Rufous-backed Kingfisher - Thailand Video Clip

Now I have cracked uploading video courtesy of Blogger in draft I cannot resist going back to my favourite bird in Thailand!

A summary of Thailand

So where to begin,  I suppose it has to be the birds and two in particular - Gurney's Pitta and Spoon-billed Sandpiper. The tension and excitement in seeing these birds was immense and the experiences will always remain with us.

Gurney's Pitta

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

 

But then the other Pittas started to show and we were left wondering who took pride of place; the Gurneys, the Banded, the Eared or the Blue all  stunningly beautiful.

Banded Pitta

 

..and as the days ended the night birding took over and we begun to wonder did this surpass the day time birding, we were in awe of  Javan Frogmouths, Oriental Bay Owl, Brown Wood Owl and a pair of Brown Hawk Owls. An hour or two's trek up a mountain side in heavy rain in search of White-fronted Scops Owl was the only disappointment but even that holds strong memories

Javan Frogmouth

 

Of course this little beauty was my star of the trip - we took about a hundred shots and five minutes of video of this little fellow and savored every moment

Rufous Backed Kingfisher

 

and then the excitement of the Similan Islands where so many people had told us not to go as we would not see its star bird but the lure was too great and the Nicobar proved to be the easiest bird of the trip

Nicobar Pigeon

Khao Yai NP holds strong memories for good and bad reasons - the good being the sounds of the gibbons echoing across the forests and our good fortune at being able to photograph them - the bad in being eaten alive by mosquitoes and sucked dry by leeches
White handed Gibbon

And finally the overriding images in my mind will be the people, the temples, the food and the stunning scenery

Phrang Nga Bay

 

The boat that broke down - twice!

James Bond Island

Ao Nang

One of many orchids

Khao Lak

The food, the people and us!

I would recommend anyone to go to Thailand whether you're in to nature or not but be warned for Anglo-Saxons such as myself the heat and humidity is a killer but the beauty of the place and the people is a must!

Wat Pho - The Temple of the Reclining Buddha

I had nearly forgotten these images, how I don't know as this Buddha is the most impressive statue I have ever seen - The Reclining Buddha is 46 metres long x 15 metres high and gold plated!  

Just a few more......

Just found some better shots of Pond Heron together with one of my favourite birds of the trip Whiskered Treeswift unfortunately this shot does the bird no justice but it was the best of a poor batch.  Lastly a shot of a butterfly - the only one we got despite seeing dozens of different species they just never seemed to land!

Further Oddments

Here we have 1. Pond Heron sp (probably Chinese Pond Heron), 2. Little Cormorant, 3. Long-Tailed Shrike

Thailand oddments

Not many Thailand images left now - below we have Cinnamon Bittern, Eastern Reef Egret and Pallas's Gull

Wat Arun - The Temple of Dawn

Sitting here looking out into our garden and over the fields I find it strange to think that just 4 weeks ago today I was taking these pictures in 35 degrees+.  It hasn't risen above freezing here in Normanby today and we have had frequent heavy snow showers all morning - I remember thinking in Bangkok that I would do anything to be able to switch the heat and humidity off, now I would do anything to switch it on!

Spoon-billed Sandpiper at dusk and dawn

Red-necked Stint

Even after nearly a year of using blogger I'm still learning and it is still driving me mad - after 100+ posts I have been unable to stop the automatic underlining of my text so decided today is the day to crack it.  In my efforts I noticed I was using an old edition of 'post editor' so having upgraded it  I can now move images around without losing the ability to 'click to enlarge' but as hard as I try I cannot get this text off the centering option and I just know that my next lot of text will be underlined!

Ashy Woodswallow and Scarlet-rumped Trogan

We found this group of Woodswallows sitting above our heads in Khao Yai NP whilst we were watching Giant Hornbills - unfortunately the Hornbills were just too far away even for digiscoping to get any decent images.  The Trogans were (female above, male below) in Khao Nor Chu Chi.

Back to Thailand - Barbets

 Yes back to Thailand  - still processing a few images so I hope people aren't too bored.

Black-Capped Kingfisher and Brown-Winged Kingfisher

Binturong?

This is a digiscoped image taken at a distance of several kilometres and cropped so in other words not good however we believe it to be a Binturong and again would appreciate any comments - the photo was taken from the watch tower in Khao Yai NP.

Painted Storks, Mynas and Drongo