Some people probably remember I posted about birds in Bangkok and then stopped. What happened? In May 2024, I moved to Vietnam where I lived until February 2025 (with a month break for Laos). Surprisingly, Vietnamese cities Saigon and Da Nang have the meager birdscape, which was surprising after Bangkok, densely populated by birds of dozens of species.
Hue City, my last destination in Vietnam, was different: many kingfishers living there along rivers right in the city. I had birding walks with a 70-300mm but couldn't take truly decent pictures - these birds were too timid and my lens wasn't sufficient.
In February, I went to Bangkok and then chose Songkhla as the next destination, a seaside city rarely visited by foreign visitors.
I noticed Songkhla's birding potential very soon after arrival: from a motorcycle taxi on the way to the guesthouse - cormorants sitting on poles in the lake.
Yes, they have a salt lake here, a lagoon (on the left):
Songkhla on Google Maps
The peninsula on the map is where the city center is located. They also have an area of probably natural casuarina forest on the tip of that peninsula, and casuarinas grow all the way along the beach. This forest could be a natural reservoir of birds, as well as wooded mountains and hills in the city and around it. A lot of gardens in the city as well.
Jackfruit tree in Songkhla
The Songkhla birdscape is different from that in Bangkok
The first thing I noticed: the great myna in Songkhla is the most common bird. In Bangkok, you can't see it on the streets jumping together with pigeons; it's rather a dweller of parks there, you should be lucky to photograph it there - timid and not that often (although regular).
Songkhla might be different because of those casuarinas growing along the beach in Songkhla. I think this is where they spread from, it might be their stronghold. These guys:
You never stop enjoying the great myna's perky hairstyle.
Their common relatives, common mynas, are present too, of course:
Both species belong to the starling family. The common myna is especially intelligent and has great vocal abilities, including the ability to learn words.
And there is another member of this family, an urban bird which doesn't live in Bangkok:
This image is an entry for birding contest SMAP 209
Hellstarlings. 😄 Okay, that's a nickname I gave them. Officialy they are Asian glossy starlings (Aplonis panayensis).
These guys made a gate of a Buddhist monastery their stronghold and consistently pour it with their poop.
The monks put bricks on the decorations to prevent nesting but it looks hellstarlings are winning this war:
Another difference between Bangkok and Songkhla: when you see a large bird in the sky of Bangkok, it's always an Asian openbill, a stork. In Songkhla, they also have large birds in the sky but not storks... You'll see one over the lagoon water:
This is a kite; looking as an immature Brahminy kite:
The bird came closer to me, and still it's a crop from a 250mm shot. I saw many Brahminy kites in Kerala in 2015, but I saw none in Bangkok.
In the central part of Songkhla I saw a yellow-bellied bird several times. It was always so fast that I couldn't even have a look at it to define the species. Until I shot it in the flight:
Yellow black with a pink beak? I photographed it in Bangkok: this is a black-naped oriole. However, it's unusual that it flies over busy streets, among pigeons and sparrows...
Barn swallows are so numerous in Songkhla and fly so low that you sometimes feel "this time, it will hit me right into my face". 😀
I spotted many ornate sunbirds in Songkhla, tiny birds drinking nectar from flowers.
And I saw greater coucals, three of them together, and heard their "oob-oob-oob" many times. In Bangkok, I saw only once. They fly heavily, looking like they hardly can fly, more jumping from a tree to a tree like a giant heavy chicken of reddish-brown color: Fascinating. Butr I had no photos of them.
Asian koel (above), another red-eyed bird. Her mysterious voice is the soundtrack to Thailand and reminds of the secrets hidden in the jungle.
It's regular everywhere but prefers staying away from people's eyes. This member of the cuckoo family is a brood-parasite and a fan of figs as you see in the image above.
As for the most common birds, these are: pigeons, sparrows, and zebra doves:
Have you ever felt that some pigeons are depressive and actually don't want to live? Doves aren't depressive but it looks like they don't mind being food or just accidentally die under your foot. Enlightened birds who have no attachment to life, they seem to be.
I call them "yummies" since I can't help thinking how a cat will enjoy catching this slow, weak, and careless bird.
Yes, cats, there are many in Songkhla, and I am already preparing a post about them. 😻
Someone is watching yummies! 😄
More Southeast Asian stories to come, stay tuned! Check out my previous posts on my personal Worldmappin or Travelfeed map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 70-300mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in March 2025, in Songkhla, Thailand.
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These birds are so beautiful and colored, here the common birds are not that nice, just pigeons, classic blackbird, dove grey, sparrows
I know such cities. Even some Vietnamese tropical cities aren't that joyful from the point of birdscape. Probably, it's about century-old parks + how many trees with edible fruits grow (including cones and seeds) + how many dead / half-dead trees are left in parks without attention (often they are removed for numerous reasons), how many places for nesting in the city... Quite interesting topic - what defines the birdscape of a city.
Indeed, the less the city is welcoming, the most strong bird are only there, pigeons can live basically everywhere for example
I like the way you gave each bird its own little personality, especially the "hellstarlings" waging war against the monastery. The way you described the pigeons made me laugh a little lol. Also, looking forward to that cat post
😀 Thank you! I knew nothing about Thai birds until 2023. And as it turned out, birds are fun here.
Some have remarkable voices - you hear them every time you are in Thailand, you know these voices well but you have no idea what the hell it is until you start learning birding.
Other birds are quite wide-spread and don't hide but you don't know they even exist until you start looking at the top of trees.
Other birds are so smart that you can communicate to them like with a cat or a dog (raven-looking Thai crows, and common mynas too).
Some birds are like precious stones and others make you smile. So... Love birding here, it has enriched my perception of Southeast Asia.
Common myna talking (not my video):
I know we have birds everywhere but I've got to go to Thailand to really see the diversity. Woah man was that bird actually talking 😱😱
Moreover, common myna is recognized as one of the top100 invasive species - they conquer more and more territories... In Uzbekistan, they tried to kill all mynas (for being a pest and invasive species) but failed and gave up.
Yup, because common myna belong to the family of starlings - they all have good ability to mimic speech. Including common starlings living in Europe and America:
If a bird species rules the Earth after humans kill each other, it could be common mynas or common starlings. Large parrots are smarter but they are less adaptive so they don't have that large evolution potential. If starlings/mynas become a civilization, they'll have parrots as pets, like people have gorillas in zoos.
then these mynas have to be the smartest in the world man
I don't know what I want to be. The break free bird or the cat 😺 chilling all day long (or as you said, watching yummies 🙈) but well, fr those pictures are so good 🤩 I didn't know that you take pictures to birds 🐦 I'm kind of new on you profile, but I'm amazed. 💜
Thanks for sharing :3
Cheers and have a nice week 🙌🏽✨
It's because I was in Vietnam for many months and they mostly have only pigeons, sparrows, and rats in cities. So I haven't posted about birds since I left Bangkok in spring 2024.
Thank you! Have a nice week!
Red eyes are so striking. These birds look like coming form hell indeed. 😀
The crest of the great myna is super cool.
Thank you so much for your wonderful post and entry!
Thank you!! 😊
The black one with the red eyes in the Buddhist gate, is that also the raving bird ?
Do you mean a raven type of bird? If this, they aren't. They are starlings. Despite their hellish appearance, they don't do "weird" things 😄 But another Thai black-feathered bird with red eyes, the Asian koel, looks infernal and behaves this way: they are brood-parasites - I have a picture in my post but not that clear.
ohh i see so they just lay egg and forget everything about it? and they never come back after the other organism is done caring for the eggs right?
Love how these images turned out! The only birds that I’ve seen in Thailand so far were pigeons and sparrows haha you have a good eye for this ✨
Lol! 😁 Thank you!
Love the red eyed bird
Thanks! Cool-looking bird but slightly infernal :D
Hi, buddy. You're doing spectacular work. I'll be following you closely. It's great.
Hey! Gracias! Love your images, followed you to stay tuned! Have a nice day!
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