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.

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.

Home Again

I've been staying at home in Thailand for almost 2 weeks now. After a trip to Hokkaido, I stayed in Beppu for 5 more days and flew back to Chiang Mai. The weather is terrible here. The air is heavily polluted once again because of the illegal forest fire and paddy fields clearing. I really hate this annual air pollution which has just begun in the recent years due to global warming. The temperature alone is already too hot with the highest degree of 36 today, but the smog makes it even worse. The sky is covered with rusty smog and everywhere I go is filled with dust.

Spotted Doves

Zebra Dove

I haven't been able to go out birding until now, so I just spent my time photographing birds in my yard. Lots of Spotted Doves come to the small pool to drink water in late afternoon and the same tiny Zebra Dove is still residing in my garden. I really like the Zebra Dove. It's so small and cute, almost the same size as a quail. The same Taiga Flycatcher is also presenting well along with 2 more new birds. Its throat hasn't turned bright rufous yet, but I think it will later this month.

A non-breeding male Taiga Flycatcher

Hume's Warbler (Phylloscopus humei)

There's one Phylloscopus warbler presenting quite well in my front yard. It often comes to pick up insects and (maybe) nectar of the flowering longan tree along with a flock of Streak-eared Bulbul and a pair of White-vented Myna. I think it's a Hume's Warbler (P. humei) since it has darkish legs and greyish crown and nape. I normally see the species on high mountains but this bird obviously doesn't have bright yellowish legs and bill base like the common Yellow-browed Warbler (P. inornata), so I think it better fits with humei. I'm waiting to hear the call though. It's the best thing to surely identify the two similar species but I haven't heard its call yet.