Laem Pak Bia… 3 out of 3

Third part -out of three- displaying some of my many photographic expeditions at Laem Pak Bia, a cool waders’ site that rocks indeed…

August 15th, 2009

On Mother’s Day -American Continent’s Calendar-, my wife asked me to take her back to LPB for some birding (yeah… I know… I’m a lucky guy!) and she was soon rewarded with a bird in her favorite group at the King’s Project, as a young Collared Kingfisher blinked at the moment of the shot…

Collared Kingfisher by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

Waders were -just- starting to arrive back and we saw a few… been the Common Snipe the nicest one

Common Snipe - look back by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

Spotted Redshank - in the grass by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

Some Black-crowned Night-Herons and Indian Cormorant were showing pretty well in breeding galas

Black-crowned Night-Heron - portrait in breed by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

There were many Little Egrets around -as usual- and some Scaly-breasted Munias said bye near the gate

Little Egret - breed by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

Scaly-breasted Munia by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2009

July 14th, 2010

I spent some months of early 2010 in Costa Rica, so, visited LPB again until my return, in july… Driving around, we found some nice garden birds -including the attractive Hoopoe- at an abandoned construction near the coast

Common Hoopoe by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

Peaceful Dove by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

White-vented Myna by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

At the Royal projects, my daughter spotted some movement on the mangroves… I looked with my binoculars and could see a large bird, flapping at eye level and what was our surprise when it flu right up to as and landed on a boardwalk, just a few meters from our car… preened a bit (still had feathers in its beak from its prey) and went its way for good… What a fantastic sight!… checking -at home- the three images that allowed me, it resulted to be a beautiful -juvenile- Shikra

Shikra - juvenile by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

Again, many Indian Cormorants were displaying their breeding plumages

Indian Cormorant - breed - portrait by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

November 12th, 2010 and December 18th, 2010

In this two occasions, I visited with friends (Mario in November and Paul in December) and since I was just driving them and trying to get them close to the waders, I have only a few shots from both dates

Marsh + Wood Sandpipers by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

Whiskered Tern - molting 2 by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

…however, something special happened in both visits: with Mario -and his wife Roxanne- we observed how a White-throated Kingfisher was prayed by a Shikra!, while with Paul -and his wife Apiradee- we had the extraordinary chance of photographing the unusual -to Thailand- Brahminy Starling, at the local dumpster…

Brahminy Starling by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2010

February 19th 2011 and July 19th 2011

In February, I took my friend -Jorge- around the ponds at the Royal Project. Since I was driving, I didn’t get more than a couple of images

Greater Coucal - dirty by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2011

Ruff - female - non breed by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2011

…and finally, in July, I drove around for our friend and BirdingBlogs star, Dale Forbes -and his wife Barbara-, again getting only one or two images for myself, but enjoying the great company

White-throated Kingfisher - juvenile by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2011

You can actually read Dale’s post from that adventure following this link:

https://birdingblogs.com/2011/daleforbes/laem-pak-bia-thailand-birding

I hope to get the time and the chance to go back a couple of times before my long trip to America, next april… I’ll let you know if and how I did… by now, these are all my stories and expeditions from Laem Pak Bia in Petchburi… a real top-class hotspot for birding in Thailand!

Happy Bird-Photo Adventures and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbW64J_RJZg