Cinnamon Bittern (Ixubrychus cinnamomeus) is one of the common breeding visitors in northern Thailand. They can be frequently seen while flying over wetlands and rice fields during wet season, but proved to be quite difficult to find when on the ground.
The cinnamon bittern or chestnut bittern is a small Old World bittern, breeding in tropical and subtropical Asia from India east to China and Indonesia. It is mainly resident, but some northern birds migrate short distances.
Despite the brightly coloured plumage, the male Cinnamon Bittern is, interestingly, more often seen than the female. The female is usually more secretive and seldom come out to feed in the open unlike the male. During wet season, the males walking around in open rice fields looking for various types of food including amphibians, small fish and insects. The females, however, are mostly seen in grassy areas and mostly seen when flushed from dense cover.
Female Cinnamon Bittern has duller plumage with pale buffish spots on wing coverts and dark streaks on the neck.
Description
It is a small species at 38 cm (15 in) length, though it is one of the larger Ixobrychus bitterns. Possessing a short neck and longish bill, the male is uniformly cinnamon above and buff below. The female is similar but her back and crown are brown, and the juvenile is like the female but heavily streaked brown below. When surprised on its nest or concerned, it assumes the characteristic attitude of bitterns, termed the on-guard. The neck is stretched perpendicularly, bill pointing skyward, while the bird freezes and becomes very hard to see among the surrounding reeds.
Behavior
The cinnamon bittern breeds in reed beds, nesting on platforms of reeds in shrubs. Four to six eggs are laid. The species can be difficult to see, given their skulking lifestyle and reed bed habitat, but tend to emerge at dusk, when they can be seen creeping almost cat-like in search of frogs. Cinnamon bitterns feed on insects, fish and amphibians.
I love learning about birds but also enjoy a good and entertaining story. These books do a great job of combining the two.
1. The Genius of Birds
The author goes on a scientific exploration around the world to learn and explore bird intelligence. Anyone that reads this book will immediately question the assumption that birds are dumb or someone has a “birdbrain.” This is a highly entertaining journey that touches on many stories and species of birds. Because it mixes science with entertainment, you don’t have to be obsessed with birds to enjoy this book.
2. The Thing With Feathers
This book explores the unknown intelligence of birds from all around the world. From the extraordinary homing abilities of pigeons to the fantastic memories of nutcrackers. The author does an excellent job of educating readers and weaving in captivating stories and humor.
3. Gifts of the Crow
You will never look at a crow the same!
Crows have brains that are too big for their bodies, but this allows them to think, plan and consider their actions. The authors team up to tell wonderful stories of the high intelligence of crows. From gathering around their dead to recognizing people to even murdering other crows!
Best Bird Watching Books: Tips and Tricks
4. Bird Watching for Dummies
Are you just starting your birding adventure? Not sure what this crazy obsession is all about?
This is a great bird book for absolute birding beginners. I initially read this many years ago to try and get up to speed as quickly as possible. Even though it’s 20 years old, the information is still accurate and useful. It’s effortless to read and designed to skip around to the sections that are relevant to you.
5. Sibley’s Birding Basics
This book is a perfect complement to the author’s field guides (Sibley’s Bird’s East and West) as it builds upon the necessary skills of bird identification. It has helped immensely, both in the field and using field guides.
Sibley gives excellent information to help make a positive identification. In addition, he offers advice on many topics, from sketching birds in the field to feather shapes to analyzing different birding gear.
6. Good Birders Still Don’t Wear White
This book is the sequel to “Good Birders Don’t Wear White.” It follows the same concept as the original, with birders sharing their wisdom and advice and what drives their passion for birds. It also covers a wide range of topics, and it’s an easy book to skip around to find your favorite articles.
There is definitely something for everybody. Contributors include many well-known birders, such as Richard Crossley, Pete Dunne, Kenn Kaufman, Michael O’Brien, Bill Thompson, and Julie Zickefoose.
Best Birding Books: Big Years and Listing
I think most of us dream of the day we can drop everything and spend the year trying to see as many birds as possible. Warning! Reading any of these bird books will only make you want to pursue a “Big Year” even more!
7. The Big Year
This book was turned into a movie a few years ago. It’s a great way to get introduced to the crazy annual competition of who can see the most birds in a year. Trust me; it will get you thinking about how you can accomplish your big year.
8. To See Every Bird On Earth
This book holds a special place in my birding heart. It helped propel me into the bird-watching fray.
I initially checked it out from the library as an audiobook many years and subsequently listened to it three times. It does an excellent job of introducing some of the birding subculture’s oddities and illustrates how bird watching can turn into an obsession.
9. Kingbird Highway
Many of us have dreamed of completing our own “big year.” Now imagine hitting the road as a teenager without much money, mostly hitchhiking your way across the country and eating cat food to save money.
Kenn Kaufman has become one of the biggest names in birding, but it all started in the early 1970s when he tried to set the North American big year record.
I love this book for its adventure and insights into the birding subculture more than 40 years ago! Birding has come a long way.
10. Lost Among the BirdsBest Birding Books of 2017
What do you do when you are at a life crossroads after quitting a high-paying job and a failed relationship?
Easy answer. Go birding! Or at least that is what author Neil Hayward did.
He started his “Big Year” in 2013 mostly as a distraction, but ended up breaking the longstanding ABA Big Year record…. sort of accidentally This book is very entertaining with lots of great stories and explores the human element of birding.
11. Birding Without Borders
Wow! Talk about an extremely big year. In 2015, Noah Strycker broke the global big year record. He spent an entire year traveling across the globe trying to see as many birds as possible and ended up seeing over 6,000 different species!
This book details his many adventures along the way. Loved that he partnered with locals at every step of the journey to help. Amazed at how popular birding seemed throughout the world and that most people genuinely want to conserve these wild places.
Koel Bird is considered one of the cleverest birds. Their scientific name is EUDYNAMYS SCOLOPACEUS and they belong to the cuckoo family the Cuculiform. Their life span is for about 4 to 6 years.
More than 100 species around the world can be found in koel birds. Mostly they are found in the Asian and African regions. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with the closely related black-billed koels, and Pacific koels which are sometimes treated as subspecies.
This koyal bird is the national bird of Jharkhand, India
They have a very sweet and melodious voice which can easily attract someone. Koel birds are mostly hidden under the branches of dense trees, but from their singing, we can come to know about their existence. In Indian culture, we can see the usage of the cuckoo birds in different mythological poems and short stories.
We can hear their singing in the Spring season which is considered as their breeding or reproduction period. You all will be amazed to learn that only, male koyal birds can sing the melodious song, whereas, the female bird doesn’t sing songs. Researchers have recorded over 16 different calls by males, while females emit only 2 kinds of calls. When the atmosphere is calm, we can hear the sound of cuckoos at a distance of 2-3 km.
Koyal bird weighs in, 200-300 grams and the length of their body is from 41-47 cms. The male bird is jet black, with red-colored eyes whereas, female birds have a pattern of grey freckles on their body.
They belong to the omnivorous family, where they eat fruits, vegetables, and various other small and large insects.
Koel birds are considered to be “Brood Parasites” because they lay their eggs in different bird’s nests. The Asian koel is a familiar brood parasite of, crows and mynas throughout the Indian subcontinent the breeding season of koel coincides with house crow which extends from May to September. The female bird is in the chance of finding a ready-made nest of another bird, where she silently lays her eggs and throws the egg of another bird just to make a space for her eggs. Mostly she lays her eggs in Crow’s nest. When the young ones hatch they mimic the crow. Only when they grow big enough to take their first flight, they start singing and the crow would chase them away. Koels and crows agave common neighborhood over the years,
The entire process of this parasite nesting precedes the rain, that’s when the crows pair and build the nests. The only members of the cuckoo family who build their nests are Greater coucal and Southern coucal.
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Autumn 