A photographic guide to the birds of my garden

This blog gets more exciting every day!! Heres a selection of the latest rares recorded in my garden.



Robin
















Greenfinch




















Blue Tit















Great Tit

More old Pix

The weathers shit and i'm bored. A quick walk down to the fishing lakes this morning was quite frankly, a load of pap, producing 6 mallard, a moorhen and a cormorant.
To lift myself from the doldrums of rubbish inland british winter birding i've just been looking through the pictures from Australia again. heres a selection from the Brisbane area, from last November.

Plum headed finch, a good record for central Brisbane



















Scarlet Myzomela


















Water Dragon on the Brisbane riverside




















White breasted Woodswallow




















Apostlebird



















Blue faced honeyeater

















Little Heron


















Monarch butterfly



















Pallid Cuckoo

Old Pictures

Seeing as how i'm stuck in Somerset doing fuck all until i can get a job, i've just been working through the vast stacks of pictures from the oz trip. Heres a load from the two Wollongong pelagics that i dont think i've put on the blog before.

Wedge Tailed Shearwater


















Black Browed Albatross

















Shy Albatross
















Kelp Gull

















Antipodean Albatross




















Cambell Island Albatross





















Southern Giant Petrel



















Providence Petrel




















Gibsons Albatross
















Brown Skua


















Indic Yellow Nosed Albatross




















Cambell Island Albatross


















Fairy Prion




















Pintado Petrel/ Cape Petrel/ Cape Pigeon

God Bless Australia

Now that we're kicking their sorry arses at cricket again, i'm allowed to like Australians. This clip from BBC news kind of sums up the country. http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6360000/newsid_6367700/6367785.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm

believe me, its worth listening for the whole thing, it wont be what you expect to hear.

Finland Trip

Thanks to the World Wide Wonder that is BirdForum i found myself on a long weekend trip to Finland over the last few days on a once in a lifetime chance to twitch one of the rarest birds in Europe, Azure Tit. These birds, which apparently breed in Kazakhstan or some other terrorist infested country are normally very difficult to see anywhere but this winter up to 6 birds have been recorded in various parts of Finland and have been twitched succesfully by good numbers of British birders taking advantage of cheap flights from Ryanair (Anybody who wants to whinge about Carbon footprints and environmental responsibility can get bent!). Over the last few weeks though, the Azure Tits have gradually disappeared (and one turned out to be one of those p(l)eskii blue tit hybrids) leaving only one that we stood a realistic chance of seeing.

9th Feb

After meeting up with Brian Stone, Martin Coates and Richard Allison the previous evening we headed to Stanstead at stupid o'clock where we joined Justin Lansdell and Andrew Wilkinson for the flight out to Finland
We arrived in Tampere airport at midday in temperatures hovering around the -20 C mark and drove North to Uurainen, where another bunch of brit birders had seen the Azure Tit the previous day, and the bird had been coming tothe feeders every day of the previous week. It was looking very hopeful with the feeders being a hive of activity of common tits along with several smart borealis Willow Tits and Crested Tits, plus a few Mealy Redpolls. However, at dusk 3 hours later there was no sign of the bird and we were all extremely cold, as well as slightly pissed off ,but we had no choice but to head on North up to Oulu for the night. on the way up we heard that the group who had seen the tit the day before had seen a Sparrowhawk fly past the feeders holding something white and hadnt seen the Azure Tit afterwards. Just great, the only reliable Azure Tit in Europe had been twatted by a sprawk a day before we got there, we had come all the way to Finland just to see a washed out willow tit.




















Borealis Willow Tit

10th Feb

After the disatrous news from the day before we decided that we ought to spend the day seeing as much of the local specialities as possible, rather than attempt to see the Azure Tit that had been seen on the nearby island of Hasomethingorother, which would entail a long drive across the frozen sea and a search through a 5km long reedbed. The bird had not been seen for a week and to not see it or any local goodies would cause the whole trip to be a complete waste of time.
So we enlisted the serivices of local guide Aapo who took us off to a park in Oulu where a good feeding spot had been set up.
We trekked out through the forest, dodging the cross country skiers on the way. The feeders were buzzing with common tit species and after a short wait the target bird arrived. A Siberian Tit. It quickly grabbed a peanut from the feerder before flying up into a nearby spruce to scoff it, giving us excellent views, a very tidy little bird and a great relief to see something good having put in alot of effort for no return so far.
















Siberian Tits arse (sound like something off of Father Ted)

While watching the tit we got a call from Mike Edgcombe and his team with the incredible news that they had just seen the Azure Tit at Uurainen, the air was so thick with expletives that you would have struggled to cut it with anything other than a very sharp Samuri Sword. It was too far to get to the site to see the bird so we decided to continue birding around Oulu and get to Uurainen for dawn the next day.
Cheered massively after this news and seeing the Sibe Tit we headed to a nearby suburb where a flock of pine Grosbeaks had been seen earlier in the day. The birds were soon located feeding by the side of the road and gave excellent close views, calling frequently and scoffing some rather unpalatable looking berries along with a few Waxwings. A small flock of Mealy Redpoll briefly held a stonking snowball Arctic which soon flew and a possible Lesser Redpoll.

































Pine Grosbeaks


We then headed East out to Vaala where a Hawk Owl was allegedly coming to Voles being chucked out by a local farmer. Despite a brief car malfunction we arrived at the site on time and there in front of was one of the most amazing birds to grace the pages of my first Lars Johnsson bird guide. On schedule the vole was placed out on the snow and the Owl swooped down right in front of us, snatched up the Owl before devouring it up a nearby Spruce. What a superb bird and one that i had wanted to see for a very long time. After this teriffic sighting and with another chance to try for the Azure Tit the next morning the groups morale couldn't have been further from what it had been the night before. We weren't even disappointed by dipping Siberian Jay at a nearby feeding station.

















































The Hawk Owl. What a fantastically brilliant bird!!

11th Feb

After a long drive south the previous evening we arrived at Uurainen at dusk ready to tick off the Azure Tit straight away then drive to the Airport via Siberian Jay, assorted woodpeckers and a dusk visit to a Great Grey Owl.
Unfortunatley, rare birds seldom have any respect for such plans, and 3 very cold hours later the bird was nowhere to be seen, shit! We couldn't leave and try for the other birds in case the tit showed up after we left, so we agreed to stay on until either the bird showed or it got dark.
Thanks to the shockingly cold temperatures and a lot of inaction we had long lost feeling in our toes so Justin, Martin, Richard and a couple of Finns went for a walk down the road to get circulation going, leaving Brian, Andrew, me and a load of Finns, complete with Finn sticks overlooking the feeders very dejectedly at no.93. A few minutes later a finns phone rang and then Brians, something was happening! a glance down the hill saw Richard jump out into the road waving frantically, fuck, they had the bird. We legged it down the hill, trying not to slip on the ice and there it was, a bloody Azure Tit, holy cow! After showing briefly though a cold, panic, exhaustion and adrenalin induced haze the bird disappeared back over our heads into the forest. Luckily it soon returned and showed excellently in nearby trees and feeders.


















THE BOY!!!!!!



































A cold but very happy group at the Azure Tit site

After getting our fill of this supreme bird we realised we still had time to go for the Great Grey Owl south of Tampere. So a few hours later and with the light fading we arrived somewhere else that i can't pronounce. There was no sign of the Owl but a pair of caudatus Long Tailed Tits were very nice and a few crossbills with calls varying between chip chip and chup chup. Just as it was starting to get dark we picked up the Owl flying over the other side of the clearing before perching up in a distant tree. We hot footed around to the relevant corner of the clearing and had fantastic views of this monstrous Owl perched up not too far away. Yet again, this was nother of those birds that i've wanted to see ever since picking up my first 'Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe'. It was far too dark to take photos and all icould manage was this horrifically noisy effort, even with mirror lockup, self timer, ISO shitthousand and a shutter speed long enough for the bird down pick up a passign vole and return to its perch.

















The Mother of All Owls (along with Hawk Owl of course)

We returned to the airport just on time but thanks to the useless bastards at 'The low efficiency Airpline' the plane was delayed until the following afternoon, and annoyingly didnt quite leave us enough time to go for the Siberian Jays a few hundered k's up the road.

We finally arrived back in England only 14 hours late but not particularly pissed off about it thanks to the trip being so damn good. It was certainly a case of quality over quantity with 'only' 5 lifers for me but including some of the best birds in the Western Palearctic, wherever the hell that is.

Goosander

Seeing as how i'm too tight to pay £10 to a bunch of supressing yorkshiremen to see their Pacific Diver i took a walk down to my local fishing lakes today to find my own.Unsurprisingly there wasn't one there, but a female Goosander was ample compensation (almost) and a very nice patch tick.

British birding sucks

Pah, i've been back a week and a half now and i've only had one lifer (the parakeets at heathrow). Ok, so it is february and i cant be arsed to twitch the few good birds that there are in the country but it's a bit of a comedown after the ticking frenzy of the last 7 months.
I spent the last week on portland which was typically quiet for the time of year. The birding was better on the mainland with a visit to Castle Cove in Weymouth being pretty good with the overwintering Yellow browed warbler and a Firecrest. Portland harbour had up to 3 Great Northern Divers and a Slavonian Grebe along with loads of Red breasted mergansers. A day trip out to Arne was also worthwhile with the expected Dartford Warbler, Avocet and Spoonbill being nice year ticks.

Thailand pics

Pale Blue Flycatcher




















White throated Rock Thrush















Temmincks Stint




















Rickety Bridge at Doi Inthanon

















Blue Whistling Thrush


















Fire bellied Flowerpecker


















Great Hornbill














Red Junglefowl
























Grey Bushchat


















Oriental Honey Buzzard
















Pig Tailed Macaque

Thailand and a surprise Brit Tick

Thailand- an Introductory Trip

Jan 11^th-21^st

Introduction

This trip to Thailand was a stopover on the way back to the UK after 6 months backpacking in Australia and Fiji. The aim of the trip was to take it easy and cover just a few sites thoroughly and get an introduction to Asian birding rather than tearing around the country trying to see as much as possible.

Diary

11.01.07

I arrived at Bangkok from Melbourne in the very early morning and crashed out in a hotel in the middle of the city somewhere. Around midday I set off from the Hotel to head towards Khao Yai National Park. This was easily done with a bus from Mor Chit bus terminal to the town of Pak Chong, and then a songthaew up to the National Park entrance. After paying the entrance fee I hitch- hiked from the gates to Pha Kluai Mai campsite, arriving in the late afternoon. After getting the tent set up I birded around the campsite. This was quite productive with several Raddes Warblers and Red- throated Flycatchers within metres of the tent. The river behind the restaurant held Slaty-backed Forktail and Grey Wagtail and a Blue-bearded Bee-eater was perched up in dead tree next to the restaurant.

12.01.07

A dawn start was rewarded with a Coral-billed Ground-cuckoo feeding behind the restaurant along with several Red Junglefowl and an Orange-headed Thrush. A female Blue Rock-thrush sat up on top of the toilet block as I walked past onto the Pha Kluai Mai Waterfall trail. This was a very productive trail and highlights along the trail included Red-headed Trogon, Blue Whistling Thrush, Banded Kingfisher, Siberian Blue Robin, Green-billed Malkoha, Lesser necklaced LaughingThrush, Common Green Magpie, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Scaly-breasted Partridge, Ashy Minivet, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Mugimaki Flycatcher and Blue Winged Leafbird.

The area around the Haew Suwat restaurant at the end of this trail held another Orange Headed Thrush, Asian Brown Flycatcher, White-throated Rock Thrush, and a mixed Warbler flock containing Yellow-browed, Eastern-crowned, Arctic and Grey-crowned.

In the afternoon I hitched out along the access road from Pha Kluai Mai campsite to the TAT pond. The pond held Chinese Pond Heron and a Common Kingfisher, along with a Verditer Flycatcher perched high up in a dead tree. Walking along the road through the open ground between here and Mo Sing To Reservoir produced a pair of Indian Roller, a Besra, Grey Buchchat, Brown Shrike, a flushed Lesser Coucal, Richards Pipit, a small group of Plain Prinia, Ashy Woodswallow, and a pair of Red-wattled Lapwing.

13.01.07

After a quick look at the Coral-billed Ground-cuckoo behind the restaurant I stood next to a large fruiting tree on the road about 100m west of the campsite entrance. Over the course of an hour the tree held Great, Oriental pied and Wreathed Hornbills, along with a pair of Vernal Hanging Parrots and a Blue-eared Barbet.

I then hitched out to the HQ and walked out along Trail 6 towards the Wildlife Watchtower. This a very long and exhausting hike but provided some good birds in the form of White-crowned Forktail, White-browed Scimitar-babbler, Hill-blue Flycatcher, Rufous-throated Partridge, Greater Yellownape, Barred Cuckoo Dove and White-crested Laughingthrush. After emerging from the rainforest near to the Watchtower a Crested Serpent Eagle soared overhead and a Greater Coucal showed well. I hitched back to the HQ where a flock of Pin-tailed Parrotfinch were feeding in the seeding Bamboo.

I walked back up the hill to Mo Sing To reservoir where I took the track across the dam and went a short way up the hill into the woods. One flowering tree held Little Spiderhunter, Fire-bellied Flowerpecker and Chestnut-flanked White-eye. The open ground next to the reservoir held a Siberian Stonechat.

As dusk approached that evening, a Great-eared Nightjar flew over the campsite several times.

14.01.07

I spent all day travelling. I left KhaoYai at first light and hitched back to Pak Chong, then got a bus back to Mor Chit in Bangkok, then in the evening boarded the overnight bus to Chiang Mai.

15.01.07

Arrived in Chiang Main before dawn, then took a songthaew out to Jorm Tong, then another songthaew up to Doi Inthanon National Park HQ. After a quick look around I decided that my best bet for accommodation would be Mr. Deangs, a few hundred metres uphill from the HQ. Mr. Deang very kindly provided a free but basic room at the back of his restaurant.

After dumping my stuff I spent the rest of the morning birding the Hmong farm and woodlands over the road from Mr. Deangs. The farm held Grey and Pied Bushchat, a few Olive-backed Pipits, a leucopsis White Wagtail, Long-tailed Shrike, and several Red-rumped Swalllows and an Oriental Honey-buzzard soared overhead.

The woods at the back of the farm were alive with birds and I saw Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, Eye-browed Thrush and Little Pied Flycatcher.

After lunch at Mr. Deangs I hitched up to the summit. By this time of the day the summit march walk was very crowded and birding wasn’t easy but I still saw the site specialities: Chestnut-tailed Minla, Dark-backed Sibia, Rufous-winged Fulvetta, Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush and Mrs Goulds and Green-tailed Sunbirds.

Walking and hitching back down the mountain I saw Scarlet Minivet, Grey-throated Babbler, Flavescent Bulbul and Rufous bellied Niltava.

16.01.07

I managed to hitch an early morning lift to the summit with a pick-up truck full of Buddhist monks in the hope of avoiding the midday crowds. An Ashy Woodpigeon flew over the road next to the marsh, and the marsh itself held all the birds seen the day before along with several Common Rosefinch, Ashy-throated Warbler, White-browed Shortwing and Black-throated Sunbird. Whilst at the Summit I met Doug and Donna Witt and their friends Cathy and Larry, from California. They offered to provide my Accommodation and food, plus use of their car in exchange for guiding them over the next few days, an offer that I gratefully accepted. As the marsh walk was getting busy, we headed down the mountain to the 34.5km Jeep Track. It was getting hot so birding was difficult but we still got saw Chestnut-fronted Shrike-babbler, White-browed Fantail, Black-throated Sunbird and a fleeting glimpse of a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch.

A quick stop at Vatcharitan Falls on the way down the mountain failed to add White-capped Water-redstart but Plumbeous Water-redstart was nice.

A walk around the farmland near the Inthanon Highland Resort that evening was quite productive with Green Bee-eater, Rufous Treepie, Hill Prinia, Striated Swallow, Great Tit, Bronzed Drongo and Pied Bushchat.

17.01.07

This was one of the best days of the trip. We started off at the 37.5km Jeep Track. At first we really struggled and hardly sae any birds. A confiding Dark-sided Thrush and a small flock of Eye-browed Thrush kept the interest going until we finally bumped into a spectacular feeding wave that included Black-eared and White-browed Shrike-babblers, Yellow Cheeked Tit, White-browed and Yellow-bellied Fantails, Maroon Oriole and Slaty-bellied Tesia. I got a quick look at what was most probably a Brown-throated Treecreeper but it eluded the rest of the group.

After this we headed out along the road to Mae Chaem. A quick stop in the coniferous woodland produced a Grey-backed Shrike, Chinese Leaf-warbler and Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher. Once we got out into the dry woodland further down the mountain a short walk found a small group of leucotis Eurasian Jays and a scanning from a convenient high point produced a pair Rufous-winged Buzzard.

We then headed back towards Doi Inthanon and went back downhill to the Dry woodland at the 13km. It was unbelievably hot, but a Coppersmith Barbet was still belting its heart out in the car park and a Black-hooded Oriole showed briefly just across the river from the car park. Walking up the hill onto the ridge trail Doug expertly picked out a tiny Collared Falconet perched up on the tip of dead tree. We were really struggling in the heat but carried on and soon enough were rewarded with a superb group of 3 Black-headed Woodpeckers.

We drove back up the hill for an evening at the HQ campsite, unfortunately the vegetation by the ponds had encroached to such a level that there was no sign of the Black-tailed Crake but we did see a Snowy-browed Flycatcher and an Asian Barred Owlet. I said my goodbyes to my American friends as they were leaving to Doi Angkang the next day and I returned to my room at Mr.Deang’s for the night.

18.01.07

After a little lie in I started walking up the mountain with no particular plan in mind. On the way up I saw Dusky and Hume’s Yellow-browed Warblers, White-headed Bulbul and White-browed Shrike-babbler next to the road. A short walk down the 34.5km track gave a pair of Rufous-backed Sibia, the 700^th bird of the trip since leaving home in June 2006, and Short-billed Minivet. I hitched up to the 37.5km trail, which produced Eye-browed Wren-babbler, Chestnut-crowned Warbler and another look at the Dark-sided Thrush.

After hitching back down to the HQ, an evening walk around Siriphum Waterfalls was excellent, as it was very quiet as the workers had finished for the day. Highlight was a stunning White-capped Water-redstart, along with Slaty-backed Forktail and Plumbeous Water-redstart. Walking back along the ‘nature trail’ added a pair of Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and an Orange-bellied Leafbird.

19.01.07

I managed a quick morning trip up to the 34.5km track before leaving. This was well worthwhile as I finally managed to pick out a Golden-throated Barbet for good views having been frustrated by their calls all week. Also seen were a Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, Striated Bulbul and an Asian Emerald Cuckoo.

I was very lucky as I got a lift back to Chiang Mai with Mr. Deang who was going in anyway and caught the overnight bus back to Bangkok.

20.01.07

After arriving in Bangkok and finding a hotel, I took a taxi out to Muang Boran fishponds to the South-east of the city in the afternoon. By the time I arrived I didn’t have much time before the light started to go so concentrated on the first of the big ponds. This was very birdy and I wished I had more time to explore the site properly. Several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and a pair of Sand Martins were hawking over the ponds, which held Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacanas, White-browed Crake, Javan Pond-heron, Black-crowned Night Heron and a pair of Cinnamon Bitterns.

21.01.07

This was an interesting day exploring the public Transport of Bangkok, starting out with a Tuk-tuk to the southern train station, taking the train out to Samut Sakhorn and then a motorbike taxi out to Khok Kham Saltpans. Unfortunately, the legendary Mr. Tii was away for the day so my chances of connecting without transport and a scope were always going to be slim and unsurprisingly I failed. However a superb selection of commoner waders out on the pans was almost compensation. Star bird was a single Nordmanns Greenshank in a mixed flock of Greenshanks, Redshank and Marsh Sandpipers. Other good birds were Temminck’s and Long-toed Stint, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Brown-headed Gull, Yellow Wagtail and Little Ringed Plover.

I just had enough time to dash back to Bangkok, grab my stuff from the hotel and make the final call to board my flight back to the UK after almost 7 months abroad, of which these 11 days in Thailand were a big highlight, that has definitely whetted my appetite for the region.

And thats just about it, oh yeah, the surprise lifer back in England, a flock of Ring Necked Parakeets at the entrance to Heathrow, a very tartish tick but i've never been bothered to look for them before.