Week ending 27th May - IRRI

A quiet week birding-wise as family duties took my spare time (Fiona being off in Malaysia all week). I did spot a Plain Bush-hen on my way in to work on Tuesday, but my only other birding was on Sunday afternoon when I took the youngest into the paddies to 'see some cows'. All passage birds having departed the main interest was the breeding behaviour, with plenty of song, plus several species with young already. The Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and Oriental Pratincoles were among the most visible, but there were plenty of Striated Swallows today, many with youngsters in tow. A Barred Buttonquail had a lovely dust-bath right in front of us, and Oriental Skylarks and Fan-tailed Cisticolas sang their hearts out.

Male Barred Buttonquail, having just completed a dust bath...

 Oriental Pratincole

 White-breasted Waterhen

Striated Swallow, lots about today, including plenty of juveniles...

This Oriental Skylark was belting out a song from the deck before deciding we were too close...

... and without missing a note it took off into its aerial song flight.