Rubythroat

It's been 20 days since my latest post, so I thought that it's about time I should post something new. I've been busy working as an intern for the last 2 months and barely got any chance to go birding. Now I'm back in my peaceful home in Chiang Mai and I'll be doing full time artist for the upcoming raptor guide book for the next 3 months. Hopefully, I'll be able to update this blog more frequently too. These photos of the Siberian Rubythroat (Luscinia calliope) are pretty old photos taken since March 30 this year. Few individuals were still staying around in my local patch near Mae Taeng River.

Singing male Siberian Rubythroat

Late March to early April is the only time when you can hear the sweet song of the Siberian Rubythroat. Most of them would be gone by mid April. The individual in these photos was found singing on treetop early in the morning. It was territorial but also very shy. I had to hide among the grass and wait for it to come and sing at its favourite perch. It was a beautiful moment sitting there among dew drops listening to the song of a rubythroat.

Golden-headed Cisticola moulting into breeding plumage

An unusually tame Yellow-bellied Prinia

The resident 'jerdoni' race of the Little Ringed Plover

Apart from the rubythroat, here's a collection of some other birds taken in my local patch during the same time. The Golden-headed Cisticola is one of my favourite birds. I've never got a chance to get any decent photo of it in breeding plumage yet. This time, an extraordinary tame bird was found singing in a corn field. Shame it still hasn't finished moulting into breeding plumage. The Yellow-bellied Prinia in the photos was also unusually tame. It was hopping around seeking for small insects on the ground completely ignoring my existence. On the other hand, few pairs of the resident 'jerdoni' race of the Little Ringed Plovers that seemed to be nesting along the river banks were extremely shy and unapproachable. The resident race of South-East Asia seems to have thicker eyerings with narrower black bands both across the breast and forehead than the one which breeds in East Asia.