First White-tailed Eagle for Viet Nam

[Kevin Vang <>]

Dear Aus-Birders

There was good news from Craig Robson.  It turns out that the mystery eagle from Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, featured on the Bird Explorers Website, is in fact a juvenile/immature White-tailed Eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla, which is a country first for Viet Nam and perhaps the farthest south that this species has ever been photographed although there are at least 3 sight records farther south, 2 in southern India and 1 in central Thailand.  This makes 3 country firsts for Bird Explorers in the last 6 months which is a record for us.  Craig notes that it has long been surmised that a stray White-tailed Eagle would end up in Viet Nam as they are occasional overwinterers in Northern Burma, but none have apparently shown until now.

You can see pictures of the Eagle by going to the Bird Explorers Website:

www.birdquest.net
¿Mystery Birds?  or Breaking News

The mystery passerine still remains an interesting mystery, and Craig will study our raw images later this week to try to work out an identity.

Also I have started posting some of the bird stories from my childhood.  My Great Aunt May, (Mavis Herrick of Mayfield, New York) was the person who got me into birding almost before I could walk.  One of Upstate New York’s earliest and most prolific birdwatchers of her day, she wrote bird stories and also kept bird diaries from her travels in the USA and Canada dating back to 1910.  So I have started to publish her stories on the Bird Explorers Website.  These have a rather American bent, but may be of interest to Australians especially those who can remember birding in the days of yore.  If your interested, go to:

www.birdquest.net
Birding Stories

Regards

Kevin Vang
Bird Explorers