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	Notes and Articles - Newly Posted Talking Birds - Do they talk to us Pied Harriers Communication ? The Harrier and The Farmer Western Marsh Harrier: a summary of our records in Thailand: Fishing Nets; etc. Odd calls: Scops Owl sp:
	New see link below Grass Owl - A new Breeding Species in Thailand. Future Articles - Harrier Roosts in Chiang Saen and Thailand

Talking Birds - Do they talk to us

Talking Birds: A few years ago we were out on Yang Chum Lake in our boat, a traditional thai punt, built for us in our village of Ban Por Bon. We use it for counting birds on the lake. This particular morning in February was bright and sunny, however there had been a heavy down poor earlier that morning.

About 80 Black-winged Stilts were concentrated on two of the mud Islands. Many waders wagtails and swallows were feeding in the area. A couple of juvenile Sea Eagles were also present. After we finished our look at this area, I paddled away, suddenly there was a huge amount of noise from the Stilts, we turned to look but could see no reason for this activity.

The stilt were jumping into the air and calling wildly. As we watched the rumpus died away and as nothing was to be seen, and we paddled off again, immediately the noise started up again. as before nothing could be seen to cause this distress of the stilts.

We continued on our way but the commotion became more intense and a second group of Stilts joined the others, they seemed to be interested in a specific area, so we thought best to have a look. When we got there we could see a couple of things flapping in the wet mud. Closer inspection revealed two swallows, they were very wet and unable to fly as they were caked in mud. Dowroong picked them up and we thought best to take them home and clean them up.

As we left the Stilts went quietly about they're own business and no further noise was heard from them. We later released the Swallows.

MicK Davies and Dowroong Danlamajak.

Pied Harriers Communication ?

Harriers Communication: A few evenings ago while watching the Ba MAk No; Harrier roots, there seemed to be a major attempt to get the roost to move, maybe to the "oranges roost". About 15 early arrivals were sitting in and around the roost and typically getting up as new birds arrive. An interesting point that Dowroong noted was that new arrivals at this roost are mostly in a long level glide, whereas the birds that are already in have to flap when flying about the roost, this is quite a useful technique for counting.

The majority of birds at this roost arrive from the north west. A group of about 20 harriers appeared suddenly from the North and flew directly over the roost, (it is possible they came out of it, but I think not as we would have noticed them get up. So I feel they must have been newly arrived. (I noted last year that birds do over fly this roost on route to the oranges roost, these birds are moving from North to South and numbered up to a hundred. In the past we have seen a merging of birds over flying with the birds from the Ba Mak No roost.

As they passed over the roost one of the leading Pied Harriers started calling, I'm not very good at describing calls but was rather woodpecker like a shrill loud chattering. This individual male continued calling for about 15 minutes and succeeded in drawing all the the Harriers out of the roost and so all were soaring together close by to us. One or two others joined in the calling, however these were birds that came out of the roost.

The calling male pied seemed to be trying to persuade the birds to follow in a SSW direction, this attempt failed and some confusion seemed to result. The majority dropped back towards the roost but then headed east into the marsh and did not return. I am unsure as to how many birds actually roosted that evening the count in the last 5 minutes before bed time revealed 30 male pied's circling low together and some 5 male marsh, not to many dark birds but they are hard to see in failing light.

Note: The Little England roost also at times has over flying harriers moving south, however we have never seen any contact between roosting and passing birds.

MicK Davies and Dowroong Danlamajak; 14th Oct 2007.

The Harrier and The Farmer

The Harrier is a good friend to the rice farmer. Much of lowland Thailand is used for the growing of rice, sadly the small farm paddies are fast disappearing. Our recent activities with regard to the removal of mist nets, prompts me to write this short article. I have to say that most farmers employ scare crows and long strings of video tape and banners to keep seed eating birds off they're crop. In the main I don't think farmers are using nets to protect the crops, it's more likely to be bird trappers and the fact that they border rice fields is a coincidence, no doubt some of these trappers are also farmers.

It is also worth a mention that I have never seen large groups of birds feeding on growing rice, in fact I don't see large flocks of see eaters at all. We had recently a large roost of weavers but this roost has now dispersed. Weavers seem be be a wet season breeding visitor here, if they are here in the winter they're hard to find.

Harrier means to harass. harry and the Harrier is very good at that job. Consider the seed eating bird confronted by a patrolling harrier. First of all the bird will have to hide or fly off or suffer potential death. The result of the Harriers presence means that the birds cannot feed, very good for the farmer.

Owls such as Barn and Grass Owls feed mostly at night on rodents. Rats are a pest species species and cause vials disease fatal to man, this disease is not uncommon in North Thailand. Rats can devastate cereal crops and so the Owls are of extreme importance.

How can you as a farmer attract and assist the numbers of Owls and Harriers to expand and work for you. First of all get rid of any Nets or traps that may result in a Harrier of Owl getting caught. I was so surprised when our Grass Owls were shot, what a pointless waste of a resourceful bird that was actually an asset to you.

Wetland bog drainage is a problem. Grass Owls breed and roost in wetland bogs and Harriers use them for roosting. Please consider this when decisions are being made to did out bogs for reservoirs for rice fields. I would suggest some initiative in finding ways of helping the farmer and not destroying these wetland bogs. Just needs a bit of care.

Barn Owls can be encouraged by providing nest boxes. Barn Owls are quite common but difficult to asses numbers they are common in Chiang Saen Town but I'm not so sure in country areas. Barn Owls rarely hunt in the day time in Thailand.

One last point and I'm afraid that Thailand is one of the worst for this. EAT what you buy, never throw food away, it's a huge waste of the worlds resources and your money.

MicK Davies; 14th Oct 2007.

Western Marsh Harrier:

Western Marsh Harrier: a summary of our records in Thailand:

The occurrence of an adult male Western Marsh Harrier at Yonok on the 26th September 2007, prompts me to summarize my records of that species: An adult male was observed at Cha-am on consecutive mornings on the 1st and 2nd of April 2001. An imm' female was present at Yang Chum lake for 3 days between the 23 – 25th Oct 2004 and seen at close range for long periods. There have been other possible's but not seen well enough.

Plumage's of harrier's can be a bit confusing, if birds are between they're final moult into full adult, this moult probably doesn't include the flight feathers, so active moult will not de apparent. In the UK I have seen male Hen Harriers in winter that have retained the brown mantle and wing coverts. I would think it quite possible that a number of Eastern male Marsh have retained dark brown feathers on the wing coverts and underbody, which can cause the them to look similar to Westerns.

Structural differences I have noted between the species is that Western Marsh have the more typical parallel edged wings, similar to Booted Eagle. Eastern Marsh to my eye have a broader wing area and a secondary bulge, they often appear very heavy in the wing and in a low glide have just the wing tips raised. Harriers in the UK are typically seen gliding on V wings, not so apparent here in Thailand although this may be due to the lack of wind.

MicK Davies and Dowroong Danlamajak.

Fishing Nets; etc.

Follow up to the bit I wrote on the subject of Nong Bong kai and submerged nets. I contacted Yanyong Sricharoen of the Danida project, he told me that they have an agreement allowing fishing with nets of a certain gauge and that the ducks are used to the nets now, and no longer get caught. Of course I have now way of checking this. I take the point that local Thai villagers do see the lake as a way of making a living so there has to be a compromise.

Odd calls

25th july 2007. Sri Nan N P.Nan District.

Scops Owl sp: 1 or 2 calling
The call was similar in rhythm to female European Scops, but not as sharp and little more wavering, but quite definitely a single note and repeated every 1 or 2 seconds and calling for about 20 minutes at around 6 pm.
A few times it sounded as if there were 2 as calls came almost at the same time. The bird was obviously moving its head as the direction and strength varied at times.

I note that European Scops does not occur in Thailand and as this call does not fit other scops owl sp: I am lost for an Idea as to the identity.

Brown wood Owl 1 *
Possibly had young as after it appeared, two birds were incessantly calling, a bit similar to barn owls hissing but thinner and higher pitched.

25th july 2007: Grass Owl; Nong Khai: I didn't’t see it well but Dowroong saw it land on the ground close to our camp. A medium size owl not showing obvious white under wing and body is typical of grass owls at Chiang Saen, so maybe it was. Mick Davies.