easy Cyornis

Went for an early morning walk at the Ministry of Public Relations this morning and picked up a very smart male Chinese Blue Flycatcher - easily identified by the narrow streak of pale orange extending up to the chin from the upper orange breast.  A much simpler affair than dealing with the last couple of female-type Cyornis that I have encountered. Round (2008) states that Chinese Blue Flycatcher is an "uncommon or rare passage migrant and occasional winterer".

Also a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers, two Yellow-browed Warbler and a Black-naped Oriole  in the same area.

Flycatcher number 10

Bright and sunny morning on the patch, with water levels in the lakes at the lowest I have ever seen them; strange given the current circumstances.

The highlight of the morning was a male Verditer Flycatcher, a patch tick and my 10th species of flycatcher in Suan Rot Fai. It appeared in front of me in a fruiting fig (just long enough to grab the picture below) and then promptly disappeared, never to be seen again. Round (2008) states that Verditer Fly is an uncommon winter visitor, with earliest arrival date being 23rd Oct, but the species remaining scarce until mid-Nov; he also states that adult males are rare in the Bangkok area.

Number 10

Otherwise the park was slightly quieter than of late, with only one Eastern Crowned and three Yellow-browed Warblers, though there are still lots of Taiga Flys around and a reasonable number of Asian Browns and Black-naped Orioles.

Two new herons

Bangkok is now on a five-day weekend, thanks to the flooding situation around the city (this is in addition to Monday of this week being a holiday!).  As such I did SRF first thing this morning - there were not many people using the park, with many having left the city or staying home in fear of the flood! The park itself is dry, and getting drier day-by-day, now that the rains have stopped. Our house is also totally flood free (for now).

Birding this morning was really quite productive, with me getting two patch ticks - firstly a real bogey bird in the form of a pair of Great White Egrets (amazingly common in Thailand, but seemingly not so in the inner city) - and the other being a 1cy Cinnamon Bittern that flushed from the Lilly Pond, showing well in flight a couple of times.  I have previously found a dead Cinnamon Bittern close to my house (in Nov 2008), and Graham Gordon saw one in Suan Rot Fai in April this year, so this is a species that has been "on the cards".  Other highlights this morning were a pair of Black Bazas  circling low over the park at about 7am (I presume they had roosted in the park) and a Peregrine.

1cy Cinnamon Bittern

One of two Great White Egrets

Passerine migrants were somewhat more run-of-the-mill, with one or two Eastern Crowned, one Arctic and one Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, at least five Asian Brown  and 15+ Taiga Flycatchers; a single leucogenis Ashy Drongo a showy Brown Shrike (very preoccupied with devouring a large bush cricket),  ten or so Barn Swallows and four Black-naped Orioles.  I also spent some time checking open grassland for pipits, in the hope of picking up a Richard's, but only came away with six Paddyfields.

1cy cristatus Brown Shrike

Asian Barred Owlet

Asian Openbill

Taiga takeover

SRF 0815-1000hrs, with very good numbers of Taiga Flycatchers throughout the park - I must have seen/heard at least 30.  Other species included three Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, one Eastern Crowned Warbler, five Black-naped Orioles, six Asian Brown Flycatchers, 10 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and 4 Yellow-browed Warblers.  I finally got decent views of an Accipiter, which turned out to be a female Shikra.

Bazas over Bangkok

SRF 0600-0930 hrs produced a good selection of migrants, with the highlight being a Hoopoe, which is a patch tick. I think it was probably of the migratory race saturata, given that the body was a relatively pale pink.  Other notables were two Dusky,  one Pale-legged, two Eastern Crowned,  four Arctic and two Thick-billed Warblers; three Brown Shrikes, perhaps 15 Taiga Flycatchers, 10+ Blue-tailed Bee-eaters,  four Black-naped Orioles and two Ashy Drongos.

I tried viz-migging from SRF but only picked up 10+ Stork spp and one Accipiter sp.  I had brief views of one other Accipiter perched (probably a Shikra).

Once back at home I tried viz-migging from our balcony from 1030-1100 hrs and did a bit better, scoring 3 Great Cormorants going east very high, and a flock of c. 15 Black Baza going WSW.

Thick-billed Warbler in the early morning gloom

The open face and beady-eye always
makes T-b W's look "surprised to be alive"!

Raptors from the house

After scoring the parakeet shots detailed below, I decided to have a go at looking for migrant raptors (they are now expecting massive Black Baza passage down at Chumphon - massive being like 50,000 birds in a single day!).  So I did a watch between 09.20 and 10.10 hours (peak daily passage at Chumphon is usually 9am - 11am).  Within a couple of minutes of starting I was elated to pick up a large group of raptors (at least 20 birds) circling over the city, but they were distant and I managed to totally lose them whilst switching from bins to 'scope!  I suspect they were Black Bazas, but can't be sure.  Otherwise I picked up two separate Accipiters, both heading SE  - one looked longer winged than the other, but views were brief so again I'm uncertain on species.  I got better views of a Peregrine that was buzzing around at lower altitude - probably one of the local birds that I see around our neighbourhood occasionally.

EDIT: There were 20,808 Black Baza seen in Chumphon today!

Parakeets from the guest bedroom

A group of Red-breasted Parakeets have been hanging around for the last few days, frequenting a couple of flowering trees just outside our house.  I got these shots this morning.

Male

Female