A Leisurely BY 2022 from Herman and Kit

[Kitsafari]

Thanks @PeterHG I was very pleased with the jacana - it was totally unexpected. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

142/CB31. Bengal Florican, Kompong Thong Province

 

(i repeated the #138 count with the swamphen and the owlet so i've adjusted the number for the florican. Did I mention that I'm terrible with numbers?) 

 

Another species that I wanted to catch and which the Cambodian government is striving to protect is the critically endangered Bengal Florican, a large bird from the bustard family. There are essentially two regions globally to find this species after its population was decimated. One is in northern Indian sub-continent, and another in Cambodia. The Cambodian government has designated six sites on the Tonle Sap lake floodplains as protection areas where WCS is pushing to involve local communities to stop poaching of eggs, hunting of the big bird, destruction of eggs through agricultural developments. Tour agencies such as the Sam Veasna pay the local villagers to find and direct tourists to the birds, giving them a reason not to hunt the birds  or their eggs. WCS has also started to collect some of the eggs to incubate and then release the fledged chicks. 

These bustards are really tough to find when they sit among the high grasses, and understandably very nervous about humans. so the only photos we could get was them in the air. 

 

see that neck and head just about seen next to the lone tree? 

 

and there it flies - EBCs ahoy

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

94/CB32. Large-billed Crow, Kompong Thong Province

 

In the Sg list

 

[Kitsafari]

143/cb33. Plaintive Cuckoo, Kompong Thong 

 

[Kitsafari]

144/CB34. Streaked Weaver, Kompong Thong

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

145/CB35. Striated Grassbird, Kompong Thong

 

it popped right up next to the Black Drongo 

 

[Kitsafari]

146/CB36. Australasian Bushlark, Kompong Thong

 

also known as Horsfield's bushlark

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

147/CB37. Amur Stonechat, Kompong Thong

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

148/CB38. Red Avadavat, Kompong Thong

 

Juve

 

Male adult

 

[Kitsafari]

149/CB39. Oriental Skylark, Kompong Thong

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

150/CB40. Green Bee-eater, Kompong Thong

 

 

[Kitsafari]

151/CB41. Indochinese Roller, Kompong Thong

 

[Kitsafari]

A mode  of transportation that seemed to have been modified from some tractors and carts. It was used to transport cargo such as timber and wood, as well as used as a kind of bus/taxi! I didn't see this until we got to this province and it was widely used in the Tmat Boey region as well. 

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

The Indochinese Roller is a beauty!

[Kitsafari]

Thanks @TonyQ this is the second time I've seen the Indochinese roller, the first time was in Thailand. But both times were in mid-afternoon when the light was very harsh so I don't think I did enough justice to this lovely roller.  Third time lucky (in the near future), I hope!

[Kitsafari]

 

A brief break from the Cambodian list as I just had to share this sighting we saw a couple of days ago in one of our parks. 

 

152/SG114. Changeable Hawk Eagle, Pasir Ris Park

 

This dark morph Changeable Hawk Eagle took residence as a very young raptor in this park for well over a year, and his strength and cunning is truly amazing. A wildlife photographer had videoed him making a strategic attack on a grey heron (which at around 1m is taller than the eagle) in the most cunning way, and the raptor - a resident but uncommon species in Singapore - has terrorised the Red Junglefowl in the park, taking most of the chicks in the western part of the park.

Two days ago, it was perched low and obviously hunting. it's so used to the photographers that it ignored us. it must have seen the junglefowl from afar - about half a km away and it flew towards that direction. it landed on the ground, sending a hen into the bushes. Its flight put a pair of adult spotted wood owls and their 2 chicks on full alert, and attracted two crows and a hornbill to the spot. It then hopped up a nearby tree which houses a handful of thick, well grown bird's nest ferns. These ferns are favourite spots for the other bird species as nests. It then checked each fern and found the silent junglefowl chicks, and proceeded to feed on three stressed out chicks one by one, all the time to the alarms sounded by the hen in the bush. 

I've included the video clip where the intimidating eagle fed on the chick, decapitating it early in the feed (he did it with the other chick as well). it's pretty graphic and I'm not sure if I should put up here - let me know if it's just too graphic and i'll take it down.  

 

dozy spotted wood owls just a few trees away from the raptor

 

 

an Oriental Pied Hornbill keeping a close watch on the eagle

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

Back to Cambodia - the Prek Toal Ramsar Site was the main reason for my decision to go to Siem Reap. Prek Toal sits at the northerly edge of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve near to Siem Reap. It is the site of an amazing array of bird species and has been converted into a bird sanctuary to protect the number of species that breed, nest and roost here. Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater  lake in Southeast Asia and its low-lying area gets flooded annually during the wet season with the maximum height in November.

Prek Toal bird sanctuary is also regarded as the largest waterbird colony in South-East Asia. From October, the birds start flying in, with darters and cormorants starting to breed, followed by pelicans in December and January, with the storks peaking in February. The waters begin to recede, flowing back into the Mekong River by early March.

To reach Prek Toal bird sanctuary, you have to take an hour's boat ride from a spot along the lake, and then switch to a smaller boat to reach the inner streams to get to the observation towers. Between October and February, the birds are nesting in the trees but with waters receding, the birds will start to feed along the narrow streams but it's harder to get to them as the waters are too low for the boats to ply. By the time i went in late February, we couldn't get to the tower closest to the nesting/roosting spots, and the waters were still too high for the birds to feed on the ground. so unfortunately, I saw mainly birds in flight or in distant trees.

My top target was the Great Adjutant but unfortunately, my guide couldn't spot any on this trip. 

 

153/CB42. Whiskered Tern, Prek Toal

 

Lots flying around the boat and the lake

 

 

[Kitsafari]

154/CB43. Barn Swallow, Prek Toal

 

Very distant from the viewing tower 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

155/CB44. Asian Openbill, Prek Toal

 

 

[Kitsafari]

79/CB45. Brown-throated Sunbird, Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

11/CB46. Asian Brown Flycatcher, Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

104/CB47. Chinese Pond Heron, Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

103/CB48. Intermediate Egret, Prek Toal

104/CB49. Little Egret, Prek Toal

 

also in SG list. 

 

[Kitsafari]

156/CB50. Great White Egret, Prek Toal

 

[Kitsafari]

96/CB51. Oriental Darter, Prek Toal

157/CB52. Little Cormorant, Prek Toal

 

By the hundreds.