PeterHG's BY in whatever form it will take.

[Soukous]

Beautiful Hornbill & Broadbill Peter. 

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Soukous

 

After Khao Yai, we drove north to Nakhon Sawan, in order to pay a visit to Bueng Boraphet, a large lake with surrounding wetlands. 

62 / TH 43. Streaked Weaver, Bueng Boraphet, January. The only place we saw them.

 

63 / TH 44. Siamese Pied Myna/Starling. Bueng Boraphet January. rather common, both here and in other locations.

 

 

64 / TH 45. Whiskered Tern. Bueng Boraphet, January. Quite a few present here.

 

65 / TH 46. Blue-tailed Bee-eater. Bueng Boraphet, January. Seen at various locations.

 

66 / TH 47. Grey-headed Swamphen. Bueng Boraphet, January. Plenty were present in the wetland areas. Also later in Chiang Saen.

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Still racking up beautiful birds and photos Peter!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Peter Connan!

 

We made a boat trip on the lake early in the morning. The skies were grey and the noise of the outboard engine scared off most of the birds before we got close, but it was an enjoyable experience anyway. Towards the end of the trip the skies cleared a little.

67 / TH 48. Little Grebe. Bueng Boraphet, January. The same species we have in Europe, but with light eyes. This one was not really afraid of the boat.

 

Well, there are limits, of course.....:)

 

68 /TH 49. Garganey. Bueng Boraphet, January. There were hundreds of them, but only this female allowed closer views.

 

 

69 / TH 50. Lesser Whistling Duck. Bueng Boraphet, January. They competed with the Garganey for the most numerous duck.

 

70 / TH 51. Cotton Pygmy Goose. Bueng Boraphet, January. hardly a goose in size and even small for a duck, this was definitely one of the more handsome waterfowl of the area. And the backdrop of the red lotus flowers only enhanced the impression.

 

 

71 / TH 52. Little Egret. Bueng Boraphet, January. Lots of egrets in the area.

 

72 / TH 53. Little Cormorant. Bueng Boraphet, January.

 

 

[TonyQ]

A beautiful Pygmy Goose in flight, with flowers!

[Peter Connan]

Ah, beautiful!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ and @Peter Connan

 

After the boat ride we explored the surrounding wetlands of Bueng Boraphet.

 

73 / TH 54. Oriental Reed Warbler. Bueng Boraphet, January.

 

74 / TH 55. Bronze-winged Jacana. Bueng Boraphet, January. Not as numerous as the pheasant-tailed jacana, but still present in quite a few places.

 

75 / TH 56. Chestnut-tailed Starling. Bueng Boraphet, January

 

76 / TH 57. Plaintive Cuckoo. Bueng Boraphet, January. The only sighting of the trip.

 

77 / TH 58. Yellow Bittern. Bueng Boraphet, January. Also the only time we saw one.

[BRACQUENE]

Excellent pictures ; that Pygmy Goose is awesome!

[PeterHG]

Thank you, Peter!

[PeterHG]

Some more from Bueng Boraphet:

 

78 / TH 59. Chestnut Munia. Bueng Boraphet, January. Somewhat obscured views, but I don't remember seeing them at other locations.

 

79 / TH 60. Plain Prinia. Bueng Boraphet, January.

 

80 / TH 61. Malaysian Pied Fantail. Bueng Boraphet, January. Quite common.

 

81 / TH 62. (Chinese) Pond Heron. Bueng Boraphet, January. In truth this might also be a Javan Pond Heron as the non-breeding plumages of both species are indistinguishable and ranges overlap in most of Thailand. Only in the far north, e.g. the Chiang Saen area where we went later the Javan Pond Heron does not occur, so the ones we saw there were definitely Chinese.

 

82 TH 63. Watercock. Bueng Boraphet, January. It suddenly burst from the reed beds close to the footpath, landed again after a few seconds and vanished in he reed. I only got this shot. Not ideal, but definitely this species. We did not see it anywhere else.

[PeterHG]

83 / 64. Black-eared Kite. Bueng Boraphet, January. A subspecies of the Black Kite, from which it differs by having a grey-blue cere and greyish claws. I haven't seen a black kite yet this year, but when I do I'll try and remember not to count it...;)

 

84 / TH 65. Phesant-tailed Jacana. Bueng Boraphet, January. Not in breeding plumage this time of the year, unfortunately. Very common.

 

 

85 / TH 66. Striated Grassbird. Bueng Boraphet, January. An inconspicuous bird, except for the fact that it was singing loudly, allowing us to loacte it.

 

86 / TH 67. Sand Martin. Bueng Boraphet, January

 

87 / TH 68. Oriental Magpie Robin. Bueng Boraphet, January. Very common and often seen and heard singing.

 

And the last one from the area. Well, not a bird as such, but it could easily be mistaken for one, if only by its size: the Golden Birdwing

Edited March 21 by PeterHG

[BRACQUENE]

I love that Golden Birdwing Peter and the pheasant-tailed Jacana may be common over there , he hasn't stolen his name in my view ! 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful BIF Peter! 

[PeterHG]

The next 5 days we stayed in the Baan Maka lodge near the Kaeng Krachan NP. We had booked a guide for our first full day there, but the lodge itself was quite good for birding, too.

 

88 / TH 69. White-throated Kingfisher. Baan Maka, February. The most common kingfiher.

 

89 / TH 70. Asian Brown Flycatcher. Baan Maka, February. Not the most striking bird, but we had a soft spot for this  liitle flycatcher with its big innocent eyes.

 

90 / TH 71. Bronzed Drongo. Baan Maka, February. Only reliably seen here.

 

91 / TH 72. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater. Baan Maka, February. A handsome and widespread member of the bee-eater family.

 

92 / TH 73. Grey-headed Woodpecker. Baan Maka, February. Also present in north and central Europe, but this was a first sighting for me.

 

[PeterHG]

On the first full day in the Baan Maka Lodge, we went out for a day's guided birding with Piak, booked through the lodge. An excellent guide ! In the early hours of the morning the light was still dim, but we did get some good species.

 

93 / TH 74. Oriental Dollarbird. Kaeng Krachan, February. A member of the roller family. We only saw it twice and never got good views.

 

94 / TH 75. Great Slaty Woodpecker. Kaeng Krachan, February. Very large and very noisy. Unmistakable, even in the low light. There were 5 of them, here in the company of a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. But I'll deal with him separately, later on.

 

It was definitely woodpecker time at that hour...

95 / TH 76. Greater Yellownape. Kaeng Krachan, February. Our only sighting

 

96 / TH 77. Greater Flameback. Kaeng Krachan, February. Both the male and the female.

 

 

97 / TH 78. Golden-crested Myna. Kaeng Krachan, February. Also a single sighting.

 

98 / TH 79. Green-eared Barbet. Kaeng Krachan, February. A far-off sighting, like with most of the barbets. Being very vocal they were usually not too difficult to find, but their preferred perch was often a distant treetop

 

99 / TH 80. Crested Serpent Eagle. Kaeng Krachan, February.

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

lovely shot of the pgymy goose in flight!

[xelas]

Piak is an awesome guide. I recognise some of those tree tops ... those trees with birds are all very tall .

[PeterHG]

Thank you, @Kitsafariand @xelas

20 hours ago, xelas said:

I recognise some of those tree tops ... those trees with birds are all very tall .

Yes, they usually are...;)

 

[PeterHG]

More from the day with Piak.

 

100 / TH 81. Crimson Sunbird, Kaeng Krachan, February. Amazing colour...!

 

101 / TH 82. Blue-bearded Bee-eater. Kaeng Krachan, February. Not seen in any other place.

 

102 / TH 83. Black Baza. Kaeng Krachan, February. Unfortunately not the superb flight shot @xelasshowed us in last year's thread, but happy to have seen it anyway. Cropped heavily.

 

103 / TH 84. Orange-breasted Trogon. Kaeng Krachan, February. A beautiful trogon, which gave us splendid views.

 

104 / TH 85. Banded Kingfisher. Kaeng Krachan, February. A striking kingfisher, but surprisingly difficult to find in the huge tree. Piak was not to be defeated, though....

 

105 / TH 86. White-fronted Scops Owl. Kaeng Krachan, February. Not common at all, but our guide knew just where to find it.

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

106 / TH 87. (Headless) Brown Bobook. Kaeng Krachan, February. De ondersoort decapitatus, die alleen in dit deel van Thailand voorkomt........

 

107 / TH 88. Black-throated Sunbird. Kaeng Krachan, February.

 

 

108 / TH 89. Black-and-yellow Broadbill. Kaeng Krachan, February. We heard it calling, but it took three guides a long time to find it high up in the trees. 

 

109 / TH 90. Red-headed Trogon. Kaeng Krachan, February. Not the great views he had with its orabge-bellied cousin, but we found one. Well, our guide did....

 

110 / TH 91. Blue-throated Barbet. Kaeng Krachan, February.

 

[BRACQUENE]

Congratulations with your century Peter ! Splendid Sunbirds and intriguing Barbet amongst others ...

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations on the century!

Amazing how many bird species have a sub-species decapitatus. I have seen several here.

[PeterHG]

Thank yo @BRACQUENEand @Peter Connan!

2 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

Amazing how many bird species have a sub-species decapitatus. I have seen several here.

[Soukous]

On 3/10/2024 at 2:43 PM, PeterHG said:

Well, record shots then

 

and a sore neck

[PeterHG]

3 hours ago, Soukous said:

and a sore neck

That, too....!