Yesterday I had to send my mother to the airport so Rosie and I took the kids and decided to make an excursion out of it. We spent the first hour watching airplanes taking off and landing, something all my children are very fond of, especially the loud roar of the engines, which practically has them all wetting their pants with joy. Oriental Pratincoles were aplenty with almost nine birds smoking on the tarmac between jet bursts.

After that we headed off to the Phuket Future Plan estate near the airport, where we did some noon birding. We recorded 42 species in the heat of the day, something quite spectacular for a hot and humid day as that. The uniqueness of the area meant that we were able to get marsh, mangrove, beach forest, beach and open country birds all in one. A flooded forest area turned swamp was a prime attraction for many birds and held a few surprises.

Specials for the day included Stork billed Kingfisher in the swampy areas and three Mangrove Whistler in the mangroves.

Birds seen included Little Cormorant, Little Heron, Pacific reef Egret, Little, Intermediate and Great Egret, Lesser Sand Plover, Whimbrel, Hoopoe, White throated, Collared and Common Kingfisher, Brahminy Kite, Grey capped Woodpecker, Common Flameback, breeding Chinese Pond Heron, Indian Roller, Streak eared Bulbul, Lesser Whistling Duck, Little Grebe, Common Iora and Forest Wagtail.

In the evening, a Lesser Frigatebird was seen about 200 yards off Nai Thorn beach, heading north towards Nai Yang beach.