I have been a member of the Oriental Bird Club (OBC) for well over ten years now. This British-based charity furthers ornithology in the oriental region as well as engaging in conservation projects. As a birder based in this region I was keen to support conservation in Asia in this small way as well as learning more about birds across the continent. The OBC publishes a bulletin (Birding Asia) twice a year as well as Forktail once a year which contains a collection of scientific papers from around the region. In a move to give birders something to read when many of us are unable to get out and go birding as we would normally like to do the OBC has provided a free download of Birding Asia 31 for anyone who would like to read it. From the OBC homepage I found it a little tricky to navigate my way to the right page for the download so I thought I would explain to others how to benefit from this offer and give a description of some of the contents that most interested me.

Birding Asia 31 can be downloaded here – Oriental Bird Club Sales eBirdingAsia 31. Just treat the procedure as if you were buying a download of this issue and select it to go into the shopping cart. Then click on the shopping cart icon and then the “checkout” button followed by filling in the required details, name, email address etc. and enter the code B4H2LV3 to get the free offer.

Editorial: Birding Asia 31 contains an interesting guest editorial which gives a brief overview on the conservation of Spoon-billed Sandpiper. For those who do not know this enigmatic shorebird has become critically endangered but the article talks about the success stories such as projects to stopp trapping in Myanmar, the Chinese government protecting various areas and the establishment of a wintering reserve in Thailand. The article suggests visiting Saving Spoon-billed Sandpiper website for more details.

The Chinese Egret identification revisited: This article deals with how to identify Chinese Egret in comparison to Little Egret and white morph Pacific Reef Egret. It is easy to read and understand and makes good use of illustrations and photographs.

The taxonomy of the Blood-breasted Flowerpecker complex: For those who like to keep abreast of the rapidly changing understanding of taxonomy this is an interesting article. If you are a birder who enjoys visiting and birding in Indonesia this article makes some sense of what is a confusing situation.

The strange case of the Common Shelduck and the Endangered Mongolian Marmot: Although this may sound like the title of an unpublished Sherlock Holmes story it actually documents some strange behaviour on the part of the duck. As someone who gets a lot of pleasure from observing birds doing unusual things this article appealed to me.

Predation of swiftlet sp. by Bushy-crested Hornbill: Again this article interested me because it describes some unusual behaviour in birds. Most birders think of hornbills as fruit-eating birds, this short article highlights that they do not exclusively feed on fruit.

The Oriental Bird Club is a charity worth supporting and its publications which are free to members are always a source of interesting information on the region’s birds. All of the back issues of Birding Asia and Forktail are available to purchase as either hard copies or downloads but I would definitely encourage birders who visit this region to join the OBC and get all future issues as part of the subscription fee.

Birders who have not yet visited the oriental region or who want to discover it further can really whet their appetite with The 125 Best Birdwatching Sites in Southeast Asia which is filled with great ideas for places to go birding and, of course, lots of beautiful photos.