Dartford Waffler

Independent Birding at Zaamin National Park | Birding in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is a surprising country with a wide variety of landscapes, ancient historical monuments, some interesting food and drink as well as good infratructure that makes the country easy to travel in independently. However, my wife and I pushed this a little further than most travelers to the country by visiting Zaamin National Park where [...]

City Park Bird Abundance | Birding in Thailand

For those of us lucky enough to travel internationally to see birds it quickly becomes apparent that in some countries birds are abundant while in others birders have to work harder to see a wide range of species. This was brought home to me most recently spending a morning at Sri Nakorn Kuean Khan Park [...]

Touristing & Birding at Petra | Birding in Jordan

For those of us who travel with non-birding partners it can sometimes be tricky to balance enjoying time together somewhere interesting and the craving to maximise the opportunity to see new birds in new places. Personally, having a good holiday with my wife is the most important thing when planning trips together but doing some [...]

Rainy Season Birding at Pathum Thani Rice Research Centre | Birding in Thailand

There can be times of the year when bird watching hits a trough because a lack of activity, unhelpful weather or overfamiliarity with a smaller selection of species than at other times. In Thailand these factors are all true in the rainy season with a large number of species absent, on their breeding grounds further [...]

Mountain Birding from Chimgan | Birding in Uzbekistan

I have always loved immersing myself in mountain landscapes but over recent years my opportunity to do so has been limited with much of my time spent in tropical forests and wetlands in Thailand so when the opportunity presented itself to spend some time birding in mountain habitats in Uzbekistan I took it without having [...]

Visiting Bang Khaem Fishponds | Thailand Birding

June 5th, 2020

Nick

Recently I have been visiting birdwatching sites that I have either never been to before or visit very seldom. While it is always nice to go to well-known birding locations where certain key species are know to be found, I also enjoy going to relatively unknown sites and seeing what can be found. In this frame of mind I made the journey from home in Bangkok to Nakhon Pathom province, a trip of just over an hour, to a location I visited for the first time earlier this year, having discovered it while browsing eBird hotspots; Bang Khaem Fishponds.

This is a rather odd area, a collection of ponds surrounded by dry, barren patches of land and the odd copse of trees. Perhaps the weirdest part of the site is an area that is used for dumping the stones/pits of mangoes that have obviously been prepared for sale. This general state of unkemptness makes it an area that is used by a lot of birds with quite a nice variety of species to be seen. Although few birdwatchers have visited this site it makes a nice morning of birdwatching from Bangkok.

I used my morning birding at Bang Khaem Fishponds to get some video footage to put together as a “virtual birding” trip as well as take some photographs and add a couple of species to my Nakhon Pathom province list! I have included the finished video here along with a collection of bird photos from the morning. Read more »

A Morning at Lat Krabang Rice Fields | Thailand Birding

May 25th, 2020

Nick

What do you do when you have been stuck at home for ages due to covid-19 restrictions when some inter-provincial travel is still restricted? Go birding close to home of course, and although Lat Krabang Rice Fields in on the opposite side of Bangkok to where I live, it is a fairly large area of open land which is visited by few people and would give me the space to do something a little bit different. By mid-May almost all winter and passage migrant species have departed but rice fields in Thailand always hold some nice birds at this time of the year including a few species that look wonderful in breeding plumage while they are rather dull at other times.

What I wanted to do at Lat Krabang was to put together a video based on the morning of birding; a series of video clips of some of the bird specialities as well as me talking to camera about a few of them. A sort of guided virtual birdwatching trip. Of course, as always, I wanted to find as many species as possible as well as obtain some nice still images. Below is a collection of the photographs I took at Lat Krabang Rice Fields as well as the finished video. Read more »

Eurasian Oystercatchers | Bird Behaviour

May 11th, 2020

Nick

Which birds excite you the most? For many people rarity is a key factor in which birds they enjoy seeing. Of course we all like seeing rare birds but are they really the ones that mean the most to you? Are they the birds that you enjoy watching again and again or are their other factors involved in certain species gaining your affection? For me the birds I enjoy the most, the species that I always love to see, are the ones that have a story or meaning that is special to me. For that reason my favourite birds are seldom the same as those of other birders; Eurasian Oystercatcher is one of these.

Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) is one of those birds that I always enjoy, no matter that it is common in many places, in fact because it is common is one of the reasons I like this bird. I always enjoy seeing large gatherings of Oystercatchers as they flock at high tide roosts and it is amusing to watch them squabbling and interesting to observe them feeding. In fact the feeding behaviour of Oystercatchers is something that a number of ornithologists have studied but anyone who has watched them for even a short time will have noticed that they have a variety of foraging techniques, including probing, picking and prizing. For those who would like to learn more about Oystercatchers with me I have put together some of the best photos I have taken of them, talk about some of their ecology and give some links to ornithological studies on them.

Read more »

Little Egret Foot Stirring Feeding Technique | Bird Behaviour

May 6th, 2020

Nick

Actually watching birds is something that a lot of birders forget to do. By this I mean that all too often bird watchers get their thrill from seeing a new bird for their list, be it their life list, local patch list or just their day list. I think we have all fallen into this trap at times, particularly on a day with lots of species present or when first arriving in a new country. However, the most fundamental aspect of bird watching is actually observing birds and seeing thme do something interesting. Many birders will have first been excited by birds due to some aspect of their behaviour, be it backyard birds squabbling over food, a majestic raptor soaring overhead or even feeding ducks at a local duck pond.

When we actually take the time to observe bird behaviour we see the most remarkable things. Many birders will be familiar with the foot-stirring technique used by some egrets, plovers and some other birds; this can be regularly seen in Little and Snowy Egrets around the world. For those not familiar with this it is best described as;

“Briefly, the feeding heron extends one leg and vibrates or quivers it, especially the foot, then stabs at any prey that darts from the disturbance.”

It is obvious to anyone that has observed this behaviour that it is a feeding technique but, what are they actually doing? Read more »

Birding Asia 31 Free Download

May 1st, 2020

Nick

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. Read more »

Thailand’s Wading Birds in Flight | Thailand Birding

April 30th, 2020

Nick

Wading birds (shorebirds to some) are group much-beloved by some birders but equally they often elicite a response of “I don’t do shorebirds” from others. I have accompanied birders with both attitudes to the Gulf of Thailand, which is undoubtedly one of the best locations in the world to observe waders. Those who love wading birds are always in their element here, admiring the large number of birds and huge variety of species while the excellent views allow others to learn a lot of about the identification of this tricky group of birds. While I enjoy watching them on the ground over the last few years I have really enjoyed getting photos of these birds in flight. Not only do flight shots show shorebirds at their most graceful, these types of photos also allow us to see details that are otherwise hidden to us. Below are a selection of flight shots of shorebirds from the Gulf of Thailand, taken over the last six months. Read more »

“Winter” Thrushes at Mae Fa Luang Arboretum – Thailand Birding

April 2nd, 2020

Nick

In normal years anyone going birding in Thailand to see a variety of thrushes would be sincerely disappointed. Although there are a large number of species on the Thai list, many of them are very rare migrants that are not even seen annually. A few species do regularly visit Thailand and a few others are even resident species, but all can be tricky to connect with much of the time. However, in late 2019 and the first few months of 2020 a phenomena occurred that I cannot remember having previously happened, in that something of a thrush festival took place at Mae Fa Luang Arboretum at Doi Chang Moob in the Doi Tung area of Chiang Rai province in the north of Thailand. I was lucky enough to make three visits to this site over the course of early 2020 and here I have compiled a set of photos of thrushes from those visits. Read more »