Book Review - A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand (2016)

We bought many books about birds and I think I can start writing some simple and general book review about these books..

As I am planning a trip to Thailand (not yet decided the date), I want to know more about the birds of Thailand. I bought the book: A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand, written by Craig Robson and published by Bloomsbury in 2016.

Craig Robson is an expert about the birds of South-East Asia. And I also own his another publication - A Field Guide To The Birds Of South-East Asia, which is a great book. As I want to know more the specific distribution and a more handy Thailand field guide, I bought the Birds of Thailand.

This book contains more than 950 maps for individual species and many color plates, but I made a careless mistake, I initially thought this is a new edition and so the data would be up-to-date. However, this is a republished edition for the 2002 one. Bird information may be outdated, especially talking some change in taxonomy and distribution and making this book less user friendly. The good thing is, this field guide is light and portable enough for a trip.

Conclusion: if you are going to Thailand or studying the birds of Thailand, better to use the book - A Field Guide To The Birds Of South-East Asia, which is more informative; if you are a lazy birder like me, this portable guide can be still recommended.

a very handy guide

 the taxonomy is a bit out-dated (as this one is the 2002 edition), like the Rufous-bellied Swallow Cecropis badia  from Striated Swallow (some authors also lump this with Red-rumped Swallow)

 like the paradise-flycatcher, I think both Blyth's and Amur can be found in Thailand

P.S. According to the advertisement in the Birding Asia, the Lynx is going to published another field guide to the birds of Thailand, which can be better for my future trip.

Mai Po 24 Mar 2018

I am a lazy birder, still haven't finished the Hokkaido series..... However, since I haven't birded in Hong Kong for long, so we went to Mai Po for half day today. For nothing but just a relaxing day. Not many exciting records, we did not see the possible Glaucous Gull (or hybrid) which recently seen there, but we found a Styan's Grasshopper Warbler (they usually winter here), sadly just heard the call and song only even though we played back several times. You can check my ebird for the whole checklist.

Rufous-tailed Robin - a tame one

Saunder's Gull

a strange spoonbill, I at first identified as a Eurasian Spoonbill but it should show white feathered skin (not bare like this) and reddish throat and pale tip of bill in such breeding plumage. For this bird, it is more likely to be a Black-faced Spoonbill with a unusual large bare yellow skin (or even a hybrid?)

closer look

Pallas's Gull, summer plumage, but this one is not a fully adult, you can see the black pattern in primary coverts etc. Probably a 4CY.

same Pallas's, with some taimyrensis

Slaty-backed Gull, i never seen a worn bird like this in Hong Kong, with two taimyrensis

same bird with a taimyrensis, you can see the contrasting upperwing pattern which is unlike Glaucous-winged Gull, which is also pale with a strong wholely black bill.

and a very worn taimyrensis

best bird of today(?) - Oriental Honey Buzzard, I identified as a Grey-faced Buzzard by naked eyes before it came to my viewfinder.......

Hokkaido 26 Feb 2018 (Day 4)

On this day, we started birding before breakfast, for the Asian Rosy Finch we dipped yesterday because the finches were reported near Ochiishi Harbor before and after we arrived yesterday. This day, we realized that we did not go deep enough (so went to the wrong spot) yesterday and we soon found the finches when we got the exact location.

Asian Rosy Finch - one of my passerine targets of this trip

as we were not allowed to enter the Inn with feeder attracting the rosy finches, we needed to find the "wild" one, which is much more difficult to photo

they are far, and very difficult to be focused when feeding in the grassy patch

After the successful twitch, we were back to Furen Lodge for breakfast!

wonderful breakfast again

with crested ibis..

and Brown-eared Bubul..

and you again! with a friend too. One of these Eurasian Nuthatch was ringed and so we could recognized the individual

also the Red-crowned Crane

Then we headed to our second cruise - the Habomai cruise, for alcids again. 

this one is just 5000JPY, which is cheaper

as usual we needed to fill in our personal information (and pay) first

a much calmer sea this day

we could see the Cape Nosappu

Glaucous-winged Gull - note the dark iris and pale upperpart

a group of Harlequin

still my favorite duck of the trip - Long-tailed Duck

a third winter Slaty-backed Gull -  pale iris, adult like upperparts, streaky head and a pale bill with black tip

we saw plenty Red-breasted Merganser here, but always female, this one with a female Black Scoter

Black Scoter, male, sometimes the wings can appear translucent

an Adult Steller's Sea Eagle, with the habitat

first alcid here, very distinctive eyering, a Spectacled maybe (?)

less problematic, Crested Auklet

another Crested Auklet

like previous bird, probably a Spectacled Guillemot

Pelagic Cormorant

this one is clearly a Spectacled

Pigeon Guillemot, but which subspecies? maybe columba

Pigeon Guillemot, but which subspecies? maybe another columba

Spectacled Guillemot, assuming breeding plumage

same bird as above, the upperwing is completely black

not a lifer, a Red-necked Grebe, assuming summer plumage

the "sea sparrow" - Least Auklet

more Least Auklet

and more Least Auklet

a landing Least Auklet

fewer loon in this trip, here is a Pacific Loon

another problem, Take-san believed this is Pigeon Guillemot snowi, assuming summer plumage

same bird, underwing

same bird, upperwing, only limited white here

Pelagic Cormorant, there is still no confirmed record in Hong Kong

Spectacled Guillemot, this one looks like tailless

Pigeon Guillemot, kaiurka?

Spectacled, more extensive rear flanks

well, a Spectacled ?

same bird, extensive rear flanks

Pigeon Guillemot, there are huge variations of this species

Spectacled Guillemot

many Least Auklet in this trip

make a guess..... this is a Spectacled

Pelagic Cormorant

Spectacled? the identification between specatcled and some pigeon is not really so straight forward to me...

Spectacled again?

a winter Spectacled again?

easy one, Crested Auklet

 better Crested Auklet photos than yesterday

a winter plumage Pigeon Guillemot

summer plumage Spectacled Guillemot

Spectacled Guillemot

a flying gull, the pale upperpart may due to strong sunlight. This should be an adult Slaty-backed Gull, note the pale iris and the mirror pattern

after two hours, our boat returned to the harbor while the eagle was still there!

you can see the bleaching effect here, both are adult Slaty-backed Gull

adult Slaty-backed Gull

adult Glaucous-winged Gull with Slaty-backed Gull on the left

a male Common Goldeneye spreading its wing

one of my favorite shot, a male Black Scoter, appeared to be "white-winged' scoter under strong sunlight

After pressing thousands shutter, its time to lunch.

this sushi restaurant is highly recommended, the GPS is 43.326062, 145.574710

favorite 1 - Scallop

favorite 2 - Tuna

favorite 3 - Urchin

favorite 4 - ice cream, from seicomart, one of the largest convenient stores in Hokkaido

After lunch, we moved to Kurumaishi to seawatch again. More alcids, more loon like Red-throated Loon, other birds like Brent, and unexpected Short-eared Owl, we counted at least four there.

digiscoping snowi Pigeon Guillemot

White-tailed Eagle

immature Steller's Sea Eagle

immature White-tailed Eagle

immature Steller's Sea Eagle

I spent some time to take the four Short-eared Owl, and they were always fighting with crows

beautiful upperwing pattern

the "habitat"

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

one even perched in front of me, for less than 5 seconds

Short-eared Owl

more owl

and more

The final spot this day, Cape Nosappu, allowed us to try again the Red-faced Cormorant, we saw some here again.

view from Cape Nosappu

Pelagic Cormorant

I took every Pelagic Cormorant to see any Red-faced inside

and here, a Red-faced Cormorant with a Pelagic on the left

Pelagic Cormorant

Red-faced Cormorant in non-breeding plumage, told by paler face and thicker bill than Pelagic, also larger in size

Red-faced Cormorant with Pelagic Cormorant

final photo by camera this day - a Spotted Seal

our Day 4 ended with the wonderful dinner in Furen Lodge again, which was also our last night here in this trip