Ian Dugdale’s trip to Hala Bala helped to finally put and end to a lot of speculation which I had been harboring over the past year or so.

While it is easy to regret no being able to join in on a trip of a lifetime, I was very thankful that Ian was able to photograph a Reddish Scops Owl in Hala-Bala. You see, I had a picture of a Reddish Scops Owl as well, but for the longest time, I doubted if it really was the Reddish. -Why?

-I took the photo of the bird perched in a mango tree in my yard. –And I live in Phuket town, NOT Hala-Bala National Park.

-So how did the bird get here?

I really can’t say, all I know was there was an owl calling for three nights in a row sometime last year and I finally got so upset with this bird disturbing my sleep that I got up at 2 AM and went to investigate. After finally photographing the bird, I sent it to various birders, among whom were mentionable personalities such as Dr. Phil Round, Peter Ericsson and Nick Upton. There was a lot of discussion and some said it looked like it could be a Reddish (juvenile perhaps?) and others thought it was a darker variation of the Collared.

In my mind there was a 90% certainty of what species of owl was as it seemed to respond to the call of the Reddish (does any owl respond well to taped calls?) and looked like it as well. However, there are some burning questions which are crying out to be answered: How did this bird end up in Phuket? –Where does it live? –How many are left in the wild? Such a rare species cannot be passed off easily and this sighting demands an explanation, one I cannot offer.

Since the beginning of construction on a road through the Muang Chao Fah area in recent months and the destruction of much forest and marshland in the surrounding areas, the owl has disappeared, only showing once in March this year for less than 10 minutes. I cannot say if I will ever see the bird again.

However, now with Ian’s photo to use as reference, I’d like to again bring out my old photos from the archives and see what the birding community might have to say about the two.

It’s sad to say it has come down to this, but I’m afraid we might just have to admit it.

The number of waders visiting the once bird-rich mudflats has reached an all time low. What was once a popular feeding site for plovers, godwits, redshanks and curlews has now become so polluted and disturbed that now we are left with hardly a handful of birds.

The easiest time to spot waders is during the high tide when the birds are forced into large groups on the banks of the shoreline. The birds at Sapan Hin on this blustery day were very accommodating and allowed me to get within three meters of them, allowing for the photo displayed above, taken with my Canon 105 mm lens.

The photo shows the presence of only three species: Lesser Sand Plover, Red necked Stint and Curlew Sandpiper.

In the distance were a few Eurasian Curlews and the usual Little and Great Egrets.

Missing from the site were the once common Ruddy Turnstone, Common Greenshank, Bar tailed Godwit, Black winged Silts, Common Redshank and Terek Sandpiper.

A trip to Koh Kor Kao (business, not birds) on the eastern tip of Baan Nam Kem showed the island, though targeted for future business endeavors, is still in pristine condition and well stocked with plenty of birds and other animal life.

Koh Kor Khao is situation south of Koh Pratong, an island gazetted for National Park status but currently mired in legal disputes due to protests by the locals living there. While Koh Pratong is well known by many birders as one of the only places in the south which is home to such rare species as Lesser Adjutant, White bellied Woodpecker, Cinamon capped Pigeon and Grey headed Fish Eagle, Koh Kor Khao is seldom visited and still relatively unknown. Both are largely deserted with little infrastructure to speak of. The difference between the two is that Koh Kor Kao has been targeted by major hotels as the new “Phuket”, with talk of an airport being constructed on the north end, where a former WWII Japanese runway was cleared from the forest.

I did not have a lot of time to look for birds but from the terrain and available habitat, it looks like there could be a good number of birds here. Back in 2002 I was able to do some birding on the north end of the island and it proved to be very good for many species of forest and open-country birds. The beach was also uninhabited, making good feeding sites for waders, which flock in to feed during low tide. Marshlands are a familiar sight in the island and are home to a large number of waders, egrets and herons. I wouldn’t be surprised of from time to time one could find the Lesser Adjutant here as well.

King Cobra as seen crossing the road and a Water Monitor was spotted sunning itself on the road as we drove by. Both prove there are plenty of other animals about on the island.

Off on the horizon we spotted a large stretch of boulders and rocks which form a natural boundary, protecting the shores from the strong tidal currents. These islands were formed during the tsunami of 2004 and may be prime resting spots for ocean-going birds, much like the famous sand spit in Laem Pak Bia on the inner gulf.

Again, there is much to be explored around here, an hopefully one day someone (or I) will find the time to seriously assess the potential here.

Looks like Stijn’s bulbuls finally got themselves a new name.

The bulbul is bald. -That is a fact. -So what did they name it? “Bald Headed Bulbul.”

-I never would have guessed that …

The following article showed up in Yahoo’s Science section. Read it here.

As it turns out, the bird has been under observation by several scientists for a number of years. Apparently the project has been underway for almost 10 years and yet there was no mention of it until Stijn “accidentally” discovered the birds and annoced his find on the web. 

Like Stijn mentioned, it’s sad that there are some ornithologists (or ornithological bodies) which prefer to keep their discoveries under wraps for such extended periods of time. I understand that it takes time to research and properly file the paperwork, but I also  agree that more birders would be visiting Laos today had the discovery been announced earlier. 

Birdwatching usually helps the local population as well as creates a level of awareness among locals to protect their national heritage. I think many people will agree with me when I say the Laotian people could use a helping hand.

The scientific data has been released and was made available in this year’s edition of forktail. See it here.

Congradualtions to Stijn De Win for uncovering this bird and sharing his find with us and to all those who worked so hard to glean all the needed information to classify the specimen.

Thai people regularly make merit as part of their commitment to shed the sins of their outer man and keep the inner man pure and clean within. One way they do this is by releasing animals such as fish or birds into the wild.

The belief is that the sins one has accumulated will be borne away with the creature and the person who did the honorable deed of freeing a caged animal will be blessed by the gods for his mercy and kindness to the children of Mother Nature.

However, in order to release the animal, someone must do the sinful task of capturing the animals so they can be released.

The people who do the trapping are usually poor, uneducated locals who may be superstitious but perhaps feel resigned to their fate of spending their lives as poor peasants. The sins they accumulate in caging these animals may be recycled into a future life of poverty and pain, but it’s a risk they are willing to take, especially if there is money to be made in the venture.

As usual, birds are netted and packed into cages where they are shipped off to trading markets such as Chatuchak in Bangkok. From here they make their way into provinces all over Thailand, where they are sold at local markets or temples.

It would be a conservative estimate to assume that half of the birds captured never get to taste the freedom they once enjoyed. –But those that do may be better off than they were before they were captured.

The most common birds used in merit-making rituals are finches such as munias, weavers and sparrow and on occasion larger birds such as Spotted and Zebra Dove. More recently bulbuls have been showing up in local markets, but these usually end up being sold to private collectors. Of the finches, I have seen Scaly breasted, Chestnut, White rumped and White headed Munia, Red Avadavat, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Baya Weaver being sold.

What interests me is the fact that many of these birds are not being trapped in the local area (i.e. the southern region), but are being shipped in by trappers operating in the central plains.

A local dealer I visited in Surat last week had ten Red Avadavat selling in his shop along with 12 Scaly Breasted and one White headed Munia, all brought in from Bangkok. He had sold over 200 Red Avadavat in the past three days, making a profit of 20 per bird sold. That’s a fair number of Red Avadavats introduced to the wild in Surat alone.

Just think theoretically: wouldn’t it be interesting if even 20% of the 200 Red Avadavats released began breeding and spreading into other parts of the south? –Perhaps even into neighboring provinces like Phang Nga or Krabi?

The trader in Surat informed me that he does not know of any “nok tamboon” trappers in Surat Thani and no one have come forward with birds for sale, even though he has quite publicly requested for local birds to be trapped to fuel his merit-making trade. After all, it is a lot cheaper and more profitable for him to buy the birds from local traders rather than having to order them from Bangkok and pay for shipping and handling fees, not to mention the risk one takes in buying a shipment of potentially sick birds.

The lack of local trappers is good news for the birds. Without the threat of trappers, these birds have a fighting chance to populate the area and solidify their homes in safer regions of the country, far away from the slaughter which fuels the wild bird trade in Chatuchak Market.

Mind you, finches are not offered protection by law like parrots. Protection of these species may be better had by just relocating them to other provinces which don’t persecute the birds. So while the finch species begin to disappear from Bangkok and the central plains, they may be repopulating the northeast and southern area at the same time.

Doubtless there will come a time when bird trappers will start scouring the land for new fields of commerce, but until then, we just might be seeing a rebirth of many species of finch being introduced into new parts of the country.

It may be interesting to note that the same trend has been happening in the northeast for quite a number of years, to the point that some of these munias have actually begun to populate areas of Khon Kaen and Nong Khai. Small parties of Chestnut Munia and Red Avadavat were seen in Khon Kaen when I was there back in 2006. These birds were not supposed to exist there. –So how else would they have been introduced into the area?

Local bird trappers in the northeast (Khon Kaen in particular) told me that today the birds found in the markets are in fact locally trapped, in smaller numbers, a break from the past times when large numbers were shipped in from Bangkok to be released as merit-making birds. The rise in local trapping was blamed on an increase of jobless farmers and low demand for birds, not to mention the slumping economy which made traders think twice about ordering a oversized shipment of sickly birds from Bangkok, which is over 400 KM away.

I don’t know about you, but I personally would love to see Red Avadavat or White headed Munia in the fields in Phuket. -Who knows? –Perhaps one day we’ll have the villainous bird trappers to thank for this blessing in disguise.

Cotton Pigmy Goose, an uncommon bird on the west coast, seems to be expanding its range northward. Continue Reading