take a photo:)
Now I think I'm really done and then this bird flies past and I'm curious. Out with the binos again and here was fav #3 for the day: the Tiger Shrike. I've seen the Tiger Shrike in Cameron Highlands before but this was much closer.
A nice wrap up for my trip today. Back home for some food and a siesta in the breezy afternoon.
The list for today from SRF:
1. Coppersmith Barbet
2. Common Kingfisher
3. Indian Roller
4. Little Egret
5. Chinese Pond Heron
6. Tiger Shrike
7. Black Naped Oriole
8. Small Minivet
9. Pied Fantail
10. Common Iora
11. Asian Brown Flycatcher
12. Oriental Magpie Robin
13. Asian Pied Starling
14. Streak-eared Bulbul
15. Arctic Warbler
16. Two-barred Warbler
17. Olive-backed Sunbird
This evening while writing this, I spot a pair of red-whiskered bulbuls just outside my apartment. My first encounter with these birds was in Mt. Abu in Rajasthan, and I just love them. They have a bit of a crest and red on their cheeks and vent (in trying to recruit my nephew as a birdwatcher, I told him its the bird with the red bum-bum. At least he rememberd it). Chances are with bulbuls, if you've spotted one, its in a pair and there might also be a few more around.
No comments:
Post a Comment