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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.