Out for an Indian November 30, 2015
After my trip to Pak Pli with Gary Booth last week, Malcolm Peake gave me tip off about some Indian Stone Curlews at Puttamonton Park. Gary was heading down to Laem Pak Bia for the Spoonbill Sandpipers, which sounded tempting but I opted for the park. Upon arrival I was taken aback as to how popular cycling has become here. The park has literally been taken over by “2 wheeled posers” On a note of safety though, I have never seen so many of the locals wearing crash helmets… Shame they don’t do the same on motorbikes. Anyway, back to the birding. For some reason, Puttamonton never really seems to turn up too much for me so I was looking forward to a lifer from this park.. Arriving at the area Malcolm had told me about, I began scanning for the Stone Curlews.
A good number of Red-wattled Lapwings and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters were present. Then I saw one sitting in the undergrowth, these birds really are the masters of camouflage!! I managed some good views and a few shots of the sitting individual, but no others were to be found. I headed off around the park towards the exit and came across a pair of Green-billed Malkohas building a nest. This is another bird that has eluded me of pictures in the past, so it was nice to see one out in the open and get a few good shots.
Other birds for the day included; Indian Rollers, Asian Openbills a single White-throated Kingfisher and a single Grey Heron..
On the drive home through the rice fields, a single Common Snipe was seen.
