I had the opportunity to visit Bangkok and naturally, I had to drop by my favorite birding spot there: Suan Rotfai or Train Park. Located in the heart of the Bangkok Metropolitan area, it boasts many passage migrants, migrants and resident birds.
For this particular trip, I heard that there were yellow-rumped flycatchers around and a couple of Asian paradise flycatchers, one being the white morph(!!!). It rained the night before, but the rain continued into the morning, it was a dark and bleary morning.
I parked at HRH Queen Sirikit Park (QSP) and walked northwards towards the canal bordering QSP and Suan Rotfai. Last year, one of the trees there harbored a Mugimaki Flycatcher and I was expecting to find the yellow-rumped Flycatchers hanging out in the same tree. Sure enough, I spotted a male high up in the tree. The distance and backlight did not offer much of a photographic opportunity. A short while later, a hair-crested drongo came by and perched on the branches, and meanwhile, a skittish white-breasted waterhen and its 3 equally skittish chicks were feeding around the roots of the tree.
A skittish white-breasted waterhen and chicks
I proceeded to walk northwards into Suan Rotfai, determined to find the common kingfisher that calls the park home during the winter months. As I was walking along a path, I spotted two fellow bird photographers, Greg and Santi, who were both looking for the reported brown and white morph (!!!) asian paradise flycatchers! Needless to say I joined them in the hunt, we found more yellow-rumped flycatchers, but the paradise flycatchers never appeared. We also had a nice glimpsed of the Hair-crested Drongo, Indochinese Rollers, a couple of Eastern-crowned warblers, herons and egrets in the park.
A male yellow-rumped flycatcher hanging out between the leaves
An Indochinese Roller looks for prey from a tree
Hair-crested Drongo
While searching for the paradise flycatchers, we were told of nesting olive-backed sunbirds towards the north end of the park. Santi and I decided to go search for the nest while Greg decided to call it a day. We found the Olive-backed sunbird's nest that was suspended over the a small lake making for a very beautiful composition.
Male olive-backed sunbird feeding chicks
Female olive-backed sunbird flying in with food for her chicks
Seeing the parent birds feed the nestlings is so heart-warming. But suddenly we heard the familiar high pitched call of the common kingfisher. It turns out one just perched right beside us, what great luck! We turned our attention to the beautiful winter visitor and clicked away:
As we were getting ready to pack up and leave, a fellow birder, Jan, came by. It was good to see Jan again and I had to tell him how much I enjoyed his great images!
So it was a really good birding day for myself.I got to see the yellow-rumped flycatchers and had a great encounter with the common kingfisher. After birding for 7 and a half hours, it was time to leave (and have some lunch!). I hope to return again soon!
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