I love birds – as a child, I used to spend hours and hours studying bird encyclopedias and trying to recognize them as I see them. Birds used to be my favorite subjects for drawing, especially orioles, nightingales and pigeons. So a two-day stay in Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand, made me really regret I did not have a proper camera to take photos of all the interesting birds there. There is a huge park right in the center of the city, and birds there seem to really feel free to go about their business regardless of tourists. For identifying the species, I used Peter Ericsson′s very informative database of birds in Thailand.
Let′s start with water birds, of whom little egret is probably the most gracious.
Little egret – click on the images to enlarge them
Little egret
These large birds reminded me of storks, but apparently they are called openbill, with their signature beak.
Openbill flying
Openbill chilling
The second one was just hanging out on a small bridge.
Javan pond heron seems to be very common and quite fearless.
Javan pond Heron
Its Chinese colleague keeps it company.
Chinese pond heron
Red-wattled Lapwing (I hope I identified the bird correctly) is fun to see any time.
Red-wattled Lapwing
It took a while to identify (I hope correctly) the mynas.
Common Myna
White-vented Myna
The second one is a real punk! It found a ′capsule hotel′ in one of many Ayutthaya′s brick temples.
Of course, there are much more interesting birds in wildlife, but it′s amazing that so many birds can be found easily in such a touristic town. Take a good lens if you go there!