Ruddy-breasted Crake

Ruddy-breasted Crake is a fairly common resident/winter visitor to the patch, I usually see one or two and hear a few more on most visits. This morning armed with a recording of a calling Ruddy-breasted Crake, I decided to carry out a survey of the patch to see how many birds were present. I played the call every 50-100 meters in the vicinity of as much suitable habtitat as I could get to, using a similar method to that which I have used successfully in the UK for winter surveys of Water Rails. By the end of the morning I had recorded a minimum of 23, but did not see one!

The Glossy Ibis were still present, but had increased to 19, otherwise there was little change from a couple of days ago. Wader totals included 120 Wood Sandpiper, 37 Black-winged Stilt, 17 Little Ringed Plover, 11 Greenshank, 3 Marsh Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Temminck's Stint, single Spotted Redshank and Pacfic Golden Plover.

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Also recorded this morning 2 Speckled-breasted Woodpecker, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Eastern Marsh Harrier, 5 Yellow Bittern, 5 Siberian Rubythroat, 2 Yellow-vented Bulbul, 3 Yellow-bellied Prinia, 2 Brown-throated Sunbird, 70 Baya and 25 Golden Weaver.