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3 December 2011

Cuu Thac - Tu Son / 3-12-2011

Hi all,

One Saturday at Cuu Thac - Tu Son/Hoa Binh province with non-birder friends. We spotted some of the good birds you saw last week, and some news species.
The most notable of them were 1 Red-billed Scimitar-Babbler, two flocks of Coral-billed Scimitar-Babblers, 1 probable Collared Treepie, and 1 flock of 4-5 Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbills (seen last summer but not ID with certainty. I don't have the Robson in my head like you so I didn't concentrate on the good features at this time and the confusion with the Greater was possible).
We spent one hour along the stream trying to photograph the White-capped Water Redstart - a gorgeous bird !- and its friends : Plumbeous Water Redstart and Slaty-backed Forktail, the last one not easy at all.

Cheers,

Sebastien Delonglee & friends

WCWR feeding on treefruit

Video/choose settings 720p please

4 comments:

  1. Nice Pics again from that interesting location, great!

    btw, no need having the Robson in the head, but having it in the bag on such trips helps ;)

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  2. Hi Florian
    At that time I had the Bible in the bag. During the 10 seconds of observation, I retained some details like this : parrotbill, rufous head, white below, plain brown above... I thought it was enough. But when I opened the guide book, I fund myself torn between two possibilities : Lesser or Gretter ! Argh..
    Of course, the birds had gone. Reading the Robson in bed and memorizing the drawings/texts present many advantages. In the field, we can focus on the good features, and not lose precious seconds on the unnecessary ones.

    Tam biet Florian, hope you will see great birds on your patches this winter ! Sebastien

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  3. Geez, where did you see the parrotbills - same location as you marked on your map? Along the main trail or somewhere off road? Just the parrotbills or associated with other species? Feeding on something?
    Lots of questions but a great bird!
    Cheers,
    Falk

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  4. Hi Falk,
    I spotted the parrotbills upstream of the location I marked on the map (at the end of the "easy trail", at the beginning of the poacher one), along the stream, in a bird wave with Coral-billed Scimitar Babblers and Collared Babbler. Not in an area with bamboo. Very active bird, hard to photograph !
    Sebastien

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