On the morning of September 12 saw me checking my local patch at Cho Lae. I wanted to photograph the snipes which I've been seeing since September 2, but they proved to be much too difficult to photograph, so instead I turned my attention towards a flock of 9 Pacific Golden Plovers that were resting on the open field. I slowly crept from a distant towards the birds and when I approached approximately 20m from the closest bird, I lied down on the ground and slowly crawled with my elbows. In the end, I could get pretty close to them and I was pleased with the results.

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Still some black on the underparts

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Non-breeding bird

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

View of the flock

Most of them were still moulting from breeding to non-breeding plumage showing some black feathers on the underparts. One of the birds was especially whitish due to more breeding feathers on the body which haven't been moulted yet.  I spent some 10-15 minutes photographing them as they slept and preened under the warm morning light. Then they somehow decided to fly up and move to other area in the distance.

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Curious look

This individual was the most approachable one.

Yawning! Probably it's still too early.

Guess what the bird on the left was doing>

It was pooping!

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Had some fun taking photos of them while preening

The one in the middle was much whiter than others.

Resting despite my existence

Another tame individual

A preening shot to end this post

Waders at Khok Kham II

This post will still be about my half-day visit to Khok Kham on April 7. Even though it was mainly overcast throughout the afternoon, there was also a short period of sunlight around 4pm. It was around the time when I moved to another area where I was told that a Spoon-billed Sandpiper was spotted few days earlier. There were lots of waders scattering around the area. I scanned the salt pans and spotted a flock of waders with high concentration of Red-necked Stints. I assumed that the Spoon-billed Sandpiper should be among that flock so I slowly made my way towards that flock of stints. Along the way, it's impossible for me not to stop for taking photos of other waders that were around me. Here's a selection of some of them.

 Pacific Golden Plover in breeding plumage

This one has just started to moult.

Female (?) Lesser Sand Plover in breeding plumage

Female Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage

Lesser Sand Plover was obviously the most numerous species in the area. Most of them were already in their colourful breeding plumage making it a very beautiful sight. Pacific Golden Plover was also numerous but tended to scatter throughout the area rather than staying together in flocks. They sure looked really smart in breeding plumage. Several Ruddy Turnstones were also found sitting along the dikes but they proved to be much shyer than the ones I photographed in Japan few years ago.

Male (front) and female (back) Black-winged Stilt in breeding plumage

Grey Plover in non-breeding plumage

Red-necked Stints in breeding plumage

Male Lesser Sand Plover in breeding plumage

The race schaeferi shows completely black forehead. 

This Broad-billed Sandpiper looked stunning in its full breeding plumage.

Curlew Sandpiper assuming breeding plumage

Another individual with more brightly coloured plumage.

I realised as I was lying on the muddy ground trying to creep towards all these birds that I actually enjoyed it a lot. It was really difficult to get close to them but at the end, I found it really rewarding. I could get photos of so many species of waders in such a short period of time. I actually thought that if I had my telescope with me, I could probably have picked out several more species from the distant groups. I spent my time taking photos of waders until the very last minute before it got almost completely dark. As I came walking back to my car with satisfaction, I met Gerry from Birds of Thailand and Beyond. I told him where the Spoon-billed Sandpiper was and I was glad to know that he also saw it. Hope I can come back to this wonderful place again in the next wader season.

Common Redshank in breeding plumage

Another stretching shot

A very confiding Broad-billed Sandpiper

The abundant Red-necked Stint also looked stunning in its full breeding plumage

Eastern Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa melanuroides) assuming breeding plumage

The very first sight of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper!

More photos of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper here

Waders at Khok Kham I

I really took a lot of photos during my short trip to the Gulf of Thailand in April. The first place where I visited was the internationally well-known place called Khok Kham, where I spotted a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in this post. I arrived at the birding spot late in the afternoon and the sky was covered with stormy clouds, even though it was extremely sunny just about 30 minutes before I arrived. Anyway, overcast weather also gave a nice chilly mood to these photos.

Broad-billed Sandpiper assuming breeding plumage

With a Lesser Sand Plover in the background

The race schaeferi of Lesser Sand Plover actually has completely black forehead.
This one is still on its way.

I spotted a flock of waders staying together in a pretty good number in a small salt pan not very far from the road side. I grabbed my camera and slowly tried to approach them. I slowly lowered myself down as I was approaching the birds and finally, I was lying on the ground fully and extremely slowly creeping towards them. I could get almost as close as 10m, which is not easy at all to do so in Thailand. Most of the birds that came closer to my were Broad-billed Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints and Lesser Sand Plovers. Most of them have already moulted into breeding plumage.

It was a nice day for birdscaping.

How Broad-billed Sandpipers feed

This shot was taken after it scratched its neck.

The same very territorial and aggressive Lesser Sand Plover

Another individual with fully black forehead

A Pacific Golden Plover in its smart breeding plumage

Broad-billed Sandpipers are really my favourite.

I noticed that most of the Red-necked Stints and Lesser Sand Plovers were very territorial and aggressive. They'd chase other individuals off as soon as they entered their territories. Other than the 3 species listed above, there were few Pacific Golden Plovers in smart breeding plumage, a pair of Red Knots, some Curlew Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers and lots of Black-winged Stilts.

This Red Knot was half way through its moult.

It was staying in pair with another bird in non-breeding plumage.

Another shot of the non-breeding individual

Lesser Sand Plovers in two different plumage

This one was the tamest. Unfortunately it just started moulting.

Few more birdscaping shots

A Broad-billed Sandpiper to end this post

To confirm that it really has a broad bill