The new year started off well on the birding front, even though for most people, 2010 was rocky from the onset.

A pair of Barhminy Starling were seen at Thai Muang Golf Course on the evening of the 9th, along with White shouldered, Chestnut cheeked, Purple backed and Rosy Starling. On the 12th a White bellied Sea Eagle was seen in flight over the fresh market near the Kings Park and on the following day a Black Kite was spotted near the Recycle Center at Sapan Hin. Three Crested Honey Buzzards were seen hovering around Muang Chao Fah near the Honda showroom on the 14th and on the 17th a single Eyebrowed Thrush was seen at the Kings Park around noon, braving the strong winds as it was flushed from a thicket. Other birds seen included White shouldered and Purple backed Starling, Indian Roller, and Black naped Oriole.

The Reddish Scops Owl showed briefly in front of my house for less than ten minutes after a heavy rain on the night of the 6th.

Two pairs of Yellow Vented Bulbul built nests near the front entrance of the house and our of four eggs, three have hatched and are now being fed by the parents. They will probably be flying by the second week of February. Two young Spotted Doves also were raised in the mango tree in front of the house, but only one lived to take to the skies as the other was killed by my dog, Fido.

A Chinese Goshawk was seen near Central Department store on the evening of the 24th and a Japanese Sparrowhawk was seen there on the evening of the 31st.

A trip to Sri Phang Nga on the 29th revealed a few treats. Nesting Great Hornbill was reported by the rangers although we did not have time to make the trek to visit the nest. Also further up the mountain was a nesting pair of Helmeted Hornbill. An Emerald Cuckoo and Hairy backed Bulbul were highlights of the trip and the large number of fruiting trees proves this site is worth a visit during this time of plenty.

A single Chinese Egret was seen at Laem Pakarang on the same day.

A Steppe Buzzard was seen at Laem Mum Nai on the 31st.

Special thanks to Ian Dugdale for his tips on the starlings at Thai Muang.

This morning’s headline news was the discovery of the breeding site for a critically-endangered species, the Large billed Reed Warbler. See the article reprinted from Yahoo! News by Reuters.

This find is a great boon for ornithologists who have only recently rediscovered this specimen after a 120 year period of silence. No doubt Dr. Phil Round, the man who trapped this bird in his working plots in Laem Pak Bia back in 2006 is overjoyed at this announcement. (I doubt he is packing his bags for a trip to Afghanistan, but who know?) Perhaps this will open the door for more birders to visit this remote and volatile region and may help aid in the discovery of other “lost” species in the future.

Reading this article gives me hope that one day, another of Thailand’s “lost” specimen will also be rediscovered in a remote area of a foreign country. The White Eyed River martin has been “lost” to science for many decades now. God forbid we should have to wait 120 years before we see it again, but perhaps it is hiding out in some remote location in China, perchance? There is credence that such a bird may have once been spotted there as various pieces of artwork have surfaced which portray a bird with striking similarities.

All of this is pure speculation but when something as good as this happens, one can only dream that one day, better things will come to pass.

“World’s least known bird” found breeding in Afghanistan

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Researchers have found in Afghanistan the first known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, which was dubbed in 2007 as “the world’s least known bird species.”

Researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society and Sweden’s Gothenburg University said they had found the breeding area in the remote and rugged Wakhan Corridor of north-eastern Afghanistan that has escaped the worst effects of war.

They used field observations, museum specimens, DNA sequencing, and the first known audio recording of the species to find the birds and verified the discovery by capturing and releasing almost 20 birds, the largest number ever recorded.

A preliminary paper on the finding appears in BirdingASIA, describing the discovery in Afghanistan as “a watershed moment” in the study of this bird.

The first specimen of the large-billed reed warbler was discovered in India in 1867 but the second find was not until 2006 in Thailand.
“Practically nothing is known about this species, so this discovery of the breeding area represents a flood of new information on the large-billed reed warbler,” said Colin Poole of WCS’s Asia Program, in a statement.

“This new knowledge of the bird also indicates that the Wakhan Corridor still holds biological secrets and is critically important for future conservation efforts in Afghanistan.”

The find came after Robert Timmins from the WCS was conducting a survey of bird communities in the area.

The Wakhan Corridor has escaped the worst effects of the long years of war suffered elsewhere in Afghanistan since the December 1979 invasion by the Soviet Union. The corridor, populated primarily by Wakhi farmers and yurt-dwelling Kyrghyz herders, is also home to snow leopards and wild Marco Polo sheep.

Timmins heard a distinctive song coming from a small, olive-brown bird with a long bill which he taped and later discovered to be a large-billed reed warbler.

The following summer WCS researchers returned to the same area and used a recording of the song to bring out others and catch almost 20 birds for examination.

The WCS said it is currently the only organization conducting scientific conservation studies in Afghanistan, the first such efforts in over 30 years, and it has contributed to a number of conservation initiatives in tandem with the Afghan government.

It helped produce Afghanistan’s first list of protected species, an action that has led to a ban on hunting snow leopards, wolves, brown bears, and other species.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Look long at this shot … this may just be one of the best photos anyone has ever gotten of this particular species.

The Rusty naped Pitta is a bird which does not look as striking or as colorful as other pitta (start thinking of Gurneys, Banded, hey, even the Blue and Blue winged Pitta!) but it is nevertheless a bird which is highly sought after by birders throughout the kingdom. This bird is best known for being a very skulking creature, not showing for more than five seconds before retreating into the safety of thick vegetation. Photos of the bird usually are hard to come by and those who have managed to get a clean shot can testify that this is not a cooperative specimen to deal with.

Wat Thum Palong in Doi Chiang Dao is one place where birders often flock to try to catch a glimpse of this difficult bird. This is where I saw my second Rusty naped Pitta, the first being on Doi Sutep at 4 AM when I accidentally hit a bird flying across the road and stunned it momentarily before it recovered and scampered back into the forest.

Peter Ericsson photographed this particular bird in Mae Wong National Park. For some unexplained reason, this bird was happy to pose as long as it was allowed to fill up on worms which were laid out, intended for another specimen which failed to show.

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!