Crakes

This was my "project" for the last week gone. I saw this crake a couple of weeks ago and was fascinated/frustrated by how it would move in the the reeds without ever fully showing its body. It became a bit of an obsession with me then to photograph it. So I devoted 3 mornings this last week to a bunch of reeds in the middle of a group of rice fields in Ayuthaya with my hide pitched trying to see and photograph the little crake whilst trying to scare away the cows which had more interest in "my" patch of water and greenery than I gave them credit for. I could occasionally hear the old cow herder and his wife behind me somewhere jabbering away with the odd "farang" thrown in. I bet I was the talk of the village, the odd foreigner living in the tent down by the pond.
  
From eBIrd ... Baillon's Crake (Eastern) Zapornia pusilla "Widespread across Africa, Eurasia and Australasia. Tiny crake that breeds in wet sedge marshes and bogs; migrants can be in any marshy habitat. Usually retiring and rarely seen, but can be confiding."
  
If anyone knows or can recommend where I can find other crake species, do let me know. I really enjoyed photographing this one (actually theres two of them in the photographs).

Cheers Ben, I found an excellent guide to visiting Lat Krabang last night at Thai Birding Adventures (url below) so visited this morning before the sun was up.

thaibirdingadventures.wordpress.com/2020...ang-paddies-bangkok/

I saw the White browed crake straight away and was able to set up and get some shots when the sun came up. The Ruddy-breasted I heard calling in the reed bed next to me twice but it did not show. I have renamed the thread to crakes as I enjoy photographing this type of bird in its setting - sitting by a bit of water and some reeds is a very calming and enjoyable way to pass the morning. I will now try and photograph the other crakes starting with the Ruddy.

I must say, in reference to your comment on the development of these areas that I can imagine this site is a shadow of its former self. Sad to see. I have noticed this elsewhere were I have been in the last few weeks as well - mechanised alteration of the landscape for farming seems to be more and more widespread be it inland or by the coast. I was in coastal Phetchaburi yesterday and some old haunts I did not recognise anymore.  

I think it is great, the level of detail was just what was needed for a first time visitor to a location (like me). The Lat Krabang write-up enabled me to find what I was looking for nearly immediately on arrival. The maps (GE) of the different site areas and what is likely there are fantastic! Some of the best write-ups I have seen. 

If you want to post some here to get some visitors I would recommend posting the first one or two paragraphs and then insert a "read more" link so people can then read the whole thing on your site. I think it's really good, deserves some exposure as it its very informative. 

I have added it to the links section of the site already! 

Great pics! 

Morning weather in this part of the country has not been good for photography for the last few days and looks to be the same this week. Which had me purging old files on my computer to relieve some of the boredom. I had this terrible habit of keeping lots of files whereas these days I am ruthless with deleting files. I was going through 2017 and realised I had another crake picture. The Red-legged crake (Rallina fasciata). I must have just ignored it because you cannot see the red legs on the only in focus shot I got.

Its from my one and only ever visit to one of the birding hides at Kaeng Krachan. It was Baan Song Nok. I can see the attraction of the hides but it ended being my only visit as the  whole thing did not give me a buzz like finding something myself (no matter how common that something may be). But thats me. 

Well after probably 6 months of looking for a ruddy-breasted crake and coming up a total blank I have seen one on each of my 3 recent Bangkok trips (Thawi Wattana, Pratunam and Lat Krabang). Finally got a photo so now, undoubtedly I will seem them everywhere. Need to figure out which is my next waterbird target.