Vietnam Bird News: Birding with a baby

8 February 2011

Birding with a baby - Hoi An area

The only way I could get out birding over Tet was to volunteer to look after the wee guy. While it meant keeping to tracks and paths, it was still good to be out.

The first three mornings saw us in (or near) a small patch of scrub and cactus, near Cua Dia that has been productive in the past. Unfortunately, the Siberian Rubythroat and multitude of Plaintive Cuckoos that had been so friendly at Christmas were heard but never seen. We still managed to see:

Asian Brown Flycatcher
Black(?) Drongo
Black-capped Kingfisher
Brown Shrike
Common Tailorbird
Grey Wagtail
Long-tailed Shrike
Oriental Turtle-dove
Paddyfield(?) Pipit
Red-collared Dove
Scaly-breasted Munia
Siberian Stonechat
Sooty-headed Bulbul
Streak-eared bulbul
White-throated Kingfisher

Two days surfing in Central Vietnam, only allowed me 20 minutes a day for birding (the boys after breaky smoke time), but still managed to see my first Green Bea-eater and a Greater Coucal.

On our last morning, little Luke and I we went into the rice growing area to the North East of Hoi An. Highlights for me were Red Throated Pipits (Pipits I could definitively identify) and 2 Common Hoopie (before now, never close enough to photograph). We saw pretty much all of the birds listed above, and...