Living Koh Phi Phi

...and doing a little birding on the side.

ah, the island life. beach. sun. forest. turquoise waters...

I was not expecting much from Maya Bay, famous as the location from the Leo di Caprio movie "The Beach", but it really was a stunning bay. White sand beach, thick forest, remote. Wow.

Going out on the diving boat was not only great for the sheer joy of coral reef diving, but surprisingly good for birds. We did a fair amount of diving around Bida Noi and Bida Nok.

Bida Noi and Bida Nok: Two pillars to the south of Koh Phi Phi Leh, a good area for terns and both Lesser Frigatebird and Christmas Island Frigatebird in fair numbers. The Bidas and Koh Phi Phi Leh are also good for Black nest Swiftlet and Germain's Swiftlet.

A view from one of Koh Phi Phis viewsites (not to be missed). The thick forest should be good for birding, but I kinda struggled. I did find Greater Racket-tailed Drongos and the ubiquitous Pied Imperial Pigeon.

A ghastly photo of the beautiful Pied Imperial Pigeon. Probably the easiest way to find them is to get off the ferry, turn right and head towards the great big Banyan Tree (Tonsai in Thai), right behind Aquanauts Dive Centre. Look up and they will be there.

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

Crazy creatures and great times...

One of the groups of birds I was really looking forward to in Thailand was the Kingfishers. And I had great hopes to find a good number of species, and to digiscope them. The first place we stayed (Raileh Beach), I quickly found this beautiful Collared Kingfisher. So my hopes were high...

Little did I know these things were quite so elusive. I had unsatisfactory views of Blue-banded Kingfisher, and another unidentified kingfisher in Khao Sok National Park, and just the bum of a Brown-winged Kingfisher in Krabi, I saw Collared Kingfisher all over the place, and once saw a White-throated Kingfisher alongside the road... tough.

Pied Fantail feeding in the mangroves of Raileh East Beach

crazy beautiful caterpillar

view from the lookout point down over Koh Phi Phi Don island

little fish trying their hardest to eat our feet off. I giggled for 20mins straight. It was good for my tummy and facial muscles. My feet survived. Those are my wife's feet, btw, just in case you were wondering.

Happy birding,

Dale

Thailand - first day birding Ao Tonsai

The first place we stayed was Ao Tonsai, famous for rock climbing - with cliffs that made my mouth water and fingers just want to grip.

At dawn on my way out there, were a couple of macaques on the cliff:

Swarovski scope, TLS800, Canon 5D mark II

can you see the monkeys there?

Canon Ixus 130 (i.e. same photo without telescope)

Pacific Swallow

Swarovski telescope, TLS800, Canon 5D mark II

A great start to the holiday

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

British Birdwatching Fair - Rutland 2010

Hi all, this weekend is the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water / Egleton Reserve. Its the biggest of its kind in the world and 20,000 birders are expected over the course of the weekend.

If you are going to attend, please feel free to visit me at the Swarovski Optik digiscoping stand, or come to one of my talks (every morning in marque 2, and an afternoon workshop in the workshop venue).

Hope to see you there!

Dale Forbes

I really like that country

I oftentimes wondered how people could travel to Thailand year after year. It seemed like such a boring choice to always go back to the same place when the world has so much to offer. all over the place.

But after three weeks in the country, I think I kinda understand. We flew in to the country with absolutely no plans other than that at some stage we wanted to visit good friends of ours on the Phi Phi islands. We never travelled far, keeping it all within a very small area of southern Thailand. But what we did see/experience really touched us.

The landscape is dramatic and impressive

The forests are incredible

The birds stunning

And best of all, the people are really really smiley. Apparently, they have a guiding philosophy to laugh/smile at everything. There seems to be a real culture of - and striving for happiness. And this is respected.

I see this in stark contrast to the business environment and society in much of the "western" world (for wont of a better term) which prides itself in seriousness, stress and greed as its ideals.

I will be going back.

Thailand is the bomb!

Just under two weeks in Thailand and this place has not ceased to amaze me. The people are incredible, dramatic landscapes, powerful forests and wonderful birds (and fishies). Its also the reason why I have not been blogging.

Here are some pics from our first stop - we stumbled completely randomly and unplanned on probably the most gorgeous beach (place?) I have ever seen near the southern coastal town of Krabi (Prananga beach and Railey). Incredible stalagtitic formations and caves, towering limestone cliffs, white sand beaches and turquoise water.

Diamond cave was beautiful.

Birding highlights were the (amazingly common) blue whistling thrush, frequent sightings of white-bellied sea eagle, and a black-thighed falconet.

We subsequently spent a week on Ko Phi Phi diving with good friends who work there, and have now had a few days in the rainforest of Khao Sok National Park (including my first two Pittas and a bucket full of lifers!)

Happy birding,
Dale Forbes

Oystercatchers in spring blossoms

I just loved these oystercatchers in the lovely spring blossoms. Texel was so much fun!

she thinks she is an oystercatcher. who am I to tell her any differently?

happy digiscoping,

Dale Forbes

More wallcreeper photos

Last Sunday I headed out to the Wallcreeper nest again, this time accompanied by Paul W. Instead of going for the front-on across the river view (see the last wallcreeper blog post with a photo of the area), we decided to see if we could get above the nest and look across. This really was an incredible spot and it was amazing to have the wallcreepers all around us.

Wow I love this bird!

These next two photos of the male wallcreeper flying lack speed and focus, but I think they get closest to summing up a lot of what makes the wallcreeper such a powerful bird for me. They have these big flappy butterfly wings and flutter about most of the time. But surprisingly often, they will decide to "give gas" (as the Austrians would say) and can really fly surprisingly fast - a flash of scarlet dashing by. No focus, just an impression of something powerfully beautiful.

All photos digiscoped with a Swarovski Optik STM80 HD, TLS800 digiscoping adapter and a Canon 7D

The images here have been resized but not cropped at all.

Happy digiscoping,

Dale Forbes

Wallcreeper nest 3

Wallcreepers at a nest in the Paznauntal (western Tirol). They are nesting in a drainage hole in the side of an old bridge. It does not make for the prettiest of settings, but the birds are gorgeous. This is the third location this year where I have seen a pair of wallcreepers. very nice.

The nest is over there in the middle of that great big wall.

Okay, I really need to go get ready - we are going out to the nest again in 10minutes!

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

Skiwwels! in some nice light

So the trip out to the Netherlands a few weeks ago was to support our (Swarovski Optik's) promotion at the Dutch Birdlife partner's retail store (Vogelbescherming Nederland).

Late the one afternoon, a squirrel came down to their garden feeder and perched himself in beautiful light. This is what happened.

Digiscoped with a Swarovski Optik STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, Canon 7D.

Happy digiscoping,

Dale