A boat trip along the mighty Mekong River was extremely
pleasant and a great way to start the day, especially with Irrawaddy River Dolphins coming in
close to our two boats. At least four animals were playing within 10 metres of
us, and several times their heads cleared the surface and we had great views of
their piercing eyes. In fact we spent ages observing these gentle creatures,
but not before securing the main target species here. In 2001 a new species of
bird was first described to science, Mekong Wagtail. And we were privileged to find at
least 3 birds amongst the numerous small islands in the middle of this huge
river with a male singing its distinctively different song from the top of a
bush. With a colony of Pale Sand Martins
breeding in a sand bank giving us reasonable views as they came in to their
nesting holes we were finished here, so headed over to a different area of rice
fields from the previous afternoon. The heat was on in more than one sense as we
needed Asiatic Golden Weaver and
fortunately it didn’t take too long to find a breeding plumaged male perched
next to a partially built nest in a tree on the opposite side of the fields.
Through the scope we had great views and it really glowed like a yellow light
bulb against the green foliage. So that was it and we had to leave and set out
on the drive to Phnom Penh for our final meal together before a few of the
group head back to the UK tomorrow, whilst the rest of us continue on to Fraser’s
Hill in Malaysia.
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| Irrawaddy River Dolphin |
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| Irrawaddy River Dolphin |
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| Mekong Wagtail |
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