# Tits, shags, swallows and chuffs.....



## FrankCrank (21 Nov 2019)

.....oops, silly me, that should be choughs. Yes, I am indeed talking about our feathered friends.

Over this way I've not seen any of the ones mentioned, but we do have cormorants.
I think I'm right in saying you can only get a shag in coastal areas, and I believe the same is true for boobies.

Anyways, enough of this frivolity. I like to cycle most mornings and evenings, and have taken up a sort of hobby in trying to identify the local birds.

On a typical jaunt I'd say I can get most of them correct now, but would not consider myself a twitcher really, just something to amuse myself I suppose.

Common sightings are things like storks, lapwings, terns, stilts, egrets, herons, golden weavers, pipits, swiftlets, ibis - not surprising given the flatland paddy-field area around here. 

Other infrequent ones are bee-eaters, Indian rollers, kingfishers etc. 

Very rare sightings are buzzards, owlets, and even a night jar on one occasion.

Regular visitors to our garden include bulbuls, mynas, fantails, pied starlings and tailor birds.

Like I say, it gives another angle to what might become a bit humdrum.

So, does anyone else here have an eye for the birds?......


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## Drago (21 Nov 2019)

Best thread title ever, and totally, completely, legal!


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## Rocky (21 Nov 2019)

We are near a canal here and I love watching the Kingfishers - particularly on a sunny early morning when the light catches their iridescent back feathers.


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## winjim (21 Nov 2019)

Boobies.


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## MartinQ (21 Nov 2019)

I saw some fuzzy ducks :-)


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## steveindenmark (21 Nov 2019)

Very good Frank. Where are you? 

Before too long we will be invaded by a flock of Goldfinches for a few months. Nobody else seems to get any in our area. 

Goldfinches are Cardellinos in Italian and I restored a Moto Guzzi Cardellino. I mention this as it seemed a clever way to link a thread 😁🇩🇰


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## snorri (21 Nov 2019)

From the warm side of the kitchen window this morning I see ringed plovers ,redshanks, curlews, wigeons, oystercatchers, turnstones and a lone greylag goose. When the tide is out the birds are in!


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## FrankCrank (21 Nov 2019)

My home here is about 70k north west of Bangkok, just an hours drive from the capital. Banglen is a small town, with a handful of expats. My hometown over there, Reading, is known as the three B's - beer (Simonds), bulbs (Sutton Seeds) and biscuits (Huntley & Palmers). 
We jokingly refer to Banglen as the three F's - farms, factories and f**k all else. A bit harsh really - it's a great place to live, and cycling is real easy as the area is flat - you need to go an hours drive to see any hills. There's even a new swimming pool down the road from me - spoiling us now. Was teaching English here for a few years at some of the local schools, but now retired, and taking life easy. Apart from the birds, other wildlife in the area can be interesting, often see cobras and pythons on my jaunts, and monitor lizards a good 2 metres long. Have occasionally seen otters, but rare, half a dozen sightings in 14 years here. Crazy dogs are my biggest hassle, one near my house bit me twice on the same day recently, I take a length of plastic pipe with me now on rides - gonna hurt them now before they hurt me


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