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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Thailand: Spoon-billed Sandpipers!! (and some other stuff) (1 Viewer)

Yep, I could agree with that ...I had basically done very little preparation for my trip and, a habit I generally like, I had not even opened the fieldguide before getting to the country. This approach certainly did not help with the Phylloscs however :t:

Given your interest in mammals, did you have a target list for them?
Having zippo experience with Phylloscs I suspect their identification is just as with Empidonax flycatchers here. When they sing, easy, otherwise not so much. But two pages of them sounds a whole lot harder than our handful of Eastern Empids.
 
Given your interest in mammals, did you have a target list for them?

Not really. Given that I was joining a trip being arranged by someone else I didn't really push a furball agenda, just decided to be happy with what I got. It was certainly in my mind that we had a fair chance of Tree Shrew, Black Giant Squirrel & Yellow-throated Marten, so I managed 2 out of 3 there. Everything else was just luck of the draw. I've been a bit slapdash in my metion of mammals in the write-up, and others seen along the way were Red-cheeked, Grey-bellied, Western Striped & Indochinese Ground Squirrels, Small Indian Civet & Red Muntjac. Also had something streak across the road that was probably a Leopard Cat, and Richard bagged blink and miss it views of the Marten when it was his turn shotgun and a Crab-eating Mongoose when off looking for stuff a little away from the group.

Having zippo experience with Phylloscs I suspect their identification is just as with Empidonax flycatchers here. When they sing, easy, otherwise not so much. But two pages of them sounds a whole lot harder than our handful of Eastern Empids.

You can narrow the field a little with range, altitude & behaviour, but it's still an uphill struggle!

Am I to take it you're planning atrip out there? Good luck if you go, I'm sure you'll have a blast.

Cheers

James
 
I would recommend more preparation than I did!

I used Craig Robson's "A field guide to the birds of South East Asia", which is what everyone else seemed to have too. Main drawback was taxonomy was about 30 years out of date, so I would advise a little bit of online digging, particularly (and I can't stress this enough) with regard to Phylloscopus Warblers as to what's been split into what, where you get them, and how you separate them.

There are actually multiple Robson guides. The second edition of the full version of "Birds of Southeast Asia" (2009?) actually has the most up-to-date taxonomy of any Southeast Asian bird guide. But it is bulky.

There is also a more portable field guide version of Robson's Southeast Asian guide (2005), which is not as up-to-date and may be what you are referencing. But for field use in Thailand I would actually recommend the 2002 Robson guide to "The Birds of Thailand." It has range maps and usefully limits the birds you have to consider when birding in Thailand. The taxonomy is somewhat dated, but at least for Phylloscopus warblers, most of the recent splits are virtually cryptic species that can only be reliably distinguished by vocalizations, so field guide descriptions are not that useful anyway.

Finally, I would recommend Lekagul/Round "A Guide to the Birds of Thailand" (1991 English edition is out of print) as a supplement to Robson. For one thing, it makes more of an effort to help with identification of Phylloscopus warblers, e.g. dividing them into groups. It also has descriptions of the status of each species in Thailand, which Robson lacks. However, as it is only available used, it can be pricey.
 
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There are actually multiple Robson guides. The second edition of the full version of "Birds of Southeast Asia" (2009?) actually has the most up-to-date taxonomy of any Southeast Asian bird guide. But it is bulky.

There is also a more portable field guide version of Robson's Southeast Asian guide (2005), which is not as up-to-date and may be what you are referencing. But for field use in Thailand I would actually recommend the 2002 Robson guide to "The Birds of Thailand." It has range maps and usefully limits the birds you have to consider when birding in Thailand. The taxonomy is somewhat dated, but at least for Phylloscopus warblers, most of the recent splits are virtually cryptic species that can only be reliably distinguished by vocalizations, so field guide descriptions are not that useful anyway.

Finally, I would recommend Lekagul/Round "A Guide to the Birds of Thailand" (1991 English edition is out of print) as a supplement to Robson. For one thing, it makes more of an effort to help with identification of Phylloscopus warblers, e.g. dividing them into groups. It also has descriptions of the status of each species in Thailand, which Robson lacks. However, as it is only available used, it can be pricey.

Cheers Jim

My copy was published in 2000, no range maps. I'll maybe go shopping for more if I ever get the chance to head out that way again.

James
 
Finally got round to finding out how to get video-grabs, so here's a few from Glyn's video of the Bear. (Looked much better at 60x through the scope! B :) )

Also, how many of you spotted both Owls?!

Cheers

James
 

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