Rosy Pipit

Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours birding the paddies and scrub south of Chiang Dao Town, most of the paddies were pretty wet and it was only a few minutes before I located a group of five Grey-headed Lapwing, with a further 13 found a little later. Best bird of the visit was a Rosy Pipit flushed several times, this is only the second time I have seen this species in Thailand, with two birds five years ago in nearly the same spot. There were many Eastern Stonechats with at least 30 scattered over a large area, with smaller numbers of Pied Bushchats. At least two pairs of Wire-tailed Swallows were present and a splendid adult male Pied Harrier spent an age quartering the fields. In dry scrub nearby a Rufous-winged Buzzard was present along with a flock of at least 60 Baya Weaver including many breeding plumage males. Also recorded were two Bluethroats, a Ruddy-breasted Crake, two Green Sandpiper, single Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover, a Richards Pipit, three Paddyfield Pipits, 15 Red-throated Pipits, Thick-billed Warbler, Siberian Rubythroat, ten Brown Shrikes, 15 Black-collared Starlings, four Plain-backed Sparrow and many Dusky Warblers, Zitting Cisticola and Plain Prinia. Perhaps as a result of the site being fairly wet I failed to find any Oriental Skylarks, perhaps for the first time ever.