Saturday, February 16, 2013

Thailand Birding: A Morning in the Rice Fields

This morning I spent a few hours birding in rice fields near the Nong Pla Lai raptor watch site in Petchaburi province.

Rice Fields, Petchaburi

I arrived at first light with huge numbers of Asian Openbills landing in the rice fields and a few Black-crowned Night Herons making the opposite journey. I spent a few hours birding a small part of the rice fields, only walking about 1 kilometre in total; this allowed me to see a number of skulking and secretive birds.

Some of the more interesting species I saw were;

Bluethroat - 5
Oriental Reed Warbler - 18
Black-browed Reed Warbler - 2
Watercock - 1 female
Common Snipe - 3
Eurasian Wryneck - 1
Streaked Weaver - 46
Asian Golden Weaver - 17
Baya Weaver - 80+
Ruddy-breasted Crake - 1
Grey-headed Lapwing - 1
Eastern Marsh Harrier - 1
Black Kite - 1
Black-eared Kite - 3
Purple Heron - 4
Plain-backed Sparrow - 9
Black-naped Oriole - 1

The numbers of Openbills were quite amazing; hard to believe that less than 20 years ago there was just one small colony in Thailand.

Asian Openbill Storks

The rice fields around Petchaburi are an interesting birding site and somewhere that many people spend too little time in, missing many nice birds such as Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Jacanas, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Greater Spotted Eagle, Pied Harrier and many others. In the past I have seen much rarer species here, including Blunt-winged Warbler, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Comb Duck, Great Bittern and others. Lots more could be found by those who spend time here.



No comments: