Birds of Southern Thailand

While visiting the Big Buddha temple on Koh Samui, I saw a small tortoiseshell cat gazing intently at something. I stopped to watch for a few minutes and soon my patience was rewarded. Just above her in the foliage was this pigeon. I think it might be a little green pigeon, though am unsure as there are lots of similar pigeons, short billed, wedge tailed, white bellied etc. If I had not noticed the cat, I would have missed this guy. Goes to show that taking time out sometimes has its rewards. We do forget to slow down and look around us sometimes.

Bird life in Southern Thailand is abundant and as many Thai people keep caged birds often I have seen the birds this way rather than in the wild. That said, those kept in cages often seem to correlate to those found naturally in that region. We also saw white rumped shama in cages and also a few hill mynahs. These large black birds have amazing bright yellow wattles on their heads and are easy to teach to speak. As for having birds in cages, it is not my thing, but each to their own. 4.2.2013