An amazing, unexpected occurence – I bagged a Thai lifer this afternoon on the road to the big pond at Wat Khao Takrhao in Phetchburi province. First Thai lifer this year I rather fancy. Great to be back on the road again: first visit to this area since March.
I say Thai lifer because I have seen this species in the Philippines but until now it has evaded me here: Stork-billed Kingfisher, Thai lifer no. 378. There were two on overhead wire. The real give away was the size of their bills, real “stogies”; they were not happy to see me so sadly no photograph as they scarpered and didn’t return. Three kingfisher species on view this afternoon: White-throated, Collared and Stork-billed. I was thinking there might have been possibilities of an early returning Common and was definitely not expecting Stork-billed. Shame I was unable to spend much time on the birds.
Elsewhere at The Abandonned Building about 20 Painted Stork, a pair of Red-necked Stints, a couple of Little-ringed Plover, a Striated Heron, a Greenshank and a number of Long-toed Stints. A good number of Redshanks and Egrets in The Kings Project plus all the usual water birds. The Kings Project has a nice looking new shop where you can buy souvenirs and refreshments. It being a public holiday today the shop was shut but I hope it opens regularly as I am sure it will do good business with visiting birders.
I even managed to get the digiscoping rig out and will post some shots once I have processed them. My son wasn’t too impressed with my efforts and scared most of the birds away!
Dodgy Birds 