Kit & Herman Year 2

[Kitsafari]

@Tdgraves in both pics? I'll have to check on the computer later....

Edited November 26, 2019 by Kitsafari

[TonyQ]

What an excellent collection of flycatchers, superbly photographed and described. @Kitsafari I think you could be taking the lead soon!

[Kitsafari]

5 hours ago, Galana said:

I am learning a lot from your SE Asian images and finding it increasingly hard to resist buying a Field Guide. When I do I will most likely have splashed on a plane ticket too.

 

 

@Galana Buy buy buy! I'll be here to welcome you.

and thank you for the kind comments.

 

@TonyQ thank you! it's  possible indeed as I still have my Bangkok photos to put up although I think there are several already in the count. I haven't finalised the Bangkok list yet. But then some dark horse may just leap ahead, so I'm not counting my chickens before they are hatched (such an old delightful saying!). 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Galana]

2 hours ago, TonyQ said:

@Kitsafari I think you could be taking the lead soon!

27 in it. I have been keeping an eye on the runners. 3 on 500+ 2 more on 400+ and 3 more over 300. Keep an eye on that dark horse from the Netherlands. He is on a roll with his best score to date.

[Kitsafari]

4 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

@Kitsafari I'm afraid that your redshank may be a marsh sandpiper....

 

I've just checked and you are right, of course! Waders are a nightmare! we did see redshanks but that was a couple of hours later and I missed them in my photos. So I've gone back in to add the common redshank in post #832 and hope I've got that correct, and changed the count of marsh sandpiper which was already counted in my HK list. 

 

Because i went back to check on the marsh sandpiper, I also discovered I had double counted the wood sandpiper which I had in my Singapore list. I'll adjust the number with the next entry.

 

Since I'm  on redshanks - I have to check with the experts - are these redshanks as well, please ? they look different from the one I put up.

(it's official - waders aren;t my BFFs!!)

 

[Tdgraves]

They look more like it @Kitsafari !

[Galana]

8 hours ago, Tdgraves said:

@Kitsafari I'm afraid that your redshank may be a marsh sandpiper....

I am going to have to get that Field Guide. I looked at that 'tall' Redshank very hard as the legs looked disproportionately long but after great thought made no comment as I did not find anything else to fit. Very reminiscent of the "Yellowlegs" tribe of America. Do you have such things?

I would suggest not Marsh Sandpiper cos the legs are the wrong colour. M.S. definitely grey green like a miniature Greenshank and bill too coarse.

The group look OK but how about the guy on the far right? Spotted?

 

We need more input here.

 

[xelas]

Two of the birds are wearing tags, maybe those can give us an answer?

[Galana]

All three of those Redshank that have 'visible' legs are carrying similar 'flags'. All on right tibia one, blue/green and one white. Indeed the rings are visible in other shots. all except the 'solo' Redshank photo.

 

A nice blow up of the rings would let you get the life history of the bird. http://www.cr-birding.org/colourprojects?tid_3=Common+Redshank&tid_2=&tid=All&tid_1=All&tid_4=All&tid_5=All

 

Most ringing takes place in Europe so to find birds in SE Asia would be exciting. I guess that there are active ringers in China and elsewhere.

Reporting can be fun as I have found out. It only takes a few minutes and the return can be surprising.

Remember my "Baltic Gull" from Finland snapped in Uganda in 2018BY?

 

[pedro maia]

23 hours ago, TonyQ said:

@Kitsafari I think you could be taking the lead soon!

 

And also getting too close for comfort in the national only count. Ok, I know that count doesn´t matter but it´s the only one I have a chance to win .

[pedro maia]

On 11/26/2019 at 5:32 AM, Kitsafari said:

 

How the hell do you get to spot this guy? incredible...

[Kitsafari]

19 hours ago, Galana said:

I am going to have to get that Field Guide. I looked at that 'tall' Redshank very hard as the legs looked disproportionately long but after great thought made no comment as I did not find anything else to fit. Very reminiscent of the "Yellowlegs" tribe of America. Do you have such things?

I would suggest not Marsh Sandpiper cos the legs are the wrong colour. M.S. definitely grey green like a miniature Greenshank and bill too coarse.

The group look OK but how about the guy on the far right? Spotted?

 

We need more input here.

 

 

@Galana

we don't get yellowlegs in Southeast asia except for lesser yellowlegs mentioned in my reference book Waterbirds of ASEAN, but it is a very rare vagrant. 

 

I checked with a birding guide and she says the "tall" bird that I mistook for a marsh sandpiper is actually a wood sandpiper, so you made a good call there. That had made sense since the marsh sandpiper has grey green legs as you had said, and this one had more yellowish legs. 

 

The group shot of the redshanks included the guy on the right that didn't seem to belong  -  The guide ruled out spotted redshank as she thought the legs weren't red enough. when i showed the side view of the bird (as below), we realised it was another common redshank but a juvenile. 

 

 

Thanks for the link to the tags  - I tried to check the legrings on the link but it doesn't give me any feedback. i"m not sure if I entered the information correctly....

But it seems that the green and white flags were tagged by Singapore's NParks to keep track of where they've been. 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

2 hours ago, pedro maia said:

 

How the hell do you get to spot this guy? incredible...

 

 

@pedro maia only by chance. Herman was looking up in the tree tops for the large hawk cuckoo  and noticed a bulge on the tree, and there it was resting. just pure luck. 

[Galana]

35 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

she says the "tall" bird that I mistook for a marsh sandpiper is actually a wood sandpiper, so you made a good call there

Nah. Wood Sandpiper has greenish yellow legs. When you rule out all the impossibles you keep coming back to Redshank in a strange pose.

[Tdgraves]

@Kitsafari I might have lead to that confusion, in my haste I typed marsh but in my head I meant wood....

[Kitsafari]

23 hours ago, Galana said:

Nah. Wood Sandpiper has greenish yellow legs. When you rule out all the impossibles you keep coming back to Redshank in a strange pose.

 

@Galana I'm not sure.... my reference book has wood sandpiper's legs as yellowish and this bird doesn't have the orangeish/yellowish/reddish tone in its upper part of the bill that a redshank typically has.

 

whichever the case, unless it's a totally new bird, i already  have wood/marsh/common redshank in the count. 

it's just one of the mystery birds I guess!

 

 

[Galana]

Trust me. It's Redshank. Woody is markedly smaller (compare with the double shot with Redshank and Common Sand in 511 (which sadly seems to have crept in twice.)

And the legs are more 'slimey yellow/green' a bit like the colour of stagnant water.

The bill lacking red indicates an immature.

A mystery indeed but as you say unless it is a new bird it does not affect the score (unless that Common Sand at 508 and 511 post adjustments does??)

[Kitsafari]

In November, I extended my November work trip to Bangkok with a one-day trip to some wetlands and salt pans southeast of the city. The guide had calculated a sighting of 80 species, but of course I missed a number, and another good number of which I didn't catch a photo of, or were such EBCs that I'm not going to put up. I had a bad photography day, maybe partly because I was rather bothered by my haunting at the Bangkok hotel, but that't a story for another day. 

 

82/BK01 : White-crested Laughing Thrush, Bang Phra non-hunting area

 

already in my Singapore count

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

81/BK02 : Black-throated Laughingthrush, Bang Prah

 

Also in my Singapore count. The black-throated laughingthrush in BangPrah was just as skittish and shy as the uncommon resident in Singapore.

 

[Kitsafari]

34/BK 03: Black Baza, Bang Prah

 

a very distant raptor and the only one baza we saw. The bazas were closer in Singapore, where I had it in the count.

 

[Kitsafari]

SG11/ BK 04/ Blue-tailed Bee eater, Bang Prah

 

a very badlit shot.

 

[Kitsafari]

SG13/BK05 : Oriental Honey Buzzard, Chonburi Salt pans

 

[Kitsafari]

SG55/ BK06 : Black Drongo, Bang Prah

 

[Kitsafari]

SG54/ BK07 : Ashy/Sooth Drongo, Bang Prah/ Bangpu recreation center mangrove walk

 

There are four sub-species of ashy drongo - the Borneon one which is in my Singapore count, the Chinese white-faced one which I saw in Bang Prah, the sooty one in Bangpu and the blackish which I don't have.

 

Chinese white-faced

 

 

sooty 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

149/ BK08 : Little Egret, Bang Prah/Salt pans