Strawberry Fields Again

 So my little trip out earlier this week was to attempt to get some good footage of Red Avadavats, a tiny red bird often called the Strawberry Finch. So, kick-off was 3:45am (stupid o'clock) for a 2.5-hour drive.  I love driving at this time of the morning; no traffic. Well, I arrived just before 6am and got set up. At first, there were literally hundreds of House Sparrows, with a few Eurasian Tree and Plain-backed Sparrows.

Eurasian House Sparrow

Plain-backed Sparrow

 It wasn't long before a pair of Blue-breasted Quails (or King Quails if you prefer) appeared from the grass. They had a little feed on some scattered grain before sauntering back from whence they came.

Blue-breasted Quail (M)

Blue-breasted Quail

Blue-breasted Quail (F)

Another great sighting was that of a Thick-billed Warbler, quite far off, but not too shabby a picture.

Thick-billed Warbler

Finally, the Reds came, albeit very briefly. I only took one picture as I was mainly focusing on video. These really are up there with the most awesome coloured birds in my book. Not a bad picture, but you will see more in the video coming soon. (Don't forget to check it out this weekend)

Red Avadavat

Not a bad spot to visit, but if you want to go there, drop me a line, and I will put you in touch with the monk who takes care of the site, as the land is private and not really publicly accessible, and it is only common courtesy to inform him of your impending visit if you would like to go. There is no fixed charge to visit, but a small donation to the temple would be greatly appreciated.

My other target to video for the morning was the Yellow-eyed Babbler, a bird that always eludes me.. Well, next time.

As I mentioned, please don't forget to check out my YouTube channel for this and many more bird videos, and don't forget to share it with your friends. 

https://www.youtube.com/@Birding-with-Brian

That's all for now. I also made a little cooking video of cheesy baked spinach, so if you would like to see that, comment Yes in the comments box below... See-ya

Cheesy Baked Water Spinach

I Did A Thing

Well it has been a busy week with the house, gerdening, mushrooms, hydroponics and tiling the bathroom. No time for birding this week as I have been busy around the house. Hopefully back to the birding next week. Well I have 2 crops of mushrooms now, made mushroom soup and a mushrrom curry, both delicious if I do say so myself. Hydroponics growing well now with cucumbers, tomatoes and lots of veggies. Spuds are in but no sign of any growth yet, same with the beets.... They will come, (hopefully).

All three toilets and sink traps fixed and one bathroom re-tiled.That was quite a job.. Don't think I could have done such a good job by myself.. Thanks Am, you did a great job.

The other live-in helpers came to inspect the work but then retired to their posts to contemplate my workmanship..

The aviary has been cleared of weeds and cleaned up ready for half a dozen quails that should be coming soon, (probably best to wait for the rainy season to end). So beetroot pickled quail eggs are on the horizen, I just love quail eggs, a bit small, but packed with protein and other good stuff.

Ahh, what else?? Well it must have been a sight seeing a 60 year old (me) up a 3+ metre mango tree, saw in hand cutting the blighter down. We planted the tree from a seed almost 20 years ago, but it has never produced any fruit so it was time to say bye bye. Cutting small sections at a time and lowering them down one by one was fun (really??). Half bloody killed me... lol

Well, I reckon that's enough ramble for now. You can see the video on my YouTube channel in a few days from now. Talking of the channel, I am thinking of changing the name from "Birding With Brian" to Thai birds n pies.. What do you think?? Let me know. If you haven't already, take a look at my channel here: That's all for now, keep following for more soon. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmMPswWoLp91TvYThchLnQ

 Moving Back...

As many of you may know, I have now moved back to Nonthaburi, so I will now be resuming blogs with my old site of "Thai Birds'n' Pies. I stopped using this blog in around 2018... was it really that long ago?  So I will now be posting blogs when I can here, not just birds, but general life and other activities. For those who have never seen this blog, please take a moment to take a look and enjoy the old posts if you can. Click here to check it out: https://nonthaburibirding.blogspot.com/

I have made 3 videos since being back here, so you can check them out too, if you haven't already.

1. Cinnamon Bittern 

2. Sai Noi Sand Quarry

3. Returning For The Crakes

No Pies yet, but they will be coming soon, I hope.

I have also got the Hydroponic systems all set up again, so hoping to become pretty much self-sufficient with most of my vegetables. Eggs will be coming from the quails again (when I can find where to buy some)