Morning Buffet

The only place where I did spent time birding was around the resort area. There's a fruiting fig tree just near by the parking lot and lots of birds visited the tree every morning. The most numerous species being the abundant Common Myna and Yellow-vented Bulbul, then the local Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis) and the sweet Pink-necked Green Pigeon (Treron vernans). The White-vented Myna was quite common too. Ten years ago the species was still scarce in the southern part of Thailand, but nowaday it has become common throughout the country. Several Coppersmith Barbets also joined the party, one of them was juvenile. An adult and a juvenile Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) visited the tree briefly in early morning. In the sky were Germain's Swiftlets, Blue-tailed Bee-Eaters and Brahminy Kites. I walked along the road to the beach and saw a couple of Common Moorhen, a White-breasted Waterhen, Pacific Swallows, a Common Kingfisher, Brown-throated Sunbirds and a striking Slaty-breasted Rail (Gallirallus striatus) in a canal along the way. At the beach I unexpectedly came across a female Barred Buttonquail (Turnix suscitator), a species which I've always wanted to take photos. Unfortunately the male bird which was hiding well on the ground nearby flushed up before I could spot him. Here are lots of photos mainly taken from the fruiting fig tree, a truly morning buffet for the birds there.

A male Pink-necked Green Pigeon

And a female

White-vented Myna

An adult Yellow-vented Bulbul

And here's a juvenile

My favourite pic of Common Kingfisher

A female Barred Buttonquail; male bird lacks black patch on the throat

Asian Glossy Starling likes to perch on exposed electrical wire.

But it's a tough bird inside the fig tree.

Juvenile bird looks totally different, except for those red swollen eyes.

A bright adult Black-naped Oriole

And quite a tamer juvenile

Coppersmith Barbet

Southern Jungle Crow

More Yellow-vented Bulbuls

And another male Pink-necked Green Pigeon

And I'll finish the entry by this super tame Zebra Dove

Unfortunately I didn't bring my 300mm lens with me during the last day, so I didn't get any photos of the tame Forest Wagtails at one of the view points. I guess they're on migration because I don't usually see them in flock like this. I also missed a large flock of frigatebirds which came soaring above the Phromthep Cape in the late evening and a pale morph Booted Eagle on the way back to the airport. Damn it.