In the UK you will not likely see me before midday; now living in Bangkok I am bright and chirpy at 6am, sometimes earlier (05.05 today). When the sun rises in Thailand I rise with it. ‘The early bird catches the worm’ or in my case ‘the early bird drinks coffee and plays with Facebook’. I love mornings in Bangkok, as the sun rises the yelps of frogs and lizards are to be replaced by the song of morning birds. A reminder that exotic birds and wildlife still live among Bangkok’s concrete and skyscrapers. Below my balcony is a Makam Pom Tree where birds and occasional Finlayson’s squirrels arrive for breakfast.
Mornings are generally short lived as bird’s song is drowned by traffic and construction. However the birds are still there, hopping between trees and green spots of surrounding city. Some of my favourite feathered visitors (pictured below) are the Red-Whiskered Bulbul, the Black-Naped Orioles and the Coppersmith Barbet. The Red-Whiskered Bulbul is a well known Thai song bird which is found caged and fronting houses in Southern Thailand.
There is a love/hate relationship for birds in our household. I love them. Fanfan hates them. Moo Ping wants to eat them. Fanfan’s hate comes from one of the louder songbirds yelling morning, day and night. That and my mimicking of it. There is a ban on whistling bird songs in the condo. Doesn’t stop me whistling outside and in the corridors and elevators.
