Syrian Woodpecker – nesting in a tree at the end of our road

Today we’ve mostly concentrated on the Halasto Fish Ponds, with a productive visit to a wader spot first thing. There were loads of birds about and we managed to add a dozen or so new species to our growing trip list. Here are some photos of a few of them.

A visit to another of the Red-footed Falcon breeding colonies produced about a dozen pairs

At the  central fish ponds there were plenty of heron sp. including Great & Little Egret, Bittern, Squacco, Purple, Night & Grey Heron, Glossy Ibis, White & Black Stork, Spoonbill and Crane. This particular Purple Heron was unusually approachable 

Bluethroat are a common if somewhat elusive species – this one reminded us of last week at Flamborough

It’s not always the scarce or rare that grab the attention – this Swallow was particularly approachable

Great Bustard, south of the National Park

We spent most of yesterday south of the National Park, following up on a report of Pratincole species in the area. Most of the grassland is already knee hight, making some birds impossible to see. Unfortunately we didn’t connect on this occasion but we did manage to find a lone Great Bustard – standing out like a sore thumb, on a newly ploughed field. In the late afternoon we watched raptors from a local ‘watch-point’, clocking-up Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Kestrel, Peregrine and, best of all, Eastern Imperial Eagle. We saw plenty of other good birds during the course of the day – making for our biggest day list of the trip so far, with 82.

Great Reed Warbler, plentiful, but tricky to photograph

Red-footed Falcon, female – returning to the breeding colony

Finally, a grab shot of the ‘bird of the day’ – Eastern Imperial Eagle

Penduline Tit – nest building, one of many superb birds seen today on the Hortobágy

We’ve just concluded our first full day in Hungary, having arrived yesterday lunch-time, on the very efficient Wizz Air flight from Luton to Debrecen. We’re staying with Tibor & Orsi again, at their absolutely lovely Bibic Eco Lodge. Today was mostly an orientation day for Bob & Sue and a chance to purchase our National Park permits. The weather has been on the cool side with intermittent showers but still we’ve had some good birds and seen over a hundred species already. We’re just about to change for dinner, have a beer and plan tomorrow’s excursion.

Whiskered Tern, watched from the terrace before breakfast

The abundant Red-backed Shrike

Bluethroat (Red spot), Flamborough

We’re up with Neil, in Flamborough, for a couple of days, prior to our week away with Bob & Sue in Hungary. Usually when we come up here it’s cold and there are very few birds. Yesterday it was different – still cold BUT with a few interesting birds! In the morning we had a drive around the eastern edge of the North Yorks National Park, with Dipper, Garden Warbler and Corn Bunting being the highlights. We returned to Flamborough to discovered that a Bluethroat had been found on ‘the Cape’. In a brisk northerly wind the bird was not particularly cooperative, but we did manage to locate it a couple of times and get the odd grab-shot. Also of note were a pair of Dotterel, which flew away just as I was hunkering down in the hedge to take a shot, and a lone Whinchat.

All being well I should be bringing you the occasional blog from the Hortobágy over the coming days.

Yesterday I recovered a dead falcon from the shingle ridge at Cley NWT. Expert opinion favours the identification as Tundra Peregrine. For the full story visit: https://aylmertonnaturediary.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/monday-4th-april-off-topic/

Chiang Saen, as well as being a district of northern Thailand, is a large lake with a convoluted shoreline and luxuriant margins. Home to hundreds of Lesser Whistling and Spot-billed Duck, as well as many of  Thailand’s rare visiting wildfowl. We spent four nights at Viang Yonok but despite scouring the lake morning, noon and night pretty much every day, we drew a blank on all of the rare ducks which were being reported around the time of our visit, including Baer’s Pochard, Falcated Duck and Baikal Teal – oh well, that’s birding for you! We did manage to find a dodgy Mallard x though, which wouldn’t have looked out of place on Salthouse duckpond, and a leucistic Moorhen!

Compensation for our many hours of fruitless lake-watching however came in the shape of the delightful private ‘pocket’ nature reserve at Nam Kham (see previous post) and the nearby rice fields, where we saw a hat-full of new and interesting species.

Here’s some of the stuff we saw:

Male Purple Sunbird in the garden of Viang Yonok

Long-tailed Shrike – relatively common in this part of Thailand

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker – one of only two regular ‘peckers’

An awesome male Pied Harrier – one of several seen flying into the roost by the lake

Also at the same roost, a rare Western Marsh Harrier

Spotted Bush-warbler (Baikal I think), coming to drink at Nam Kham

along with a Dusky Warbler

We found several interesting waders along the Mekong – this River Lapwing was the best, if a little distant!

In the rice fields – several Citrine Wagtail

and, of course, Paddyfield Pipit – not without the usual id. controversy though!

Finally, my own version of two of the star birds of the area – Firethroat and Siberian Rubythroat

Next stop Doi Lang, for more upland forest birding…

Daurian Redstart, male, Doi Ang Khang

We’ve just arrived back from an exhilarating but exhausting three week birding trip to northern Thailand. Ordinarily I’d have posted regular updates of our trip highlights as we went along. From previous experience this process is most usually interrupted by the lack of decent internet but on this occasion is was a broken lead that meant I couldn’t upload the photos! Fortunately Jane provided some excellent substitutes but the process was protracted and as we were birding pretty much non-stop it proved impossible to keep up.

Having spent most of yesterday uploading the photos, here is the first in a series of catch-up posts covering the remainder of our Thailand holiday highlights.

After Doi Inthanon we spent a few days at the excellent Marlee’s before moving on to the Myanmar border, at Doi Ang Khang.

Here the top bird was Daurian Redstart, a rare bird in Thailand. First looked for at it’s traditional wintering ground around the border check-point, in a bitterly cold northerly wind, at dawn – eventually seen at the Chinese cemetery in evening sunshine

 We visited a couple of bird ‘feeding stations’, a euphemism for the local midden, and had a fine collection of species, including this Rusty-naped Pita. Unfortunately, photographed practically in the dark

Several thrush species were also present including Eyebrowed – with it’s rusty underparts, Grey-sided and Black-breasted 

Warblers were well represented, with a mix of wintering and resident species. This Buff-throated, looking rather similar to our own Chiffchaff, was a welcome addition to the list

Along with one of the many ‘leaf warblers’, this one was Pallas’s I think

There was plenty of babbler action too, with several new ticks. This Crested Finchbill was a particular favourite

The next stop was Chiang Saen, for a bit of tropical low-land birding and a frustrating duck-hunt!