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.

Blue Sky

It's fruiting season for the tamarind here in my house and the trees are all full with the common Streak-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus blanfordi). It's an extremely plain brownish bird which can be found in gardens and open areas throughout the country. The only distinct pattern on its body is the whitish streaks on its ear coverts. Its call is similar to many other species of bulbuls and they can be extremely noisy when flocking together. Lots of these birds come and enjoy eating the tamarinds in my house along with other species like the White-vented and Common Myna and the Black-collared Starling. Although tamarind has solid peel, these birds know how to break through the skin with their beaks and eat the sweet edible part inside. Yesterday's weather was surprisingly lovely, so I went out and grabbed some shots of the birds under the late afternoon light.

Bath & Breakfast

Finally got back to the small town of Beppu once again. During the week before leaving Thailand, I put out a pot of water and bananas for birds in my front yard. Lots of them came and used all the survice I provided. The main customer was a gang of Sooty-headed Bulbul. They are very noisy and hyper-active. The Streak-eared Bulbul is a bit more secretive than those guys. Sometimes a pair of Common Mynas also come to eat bananas, but they are so shy that everytime I pan my lenses towards them, they just fly away.

Here's a little heaven for my front yard birds

The noisy Sooty-headed Bulbuls

And the more humble Streak-eared Bulbul

Oriental Magpie-Robins usually come at dusk

A pair of Spotted Doves always feeding on the grass nearby but I've never seen them come to bath like other birds. Before sunset is the time for Oriental Magpie-Robins, both males and females. They are quite fast and shy so they only appear at dusk. However, they always seem to enjoy bathing so much more than any other birds here. Another good new is 2 pairs of White-rumped Munias are now building their nests in my backyard. These tiny birds are very active in finding nesting materials. Maybe I should be more active in studying just like them!

Chumphon Trip

This was from March 2008, before I came to Japan. Me and my family, we went on a trip before I said goodbye to my motherland. Chumphon is a province located on the east side of Thai peninsula. It is famous for its beautiful beaches and islands, and is also one of the best places to watch migrating raptors! We stayed at our favorite resort, the 'Chumphon Cabana', which located in the area of Thung Wua Lan beach, one of the most famous beaches in Chumphon. Though this doesn't sound like there's gonna be any good birds, but actually it does. I have seen Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii), an uncommon resident plover of southern Thailand, almost everytime I come here. And of course, this time with the DSLR, I could finally get some nice shots of them! :))

This time I luckily came across with some interesting species within the small area of the resort's garden. I found that lots of small birds came to bath at a small stream beneath the dark shades along the path to the buildings. The most interesting one was the Olive-winged Bulbul (Pycnonotus plumosus) which is quite an uncommon species of southern Thailand. I didn't expect to see this species here, since I didn't know that they also come up to the northern part of the peninsula, so I was happily surprised. Other species included a Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata) that came to eat palm fruits, Olive-backed and Brown-throated Sunbirds, Stripe-throated Bulbul, surprisingly common, Streak-eared and Sooty-headed Bulbul, Vinous-breasted Starling (Acridotheres burmannicus leucocephalus), Common Myna, an Oriental Magpie-Robin family, Zabra and Spotted Doves and a Greater Coucal.

A male Olive-backed Sunbird taking bath on waterdrops left on the leaves

A Common Myna

An Olive-winged Bulbul's twin, the Streak-eared Bulbul

A juvenile male Oriental Magpie-Robin

A usually shy Lineated Barbet

The other day we went out in the sea to go snorkeling. Though it was not my first time, but the underwater world still seemed to surprise me all the time. I spent like 5 minutes just floating still in the water watching the Anemonefish, I'm soo in love with them! Not to mention other extremely colorful and sometimes, strange, species which are all looked alien to me, since I do not know any specific name for them, I was so enjoyed with the trip. When we got on the boat, I caught some birds along the way back. Pacific Reef-Egret (Egretta sacra) was so common, all in dark phase. An adult Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) subspecies japonensis also seen flying by. The next day we left Chumphon, then headed back to Bangkok. And that was my last time seeing my family before going to Japan in that Spring of 2008.

A dark morph Pacific Reef-Egret