Phnom Penh, Cambodia - id help please (1 Viewer)

[beechwood]

Hello, these birds were seen on 27th January. I am not entirely sure of identification so would be grateful if someone could confirm (or correct) the following:

1. Plain Prinia
2. Plaintive Cuckoo
3. Lesser Coucal (or perhaps Greater) - no sighting of back!
4. Brown Prinia?
5. non-breeding Chinese Pond Heron

Thanks for any help.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Quick help : 1 is a flycatcher, not a prinia ; 3 is a koel, not a coucal, and 4 is a taylorbird, not a prinia. I've never been to Cambodia, so I let others check the species...

 

[beechwood]

Interesting. 1 would presumably be an Asian Brown Flycatcher. The barring on the tail of 3 threw me. 4 would probably be a Common Tailorbird.

thanks for the quick help.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Interesting. 1 would presumably be an Asian Brown Flycatcher. The barring on the tail of 3 threw me. 4 would probably be a Common Tailorbird.

thanks for the quick help.

I prefer not to give opinion on species I don't know. For exemple, Im not sure how look the Cambodian Tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk). The colours on your photo are not very clear.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I prefer not to give opinion on species I don't know. For exemple, Im not sure how look the Cambodian Tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk). The colours on your photo are not very clear.

Looks like Cambodian to me, it's grey on my screen.

 

[beechwood]

It looked grey in real life.

anyone any further thoughts on 1, 2 and 5. Thanks

 

[bhutjoe]

5. is a pond heron, likely chinese on location but i cannot tell them apart unless in breeding plummage, sorry
steve

 

[sicklebill]

Brown Flycatcher and Plaintive Cuckoo; where was the tailorbird photographed?

 

[beechwood]

The Tailorbird was photographed at the edge of Cheung Ek near the pond.

 

[beechwood]

It seems that it is not possible to distinguish the pond heron in non-breeding plumage as there is range overlap and limited distinguishing features - unless someone knows a way! Thanks for all of the comments.
Phil

 

[sicklebill]

The Tailorbird was photographed at the edge of Cheung Ek near the pond.

Common, Dark-necked and Cambodian are all in the Phnom Penh area, if it's grey above then must be Cambodian but but I can't tell the colour from the photo

 

[Indobirder]

Here's a lightened version of the image. looks very gray to me

 

[beechwood]

This is the only other picture I have and this has been lightened. I am not sure that it is helping with the identification. I think it will have to be noted as "perhaps Cambodian". Thanks for the help.

Phil

 

[Andy Adcock]

Here's a lightened version of the image. looks very gray to me

Definitely grey.

 

[sicklebill]

Did you see the bird rather than just photographing it? If you did the grey would be very apparent assuming it's Cambodian Tailorbird, your images certainly look plausible.

 

[beechwood]

Yes. It was definitely grey in real life. Thanks for the comments.

 

[beechwood]

So later in the day on January 27th this Tailorbird was seen in Iroha Gardens in Phnom Penh. It is a much better picture than the earlier sighting and, unless I am mistaken, this has a grey back and is good for a Cambodian Tailorbird. If this is the case, is it worth adding the photo to the gallery as there doesn't seem to be a picture of this species?

Phil

 

[sicklebill]

Looks good and certainly worth adding

 

[MacNara]

It might be worth doing a small lighting adjustment before posting as in my version below.

Digital photos are created by (incredibly wonderful) software from captured light data and there is no 'true, original' photo, so this adjustment isn't 'cheating'. With traditional film photos, the capture and creation are the same thing, although of course some adjustments can be made in printing.