My wife and I have recently gotten into birdwatching (or birding)! It's become a fun hobby for the two of us to do together. We aren't experts at it by any means, although I've recently started tracking my birding trips in Cornell University's fantastic ebird app, and I'm already up to a life list of 54.
Bird photography is hard. It's a lot harder than other types of travel or adventure photography. The subjects are unpredictable, it's hard to pick up detail without a good zoom lens (which I don't have), and it takes a ton of both patience and luck. We have been going out to the nearby Queen Sirikit Park and Rot Fai Park (which are connected to one another, and are more or less one large green space in our neighborhood).
So far, here are some of my favorite bird photos I've taken over the past few weeks!
All photos in this gallery were taken at Queen Sirikit Park and Rot Fai Park in Bangkok, Thailand.
***
White-crested Laughingthrush
(Garrulax leucolophus)
The white-crested laughingthrush is described as "a highly social and vocal bird", and that couldn't be more accurate. These little dudes are hilarious! If we get to Queen Sirikit Park around 7am, we can always find a pair of these funny laughingthrushes standing around at the park's coffee shop, hopping on the park employee's golf cart, shouting at passersby, and pecking at people's shoelaces.
Oriental Magpie Robin
(Copsychus saularis)
Magpies - technically "oriental magpie robins" - are extremely common (the magpie-robin that we have here in Thailand is actually a type of shama, not a type of true magpie). We even had one build her nest in our mailbox last year! Even though the magpie-robin isn't a true magpie, it is still seen as a symbol of luck in Southeast Asia. It's funny how magpies have such a wide range of superstition connected to them. In China, as well as here in Southeast Asia, magpies are symbols of good luck, however in the United Kingdom, they are seen as harbingers of misfortune. As for me, there's something I really like about these adorable birds. Their big eyes are really cute, and they have a beautiful song.
Zebra Dove
(Geopelia striata)
Like the magpie-robin, the zebra dove is extremely common. I never stopped to pay attention to pigeons or doves before I started birding. I'm not super interested in the feral rock pigeons we have in Bangkok (which are exactly like the feral rock pigeons found in pretty much every city in the world), but there are some species of pigeons and doves that I'm actively searching for and really want to add to my life list (such as the pink-neck green pigeon, which is actually quite beautiful!). The zebra dove, which can be found in parts of Southeast Asia and Australasia, looks something like a mourning dove, but is much smaller and slimmer. It has dark stripes in its feather patterns, and a little blue face, which I hadn't ever stopped to notice before. I think they are actually quite cute.
Black-collared Starling
(Gracupica nigricollis)
The starling is another common bird that we can see every time we go to the park. They usually travel in pairs, and have a beautiful song. They are usually found foraging on the ground, or singing in trees. I like their little yellow faces.
Common Myna
(Acridotheres tristis)
Besides crows, sparrows, and feral rock pigeons, the myna is probably the most common bird at they park. They are very smart (and they like to beg when they see you having your picnic lunch). People like to keep mynas as pets, and some have even been taught to speak like a parrot or crow! They have been named "one of the world's 100 worst invasive species" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. I think they are funny though. These little birds have big personalities.
Indochinese Roller
(Coracias affinis)
The Indochinese roller, or Burmese roller, is one of my favorite park birds. These amazing blue birds are all over the park, but it's hard to get close to them. They move quickly, soaring away on dazzling blue wings. I was able to get close enough to capture one in a tree, but it's really hard to photograph these guys. I finally got lucky enough to catch on in flight. It's not a great photo, but you can see the stunning Prussian blue wings. It takes a fast shutter speed and a good deal of luck to get an exceptional photo of a roller in flight. Generally, you just see a flash of blue out of the corner of your eye.
Black-capped Kingfisher
(Halcyon pileata)
Kingfishers of any sort are kind of my photographic "white whale". They are very shy, and will fly away as soon as you get anywhere near them. These colorful little birds can be found by lakes and ponds, (they eat fish, of course). They can be very hard to spot, despite their bright colors. These pictures were taken on maximum zoom and still had to be cropped in so that you could see the bird. I'm still hoping to get a better picture of a kingfisher. I see guys out at the park with expensive photography equipment all the time, sitting in the mud at the banks of the river just waiting to catch a perfect photo of a kingfisher.
Stork-Billed Kingfisher
(Pelargopsis capensis)
The stork-billed-kingfisher, a type of tree kingfisher, is a bit less shy. Just yesterday, we were able to creep up beneath its tree to get some photos (still of maximum zoom) before it flew off. Kingfishers are some of my favorite birds out at the parks. They don't look like real birds. To me, they almost look cartoonish, or like a kid's toy. I think they are wonderful! Apparently, there are several different kingfisher species at these parks, but I have only seen three so far.
Olive-backed Sunbird
(Cinnyris jugularis)
The old-world sunbird is often mistaken for a hummingbird. They are about the same size, are brightly colored, and drink nectar from flowers. Hummingbirds live only in the Americas, however, and sunbirds can be found exclusively in Africa, Australia, and Asia. While hummingbirds hover to drink, sunbirds perch on twigs and branches when feeding from flowers.
Stripe-throated Bulbul
(Pycnonotus finlaysoni)
My first rare bird sighting! Actually, credit has to go to my wife, who actually saw this stripe-throated bulbul up in a tree. At first we thought it was an oriole (we had previously seen, but had been unable to photograph, a bright yellow oriole at the park), but when we went to identify it, we became convinced that it was, in fact, a stripe-throated bulbul. I couldn't believe it! Ebird listed this bird as rare! I double and triple checked, comparing the bird's markings with professional photos online. It's incredible!
Asian Koel
(Eudynamys scolopaceus)
The koel is a type of cuckoo. The males are jet black with bright red eyes, while the females (like the one pictured here) are grey and brown, and look slightly hawk-like. Koels, like other cuckoos, are known as "brood parasites", meaning that they don't raise their own young. Instead, they sneak their eggs into the nests of other birds (often kicking out the eggs that were already there), and trick other birds into raising their young.
Coppersmith Barbet
Psilopogon haemacephalus
Another favorite bird, and one which we can now easily identify by its unique song (which sounds like a sheet of copper being hammered, hence its name), is the coppersmith barbet. The barbet likes to sit high up on the bare branches of trees, so if you are looking up, it's not too hard to find one. They are very colorful birds, with green and yellow bodies and red necks and caps.
These are not the only birds I've seen, of course. However, these are the ones I have been most successful at photographing. One of my proudest sightings is the Asian barred owlet, an adorable and tiny owl I spotted way up in the shady branches of a dark tree at the park. I haven't been able to find it again since, but they are apparently common at the park. I've also seen a ton of egrets and herons, but I have trouble positively identifying them sometimes.
I'll definitely be writing another post like this sometime soon, especially if I have more luck photographing kingfishers, see something else rare, or finally find my pink-neck green pigeon. Stay tuned!
Bonus video: Here are a few clips we took at the park the other day. The first is of the laughingthrush pecking at people's shoelaces, and the second is of the kingfisher singing in a tree. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment