Second full day in Thailand.

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

Soon a couple of Thai bird photographers arrived and we all settled down to watch and photograph the spoonies, in the end we saw three separate birds.

Well equipped Thai bird photographers.

We enjoyed the spoonies for about 3 hours watching them feed, sleep, preen and bicker with anything that came close to them. The time passed like lightening as we enjoyed these special moments. The birds came qite close in the end, but not close enough to get stunning photos, however, we were very happy just to be in the company of these precious birds.

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

Long-toed Stint

Red-necked Stint

Lesser Sand Plover

Great Knot flying to roost