Central Vietnam - 40km West of Nha Trang (Sept 02)

Family weekend in Nha Trang, and I managed to get a morning pass, shooting off to a patch of forest 40km to the west. Lots of great birds again, and some good images. There are two birds I cannot ID (and there were no takers on Birdforum either) - images, with descriptions, below. Also saw many birds that I had no chance to identify or photograph.

The birds currently were:

• Bea-eater-Chestnut capped


• Bluebird-Asian fairy


• Bulbul-Grey eyed


• Bulbul-Sooty Headed


• Coucal-Greater


• Drongo-Ashy (both mouhoti and the more common races)


• Drongo-Black


• Eagle-Crested serpent


• Flycatcher-Darksided


• Iora-Common


• Iora-Great


• Kingfisher-White throated


• Kingfisher-Common


• Leafbird-Blue winged


• Malkoha-Green billed


• Minivet-Scarlet


• Minivet-Long tailed


• Monarch-Black naped


• Sunbird-Crimson


• Swallow-Barn


• Wagtail-Forest


• Wagtail-Grey


• Woodpecker-Unidentified (small, B&W, plain wings, big head on small neck, no easily visible red, very good singer, varied song)

When I saw the bird below, I initially thought it was yet another Drongo, but when scoped, there was blue on it. As I watched, I saw it dive and catch something from the surface of a small lake three times before it disappeared. Multiple images, as none are so clear.

This bird sat very still in the bamboo. When a small brown bird (sorry) caught a moth / butterfly and was sitting on the ground with it, this bird dive-bombed the smaller bird a couple of times before disappearing.

And a few images I just like. LOL

Asian fairy bluebird

Black Naped Monarch

Green-billed Malkoha

Dark sided Flycatcher

Wayne

Migration at Xuan Thuy

Good trip to Xuan Thuy, 4th to 6th October.

One long morning we (Richard and Florian) went to the outer island, the rest we birded around the shrimp ponds and the dike.

The tide was low on the morning but Truong had the very good idea not to land at the usual spot on the island but on the southern tip instead, which saved us a lot of wading and made things very comfortable, just 50 m through knee deep water. The island has changed drastically again, the long southern part that used to be a sparsely vegetated sand bank is now densely covered with man-high Casuarina trees. On the northern part, most of the tall trees have been cut and the northern tip is being quite eroded now. Reassuringly, the styrofoam and light-bulb cover of the island is still there.

Throughout the whole morning there was a constant flow of Black Drongos (certainly more than 2000), hundreds of Japanese Sparrowhawks and Barn Swallows drifting southwards. Very impressive. Otherwise we saw 2 Slaty-legged Crake, 1 Oriental Scops Owls, a few Pied Harriers, Oriental and Eurasian Hobby, 3 Wrynecks, 1 Siberian Thrush, lots of Oriental Cuckoos, Chestnut-winged Cuckoos and Koels, Dusky Warbler, Radde's Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler, Grey-crowned Warbler, lots of Yellow-browed Warbler, a few Siberian Blue Robins, Asian Brown and Hainan Blue Flycatcher. Not too many smaller passerines yet, but also the extensive and very dense Casuarina growth made it difficult to find them.

The shrimps ponds had 10 Painted storks, 7 Black-faced Spoonbills, Spot-billed Ducks and Garganys. One morning there were several huge flocks of Black-crowned Night-herons circling above, undecided where to roost.

The mudflats in the ponds just opposite to the headquarter head a nice selection of waders, among the usual ones there where 2 Common Ringed Plover. 3 birds were Long-billed Dowitchers, we thought, but not 100% sure now that we learned that it would be only the 2nd record there.

The evening of 5th had big influx of Black-naped Orioles, quite a few roosted just around the accommodation at the headquarters

An Orange-headed Thrush was seen on the way back under some Casuarina trees along the dike.

Full list here.


Birding trash island

The backs of Richard and Truong (Xuan Thuy NP staff)

Oriental Scops Owl watching us

Red River Island - 03-10-2010

Richard and me, Florian, tried to find the Citrine Wagtails. We didn't find them. What we saw:
Barred Buttonquail 10+
Grey-headed Lapwing 1
Marsh Harrier 1
Oriental Honey Buzzard 1
Black-naped Oriole 1
White Wagtail 30+
Little Ringed Plover 20+
Green Sandpiper 1
Common Kingfisher 2
Black-headed Kingfisher 1
Pied Kingfisher 2
Hoopoe 1
Stonechat 3
Black Drongo 10+
Black-collared Starling 2
White-crested Laughingthrush 3+