Sekinchan Bird-watching - 21 May 2016

Besides the paddy fields, bird-watching is the next best attraction in Sekinchan. You don't have to look for them like in a treasure hunt. They're an open secret - tree birds, water birds, migratory birds; in flight or nestings in pairs on naked tree branches or having a fiesta in the fields or simply watching the day goes by on the electrical cables.

A Cinnamon Bittern in the field. 
We saw them often, in pairs usually, feasting in the paddy fields.

A black-crowned night heron amongst the little egrets.

A juvenile black-crowned night heron.

I believe this is still a juvenile black-crowned night heron in transition to adulthood.

A pair of black-crowned night herons at peak of breeding season. Can you spot the difference?

An adult version

We've taken so many pictures of the black-crowned night herons, but there're so many variations. The stocky bird has short neck, is usually active only at night, thus the name 'night heron'. The breeding birds also forage during the day out of necessity to feed the young. The juveniles looked so different from the adults. Eye colour changes from yellow in juveniles to red in adults. The adult bird has a distinct glossy black crown and back whereas the juvenile has brown plumage. During courtship, the lores (between bill and eyes) are black and feet are red to pink. Otherwise, the adult feet are yellow in non-breeding time.

Baby egrets having a bad hair day!

A white-throated kingfisher. We saw 11 kingfishers in this trip alone, so it's pretty common here.

Our unusual find....a large, crow-like bird with chestnut wings, glossy black overall and red eyes. 

...the Greater Coucal 
- from the cuckoo family (like Malkoha and Asian Koel).

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