


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Surat Thani
On the lush, tropical landscapes of Surat Thani, a diversity of bird species thrive. Among the 20 most common, you'll spot birds exhibiting vibrant colors, unique vocalizations, and intricate behaviors. From the waders adapting to the wetlands, to the forest dwellers adapted for dense woodland, each species paints a vivid picture of evolutionary beauty.

Most Common Bird

1. Common Myna
The common Myna is a large, stocky starling that prefers to live near humans in towns and suburban areas. It forages among tall grasses for grasshoppers; in fact, its scientific name, Acridotheres tristis, means "grasshopper hunter." The common Myna likes to maintain two roosts at the same time - both a temporary summer roost near the breeding site as well as a year-round roost where the female can sit and brood.

2. Spotted Dove
The spotted Dove is a medium-sized bird that is swift in flight. It prefers to live year-round in warm climates in suburban areas, especially in parks. Their nests are mostly made out of sticks and they like to dine on insects and seeds.

3. Lineated Barbet
The lineated barbet (Psilopogon lineatus) is an Asian barbet native to the Terai, the Brahmaputra basin to Southeast Asia. It is a frugivore and nests in holes of tree trunks.


4. White-throated Kingfisher
The white-throated Kingfisher is a brightly colored bird with a distinctive white throat and blue wings. It inhabits rivers, lakes, and coastal areas, and feeds on a variety of prey such as fish, frogs, and insects. The kingfisher is known for its bold, dive-bombing hunting style, diving from a perch to catch prey in the water. During the breeding season, the White-throated Kingfisher is known for its loud, cackling call. This species is widely distributed across Asia.


5. Germain's Swiftlet
This swiftlet is 12 cm long and weighs 13 to 14 grams. The plumage is blackish-brown above, but much paler on the underparts. The tail is slightly forked and the wings are long and narrow. The bill and feet are black. The nominate subspecies C. g. germani from Hainan south to Thailand and northern Malaysia has a whitish rump, but C. g. amechanus of the rest of Malaysia has a grey rump. These two forms are sometimes considered to be subspecies of the edible-nest swiftlet. Several calls are uttered including a loud zwing and various chip calls used for echolocation in dark caves. Himalayan swiftlet winters within the range of Germain's swiftlet, but is larger and bulkier, and has a greyer rump than C. g. germani.


6. Oriental Magpie-robin
This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright when hopping on the ground. When they are singing a song the tail is normal like other birds. It is similar in shape to the smaller European robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh. The nominate race is found on the Indian subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andaman Islands race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included with the peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade. The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas. The populations in Burma and further south are named as the race musicus. A number of other races have been named across the range, including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis. However, many of these are not well-marked and the status of some of them is disputed. Some, like mindanensis, have now been usually recognized as full species (the Philippine magpie-robin). There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.


7. Zebra Dove
The zebra Dove is a small dove found in dense forests, open fields, farmlands, and similar suburban areas. Unlike other dove species, this ground-dwelling bird likes to forage alone or in pairs, but not in large groups. The call of this slender dove is often described as very pleasant. Very common in urban areas, they are quite comfortable around humans.

8. Great Myna
It is black with elongated forehead feathers, forming a frontal crest that may curl backwards. Its beak and feet are yellow. It has white from the vent to the tip of the tail and a white wing patch.


9. Coppersmith Barbet
The coppersmith barbet is green with a red head, yellow cheeks and a yellow throat. Its underparts are streaked in grey and black. During the nesting season, the wear and tear on the feathers can cause the plumage of the upper back to appear bluish. It is 15–17 cm (5.9–6.7 in) long and weighs 30–52.6 g (1.06–1.86 oz).


10. Common Flameback
This species measures 28-32 cm (11-12.6 inches) in length. It usually weighs about 67-100 grams (2.4-3.5 ounces). It has a flaming golden back and long, solid black moustachial stripes. Both sexes have black eyestripes joined to black rear neck stripe. Male has red crown, female has black crown. Black-scaled white underparts and red rump contrasting with black tail. Rather small bill, and only three toes on each foot. The greater flameback (Chrysocolaptes lucidus) looks quite similar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest.


11. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
In most of its range in Asia, this is the largest of the drongo species and is readily identifiable by the distinctive tail rackets and the crest of curled feather that begin in front of the face above the beak and along the crown to varying extents according to the subspecies. The tail with twirled rackets is distinctive and in flight it can appear as if two large bees were chasing a black bird. In the eastern Himalayas the species can be confused with the lesser racket-tailed drongo, however the latter has flat rackets with the crest nearly absent. This widespread species includes populations that have distinct variations and several subspecies have been named. The nominate form is found in southern India, mainly in forested areas of the Western Ghats and the adjoining hill forests of peninsular India. The subspecies in Sri Lanka is ceylonicus and is similar to the nominate form but slightly smaller. The subspecies found along the Himalayas is grandis and is the largest and has long glossy neck hackles. The Andaman Islands form otiosus has shorter neck hackles and the crest is highly reduced while the Nicobars Island form nicobariensis has a longer frontal crest and with smaller neck hackles than otiosus. The Sri Lanka drongo (D. lophorinus) used to be treated as a subspecies as it was believed to form hybrids with ceylonicus but is now considered a separate species on the basis of their overlapping ranges. Specimens of the nominate form have sometimes been confused with the Sri Lanka drongo. Considerable variation in shape of the bill, extent of the crest, hackles and tail rackets exists in the island populations of Southeast Asia. The Bornean brachyphorus (=insularis), banguey of Banggai lack crests (banguey has frontal feathers that arch forwards) while very reduced crests are found in microlophus (=endomychus; Natunas, Anambas and Tiomans) and platurus (Sumatra). A number of forms are known along the Southeast Asian islands and mainland including formosus (Java), hypoballus (Thailand), rangoonensis (northern Burma, central Indian populations were earlier included in this) and johni (Hainan). Young birds are duller, and can lack a crest while moulting birds can lack the elongate tail streamers. The racket is formed by the inner web of the vane but appears to be on the outer web since the rachis has a twist just above the spatula.


12. Asian Koel
The Eudynamys scolopaceus is commonly called asian Koel, native to China, the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. This bird is used widely in Indian poetry, and it has a habit of colonizing new areas that it goes to. The bird is also known for stealing nests from other birds and having their chicks raised by the foster parents.

13. Ayeyarwady Bulbul
The Ayeyarwady bulbul (Pycnonotus blanfordi) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is endemic to Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Until 2016, the Ayeyarwady bulbul was considered to be conspecific with the streak-eared bulbul (now Pycnonotus conradi).


14. Greater Coucal
This is a large species of cuckoo. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red. Juveniles are duller black with spots on the crown and there are whitish bars on the underside and tail. There are several geographic races and some of these populations are sometimes treated as full species.


15. Olive-backed Sunbird
In most subspecies, the underparts of both male and female are bright yellow, the backs are a dull brown colour. The forehead, throat and upper breast of the adult male is a dark, metallic blue-black. In the Philippines the males of some subspecies have an orange band on the chest, in Wallacea and northern New Guinea some subspecies have most of the underparts blackish, and in southern China and adjacent parts of Vietnam most of the underparts of the male are greyish-white.


16. Large-billed Crow
The overall size (length: 46–59 cm; 18–23 in.) and body proportions vary regionally. In the far northeast in Japan, the Kuriles and the Sakhalin peninsula, it is somewhat larger than the carrion crow. All taxa have a relatively long bill with the upper one quite thick and arched, making it look heavy and almost raven-like. Generally, all taxa have dark greyish plumage from the back of the head, neck, shoulders and lower body. Their wings, tail, face, and throat are glossy black. The depth of the grey shading varies across its range.


17. Rock Pigeon
The rock Pigeon is a wild ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, inhabiting coasts, cliffs, and caves. Pairs nest in rock crevices, often mating for life. They are known for their ability to fly very long distances to return to their homes, navigating using the sun's position and the earth's magnetic fields. Thanks to this ability, pigeons were used as messengers, particularly during World Wars I and II.

18. Pink-necked Green Pigeon
The pink-necked green pigeon is a medium-sized pigeon, measuring 25 to 30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) in length and weighing around 105–160 g (3.7–5.6 oz). The species has sexually dimorphic plumage. The male has a grey head, pinkish neck and upper breast, and the rest of the breast is orange. The back is olive green and the wings are green with black primaries and yellow edging on the tertiaries which create a yellow bar across the wing in flight. The belly is yellowish with grey flanks, and the tail is grey with a black band at the end, and a chestnut uppertail coverts. The female is smaller overall, has a yellowish belly, throat and face, and greenish crown and back of the neck, although is otherwise similar to the male. The legs are pink or reddish, and the bill is white, pale blue green or grey. Juvenile birds look similar to females but are greyer above. Pigeons in the genus Treron are unusual in the family for not having cooing calls, instead making whistling and quacking noises, but some cooing notes have been recorded for the pink-necked green pigeon, as the male makes a tri-syballic whistling call ending in a coo. It is also reported to make a rasping krrak krrak... call, but the species is generally held to not be particularly vocal, usually only calling in communal roosts and when it finds food.


19. Common Iora
Ioras have a pointed and notched beak with a culmen that is straight. The common iora is sexually dimorphic, males in the breeding season have a black cap and back adding to a black wing and tail at all seasons. Females have greenish wings and an olive tail. The undersides of both are yellow and the two white bars on the wings of the male are particularly prominent in their breeding plumage. The males in breeding plumage have a very variable distribution of the black on the upperparts and can be confused with Marshall's iora, however, the latter always has white tips to the tail. The nominate subspecies is found along the Himalayas and males of this population are very similar to females or have only a small amount of black on the crown. In northwestern India, septentrionalis is brighter yellow than others and in the northern plains of India humei males in breeding plumage have a black cap and olive on the upper mantle. In southwestern India and Sri Lanka multicolor has the breeding males with a jet black cap and mantle. The forms in the rest of southern India are intermediate between multicolor and humei with more grey-green on the rump (formerly considered as deignani but now used for the Burmese population). Several other populations across Southeast Asia are designated as subspecies including philipi of southern China and northern Thailand/Laos, deignani of Myanmar, horizoptera of southern Myanmar and the island chain of Sumatra, cambodiana of Cambodia, aeqanimis of Palawan and northern Borneo, viridis of Borneo and scapularis of Java and Bali.


20. Intermediate Egret
This species, as its scientific name implies, is intermediate in size between the great egret and smaller white egrets like the little egret and cattle egret, though nearer to little than great. It is about 56–72 cm (22–28 in) long with a 105–115 cm (41–45 in) wingspan and weighs c. 400 g (14 oz), with all-white plumage, generally dark legs and a thickish yellow bill. Breeding birds may have a reddish or black bill, greenish yellow gape skin, loose filamentous plumes on their breast and back, and dull yellow or pink on their upper legs (regional variations). The sexes are similar.
