Black Bazas

At about 18:25 this evening we had just finished our little bit of exercise in the rice paddy and had just turned the truck round to head home when we became aware of a lot of bird activity in and around some nearby trees. Basically a lot of small, raptor like birds but nothing immediately discernible beyond a silhouette. My first instinct was sparrow hawks, perhaps. There were lots of them and some were perching in trees in a nearby thicket. It was only when some started to fly directly above us that I could make out the white upper breast and the banding on the lower breast; we were watching Black Bazas, some of the most striking looking birds you’re ever likely to see: check out this image. In Chumphon, in the south of Thailand, towards the end of October, it is possible to watch the Black Baza southern migration: they pass through in tens of thousands. Today we were watching their migration back to their breeding grounds in the north of Thailand from peninsular Malaysia. Presumably these birds had flown up Thailand’s east coast and had cut inland  to head northwards overland. As day time migrants these Black Bazas would be looking for a roost for the evening before continuing the next leg of their journey. They flew off in the end in search of a roost but what a magic moment for us. I suspect we were the only people around who had any idea of what was happening.