Birding - at last

Due to various reasons and becoming a little lazy, i have not done any birding for over two weeks, the longest non birding spell for 25 years! having completed various tasks including the wifes UK visa application, collecting newly repaired car and motorbike, this morning I went out birding around the local patch at Suphanburi, it was surprisingly cool and I soon regretted not taking a jacket. This was the first visit to the patch in over three months, the site continues to be built upon slowly, but not as bad as I had feared. The rice was at various stages of growth and offered a nice variety of micro habitats, a couple of wet paddies held a nice mix of waders, including a female Painted Snipe, 40 Wood Sandpiper, 4 Common Sandpiper, 5 Little Ringed Plover and 6 Marsh Sandpipers. A male Pied harrier was probably the smartest looking bird of the morning, with other raptors including a Black Baza and two Shikra.

Eastern Stonechats

Plenty of winter visitors around with 7 Common Kingfisher,10 Brown Shrike, 3 Taiga Flycatcher, Black-naped Monarch, 17 Eastern Stonechat, 20 Black-browed Reed, 8 Pallas's Grasshopper, 2 Lanceolated, 20 Dusky and 3 Yellow-browed Warbler. Herons and Egrets included 6 Grey, 2 Purple and 3 Night Heron, 7 Yellow and 3 Cinnamon Bittern.

Other species noted during the morning included 3 Black-capped Kingfisher, Ruddy-breasted Crake, 10 Pheasant-tailed and 4 Bronze-winged Jacana, 3 Chestnut-tailed Starling and 100 Baya Weaver.