Birds of Thailand

Discussion on science, nature and technology across the globe.
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dtaai-maai
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by dtaai-maai »

We get quite a lot of sparrows where we are now, and although that would have been nothing to write home about when I was a boy in Sarf London in the 60s, they were few and far between in southern England for quite a few years before I came here.
Give me sparrows any day rather than pigeons and minahs.
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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dtaai-maai wrote:Give me sparrows any day rather than pigeons and minahs.
We get them all in large numbers, although our rotweiller (with a tail) is doing her best to reduce the pigeon population, and my daughter has zapped a couple of sparrow nests recently. We've got a vast area of waste land (our personal jungle) in front of our house, and we get a big variety of birds there.

A question for you twitchers. About this time last year I noticed some black and white birds (similar markings to a magpie, but only half the size). They can fly very slow and are very manouverable. Their diet seems to be the little lizards that we see everywhere. They fly very slowly around lamposts, up and down walls etc just picking them off as they go. Fascinating to watch. However, they disappeared as suddenly as they appeared, so I assume they migratory. I haven't seen any this year - yet. What are they please?
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dtaai-maai
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by dtaai-maai »

I wonder if it could have been one of these?
Magpie Robin 3854.jpg
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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Yes, that looks like the beastie. I assume from the caption on the photo, it's called a Magpie Robin.

I've Googled it, and there are a few interesting facts:

- It comes from the Chat Thrush family.

- It isn't migratory :? Maybe our rotweiller doesn't only get pigeons.

- It is a song bird, often caged for personal pleasures.

- It is nearing extinction in certain places. Too many rotweillers?

Actually, the photo and Googled description is good. So where have they gone? We used to have a couple of dozen near our house, and there's a plentiful food supply of little lizards.
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by Dannie Boy »

Big Boy wrote:Yes, that looks like the beastie. I assume from the caption on the photo, it's called a Magpie Robin.

I've Googled it, and there are a few interesting facts:

- It comes from the Chat Thrush family.

- It isn't migratory :? Maybe our rotweiller doesn't only get pigeons.

- It is a song bird, often caged for personal pleasures.

- It is nearing extinction in certain places. Too many rotweillers?

Actually, the photo and Googled description is good. So where have they gone? We used to have a couple of dozen near our house, and there's a plentiful food supply of little lizards.
They must have moved to our place, we have loads of them. Yesterday I found a fledgling in the garden who was not able to fly so to prevent our dog finding it and eating it, I scooped it up in a net and put it outside the wall - I had to run quickly to avoid a low flying attack from the parents :duck:
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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Look at the first page of this thread BB and others. I thought the same but it's probably the smaller variety shown in a lower photo...name escapes me at the moment but Frank Hovis or others talk about it. Pete :cheers:

EDIT: Back from page 1 now.....perhaps a Fantail rather than larger Magpie?
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by Dannie Boy »

prcscct wrote:Look at the first page of this thread BB and others. I thought the same but it's probably the smaller variety shown in a lower photo...name escapes me at the moment but Frank Hovis or others talk about it. Pete :cheers:

EDIT: Back from page 1 now.....perhaps a Fantail rather than larger Magpie?
Whatever it is, it's the bird in the first photo that we have lots of - they make quite a bit of noise and are very protective/aggressive in protecting their young!!
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by Big Boy »

I would say it is the top photo on page one that I'm talking about. They can manouvre extremely well at very slow speeds while gathering lizards. Seem to be unaware of human danger while hunting.
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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Observation: Re my small banana farm here as mentioned above. Many plants in fruit. A light grey coloured bird with white face markings and some black under the eyes only build nests in the stalks of bananas that won't be picked until after the young are born. No idea how they know this except by visually judging the size of the stalks developing. I've watched this now time and time again and they never nest in the more mature bunches. Amazing! :D Pete :cheers:
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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This maybe of interest to the twitchers out there:

Bangsaphan Noi raptor migration exhibition
The best spot to see migrating raptors; Sai Tong Beach, Bangsaphan Noi from September to November.

An exhibition to educate enthusiasts on bird migration and how to observe these majestic creatures. Birds of prey can be seen on their journey from the colder climes of Russia and Mongolia through Thailand and onto the Malay peninsular and Indonesia.

http://bangsaphanguide.com/forum/viewto ... ?f=3&t=897
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by buksida »

Found this little fellow nesting in our garden:
DSC_1917.jpg
Research indicates it is a 'Little Spiderhunter" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Spiderhunter
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by Frank Hovis »

Saw a pair of these in the garden this morning, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker.

Not my photo, there's no way I'd be able to get a photo of these tiny little things, they are about the same size (or smaller) than a British Wren. This photograph is of a male (the brightly coloured one) feeding the female with a mistletoe berry
scarletbackedflowerpecker.jpg
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by hhinner »

This pair have been coming to our garden for a couple of months now. At first I thought they might be Little Spiderhunters, like Buksida's above, but because of the slightly different plumage between male and female and a bit of web searching I've concluded they must be Olive-backed Sunbirds - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive-backed_sunbird. The male often sits on the bedroom jailbars and sings and preens himself unworried by anyone in the room.
Male olive-backed sunbird.
Male olive-backed sunbird.
DSC01132.jpg (173.07 KiB) Viewed 4248 times
Male olive-backed sunbird.
Male olive-backed sunbird.
DSC01136.jpg (144.06 KiB) Viewed 4248 times
Female olive-backed sunbird.
Female olive-backed sunbird.
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Re: Birds of Thailand

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From the Bangkok Post "photo of the day" slide show.
100.jpg
The hawk-watching season has started and one of the popular bird-watching spots in the country is Khao Radar in Prachuap Khiri Khan. From Septemer to October, hawks usually migrate from Russia, China and Japan to warmer areas. — Chaiwat Sardyaem

Does anyone know where the above highlighted place is? I did a quick search and couldn't find any reference.
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Re: Birds of Thailand

Post by Bristolian »

Radar Hill (10º59'N 99º21'E) is located 400 km south of Bangkok near Prachuap Khiri Khan along. Phetkasem Road just beyond km 433.
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