Leisurely day compared to yesterday, hired
a car at the airport and drove to Pak Thale. Checked into the hotel and then
went birding, of course. We ended up at the Spoon-billed Sandpiper site of
yesterday. Soon after arriving Elis found one in among the other waders and we
settled down to watch it.
Spoon-billed Sandpiper resting on a dyke |
Well equipped Thai bird photographers. |
Spoon-billed Sandpiper, if you can't see the bill they can be tricky to identify but the have a very white forehead. |
Spoon-billed Sandpiper |
The last bird finally moved away as it
began to get dark, so Elis and I had the chance to talk to the two
photographers. It was incredible how little they knew about the spoonies.
They were then treated to a discourse about
the plight of these birds. They didn’t know for example that there were less
than 100 pairs left, they knew they were sought after birds, but didn’t know
why.
They now do, and said they would go back to
their bird club and tell them all about the spoonies and how the captive
breeding programme was trying to save the species from extinction.
So why are they called Spoon-billed Sandpipers again? |
No other new species were added to the Wader Quest list today, but we did see a few more Curlew Sandpipers than yesterday, and one or
two Long-toed Stints.
Curlew Sandpiper |
Fantastic. At least two more people know a bit more of them... hopefully. :)
ReplyDeleteBest, Szimi
Indeed Szimi, this is what we are here for (apart from seeing the Spoonies that is!)
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