Whist in Mae Sot yesterday (25th Nov) I visited my local paddyfield haunt again, checking one particular field for pipits. This field has recently been harvested and is currently full of rough, dry stubbles, and it happens to be the same field where I found three Rosy Pipits in early December 2013.
Rosy Pipit is a rare (probably overlooked) bird in Thailand, so I wanted to dedicate a bit of time to checking this area again as it is pretty much the same time of year, with the field in a similar condition. The first 10 minutes checking this field at sunrise produced only a couple of Paddyfield Pipits. The rough stubbles made it hard to keep track of birds as they would often disappear into depressions in the ground, but soon I located a party of four Eastern Yellow Wagtails, including a couple of smart juveniles, and I heard a Red-throated Pipit call...things were looking a bit more interesting.
Soon after this I moved the car a few meters to get a different angle of view and suddenly noticed a pipit drop vertically out of the sky into the field. Thankfully it landed in view and as soon as I got my binoculars onto it I confirmed that it was a ROSY PIPIT! The bird immediately struck me as being a "small pipit" which was heavily streaked on the underparts, with a greyish wash to the head and a broad whitish supercilium. The mantle also appeared heavily streaked, with the upperparts having on overall olive tone. The bird soon disappeared into a depression, but showed twice more until I completely lost it whilst switching from bins to camera (school boy error!). On the views I got I think it may have had a very pale pinkish hue on the throat, but could not be sure. I spent the next 45 minutes grilling the field but could not relocate it, though I did get nice views of an adult Red-throated Pipit and several more Eastern Yellow Wags. I took a drive along to my next set of favoured fields for a few minutes before heading to work, and was rewarded with excellent, brief views of an adult male Pied Harrier.
So, it seems like this area might be a regular haunt for Rosy Pipit at this time of year!
Rosy Pipit is a rare (probably overlooked) bird in Thailand, so I wanted to dedicate a bit of time to checking this area again as it is pretty much the same time of year, with the field in a similar condition. The first 10 minutes checking this field at sunrise produced only a couple of Paddyfield Pipits. The rough stubbles made it hard to keep track of birds as they would often disappear into depressions in the ground, but soon I located a party of four Eastern Yellow Wagtails, including a couple of smart juveniles, and I heard a Red-throated Pipit call...things were looking a bit more interesting.
Soon after this I moved the car a few meters to get a different angle of view and suddenly noticed a pipit drop vertically out of the sky into the field. Thankfully it landed in view and as soon as I got my binoculars onto it I confirmed that it was a ROSY PIPIT! The bird immediately struck me as being a "small pipit" which was heavily streaked on the underparts, with a greyish wash to the head and a broad whitish supercilium. The mantle also appeared heavily streaked, with the upperparts having on overall olive tone. The bird soon disappeared into a depression, but showed twice more until I completely lost it whilst switching from bins to camera (school boy error!). On the views I got I think it may have had a very pale pinkish hue on the throat, but could not be sure. I spent the next 45 minutes grilling the field but could not relocate it, though I did get nice views of an adult Red-throated Pipit and several more Eastern Yellow Wags. I took a drive along to my next set of favoured fields for a few minutes before heading to work, and was rewarded with excellent, brief views of an adult male Pied Harrier.
So, it seems like this area might be a regular haunt for Rosy Pipit at this time of year!
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