Prek Ksach

Prek Ksach 12 January 2014

Sarah and I took Zeke the dog to Prek Ksach to do an AWC count. As always when you force yourself to count things, you find that there were more things than you would have thought otherwise, testament to how much you ignore when not forced to identify everything. There's a clear message in there somewhere, something about trying so hard to find the wood that you fail to notice the trees, when its the trees that make birding enjoyable when there isn't any wood to be found, conversely the wood might actually be in the trees, so it's always worth paying them close attention. Anyway, it was much more enjoyable than Oudong (which had neither wood nor trees), but that's not saying much.

Purple Gallinule 4
Grey Heron 10
Oriental Darter 7
Bronze-winged Jacana 33
Pheasant-tailed Jacana 42
Cotton Pygmy Goose 225
Pond Heron sp 7
Snipe sp 1
Lesser Whistling Duck 72
Moorhen 10
Osprey 2 (my first record for the site)
Little Cormorant 10
Purple Heron 3
Spot-billed Duck 2
Watercock 1 female
Great White Egret 1
Gargany 7
Little Grebe 6
Great Cormorant 18
Cinnamon Bittern 1
Barred Buttonquail 3

Some Cambodian Tailorbirds were vocalising as the bulldozers destroyed the scrub and started filling my favorite lake with sand.

Here's some photos of one of the Ospreys and the Watercock.

Simon

White-browed Crake

Here's a picture of one of three White-browed Crakes seen at two different locations in Prek Ksach. Also both a Peregrine and a Common Kestrel were in the area, plus lots of warblers, including several Lanceolated. (Posted by Robert)

Eurasian Wryneck

A morning trip to Prek Ksach area turned up a Wryneck. Flushed from the ground and flew to a distant tree. Views and photographs (see below), not too great, but still distinguishable. What a great little site. Rapidly changing though. Haven't been around the site yet since around half a year ago, but the main Small Pratincole hill is now covered in short grass and no SP in sight.

Robert van Zalinge

White-faced Plover sighting

On 10 November 2012, John K and I found two plovers that were larger and more robust than the usual Little Ringed Plovers in an area where the wetland had been filled in with sand on it's way to being Phnom Penh's newest golf course. This is the area just across the Tonle Sap river about 20-30 km along NR5. We first saw the plover that looks most like a Kentish, but then the second one appeared (LHS in photos), which was much paler with white lores, forehead and supercilium, narrow breast band and paler upperparts. We checked with one of the co-authors of the 2008 Forktail paper describing the White-faced Plover and he agrees that it looks like it is one! By the time we were done, the two plovers had flown off together. They weren't present in a later visit the next weekend, although the 50 or so Small Pratincoles were still around on 18 Nov.

Other birds: Barred Buttonquail, House, Tree and Plain-backed Sparrows, Brown Shrike, Indian Roller, White and Yellow Wagtails, Zebra Dove, Blue-tailed and Little Bee-eaters, Stonechat, Richard's Pipit. Also a Common Kestrel on 18 November and John saw a Golden-bellied Gerygone at the wetland further on past the golf course.

Robert