Bristol to Kagu ? (1 Viewer)

Kunming

I managed a couple of hours at dawn doing what felt like my local patch at Emei Shan the next day. Said goodbye to a few individual birds that had become familiar, and a couple of feeding flocks of very similar composition that had become "my friends". One of the flocks was joined by a surprise party of Striated Yuhina, and I also finally found out what was making a call I'd been hearing over the last couple of days when I tracked down a Spot-breasted Scimitar-Babbler.

We caught an overnight train to Kunming and on Jan 4 found ourselves in a much warmer world. We even saw our first butterflies of the trip. In the park in Kunming I finaly got Chinese Pond Heron back on Nicky, found Brown-breasted Bulbul to be common, and watched a couple of Chinese Grosbeaks land on some lilly pads to have a drink.

Yesterday we caught a minibus to Xi Shan after breakfast and saw some good birds despite the (weekend ?) crowds. Generally less variety than at Emei Shan, but some different species were fairly numerous, including Black-headed Greenfinch, Spectacled and Rusty-capped Fulvettas, Japanese White-eye, and a Phyllosc that I id'd as Chinese Leaf-Warbler (please correct me if I'm likely to have goofed here). These birds had a loud "tooeet" call, that I hadn't heard at Emei Shan among many many presumed Pallas's Warblers (or were some of those even Sichuan Leaf Warbler ?). The call recalled Yellow-browed Warbler, but thicker. They were clearly more robust than all the Pallas's (types?) at Emei Shan and had whiter supers and coronal stripes. One seen best lacked any pale-spot efect at the rear of the ear covts. I wish I'd seen the little blighters better. Some calls heard were so like Yellow-browed that that species was probably present too.

Unfortunately we were unable to follow diredtions in Steve Bale's report to an area where he saw Giant Nuthatch, Chestnut Bulbul and the by now bogie-bird-proportioned White-collared Yuhina , it only becoming obvious where he meant after we'd got back to the bottom of the hill (mostly our fault, not his !).

Other birds we saw included 2 Yellow-bellied Flowerpeckers, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Long-tailed Minivet, House Swift, Blue Rock Thrush, Ashy-throated Parrotbill, Peregrine and Black Kite.

266 Striated Yuhina
267 SPOT-BREASTED SCIMITAR-BABBLER
268 BROWN-BREASTED BULBUL
269 CHINESE POND HERON
270 Plain Prinia
271 Long-tailed Minivet
272 House Swift
273 Fire-breasted Flowerpecker
274 SPECTACLED FULVETTA
275 BLACK-HEADED GREENFINCH
276 RUSTY-CAPPED FULVETTA
277 CHINESE LEAF-WARBLER (?)
278 Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker
279 Blue Rock Thrush
280 Black Kite

So that's pretty much it for China I reckon. A more hardcore birding trip on a similar budget for the same length of time could have fitted in a visit to Poyang Lake between Shang Hai and Chengdu, a different montane location in Chengdu, the Black-necked Crane site between Chengdu and Kunming, and another site in Yunnan or another day at Xi Shan. A lot more species would then be possible. I think I was fairly unlucky generally with thrushes, buntings, parrotbills and rosefinches, but hopefully we'll have another chance to see some more of these on our return journey. Generally once we got used to being in China we found it a very pleasant place to be, with friendly unobtrusive people. Getting around on buses was easy if you get place names written down for you in Chinese by people in the hotels where you're staying. I wonder what Vietnam will bring ?

I wonder! Can't wait for more.

Stll China

Ok , a recent decision by the LCRC is to reject the sketchy Chinese Leaf Lettuce, so we're back on 279 for the trip.

Bus to the border from current location at Yuanyang touristy-rice-terrace kind of place cancelled, so time to post.

Travelled by bus to here 6hrs from Kunnming and spent yesterday in minibus with other tourists exploring cultivated hills. Nice scenery. Some more typical open country SE Asian birds to add to trip list too, for me the best being a couple of Buff-throated Warblers, which I'd not seen before. Plenty of Yellow-browed Warblers, Little Buntings, Olive-backed Pipits , and Eastern Stonechats. Lesser numbers of other birds including even a couple of Brambling.

280 Black-shouldered Kite
281 Burmese Shrike
282 Eastern Cattle Egret
283 Eastern Stonechat (tax ?)
284 Pied Bushchat
285 Grey Bushchat
286 Hill Prinia
287 Yellow-browed Warbler
288 BUFF-THROATED WARBLER

It's too late to edit my last post, but I've just noticed I should have put unintrusive instead of unobtrusive in the bottom paragraph ! Hope this mistake hasn't caused offence. I was simply commenting that in many countries people won't leave you alone, making birding difficult. This was NOT the case for us in China.

Hanoi

So the trip list limps sluggishly towards the 300 mark as we cross the border (with some grief from the Chinese border guards for overstaying our visa by a day) and arrive in Hanoi by train. All of a sudden there are tourists everywhere and we are no longer freaks (honest). A few "junk" birds muscled their way onto the trip list around the lakes in Hanoi, best of whch was a Radde's Warbler, but we got little birding done after unexpectedly bumping into an old friend from Brizzle who now lives here.

Off to romantic Halong bay for a few days to celebrate our 7th anniversary of being together, then hopefully off to Cuc Phuong for a spot of Pitta-bothering.

289 Indian Roller
290 Sooty-headed Bulbul
291 Red-whiskered Bulbul
292 Taiga Flycatcher
293 Whte-throated Fantail
294 Little Heron
295 Common Tailorbird
296 Radde's Warbler
297 Asian Palm Swift

Also present in good numbers in and out of cages was the amusingling abbreviatable Japanese White-eye

Larry Wheatland said:

So the trip list limps sluggishly towards the 300 mark as we cross the border (with some grief from the Chinese border guards for overstaying our visa by a day) and arrive in Hanoi by train. All of a sudden there are tourists everywhere and we are no longer freaks (honest). A few "junk" birds muscled their way onto the trip list around the lakes in Hanoi, best of whch was a Radde's Warbler, but we got little birding done after unexpectedly bumping into an old friend from Brizzle who now lives here.

Off to romantic Halong bay for a few days to celebrate our 7th anniversary of being together, then hopefully off to Cuc Phuong for a spot of Pitta-bothering.

289 Indian Roller
290 Sooty-headed Bulbul
291 Red-whiskered Bulbul
292 Taiga Flycatcher
293 Whte-throated Fantail
294 Little Heron
295 Common Tailorbird
296 Radde's Warbler
297 Asian Palm Swift

Also present in good numbers in and out of cages was the amusingling abbreviatable Japanese White-eye

Click to expand...

I've just read this thread today and in its entirety. Wow, what an adventure! It's starting to reawaken by desire to do more foreign birding especially to Asia. Can't wait for the next installment!:t:

Just stumbled on this Larry, it sounds amazing!!

Ancient Murrelet

I'm on Cat Ba island in the middle of what's been a nightmarish non-birding anniversary tour with terrible organisation. On dodgy computer so hopefully this'll get out.

Yesterday at 4pm we were on a boat drifting between the spectacular rocky outcrops between a large cave that all the tourists are taken to and Cat Ba island, when I saw a floating object that I assumed would be just another piece of rubbish or possibly a small grebe. I had up untill then seen no birds at all on the water, and indeed (as expected here) very few birds at all since leaving the land, just a few Black Kites, a White-bellied Sea-Eagle, and a grey morph Pacific Reef Egret. When I looked at the floating object through my binoculars I was totally shocked to almost immediately realise that I was looking at either anAncient Murrelet, or a vey similar murrelet species. The sea was totally flat calm and the bird remained immobile and constantly in view for about a minute as the boat continued past. At it's closest point I reckoned after the event that it must have been about 100m away, Nicky reckoned by the time she got onto it it was about 200m away. Neither of us are very good at estimating distances in hindsight.

It was a small dumpy rather neckless alcid, resembling a Little Auk in shape more than the more grebe-like murrelet species (eg.Long-billed), and had a small pale yellow bill which gave the impression of possibly having a dusky tip. I could clearly see that the bird had white underparts and blue-grey upperparts, and a largely black head with white extending from the underparts up the neck sides. I couldn't be sure whether the black face extended onto the throat or not, and spent most of the little time that the bird was at close enough range concentrating on trying to see if there was any white elsewhere on the head , and the bill. There was no white visible on the face and crown of the bird at all. In my ignorance, I assumed that I was probably looking at a Japanese Murrelet, a bird that I knew was similar to Ancient Murrelet and that I though would be the likely option. I didn't know exactly what that species looked like, and have indeed only previously seen one Ancient Murrelet after twitching one inland in California one autumn about 16 years ago.

As soon as the bird was out of sight I looked in Robson's Birds of South East Asia, but the book contained no alcids. At this point I got very excited. Luckily I still had Mckinnon's Birds of China in my rucksack, so I retrieved this and looked up the auks. I must admit that I was even slightly disappointed to discover that the bird was a perfect match for Ancient Murrelet (which McKinnon mentioned was an occasional straggler to Hong Kong), and did not have the white on the sides of the crown extending round to the nape that would be present on Japanesae Murrelet (which McKinnon mentioned was only recorded in China as a vagrant to Taiwan and therefore presumably less likely).

Nicky, who also saw the bird, assured me that I was not halucinating, and that it looked like an auk to her. Although she is not a birder she has seen many alcids over the last few years, including Long-billed Murrelet, and has herself "called" a Little Auk, a species that up until that point neither of us had seen.

This is the first time I have been able to access the internet since seeing the bird.

Like everyone else (maybe more than many) I am quite capable of misidentifying birds, but in this case I'm completely sure that what I saw yesterday was an Ancient Murrelet unless
:1) I have overlooked the existance (or split) of an extremely similar auk species.
2 ) The description and drawing of Japanese Murrelet in the Birds of China is wildly innaccurate, and that species can also resemble Ancient Murrelet to the extent of looking like the bird that I saw.
Or 3) There is a frighteningly realistic life size model of an Ancient Murrelet floating around in Halong Bay.

The only information I have available leads me to believe that at least up until 2003 there have been no records of any auks in SE Asia. Can someone please inform me of the current status of this species in the region, and confirm my reassoning as to it's identity ?

The only information I have available leads me to believe that at least up until 2003 there have been no records of any auks in SE Asia. Can someone please inform me of the current status of this species in the region, and confirm my reassoning as to it's identity ?[/QUOTE]

Whilst out of region- worth mentioning that there was a high number of Ancient Murrelet in S Korea last week (500+ reported from one location on East coast).

Closer to Vietnam, Ancient is a regular winter visitor to Hong Kong, and from your description that is what you have - excellent record!.

Cheers
Mike

Larry,
I posted your request for info on the Oriental Birding email group. Below is the reply from John Pilgrim based in Hanoi. PM me if you want his email an address.
Cheers
Martin

I haven't checked references here thoroughly, but am not aware of any other alcid records in Vietnam, or mainland SEAsia more widely. However, Ancient Murrelet is a regular winterer in Hong Kong so it is not completely unexpected - particularly with the rapid, major cold front that came down yesterday morning.

We also saw a probable (very tatty) Japanese Murrelet in Hong Kong (would be first for the territory) in May last year. Photos, and very useful discussion can be found at: http://www.hkbws.org.hk/phpBB2/printview.php?t=2340&start=0&sid=f4adc7f99252047f934f2b9b4de0d91b
Note the plate near the end from Gaston and Jones (1998) which shows more clearly how similar Japanese and Ancient Murrelets are in non-breeding plumage (this is not clear in all field guides, and particularly not MacKinnon's China guide which seems to be quite misleading in this regard).

As these species are so similar, and this is either way (as far as I know) a first for Vietnam, we would be very grateful for extended notes on this observation. If you're passing through Hanoi on your trip, you're very welcome to come and check references at our library (although the discussion on the above website is perhaps even more educational) - just phone our receptionist to arrange a time in advance.

Oooer !

I'm sorry John if you're reading this, but we won't have time to stay another day in Hanoi and will have to leave early to try and get to Cuc Phuong tomorrow.

Very interesting pic of the suspected Japanese Murrelet. Obviously much closer than our bird ! I couldn't make out the eye for example. I'm also not sure that the tiny amount of white on the head of your bird would have been visible on my views of mine (though I was straining to see any as I had an image only of a summer plumage Ancient in my head and was expecting to see at least a streak on the side of the crown, but I could not). It seems my suspected fears of inaccuracies in McKinnon were not unfounded !

Other comparisons are tough as your bird looks so bedraggled, but the bird I saw looked much less skinny and thicker-necked, and I thought the bill looked shorter. It also looked very blue-grey compared to your bird. Interesting that the article mentions a bluish tinge on Japanese and a pinkish tinge on Ancient. My bird's bill looked to have a yellowish tinge, ie more like White-billed Diver.

Thanks for contacting me, I'll make sure I send a description through the right channel, but really it should just be a copy of the rough unchecked post I quickly sent yesterday as that was closer to the time. Having reread it I'd just like to change pale yellow bill to very pale yellowish bill, and add that the bird was to the ledt of the boat and the sun to the right, providing excellent lighting conditions. When I have time I'll look at as many images of Ancient and Japanese Murrelets as I can.

I still can't believe my luck !!!!

Larry Wheatland said:

I still can't believe my luck !!!!

Click to expand...

Fantastic Larry! A climatic outcome to a very interesting voyage by both of you:t:

Ahh, my old patch: Cuc Phuong. I am sure you will add a lot of bird there.

Happy to c yr Vietnam stories after getting down the Helan Mts with only two female A La Shan Redstarts in one month
Three PI Beers for the Murrelet!

For the attention of anybody interested in the Murrelet observed in Halong Bay on 13 January.

While looking at images of Murrelets on Oriental Bird Images on 21 January, I realised that I'd made a terrible mistake in the way I'd interpreted something that I'd observed when the Halong Bay Murrelet was at long range and rapidly diminishing from view. At the time, the bird quite suddenly appeared to have a short tuft on the frons for a few seconds before it was too far away to note any features reliably. Until 21 January I thought that I could not possibly have interpreted this image correctly, and it must have been an optical illusion, perhaps caused by straining to look at a distant bird. I thought it was impossible because I would surely have seen this feature clearly when the bird was closer, and impossible because the only species this bird could be don't possess such a feature. The pictures in McKinnon confirmed for me that this must have been an illusion so I did not include this in my original description because there seemed to be no point in doing so. I now think it's very important that I mention this because it may well be a clue to the Murrelet's specific identity, even though it doesn't exactly do much for the credibility of the sighting! In hindsight I always knew I really did see this feature and should have trusted my judgement and not conveniently ignored what I saw.

After seeing the few images I have now seen, notably some of Japanese Murrelet in summer plumage and of a rather shabby suspected Japanese Murrelet in winter plumage, and also some images of Ancient Murrelet in winter and summer plumages I don't know whether to submit this record as an Ancient Murrelet, a Japanese Murrelet or a Murrelet sp. without knowing the answers to these questions:

1. All the pictures of Ancient Murrelet I've seen show birds with the feathers on the frons and crown flattened. Can Ancient Murrelet erect it's frons feathers to create a frontal 'tuft' effect?
2. Can a non-shabby Japanese Murrelet appear to have no visible white on the crown or sides of the head at a range where the eye is not discernable (contra the description in McKinnon)?
3. Does Japanese Murrelet in winter plumage have a much shorter but still present erectable frons feathers capable of creating the impression of a 'tuft' which it also has the option of retaining flat to the crown?

Any help greatly appreciated, especially links to images of Japanese Murrelets in winter plumage or advice from people familiar enough with either of these species to answer the questions above.

I'm almost beginning to wish I hadn't seen the bird!

Cuc Phuong (paradise!)

Hanno - what a fantastic ex-local patch you have there!

Deborah - I tried to find your birds seen from a train thread when we were on the trans-siberian express earlier on this trip to post a few of the sightings we had, eg. Mongolian Lark, but unfortunately couldn't find it.



MCaribou - nice idea having those beers Lin but as you can maybe see from the post above I'm not quite ready to celebrate anything other than just a Murrelet sp. at the moment!

So back to some proper fun jungle birding. We took a local bus from the old city in Hanoi to Giap Bat bus station, from where we caught a bus to Nho Quan, which is 13km from Cuc Phuong park HQ. From here we took motorcycle taxis to the HQ. The total cost from Hanoi was about $5 each and it took about 3 hours. We stayed 1 night at HQ, had a great morning's birding with a birder we at HQ (Hi Paul !) and walked the 20km to Bong arriving at dusk. We stayed 3 nights at Bong and then walked back to Hq to spend another night there before making our way to Ninh Bin.

Birding was fantastic throughout the park, at the botanical gardens (G), all along the road (R) to Bong (B), and on the trails around Bong. I was on a real roll here and still buzzing on the murrelet (at that stage !). I ended up seeing far more of the specialities than I expected to, doing pretty well for a plonker like me without a tape recorder. With a whopping 70+ new birds for the trip, of which more than 20 were new, it's hard to pick out highlights, but goodies included the male Silver Pheasant that walked across the road right in front of us (near B), Limestone Wren-Babbler (2 R, c200m before the prehistoric man cave), Pied Falconet (1 G ,1B), Brown Hornbill (party of c8 B), Blue-rumped and Bar-bellied Pittas (1 of each R, near B) and yes Gav they do patter with tiny feet , Chestnut-necklaced Partridge (twice R, near B), Ratch and Rack et-tailed Treepies, White-winged Magpie (the latter eventually on the last morning at B then also R and G), Red-vented Barbet (1 R), cracking male Grey-backed (G) and Black-breasted (B) Thrushes, Asian Stubtail (2 B), Rufous-tailed Robin and Lesser Shortwing (1 of each B) and cracking parties of Silver-breasted and Long-tailed Broadbills (B). Some birds I'd never seen before were common, ie Green-eared Barbet, Rufous-throated and Black-browed Fulvettas, and Japanese Thrush. And so on (see additions to trip list below for more). We also had some good birds seen earlier on the trip eg Fukien Niltava and Collared Owlet.

Identification challenges were catered for by the warbler department. Seicercus warblers were too numerous to ignore and I figured that the commonest form (c20 grilled) were Bianchi's Warbler. These birds foraged generally in the open with parties of fulvettas, phylloscs and Striped Tit-Babblers at or above head height. They all had yellow greater covert wing-bars, some very striking ones. They had eliptical yellow eye-rings and not very extensive fairly pale grey on the crown. I couldn't make out any calls that were definitely attributable to them. Another form (only a couple seen) seemed not, or loosely allied to other feeding birds, fed low in denser cover, had round eye-rings, more extensive darker grey crowns, more saturated yellow and green plumage tones, more prominent black lateral crown stripes and one of them went "Chu-chu", which I reckoned sounded like Frank "Seicercus-man" Rheindt's rendition of what Grey-crowned Warbler sounded like. Good enough for me. A few "Blyth's Leaf Warblers" went unidentified, and there were totally invisible Bush-Warblers in frustrating profusion. The exception was one Bradypterus warbler that provided prolonged exceptionally close views of virtually all of it except the lower mandible. Cracking views of the undertail coverts showed that it lacked the obvious pale tips that should be on Russet-Bush Warbler which according to Robson would be the most expected species at this altitude and range. After looking at Oriental Bird Images I figured this bird was a Brown Bush-Warbler, which should be at a higher elevation. Other trip reports have noted both Chinese and Brown for this site though, Brown in a report by N Dymond. I'm prepared to be told I'm wrong on this one ! I can give a description if anyone's interested.

When we got to Ninh Binh I had my first chance to see some images of murrelets on OBI and that sunk my boat a bit. (see above post). We went cycling to nearby Tam Coc for a tourist day out and made an unexpected discovery. Limestone Wren-Babbler seemed quite easy here (4 in and around the temple at the end of the road that continues 3km past Tam Coc, and another 3 on the view point that overlooks the river that tourists get rowed along. Probably worth a visit for anyone interested in seeing this species if you dip at Cuc Phuong (even some proper birders with tapes and stuff have been known to dip it there it seems , even after pumping out it's fave tune for a couple of days round Bong !). It's also worth a visit in it's own right as the scenery is amazing.

So now we're in transit to Da lat and I saw my first Vinous-breasted Starling from the bus today. It's raining, but hey, life is sweet and I'm about ready to try for some of those Annam enemics. Bring it on !

Additions since Hanoi :

298 Black Drongo
299 White-breasted Kingfisher
300 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
301 Pacific Reef-Egret
XXX THAT FLOATING PIECE OF....OH..ER...I MEAN THAT POOR CUTE LITTLE LOST SEABIRD
302 Ashy Drongo
303 Stripe-throated Bulbul
304 Dark-necked Tailorbird
305 Grey-eyed Bulbul
306 Black-crested Bulbul
307 Striped Tit-Babbler
308 Red-headed Trogon
309 Crimson Sunbird
310 Puff-throated Babbler
311 White-rumped Shama
312 GREEN-EARED BARBET
313 Black-browed Fulvetta
314 PIED FALCONET
315 Common Iora
316 Great Iora
317 Brown Shrike
318 Sultan Tit
319 Grey-crowned Pygmy Woodpecker
320 RUFOUS-THROATED FULVETTA
321 Grey-backed Shrike
322 Blue-winged Leafbird
323 JAPANESE THRUSH
324 RACKET-TAILED TREEPIE
325 SULPHUR-BREASTED WARBLER
326 Puff-throated Bulbul
327 Lesser Coucal
328 Orange-bellied Leafbird
329 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
330 RATCHET-TAILED TREEPIE
331 GREY-BACKED THRUSH
332 Banded Bay Cuckoo
333 White-bellied Yuhina
334 BROWN BUSH-WARBLER
335 RED-VENTED BARBET
336 Indochinese Cuckoo-Shrike
337 Maroon Oriole
338 Grey-throated Babbler
339 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
340 Lesser Yellownape
341 LIMESTONE WREN-BABBLER
342 Scaly-crowned Babbler
343 Emerald Dove
344 Yellow-bellied Warbler
345 CHESTNUT-NECKLACED PARTRIDGE
346 BLACK-BREASTED THRUSH
347 Asian Stubtail
348 WHITE-TAILED FLYCATCHER
349 BLUE-RUMPED PITTA
350 RUFOUS TAILED ROBIN
351 Rufescent Prinia
352 Silver-breasted Broadbill
353 BIANCHI'S WARBLER
354 Buff-breasted Babbler
355 BROWN HORNBILL
356 GREY-CROWNED WARBLER
357 Crested Goshawk
358 Greater Yellownape
359 BAR-BELLIED PITTA
360 Common Flameback
361 Green Magpie
362 Red Junglefowl
363 Silver Pheasant
364 Scarlet Minivet
365 Black-winged Cuckoo-Shrike
366 Bronzed Drongo
367 Streaked Spiderhunter
368 WHITE-WINGED MAGPIE
369 Lesser Shortwing
370 Long-tailed Broadbill
371 Black Eagle
372 Crested Serpent-Eagle
373 Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike
374 Green-billed Malkoha
375 Large Woodshrike
376 White-breasted Waterhen
377 VINOUS-BREASTED STARLING

Edit: Cuckoo-shrike identified at Cuc Phuong as Indochinese now thought to be hasty probable id error. This species not identified with certainty on this trip until Khao Yai.

Larry,

Wow, you did well at Cuc Phoung, sounds like an excellent trip so far...

Re Bush-Warblers. Other possibilities at Cuc Phoung include Manchurian and Pale-footed, both present in reasonable numbers during the winter there.

Where to next? I will be in Vietnam (Dalat and central Annam) between 9-16th Feb and Cambodia either side of that.

Larry Wheatland said:

For the attention of anybody interested in the Murrelet observed in Halong Bay on 13 January.

While looking at images of Murrelets on Oriental Bird Images on 21 January, I realised that I'd made a terrible mistake in the way I'd interpreted something that I'd observed when the Halong Bay Murrelet was at long range and rapidly diminishing from view. At the time, the bird quite suddenly appeared to have a short tuft on the frons for a few seconds before it was too far away to note any features reliably. Until 21 January I thought that I could not possibly have interpreted this image correctly, and it must have been an optical illusion, perhaps caused by straining to look at a distant bird. I thought it was impossible because I would surely have seen this feature clearly when the bird was closer, and impossible because the only species this bird could be don't possess such a feature. The pictures in McKinnon confirmed for me that this must have been an illusion so I did not include this in my original description because there seemed to be no point in doing so. I now think it's very important that I mention this because it may well be a clue to the Murrelet's specific identity, even though it doesn't exactly do much for the credibility of the sighting! In hindsight I always knew I really did see this feature and should have trusted my judgement and not conveniently ignored what I saw.

After seeing the few images I have now seen, notably some of Japanese Murrelet in summer plumage and of a rather shabby suspected Japanese Murrelet in winter plumage, and also some images of Ancient Murrelet in winter and summer plumages I don't know whether to submit this record as an Ancient Murrelet, a Japanese Murrelet or a Murrelet sp. without knowing the answers to these questions:

1. All the pictures of Ancient Murrelet I've seen show birds with the feathers on the frons and crown flattened. Can Ancient Murrelet erect it's frons feathers to create a frontal 'tuft' effect?
2. Can a non-shabby Japanese Murrelet appear to have no visible white on the crown or sides of the head at a range where the eye is not discernable (contra the description in McKinnon)?
3. Does Japanese Murrelet in winter plumage have a much shorter but still present erectable frons feathers capable of creating the impression of a 'tuft' which it also has the option of retaining flat to the crown?

Any help greatly appreciated, especially links to images of Japanese Murrelets in winter plumage or advice from people familiar enough with either of these species to answer the questions above.

I'm almost beginning to wish I hadn't seen the bird!

Click to expand...

Here's an Ancient Murrelet for you with some feathers up on fore-crown.

http://www.montereyseabirds.com/SeabirdPhotos/AncientMurrelet.htm

As for Japanese- one of the problems as I'm sure you have discovered is that adults are only in non-breeding plumage for very short time- they are back in breeding plumage by late Jan (as they breed from Feb). So most pics even taken in winter show plenty of white.

James - our Vietnam Visa runs out on Feb 9 but we'll probably enter Cambodia before then, after a few days round Da Lat and a few at Cat Tien. We were'nt planning on doing any birding sites as such in Cambodia and maybe having a bit of a break from birding for a couple of weeks.

It would be great to run into you somewhere in SE Asia though. We've got to make it to Singapore to catch a ship on May 23rd but haven't exactly got a tight plan for in between.

Good luck in Cambodia.

Ed - You're a star ! That pic really puts my mind at ease a bit. That could easily be our bird. Cheers mate.

Larry,

Just in case you were thinking about it - Bokor National Park in Cambodia has been closed as the road needs rebuilding. You should definitely get up to Kratie for Mekong Wagtail and Irrawaddy Dolphins, great couple of days excursion from Phnom Penh, local buses run that route directly from PP bus station, takes seven hours.
Cambodia actually has some of the most enjoyable birding in SE Asia, and 6 critically endangered species can be seen within a week of each other. Getting up to Preah Vihear is a fantastic experience, especially a visit to Tmat Boey - in my top five sites in SE Asia. To book this you need to go through Sam Veasna Centre, check out their website, though it isn't cheap.

Phnom Penh is a really nice city (as far as cities go!), very laid back and easy to get around on foot. Cambodia has wonderful food, make the most of it and plenty of cheap accommodation.
Don't forget to visit those temples!