Ian Dugdale reported seeing a large flock of 17 Rosy Starling at the Thai Muang Golf Course in the last days of December 2009. I was in Nakorn Sawan at the time and felt bad that I was unable to get this lifer, as I myself was having a tough birding trip, having missed out on seven potential lifers.

On Children’s Day, my wife and I had contemplated visiting the air force base in Surat Thani so my kids could see some airplanes. Due to a late morning start and a few grumpy kids, we decided to head out a little later and make for the navy base in Thap Lamru which was closer and still enabled my eldest son to see a helicopter in action as well as explore some naval vessels. By the early afternoon the sun was bearing down and my kids wanted to go swimming. I took this as a great opportunity to take the kids to a forest waterfall and get in some birding time as well.

Khao Lampi Waterfall was crowded and noisy and the park staff wanted to charge unreasonable prices for the holidays so we opted to go to the beach.

Thai Muang was the closest beach available and when I was reminded of the starlings at the golf course we decided to try it out.

After settling the kids and my wife on the deserted beach, I started my search for the starlings near the casuarinas near the former carpark. The area was rich in bird life an in little time I had myself 34 species. A tree near the large lake had a group of 30 Orange breasted Pigeons, making this site perhaps the best place to find this rather uncommon specimen. A tree in the far distance had a group of some 20 White shouldered Starlings and three Purple backed Starling, but aside from that, the area was void of any of the rare migrants we were looking for.

Around the old golf track I connected with Hoopoe, Pacific Golden Plover, Blue tailed and Chestnut capped Bee Eater, Common Snipe, Pink necked Pigeon, Little, Intermediate and Great Egret and Lesser Coucal. White throated, Common, Collared and Black capped Kingfisher were all seen in a little creek near the center of the course, making it a good day for kingfishers.

After an hour of birding I had 42 species but still no sign of the starling. It is not uncommon to discover a species of starling in an area only to find they have moved on a few days later and I was beginning to think perhaps I was not going to see anything new on this trip. The area is very large and it would only take a miracle of God to find these little birds in time before the sun set.

I decided to go back to the old spot where I had sighted the first group of starlings to see if they had returned. At the casuarinas I spotted them again but approach was difficult and I ended up using the car as a blind as the birds were very skittish.

Initially I had noticed only 15 or so birds foraging in the tree but closer observation revealed a very large number of roosting birds hidden among the droopy boughs of the casuarinas. While the majority of the birds were full grown White shouldered Starling (30 or so birds), I did find around 10 Chestnut Cheeked Starling and 10 Purple backed Starling. I had my best views yet of the Chestnut cheeked Starling, a beautiful bird which was only discovered to winter here a few years ago by Stijin De Win on one of his birding trips to the area.

Even after seeing those birds I still felt disheartened that I was unable to get a few lifers when suddenly a pair of reddish-colored starlings flew up from the ground, scared off by an egret in low flight. I hardly believed by eyes when I realized they were Brahminy Starling! With this I got out of the car to get a closer look, almost trampling a Barred Buttonquail in the process. The flock of birds, being skittish as ever, took to a looping flight around the tree and it was then I was able to count around 50-60 mixed starlings in the group. After they had landed I called Ian to tell him the good news and ask him the whereabouts of the Rosy Starling.

Ian told me many of the Rosy Starling he’d seen were juvenile, so I began scanning through the many White shouldered Starling and finally found a single juvenile Rosy sitting very still and quietly in a branch. The reason for its inactive behavior was discovered minutes later when a group of mature Chestnut Cheeked Starlings came by and began persecuting it until it was finally chased off of the tree.

The birds were feeding on something on the branches of the tree, what I could not see, but they were systematically making their way through the branches as they picked through the bark, picking up what could have been insects or grubs.

Contented and shaking with excitement, I hopped back into the car and barely made it a few feet down the road when I looked up in a nearby tree to see the Brahminy Starling had taken up roost only 10 feet from the car! I quickly grabbed my camera but the second I rolled down the car window for a shot, the birds took to the air.

By then it was 6 PM and getting late. Satisfied, and brimming with joy, I picked up my kids from the beach and drove back to Phuket and celebrate my first two lifers of the year with a dinner at Sizzlers!

Altogether there were 47 species in one hour and two lifers. -God is good!