Adjutant, Eastern Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 13 (1 Viewer)

[01101001]

Maybe they complete their migratiom in one leg, without stopping. Look how few records there are of Blyth's Swift on migration (some two plus maybe a few others, and there are lots of them completing their journey twice a year):

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I suppose India should be better watched than Thailand, though I might be wrong.

 

[MacNara]

Maybe they complete their migratiom in one leg, without stopping. Look how few records there are of Blyth's Swift on migration (some two plus maybe a few others, and there are lots of them completing their journey twice a year):

I suppose India should be better watched than Thailand, though I might be wrong.

The thing is that their situation is such that migration isn't a thing. And perhaps never was when they were in a better state - do vultures migrate?

 

[01101001]

At least some vultures do, I think.

That the adjutants are rare means you shouldn't be surprised by the lack of previous records.

and I agree that if there was a known migration route, people would be observing them as they take it.

EDIT: That its wintering range (including presumed wintering range) is not contiguous with its breeding range implies migration per se.

 

[01101001]

But there are quite a few previously accepted records from the area (papers/photos/descriptions)? One just on the outskirts.

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[01101001]

Worth noting, perhaps, that all of them were single birds or pairs seen in flight. The only description of direction (apart from an abstruse account at https://ebird.org/checklist/S20428587) was a 'southward straggler' seen on the 19th of November 2001: https://ebird.org/checklist/S94396612.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

The maps, including that in the Lynx Birds of Thailand, should taken with a pinch of salt in the modern context.

I contacted Phil Round who replied 'My only record of Greater Adjutant in the vicinity of Bangkok was near Samkhok in January 1986, though another was reliably seen near Ayutthaya in 2002. The few other records were all from NE Thailand and even they have become few-and far-between in recent years'. And he goes on to say it is much more likely an escape from Safari World.

Grahame

 

[MacNara]

The maps, including that in the Lynx Birds of Thailand, should taken with a pinch of salt in the modern context.

I contacted Phil Round who replied 'My only record of Greater Adjutant in the vicinity of Bangkok was near Samkhok in January 1986, though another was reliably seen near Ayutthaya in 2002. The few other records were all from NE Thailand and even they have become few-and far-between in recent years'. And he goes on to say it is much more likely an escape from Safari World.

Grahame

Thanks Grahame:

Do you and Phil Round think that these photos (dark UTCs and my possible white eye) are OK for escaped Marabou? Or indeed is it possible that Greater Adjutant would have been at the Safari World anyway? It seems a bit strange that a bird as large as that would be allowed to be in a free-flying condition in a place like that?