Magpie-Robins

So here's another post for the Oriental Magpie-Robins (Copsychus saularis) in my front yard. I still haven't seen the mother bird, don't know why. Hope she's still doing alright though. The father bird briefly gave me a chance to get some good photos of him at close range before flying up into a dense tree. His plumage looks really worn out, which is not unexpected, with the presence of all those 4 chicks. Some of the fledglings have already shown few adult features on their upperparts including glossy black feathers indicating that they're male. These birds constantly visit my front yard to pick up some worms and insects. One of the youngs successfully caught a colourful bug, but unfortunately this bug is very well known for its super smelly liquid it sprays out from its body when disturbed. I watched the young bird trying to eat this noxious insect difficultly with one of its eyes closed in order to prevent the chemical liquid of this bug. Finally it successfully swallowed the insect and opened its eye. Hope it was not poisoned.

Home

The first post with new materials from home in Thailand! It's much cooler here than in Japan at the moment because of the rain. All the grasses and the trees look so fresh and green. Lots of birds are flying around all day. A pair of Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) is now building a nest under my roof and the parents are very noisy when they make the territorial call. Few Spotted Doves (Streptopelia chinensis) come down to the playground every morning and afternoon as usual. Common Tailorbirds (Orthotomus sutorius) hop along the vegetation and the sunbirds and flowerpeckers hover among the canopy.

Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)

A family of the Black-collared Starling (Starling Sturnus) often comes around my yard looking for food. These birds can be very noisy and really difficult to approach. The adult bird has thick black collar on its neck and bright yellow facial skin. The juvenile is duller with no distinct collar.

The bird that got me interested was this Sooty-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster) that came to my house shortly after the rain this morning. Normally, the northern subspecies of this bulbul has distinct red vent, but this bird strangely has yellow like to the subspecies found in lower parts of the country. However, the bird still seemed to be a juvenile bird, so I'm not really sure if it's another subspecies or a variant young bird that hasn't developed the colouration of its undertail coverts.

The last species for this post is this black and white Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis). A family of 4 fledglings and 1 father sticks around the playground all day looking for worms that dug themselves up from the ground after the rain. A bit strange that I didn't see the mother bird at all. The father looks really worn out and the chicks all look ugly with their scaly breasts. They can sometimes be really shy but once I sit still enough for a while they come around really close, like the above photos.

Nam Kham Nature Reserve 2010/01/02

The next morning we woke up at 5am before sunrise and walked up to the blind next to the large pond waiting for ducks but none were seen. Dr. Mong said that water level might have been too low for ducks to stay and feed in the pond. Dawn at Nam Kham was beautiful with a small group of Barn Swallows sunbathing on a dead tree. A Common Kingfisher, Common Moorhen and 2 shy White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) were also seen at the pond. When the sun has risen high enough, a flock of Little and Intermediate Egrets came feeding all over the pond. I spent time taking photos of some Little Egrets that came walking near the blind.

The setting moon at dawn

A nice and warm morning.

A White-breasted Waterhen

Barn Swallows warming themselves up with morning light

A non-breeding Great Egret

A non-breeding Little Egret with an unfortunate shrimp

Love the reflection of the bird

That morning Phil and Andy caught a Chestnut-crowned Bush Warbler again and I was so happy to be able to see it. I went into the hide waiting for some birds to come to the waterhole. Many people from the G04Get group came and saw Baikal Bush Warbler coming to take a bath at the other waterhole inside the reedbed. I saw nothing special today, just the same badass rubythroat, munias and Dusky Warblers. The only interesting thing was a male Red Avadavat that came down to the reeds in front of the blind but disappeared just a few moment later. I went to the other hide and got quite many photos of another ringed male Siberian Rubythroat. I'm sure it's the same bird that I saw last year. A female Jerdon's Bushchat (Saxicola jerdoni) was a real surprise but she wasn't kind enough to give me a pose or two. Because we all have to drive back to Chiang Mai today and it's quite a long way to go, we had to leave Nam Kham around noon. I packed my things and said goodbye to this wonderful place and promise to come back again if I could.

A male Oriental Magpie-Robin; note color rings for resident birds

The same Siberian Rubythroat

And Mister No.2

This guy is much tougher to photograph.

Some more shots of the first bird before leaving

And White-rumped Munias