This morning I spent a few hours birding in rice fields near the Nong Pla Lai raptor watch site in Petchaburi province. This area hosts large numbers of birds and a high number of species in the dry season and I very rarely get to spend time here on my own, so it was nice to take things slowly and see what could be found.

I arrived at first light with huge numbers of Asian Openbills landing in the rice fields and a few Black-crowned Night Herons making the  journey in the opposite direction. I spent a few hours birding just a small part of the rice fields, only walking about 1 kilometre in total; this allowed me to see a number of skulking and secretive birds.

The margins of a couple of freshly ploughed rice fields were particularly productive with a couple of scarce species to be found. Some of the more interesting species I saw during the morning included;

Bluethroat – 5

Oriental Reed Warbler – 18

Black-browed Reed Warbler – 2

Watercock – 1 female

Common Snipe – 3

Eurasian Wryneck – 1

Streaked Weaver – 46

Asian Golden Weaver – 17

Baya Weaver – 80+

Ruddy-breasted Crake – 1

Grey-headed Lapwing – 1

Eastern Marsh Harrier – 1

Black Kite – 1

Black-eared Kite – 3

Purple Heron – 4

Plain-backed Sparrow – 9

Black-naped Oriole – 1

The numbers of Asian Openbills present was quite amazing; it is hard to believe that less than 20 years ago there was just one small colony in Thailand, now they are everywhere.

The rice fields around Petchaburi are an interesting birding site and somewhere that many people spend too little time in, missing many nice birds such as Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Jacanas, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Greater Spotted Eagle, Pied Harrier and many others. In the past I have seen much rarer species here, including Blunt-winged Warbler, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Comb Duck, Great Bittern and others. Lots more could be found by those who spend time here.