Birding Lo Xo, 9-6-2012

Hi all,

First things first - I missed the bloody barwing.
Minh who was with me tried his hardest (and so did I) to see the little critters but only the briefest of views were had. I saw a tail in the middle of a climber that might have belonged to the Black-crowned Barwing but certainly not tickable for me.

                                         Looking at no barwings, shitty habitat and bad weather
 
The weather was terrible. Wind greeted us on arrival. Not long after rain joined in. Birding was everything else but pleasant.

                                         Black Eagles scanning for food...

                                         ...including barwings?

A few other species were seen at Lo Xo, including plenty of Black-collared Starlings and Flavescent Bulbuls. Black Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagle, Jerdon's Baza, White-cheeked Laughingthrush, Grey-cheeked Warbler, a possible Rufous-backed Sibia, Plumbeous Water Redstart, gazillions of Long-tailed Shrikes and White-breasted Kingfishers were seen too.
Grey-bellied Tesia, Hill Prinia and Indochinese Green Magpie were heard only.

                                         Black-collared Starling with something (not a barwing).

                                          Crappy shot but it's a Jerdon's Baza.
The day started promising with 2 Mountain Imperial Pigeons, a couple of Red-breasted Parakeets and a few Racket-tailed Treepies on our way to Kham Duc. Unfortunately, the main target didn't reveal itself but the day ended with Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and a House Sparrow in Hoi An.

                                          Blue-tailed Bee-eater near Hoi An.
Germany had won, so it wasn't too bad after all. Well, actually it was...

Huge thanks to Minh for his company, birding skills and safe driving!

Cheers,
Falk