It seems to have become a habit of mine in Thailand to go birding at ridiculous times of the day recently. At this time of year it is light at 6am and by 9am it is already hot and sticky with bird activity in rapid decline – between these times is when most birds will be found. Yesterday, however, after dropping my wife off at work and having a late breakfast I decided to drive down to the fishponds and other pools that are a few kilometres from where I live. For anyone who knows Bangkok/Samut Prakarn, this area is close to King Mongkut’s University, Bang KunTien campus, towards Samut Sakorn.

Over the last few years, this area has been subjected to a lot of development, and this is continuing so I wonder how long there will be any habitat left here. Just 5 years ago there were few buildings out this way but now there are factories, housing estates and shops springing up here there and everywhere. Still, for now there are still some nice birds to be found. The first birds of interest I found were four Whiskered Terns. This is a common wintering bird but to find them this late in the year makes me think that they aren’t going to leave.

Further along I found a large pool in the process of being drained. This contained a large number of Javan Pond Herons, a few Little Egrets, a Black-crowned Night Heron and 5 Common Redshank. Although this is another wintering bird, there are usually reports of small numbers of non-breeders present throughout the year in Thailand.

Further on there are a number of freshwater pools with reedy fringes and here I found most of the birds for the day. A small colony of Asian Golden Weavers was nice, with 3 males giving nice views as they sat atop reeds, several Striated Grassbirds called noisily and a number of Little and Indian Cormorants sat around on posts, apparently admiring the view.

Despite the time of day and heat there were a fair number of other birds around, mostly common species, but still nice to see; Greater Coucal, Streak-eared Bulbul, Great Egret, Little Grebe, Plain Prinia, Yellow Bittern, Scaly-breasted Munia, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Red Collared Dove, Spotted Dove and Little Heron to name just a few. Whilst watching a Striated Grassbird calling from the top of a dead tree a couple of interesting birds flew past – firstly 7 Cotton Pygmy Geese, 6 males all involved in an aerial battle over a single female, and then a Black Bittern – a summer visitor to Thailand. Another summer visitor was a single Oriental Pratincole on a wet, muddy pool.

As I moved to another spot, a passed an area of flat, dry ground – a former pool that has been filled in and allowed to settle before development – but for now a pair of Little Terns were nesting on it and they were so close to the road that I could see the chicks and was attacked by the male. I moved on a little to watch them from a less disturbing distance and also spotted at least 3 more pairs of Little Terns on nests. I was a little surprised to find them nesting this far inland (it’s about 10km from the sea here) but I suppose the dry, stony habitat was about right for them.

I moved off, in the car to investigate some roads heading towards the sea. They didn’t go far before turning into mudslides so I stopped, but I did find a group of 7 more Whiskered Terns (only 2 of which were in summer plumage) and 4 more Little Terns. I also came across a small heronry containing small numbers of Little Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons and Little Cormorants.

With lunchtime approaching I went home but found 3 more Whiskered Terns on the way. It looks like small numbers of non-breeders will be staying on through the summer.

I have created a thread on the thaibirding forums for others to record their sightings of late staying winter migrants: Migrant Dates.

birds, birding, thailand, nature