Today, whilst working on the computer, I was alerted to the sound of a chattering Barn Swallow outside. On looking up, I noticed a single swallow on the same TV mast that I photographed some swallows on a few weeks back: Late Winter Migrants.

In fact Barn Swallows are pretty much always found in Bangkok through the summer in small numbers, but this incident reminded me of some of the winter visitors that I saw over my recent 4-day trip from 8th to 11th May: Kaeng Krachan, Tung Bang Jak & Khao Yai, 8-11th May 2008.

8th May – Kaeng Krachan
3 Fork-tailed Swifts
“A few” Chinese Pond Herons
Small numbers of Barn Swallows
1 juvenile, pale marph Oriental Honey-buzzard

9th May – Kaeng Krachan
2 Chinese Pond Herons
Small groups of Barn Swallows

10th May – Tung Bang Jak
3 Oriental Reed Warblers
17 Barn Swallows
7 Whiskered Terns
1 Indian Pond Heron
3 Chinese Pond Herons

11th May – Khao Yai
2 Brown Shrikes
7 Barn Swallows
1 Chinese Pond Heron

We also saw a couple of passage migrants; 1 Crow-billed Drongo near the Khao Yai Bat Cave on 10th May and 1 Japanese Sparrowhawk attacking a pair of Red-wattled Lapwings at Khao Yai on 11th.

Whilst birdwatching in Thailand over the next few weeks I will continue to look for migrant species.

Others are encouraged to post their sightings of migrant species, with dates, on this thread on the thaibirding forum: Migrant Dates.
birds, birding, thailand, nature