Large Blue Flycatcher & Jerdon’s Baza

A day featuring two very rare birds for Bangkok. The Jerdon’s Baza was only reported for the first time on eBird in Bangkok yesterday at Suwintawong 47 by Wichyanan. My plan for the day was to head for the nearby spot at Lam Toi Ting in the morning & didn’t expect any such sightings like Jerdon’s Baza. On the way, I was stopped at some lights and got a message from David Gandy. His camera’s battery had ran out and he found a suspected Large Blue Flycatcher (The bird that sparked off my birding journey.)

I happily headed for the new destination, the message came at the perfect time! Upon arrival, it wasn’t long before I saw the bird. As per usual with some of these rarities, it wasn’t too bothered with our presence and happily hawked an insect a few centimetres from my feet. The photos allowed a confidently secured ID with the help of Ingyakut. A great start to the morning, the first Large Blue Flycatcher of autumn passage. A female, like the first one I saw at my home in 2021.

After having a look around there were a few new arrivals in the form of a trio of Gray-headed Canary-Flycatcher & an Oriental Honey-Buzzard soaring high above. Following this I went to the spot in Nong Chok. It was extremely hot but loads of the wintering birds had arrived, including plenty of the reed warblers. At 13:30 a large storm quickly blew in but narrowly missed the spot, I was considering leaving but stayed on a bit.

My first Spotted Owlet at Lam Toi Ting, I was giving some grass to the calfs below the Owlet.

Not long afterwards, I had the highlights of the trip in quick succession. A raptor flew by and it caught my eye as it flew overhead and past. I managed a few quick photos & noticed a Gray-faced Buzzard following behind, there were two of them! They were the lowest I’ve experienced this species and got some good photographs. Straight after this, I took a picture of a peculiar swift & it turned out to be a Pacific Swift!

Grey-faced Buzzard. In the last 2 weeks I had many recorded in Bangkok.

I checked back on my photos and the first bird was the dream bird. Jerdon’s Baza! After that quick flurry of amazing birds I felt it was the perfect time to leave. I wasn’t expecting that!