Whilst waterbird counts are conducted in midwinter in Asia through the Asian Midwinter Waterbird Census, the numbers of waterbirds present in the wet season doesn’t seem to attract much attention in Thailand. Having been visiting Muang Boran Fishponds for years I am fully aware of the large numbers of waterbirds present but having read more on the subject, the possibility of it holding significant numbers of some species appeared to me.

On Saturday 7th June I visited the site with the express purpose of counting waterbirds. The full results can be seen here along with some other notes on the observations: Waterbird Count at Muang Boran Fishponds.

The highest numbers were recorded for:

• Cattle Egret – 91
• Indian Cormorant – 83
• Little Grebe – 72
• Pheasant-tailed Jacana – 66
• Bronze-winged Jacana – 65
• Little Cormorant -61
• Javan Pond Heron – 54
• White-browed Crake – 47

Further counts will be conducted over the next few months.

Other Birds
Whilst I focussed my attention on waterbirds, it would take a particularly tunnel-visioned birder not to notice other species. On this visit I saw a total of 50 species in just over 4 hours, with some of the nicer ones being 9 Asian Golden Weavers, 1 Chestnut Munia, 12 Striated Grassbirds, 1 immature Brahminy Kite and juveniles of Oriental Pratincole and Black-winged Stilt.

A couple of birds were of interest due to their timing. 1 Barn Swallow was seen as was a singing Oriental Reed Warbler. Neither of these is normal at this time of year, but neither are they unprecedented; small numbers of Barn Swallows can be found year-round and there are a couple of other rainy season records of Oriental Reed Warbler.

birding, thailand, nature, national parks