Today after less sleep than I would have liked we left our hotel at 645am after breakfast and headed to a nearby wetland.
It was difficult to identify as a wetland as it was mostly wet grasslands, albeit a little swampy. It proved to be very birdy with a great range of species. For me the highlight was, without doubt, my first trip lifer - Watercock! I will not disgrace myself by trying to make a joke about the bird's name....
I will also not make a joke about one of the reasons that the bird is uncommon; that is some local people eat Watercock!
Apparently Watercock tastes good. And there is no joke about that either.
There was a good range of birds at this site, including all three species of Weaver, [Double] Zitting Cisticola, Oriental Reed Warbler, Plain and Yellowbellied Prinias, our first woodpecker - Laced, White breasted Waterhen. Eastern Marsh Harrier did a flyby. Ubiquitous birds [as is their want] were everywhere; Black Drongo, Indochinese Roller, Ashy Woodswallow, three mynas, Plain backed Sparrows, Blue tailed Bee-eaters, Egrets, Herons, Open billed Storks, Brahminy Kite - to name a few.
This site needs more time - perhaps a few days to get to know some of the more skulking birds....
Next on the agenda was a roost site for migratory Yellow breasted Buntings. They were in good numbers but were either too flighty and active or diving into deep shade.
They were seen well in flight only.
Stonechat, White throated Kingfisher, Red wattled Lapwing etc were also seen.
Lunch was excellent - Coconut chicken soup, stir fried veges and squid...
No comments:
Post a Comment