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Due to habitat encroachment and environmental degradation in its traditional home base of Asia, the bird’s worldwide population has dropped to roughly 20,000 individuals, marking it as a Vulnerable species. Sarus Cranes were extirpated in Thailand about 50 years ago due to the triple threat of farmers, hunters, and pesticides.
Nearly every country or region has an area on its periphery that regularly attracts a tantalizing assortment of vagrants or a set of species that just barely make it over an international border. Every year, birders in both of these states find species more typical of Mexico (and sometimes within plain sight of Mexico!)
Doi Inthanon National Park in northern Thailand is a birding paradise (IMHO). Heading down to a lower region of Doi Inthanon, we took a forest track in the hope of turning up a parrotbill that had been seen in the area that morning (one of my target species).
With a dose of luck, we had one Black Bittern fly overhead (I got one ghastly ID photo) – evidently the typical observation experience for this species. So I couldn’t make it through an entire post about birding in Thailand without having at least one photo of a bee-eater, broadbill, kingfisher or pitta.
This guide describes the 125 best birding sites for both common and rare species, covering Myanmar, Thailand, Laos (officially Lao PDR), Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor Leste. The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia, edited by Yong Ding Li & Low Bing Wen.
In such a case, you might opt to book an eastbound flight, or a series of flights, from Lisbon to Sao Tome and Principe, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, then Sri Lanka, Thailand, Borneo, PNG, Tahiti, Ecuador, Guyana and finally to Costa Rica…. The main island of Sao Tome has about 100 species and 17 endemics among them. for savanna species.
How about Thailand? The official bird list is well over 900 species and literally hundreds of fantastic tropical birds are accessible but when to go? According to eBird bar charts, most of the resident species are also seen at other times of the year. Going birding in Hawaii? Check it out! There might be some good recent gen.
This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.
Given that according to the HBW, the species prefers dense primary and secondary montane forests, the note that the bird also forages among kitchen waste (in the same HBW entry) seems somewhat incongruous. Fish & Wildlife Service has a web page for this species – but it contains absolutely no information.
Common Merganser female by John Borg There are six living species of mergansers, three of which are commonly spotted in North America: The Common Merganser ( Mergus merganser ) ranges widely throughout the northern hemisphere. It is also a species in rapid decline, considered vulnerable by some authorities and endangered by others.
Miami, Florida has a reputation among the birding community for being overrun with exotic bird species. However, the typical birding experience for someone down here also includes a large menagerie of other species such as Orange-winged Parrot , Mitred Parakeet , Egyptian Goose and Nutmeg Mannikin. It is well-deserved.
When going on an overseas birding trip, many serious birders want to leave the city as soon possible in search of endemic or rare species in remote wilderness. Second, urban parks can be reliable sites for some species that are generally rare or hard to see elsewhere. Why do I like urban birding? What are their birds? Yellow Bittern.
Some of those “statistical errors” came as surprises to me, e.g. Cuba, Bolivia, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Thailand (this is also a clear message to their tourism boards to invest more into promoting avitourism). If I were answering those same questions, my answers would probably be Ecuador, Uganda and Thailand. What would be your choices?
This is mostly because I started the year in tropical Queensland and ended the year in Thailand and the UK. In one insane day in Thailand I added 96 birds to my year list! The middle period of the year was very barren for new species, and this being New Zealand for birds in general. Well, no, but yes?
Looking through some of my photos from my last trip to Thailand, I got to wondering what birds the various fish and creatures would be if they were feathered.
The Chinese Hwamei is a second-level protected species in China – as a consequence, according to Chinese law on wildlife protection, it is prohibited for local people to capture and keep the species in captivity without a permit. Still, a few spend the summer here.
The Black-throated Laughingthrush on Hainan is a distinct subspecies (or maybe a full species, Swinhoe’s Laughingthrush, in which case the poor birds would not have to travel to their mainland no-longer-relatives anymore during Chinese New Year). I have seen seasoned clowns throw up seeing the face of this species.
This week’s quiz was global in nature, asking to identify endemic species of a country that needed to be guessed based on a number of clues. There were four people who correctly ID’ed endemic species in that country in short order. Congratulations to Nick, Pat O’Donnell, Peter O and Clare. How compelling.
The project recruited schoolkids from eight Asian nations, from Russia down to Thailand, to help color in frames of an animation that depicts the lonely and perilous migration of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper as it faces threats from habitat loss and hunting. For proof, check out this behind-the-scenes look at the video-creation process.
The scope is to give you the illusion you might be able to work out the species). My first view of this amazing species! Note bonus swift in background (no idea what species). I saw the species in one of it’s remaining strongholds, the Kinabatangan River. All you need is a boat, or a scope on a windy day.
For once, eBird gives a good description of the Asian Glossy Starling, calling it a “Fierce-looking, large songbird” As are humans, this species is fairly urbanized – it “sometimes enters urban areas to roost, e.g. in Singapore” (HBW). “Odd, me?”
With around 400 species recorded for the area, yeah, it’s where we might all like to quarantine for a bit! Named after the Army Ants that are often seen in that area, David Segura has been documenting an expected large number of bird species (check put the eBird list). A Fantastic Day of 200 Plus Species.
It varies in appearance across its enormous range, and a new genetic study — Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio) — bolsters the case that this “supertramp” is actually a superspecies that could be split into six different species. Above: Swamphen in Australia by James Niland).
It’s actually a surprisingly nice location and one you can ge a lot of great birds that are hard to get elsewhere in Thailand. If you have some time to kill, or better yet a tour of Thailand planned, be sure to include it! And if you are going to Thailand and need a bird guide be sure to look Peter up!
A coordinated international law enforcement operation has led to the arrest of 25 individuals suspected of taking part in the illicit trade of tigers, one of the world's most endangered species. Tags: wildlife smuggling tigers interpol asia endangered species.
The 28 odd species of this genus are found in the Sunda (the islands of Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern bit of Thailand) and the Philippines, and are named for the inescapable (in this region anyway) Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, he of the founding of Singapore fame. Sometimes it is good to stop and smell the roses.
The first title of the ‘official’ series (there were two ‘prequels’) was “ Birds of Thailand “, published in 2018. For species with more than one subspecies in the region, the separate resident/breeding ranges of the distinct subspecies are indicated on the map.
From a birder’s perspective however, this is both a shame and a blessing, as I will show below based on my observations of the species on the island of Java in November. The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. The Brown Prinia is an Asian species with a very peculiar range.
This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. Its species name graydoni is in honor of Philip Newenham Graydon (1864-1940), a British planter in Sabah. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.
The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.
Its mood is not helped by the ambiguous review on eBird: “Although not actually pale, this brownish songbird is one of the plainer thrushes in its range” The Latin species name of the Dusky Thrush is eunomos (I guess that is Greek, but whatever) – meaning well-ordered. One page is dedicated to the Long-tailed Shrike. (yes,
It’s the warbler that is often the last unchecked species on birders’ life lists and, whether you list or not, for most of us observing it is a once in a lifetime experience. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list. The warbler is on the road to being delisted from the Endangered Species List.
And, to give his dream year a little more oomph, he created a grand once-in-a-lifetime goal: to track down and see every pitta species in the world in one year. Some of his finds are the first documented records of the bird in that area or the first decent photograph of a little-known species. And mosquitos. (At
These births are critical to help preserve the species. These newborn cubs will add to the genetic diversity of the Malayan tiger population and contribute to conservation efforts for the species. The births are part of park’s partnership in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Species Survival Plan® (SSP).
Also airing tonight, Thailand’s Killer Cats! In Thailand, a land known for its exotic animals, Steve comes face-to-face with the longest venomous snake in the world, the king cobra, whose bite could kill an elephant. They’ll take down dune ants over twice their size with their legs by barbecuing them alive on the searing African sand.
Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. No surprise then that the species is listed as Vulnerable. But then, sanity (or maybe respect for you, the reader) prevailed. Fortunately, they are quite common in Shanghai. It is also called Chinese Bulbul.
At the time this post goes live I’ll be wandering around Hong Hong in a bemused state of mind trying to identify not only the native birds but the multitude of other species released by the inhabitants into the area. I saw this species at Bang Poo in the south of Bangkok, on the coast, where a large flock winters every year.
Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but with more than 1000 bird species, palm-fringed sandy beaches, developed tourism infrastructure, moderate prices and political stability, Thailand is a country you definitively want to visit. Among them are 20 endemics and near-endemics, and 58 vagrant species. And what do you need to pack?
Knowing that there are reserves with long lists of 600 or more species, I set my threshold at more than 600 birds… and found only a few such hotspots. In early November 2020, there were 15 countries with more than 1000 species eBirded so far. Other than that, there are barely a few hotspots with over 500 species.
As a bird mainly feeding on seeds, it is regarded as a threat to crops (in fact, the Latin species name of oryzivora combines the words for rice, “oryza”, and eating, “vorus”). Continuing with the topic of singing, apparently, Zebra Doves are highly valued for their singing, particularly in parts of Southern Thailand.
Interestingly, these juveniles look more similar to another species, the Pale-billed Parrotbill, than the adult babblers – and they sometimes are part of the same flock. If you want to see how this species builds its nest, see here.) These roads are much less of a hindrance for the Pin-striped Tit-babbler , a mid-story bird.
On the way I managed to sneak in a manic day of birding in and around the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. The flowerpecker, an attractive species, was actually responsible for Peter becoming a birder in the first place! Our next species was decidedly uncommon, a Black-headed Ibis circled overhead for a minute before flying off.
It’s a unique bird, even its scientific name is wonderful, so it’s not surprising that Gerard Gorman, Woodpecker Expert Supreme, has written a book all about the species. I was surprised to learn that there are two Wryneck species in the Jynx genus: Eurasian Wryneck, Jynx torquilla, and Red-throated Wryneck, Jynx ruficollis.
I already had Nordmann’s on my life list from a single sighting of two birds in coastal Thailand back in 1995. To underline the mystery of this species in 2019 a Nordmann nest was discovered; the first in 40 years! That was clearly some time ago.] In addition, it should be stated that this Greenshank is rare everywhere!
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