Thursday morning at Cuu Thac Tu Son

Two hours after dawn presented a lot more birds than earlier in the week. Early morning fog was a not the best, but it lifted and we had a stunning morning, until we turned, and saw fog banks rolling up the hill from below us. Saw plenty of the common birds here. Highlights for me was sitting in a bush until a group of Silver-eared Mesia were feeding within a few metres. A few minutes later I saw a solitary Streaked Spiderhunter - my first Spiderhunter! Strange when I read the OBC note on these, it said they are often found in association with Mesia, however they were not near each other in this case.

Also foraging in the same way as the Mesia was another bird that I have not identified. It was a similar size to the Mesia, and fed in a similar way. It was an overall olive-greenish colour, with a darker stripe ring along each wing. It had a darker stripe along the top of the head, and lighter patches around each eye, similar to a Red-billed Leiothrix. The feature I thought would make it easy to identify (but has not helped) was that it had a solid orange-red throat, with a hard horizontal edge, to a lighter chest. Any ideas?

Wayne Hodgkinson

Not a bird, but pretty cool anyway