Hidden wildlife in plain sight
Here in Phuket we have a few large birds of prey that are fairly common even in a busy place like Patong. I do mean the avian type with wings and feathers and not the nocturnal type as seen more commonly down Bangla Rd. The most common is the Brahminy Kite. It looks a bit like the bald Eagle with its brown body and white head.
You can see it often just cruising up and down Patong Beach.
This bird lives in the trees above Patong to the north and south, gliding effortlessly up and down the beach looking for prey. The Brahminy Kite is a medium-sized raptor around 44cm from head to claw, with a wingspan of 1.2 metres.
They are known scavengers, but here in Phuket they do very well on fish, crab and other shellfish, with the occasional mouse, rat or other small mammals they can find. They nest in high isolated trees and return to the same nesting site each year. They are all found all over Southeast Asia and not in any way endangered.
Next we have the Oriental Honey Buzzard, which is slightly larger than the Brahminy Kite but quite easy to identify by the very distinctive stripes on the tail.
Again, it can be seen often over the small bay to the south of Patong Beach where the small estuary enters the sea. The Oriental Honey buzzard is around 60cm tall with a wing span of 1.5-1.7m. They live in the hills above Patong,
Tri Trang and Freedom Beach. As the name suggests, it lives on bee and wasp larvae and loves the honeycomb too. Like the Brahminy Kite, it is not an endangered bird and quite easy to spot.
Then we come to the largest bird of prey in Thailand: the White Bellied Sea Eagle.
This large eagle grows to 90cm in length and has a massive wing span of over two metres. As you can see, it is easy to identify as there are not many birds of this size and colour around.
It not only feeds on fish, turtles, sea snakes and smaller sea birds, but also on carrion (dead animals) and it hunts mammals as well. When these birds mate, they mate for life and are very territorial.
Like the other two they nest in the hills above Patong in the Tri Trang, Freedom Beach area. The White Bellied Sea Eagle is not listed as endangered BUT its numbers are decreasing and in some areas in the world it is quite rare now. But in Thailand they are still healthy and quite easy to see.
Next is the Grey-faced Buzzard. This smallish bird is around 44cm long and has a wingspan of up to 1.1m. It has a grey head and neck, brown-and whitestriped breast and fainter stripes on the underside of the tail.
These birds feed on frogs, crabs, lizards, insects and small rodents. They migrate and breed in Korea and Japan and then winter in Southeast Asia. Listed as vulnerable in 2006, this bird is one to look out for.
Last is a bird quite rarely seen in Phuket compared with the others: the Booted Eagle. To be fair I know little about this bird except what I can find out on the internet. It is a migrating bird in many areas in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and just touching Southeast Asia. They grow to 40cm in length and have a wingspan of up to 1.3m. There seem to be two main colour variations: a lighter and darker variation, with the darker one being a lot more rare.
The Booted Eagle hunts small mammals, reptiles and birds. Not much more is known about them and in South Africa they were only discovered in the 1980s due to the remote nesting sites. Due to them being overlooked and them being a migratory bird, no one knows their numbers or if they are under threat.
In Phuket there seems to be very few recorded sightings. In other areas of Thailand they are listed as birds you can see in various national parks, but they are a stunning bird to see in a busy place like Phuket.
So if you want a day away from the beach, why not take the camera up into the hills and see what you can find? There are so many other types of birds and wildlife, too.