Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler - Cuu Thac

"What the hell this Tây ba lô* is doing near my nest !"

(* Westerner with bagpack in Vietnamese, translation for those who are not living here!)

Yesterday I went to Cuu Thac-Tu Son (Hoa Binh province), not for bird watching but for chasing dragonflies - my favorite summer pastime.  It is difficult to focuse on both groups at the same time, but I always keep an `open ear` for birds. I brought with me the 400 mm lens to prevent this possible tragic situation : Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbills in front of me but only the 100 mm macro in the bag.. arghh..!

"Chim cút đi ! Chim cút đi !" 

(Get the f... out of here !)

Near the place where we saw Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbill & Collared Babblers few weeks ago, I flushed at very short distance a Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler. It flew not far, turned around me, insulted me copiously, so I guessed there was something special hidden somewhere (nest or chicks). Indeed, after a short search, I found a nest on the ground, on a big slope, within low (20 cm) grassy vegetation, only half-meter from the path ! An open-cup nest, rather deep, with 3 white eggs inside. Altitude : ca 500-550 m (a bit low for this montane species, isn't it ?)

Three hours later, on the way back, I flushed it again - no solution to avoid this, there is only one trail !

Other interesting species spotted : 1 noisy Green Magpie - I don`t know which one...

Sebastien

Van Long - Asian Openbills still around!

Hi all,

A morning spent at Van Long Nature Reserve revealed the hoped-for Openbill storks!
At least 29 were counted!

Other birds seen included (amongst others),
Yellow, Cinnamon and Black bittern, Purple Heron, Great White Egret, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Purple Swamphen, Little Grebes with chicks, White-browed Crakes, 1 possible Ruddy-breasted Crake, White-breasted and Common Kingfishers, Common Moorhen, Oriental Reed Warbler.

It was great to see that once very common countryside birds (now absent from many areas, especially in northern VN) like Crested Mynas, White-shouldered Starlings, Scaly-breasted Munias and Paddyfield Pipits are doing well at Van Long.

Unfortunately a lot of fishing / collecting went on in the wetland areas.

No Bonelli's eagles or Watercocks.

We didn't try for the langurs but opted for some cold beers at the excellent Van Long Restaurant instead. There we saw 2 pretty late warblers - Eastern Crowned and Arctic.

Cheers,
Wayne Hodgkinson, John Parr, Falk Wicker

The stars of today

White-shouldered Starling

Cinnamon Bittern

Paddyfield Pipit

Hanoi - Spring passage : a happy end

Morning stroll today (9th May) at the Lenin Park in the hope of picking up some interesting late migrants. The first bird I encountered after 2 minutes was a stonking male White-throated Rock Thrush, with the beak wide open gasping on a 40 degrees day ! At Hanoi, I always seen this species between the last week of April and the 1^st week of May (2-3 sightings annually) ; it is obviously peak time for them to be passing through this part of Vietnam. Interestingly, in all our Hanoi’s birding spots, we have not a single sighting during the autumn passage.

The peak time for Brown/Burmese Shrikes and Ashy/Spangled Drongos is definitely behind us. Only 1 single Brown Shrike seen this morning.

And again a nice male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher hanging around - the only flycatcher spotted this morning. The spring passage 2012 at the Lenin park have been particularly good for this species. Difficult to quantify because the migrants can stay some days here, but I estimate their numbers at not less than 15-20 individuals - 1 sighting/2-3 visits on average.

The unexpected bird of the day was a Cinnamon Bittern (patch tick, # 111), seen around the small wet patch where the local trapper set up (every day !!!) his mist net.

And 2 days ago, along the channel of the Red River Island (flooded now), I heard 3 Reed Warblers singing from within the tiny reedbeds, which turned out to be Black-browed. Lifer !

Sebastien

Afternoon on Red River Island

I had a couple of hours to walk around the island on Sunday afternoon, and spent my time in the wooded area, hoping there would still be the tail of the migration.  Surprisingly, there was very little in the center of the wooded area, with the birds focused around the edge.  After 2 hours, I had seen a fair few birds, but nearly every one was from the same five species:  Black Drongo, Brown Shrike, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Thick-billed Warbler (I think) and Red collared Dove.

 Wayne

Huge Openbill Storks roost at Dien Bien Phu

Information found in the vietnamese press online yesterday (Vietnam+) : 600-700 Asian Openbill Storks have been roosting in some pine hills at Dien Bien Phu for one month now. The birds leave the place at dawn and return before sunset.

The same flock spotted recently at the frontier district of Muong Te (Lai Chau Province), 100 kms north ?

The local authorities took measures to stop poaching - that's good !

Sébastien

Morning in Ba Vi

Arriving at Ba Vi to a fine sunny morning, we were quick to head up the top track towards the temple.  We were back 30 minutes later, as it was just too windy up top.  Pretty much the only bird we had seen was a female Small Niltava, which thankfully was a lifer for both of us.  Later, we added a male as well.  We slowly birded down the road (amongst the multitude of weekend traffic, cars and bikes) and added a few birds.  These including an Orange-headed Thrush, a couple of Dark-sided Flycatchers, two Gray-throated Babblers, four species of Bulbul (Black, Black crested, Puff-throated and Red-whiskered).  Mid-morning a flight of 6 Oriental Honey Buzzards went over.  We had a lovely morning, and we were back in Hanoi in time for lunch.

Puff-throated Bulbul

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Wayne Hodgkinson and Falk Wicker

Hanoi : spring passage still in progress

Hi all,

Below a list of some migrants seen last week (23th -> 28th April) during morning or noon strolls, at my 2 favorite patches: Lenin Park - LP and the Red River Island - RRI (not in the main wooded area but in a  ½ ha garden near farms - surprisingly very birdy).
Still a good spring passage. Much less flycatchers than 3-4 weeks ago but still good stuff. And new guests...

- Taiga Flycatcher (1 in RRI)
- Asian Brown Fly (2-3 RRI + 1 LP)
- Asian Paradise Fly (1 RRI + 1 LP)
- Dark-sided Fly (1 LP)
- Yellow-rumped Fly (2-3 LP + 1 RRI)
- Olive-backed Pipit (1 RRI, late migrant)
- Forest Wagtail (2 RRI)
- Oriental Reed Warbler (1 LP - Patch tick !)
- Spangled Drongo (1 LP + 2 RRI)
- Ashy Drongo (2-3 LP + 2 RRI)
- Siberian Blue Robin (LP + RRI, at least 1 each)
- Chestnut Bunting (1 RRI)
- Black-naped Oriole (1 RRI)
- Brown Shrike (4-5+ LP)
- Burmese Shrike (5+ LP)
- White-throated Rock Thrush (1 LP + 1 RRI, females).
- Eyebrowed Thrush (1 LP)
- Arctic Warbler (many : LP + RRI, including a number of singing males)
- Radde’s Warbler (2-3 LP)

But the show will be over soon ( 2 weeks more?). Let's enjoy it before the long birdless days :( of the summer! 

Sebastien

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Asian Paradise Flycatcher female

Forest Wagtail in a banana tree plantation - RRI

Brown Shrike

All the Brown S. I spotted recently belong to this ssp. (superciliosus ?)

Ashy Drongo ssp. leucogenis

White-vented Myna (LP, patch tick but probably escapee)

Eyebrowed Thrush female

Yellow-rumped Fly male

Yellow-rumped Fly female

Oriental Reed Warbler, a rather unexpected bird for the Lenin Park list!

This guy was singing in dense scrub

White-throated Rock Thrush female (28th April - LP)

Previous sightings :  2010 : 21th April LP, 22th April BG, 6th May RRI 

2011 : 24th + 28th April RRI

Dark-sided Flycatcher

 Arctic Warbler singing

Radde's Warbler