Having left the folly of flycatcher-hunting, I dropped into Penanti en route home to check on the Oriental Pratincoles.
One was standing sentinel on the access road and wasn't that interested in giving way to my vehicle!
I could only see two juveniles - suggesting that the season hasn't been a good one. Both were just fledged. Sometimes pratincoles will raise a second brood after the first is fledged - wonder if this may happen here?
Interesting to see that post-breeding moult has already begun - those
slightly greeny-glossed scapulars, wing coverts and tertials are new, as
are the darker feathers on the head.
The adults were all just starting wing moult - the inner four or five primaries and their respective coverts had been replaced.
The inevitable Red-wattled Lapwings making their disapproval of my presence known! I was surprised to hear a Blue-winged Pitta calling not that far away in the scrub. However, it didn't want to play, and I was unsuccessful in luring it into view. While searching, I did spook a Red Junglefowl - another species I was surprised to find at this rather open location.
1 comment:
The moult of the first pratincole is interesting. I don't get to see them very often here in northern Thailand. Didn't know that the feathers are actually greenish glossed.
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