Homemade Photos

I used to get bored when I'm stuck at home during week days, but now I'm quite enjoying it! For some reasons, I feel like there are much more birds in my house than before. I wake up and enjoy seeing different species of birds coming to my house. Some species only pass by, but many are residing within my house area. The abundance of birds became the main reason why I want to stay home.

Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) is an unusual bird to be found in the backyard, but a pair used to visit my house pretty often many years ago. I was so happy to find that a flock of about 4-5 birds are now coming back to my house again. It has a very strange call with an equally strange calling pose as well. The above shots were taken late in the evening and it was already dark, but I'm so happy to get these shots of this precious bird of my house.

There are 2 species of doves that can be found within my house, the Spotted and Zebra Dove. The above Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata) is one of the 4 individuals that usually come to my house. I guess it's a female bird judging from its richer pinkish breast. Male bird seems to have greyer, less rufous plumage.

The focused bird in the large picture is probably a female since it is has more barring on the sides of its breast. I really like watching these Zebra Doves because they are so small and cute. The bird is only about the same size as a quail. It is enjoyable to watch them walking and feeding together in pair. No wonder why it's one of the most popular cage birds in Thailand.

Here's the other dove that can be found around my house, the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis). It is much more abundant than the previous Zebra Dove, and much less attractive. It is by far the commonest dove in Thailand and also a very popular cage birds because of its deep sweet call. Lots of this bird enjoy feeding in the lawn and empty grounds around my house everyday.
This broken-legged Spotted Dove has been living in and around my house for many years now, probably more than 5 years. It is a female and I'm happy to see that it's still around producing new fledglings every year.

The Black-collared Starling (Sturnus nigricollis) used to be just a visitor to my house. Now a pair is nesting on the same Ditar Bark tree as the Coppersmith Barbet in the previous post. The nest is built on the top of the tree about 10-12 metres from the ground. The parents are very busy finding food to feed their youngs. I always see them perching with a mouthful of earthworms and other bugs. This is actually their second brood. The first has produced 2-3 fledglings which can be seen in this post.

Talking about the Coppersmith Barbet, I haven't seen it coming to the nest hole again after it finished the hole. Sometimes I heard the call coming from the nearby tamarind tree but it never showed up again at the dita bark tree. Don't really understand why this single bird has to dig a hole.

Unlike the starling, the Green-billed Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus tristis) used to reside in my house garden, but now it rarely shows up. The reason for its disappearance is the lack of large trees. My house used to have lots of big dense trees like mango trees, tamarind trees and longan trees. Many of them were cut down in recent years, so some of the birds have disappeared, but there are also new comers, like the starling for example. The Green-billed Malkoha is an elegant bird but it's just too shy to come out in the open. It is very hard to get a good shot of it. The above shot was made late in the evening, when I spotted a bird coming to the tamarind tree in my yard.

Another very good example of the new comer is the Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus). It's a member of the cuckoo family which used to be found mainly in the central part of the country. It was rarely found in the north, but nowadays it's become a common sight for northern people. The bird has spread to my house several years ago. The above pictures show an adult male bird doing its courtship display.
Another bird of the cuckoo family that is regularly found around my house is the Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis). It has a very loud diagnostic call and Thai people know this bird very well. There's even a folk song about this bird. One interesting thing about coucals is that they build nests and raise their own youngs unlike other cuckoos.
The last species for this post is this Streak-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus blanfordi). It's an abundant bulbul and the commonest of the 3 species of bulbul than can be found in my house. The bird in the above pic is holding a Jamaican cherry preparing to feed its chick. I have no idea where it got the cherry, since I don't have any Jamaican cherry tree in my house and I haven't seen any around my house as well. Birds are sure good at finding food.