Sunday, November 3, 2013

Canaries and Hemipodes

Suan Rot Fai from 06.15-09.45 hrs.  A very productive morning at Suan Rot Fai, with the biggest surprise being one of the first birds I saw - a Buttonquail spp, which I think was yellow-legged. Flushed twice from long-grass, and despite seeing where it landed the second time it eluded my attempts to re-find it.  A buttonquail, in the middle of Bangkok.  I must say that I don't know what to make of it as they are sometimes captured in villages and kept as good luck charms, so the potential for this bird being an escapee does exist.  On the other hand at this time of year some resident species do wander away from their normal ranges, so it could be a wild bird.

The other highlight this morning was a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, which is a much anticipated patch tick.  The species is known as a resident in Thai forests, but in winter birds disperse further afield.  This bird was in The Ramble which was filled with bird activity this morning including Eastern Crowned (at least 1), Yellow-browed (at least three) and single Pale-legged Leaf Warblers,  Elsewhere in the park I connected with single Dusky and Thick-billed Warblers (both first records of the autumn).

Other notables included three species of Drongo (Ashy x 2, Spangled x1 and Black x1), a single Blue-tailed Bee-eater, two Black-capped Kingfishers , four Brown Shrikes, three Asian Brown Flycatchers, approx 20 Taiga Flycatchers and a single White Wagtail.  There also seemed to be a bit of a movement of Himalayan Swiftlets. Today  I recorded the highest count of Night Herons that I have had in the park (6 birds, all juvs), and approximately 20 Cattle Egrets (again, a record count).

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Eastern Cattle Egret

EDIT:  Phil Round kindly furnished me with photos of Yellow-legged and Barred Buttonquails which have helped me to confirm the ID as Yellow-legged.  On status Phil commented that "Seemingly migrants should occur as well as residents, but I would expect to find residents hanging on unobtrusively in well-watered areas, which means just about anywhere around the city margin.  I see no reason to think your bird might not be wild".

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