นกเชียงใหม่ · drawn by arithmetic, heard from real recordings

Birds of Chiang Mai

The sky over Doi Suthep as it is right now, worked out from the sun and moon. Tap a bird to hear its real call.

นกเชียงใหม่ · 23 birds, real calls · the Coucal Clock
nanobotco.github.io/birds-chiang-mai

Time of day

นาฬิกานกกระปูด

The Coucal Clock

Next call–

Dawn–

Dusk–

Moon–

Lunar day–

A cuckoo clock whose bird is a greater coucal. It calls at civil dawn and civil dusk, the moments the sun stands 6° below the horizon, worked out fresh each day for San Sai, so the call drifts through the year the way a living coucal's does.

The clock is a pair of carved teak almanac clocks for a wat in San Sai. This is its face, redrawn for the web: Thai numerals, the Buddhist year, the lunar day counted from the published wan phra calendar, and a moon window.

The moon window works like the old German and Swiss dials. One disc carries two moons and turns half a circle each lunation behind two cloud humps. The proportions were fitted against the real moon: the lit area it shows is within 1.1 percentage points of the sky's, and the disc resets at every true new moon.

The call through the year

The birds

Each bird is drawn from a few dozen numbers: a superellipse body, a teardrop wing, a Bézier neck, spirals and stripes. Press play to hear a real recording; the bird opens its bill as loud as the sound is. The strip at the bottom of the screen is a spectrogram: pitch rises up the strip, brightness is loudness. Each card then counts its own recording, in your browser.

Greater Coucal

นกกระปูดใหญ่ · Centropus sinensis

nok kra-puut yai · 48 cm

Listen for: A deep, hollow poop-poop-poop, six to twenty notes, often a pair answering each other.
Fact: A cuckoo that raises its own chicks. It builds a domed grass nest deep in a thicket and walks the grass for snails, lizards and grasshoppers.
Story: Villages told the time by it: the coucal calls at first light and again at dusk. The Coucal Clock on this page keeps the same hours.
Places to try: Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Suan Buak Hat · Huay Tung Tao

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Alasdair Forbes · CC BY 3.0

Asian Koel

นกกาเหว่า · Eudynamys scolopaceus

nok ka-wao · 43 cm

Listen for: A rising ko-EL, ko-EL that climbs and speeds up. Loudest in the hot season, often before dawn and on moonlit nights.
Fact: The male is glossy black with a red eye; the female is brown, spotted white. She lays her eggs in crows' nests, and the crows raise the chicks.
Story: A Thai lullaby begins “กาเหว่าเอย ไข่ให้แม่กาฟัก”: koel, you left your egg for the crow to hatch. The crow raises the chick as her own, until it flies away.
Places to try: Suan Buak Hat · Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Tha Phae Gate and the moat

Photograph

Jason Thompson · CC BY 2.0

Recording by Sharadapte · CC BY-SA 4.0

Oriental Magpie-Robin

นกกางเขนบ้าน · Copsychus saularis

nok kang-khen baan · 20 cm

Listen for: Rich, changing whistles from a roof or a wire, often the first song before dawn. It copies other birds.
Fact: The male holds his garden all year, tail cocked and flicking. It is the national bird of Bangladesh, where it is called doel.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Suan Buak Hat

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Vinay bhat · CC BY-SA 4.0

Red-whiskered Bulbul

นกปรอดหัวโขนเคราแดง · Pycnonotus jocosus

nok prot hua-khon khrao daeng · 20 cm

Listen for: Bright, bouncy phrases (“pettigrew”, “kink-a-joo”) all day from the bushes.
Fact: Thai name หัวโขน: the tall crest looks like the pointed head-dress of a khon dancer.
Story: In the far south it is นกกรงหัวจุก, star of singing contests: rows of cages hung on poles, judged on voice and stamina. Wild birds are protected in Thailand; contest birds are bred under permit.
Places to try: Doi Suthep–Pui National Park · Suan Buak Hat · Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Sharadapte · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Streak-eared Bulbul

นกปรอดหน้านวล · Pycnonotus conradi

nok prot naa nuan · 20 cm

Listen for: A sharp whit-whit and a scratchy chatter, all over town.
Fact: Plain brown with pale streaks over the ear, and one of the commonest birds in Chiang Mai gardens. A 2016 DNA study split it from its look-alike twin in Myanmar, the Ayeyarwady bulbul.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Suan Buak Hat · Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University

Photograph

JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Common Myna

นกเอี้ยงสาริกา · Acridotheres tristis

nok iang sa-ri-ka · 25 cm

Listen for: Gurgles, clicks and whistles. A pair bob their heads and fluff up while they talk.
Fact: Pairs stay together, often for life. It walks instead of hopping. Carried abroad, it became one of the world's worst invasive species; here it is at home.
Story: Sarika is the talking myna of old Thai tales. Sarika charms are carried for a sweet tongue, so that people listen kindly.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Warorot Market

Photograph

Hobbyfotowiki · CC0

Recording by L. Shyamal · CC BY-SA 2.5

Coppersmith Barbet

นกตีทอง · Psilopogon haemacephalus

nok tii thong · 16 cm

Listen for: tuk… tuk… tuk, on and on, like a smith beating metal. It turns its head with each note, so the sound seems to come from everywhere.
Fact: ตีทอง means beating gold. It chisels its nest hole in a dead branch and lives on figs.
Places to try: Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Suan Buak Hat

Photograph

Tisha Mukherjee · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Sudipto Roy · CC BY-SA 3.0

Lineated Barbet

นกโพระดกธรรมดา · Psilopogon lineatus

nok pho-ra-dok tham-ma-da · 28 cm

Listen for: A loud, rolling poo-pooh or kotook, repeated from the top of a fig tree: one of the loudest sounds of the hot season.
Fact: A big barbet with a heavy yellow bill and a streaky brown head. It swallows figs whole and spreads the seeds.
Places to try: Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Doi Suthep–Pui National Park

Photograph

Mildeep · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Sudipto Roy · CC BY-SA 3.0

Black Drongo

นกแซงแซวหางปลา · Dicrurus macrocercus

nok saeng-saeo haang plaa · 28 cm

Listen for: Harsh ti-tiu calls and scolding. A fine mimic.
Fact: Fearless: it chases crows and hawks from its nest, and small birds nest nearby for the protection. It rides on buffalo and follows grass fires to catch the insects that fly up.
Places to try: Huay Tung Tao · Mae Kuang Reservoir

Photograph

T. R. Shankar Raman · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Gypsypkd · Public domain

Spotted Dove

นกเขาใหญ่ · Spilopelia chinensis

nok khao yai · 30 cm

Listen for: A soft cru-cru-crooo, the last note falling.
Fact: Both parents feed the chicks crop milk, a rich liquid made in the throat. Pigeons and doves are among the few birds that make milk.
Story: In the deep south, zebra doves (นกเขาชวา) sing in cooing contests from cages hoisted up tall poles.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Huay Tung Tao · Doi Suthep–Pui National Park

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Sharadapte · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Olive-backed Sunbird

นกกินปลีอกเหลือง · Cinnyris jugularis

nok kin-plii ok lueang · 11 cm

Listen for: Thin, sweet cheep notes and a quick trill.
Fact: กินปลี means banana-flower eater: it sips nectar from banana blossoms. It hangs a purse-shaped nest from eaves and wires, stitched with spider silk.
Places to try: Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden · Suan Buak Hat

Photograph

JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0

White-throated Kingfisher

นกกระเต็นอกขาว · Halcyon smyrnensis

nok kra-ten ok khao · 28 cm

Listen for: A loud, laughing rattle, kililili, often in flight.
Fact: It hunts far from water too: lizards, frogs, big insects, even small snakes. The blue is not pigment; the feathers' structure scatters blue light.
Places to try: Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Huay Tung Tao

Photograph

Satdeep Gill · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Shajiarikkad · CC BY-SA 3.0

No recording yet

Large-tailed Nightjar

นกตบยุงหางยาว · Caprimulgus macrurus

nok top-yung haang yao · 31 cm

Listen for: tchonk… tchonk… tchonk, like an axe on wood, after dusk and sometimes all night.
Fact: Its Thai name means mosquito-slapper. By day it lies flat on the leaf litter, invisible; at night its huge gape scoops moths from the air. It lays its eggs on bare ground.
Places to try: Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Doi Suthep–Pui National Park

Photograph

MamunSheikh121 · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Asian Barred Owlet

นกเค้าแมว · Glaucidium cuculoides

nok khao maeo · 23 cm

Listen for: A rising, bubbling trill that grows louder and faster. It calls by day too.
Fact: A small owl with no ear tufts, barred all over, hunting by day as well as night: big insects, lizards, mice, small birds.
Places to try: Doi Suthep–Pui National Park · Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden

Photograph

Tisha Mukherjee · CC BY-SA 4.0

Common Tailorbird

นกกระจิบธรรมดา · Orthotomus sutorius

nok kra-jip tham-ma-da · 12 cm

Listen for: A loud, repeated towit-towit-towit, far bigger than the bird.
Fact: It sews. It pierces the edges of a big leaf with its bill, pulls spider silk or plant fibre through, and builds its nest inside the cone. Darzee in Kipling's “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” is a tailorbird.
Places to try: Suan Buak Hat · Tha Phae Gate and the moat

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by L. Shyamal · CC0

Eurasian Hoopoe

นกกะรางหัวขวาน · Upupa epops

nok ka-raang hua khwaan · 28 cm

Listen for: A soft, hollow hoop-hoop-hoop: three notes, and the bird's name in many languages.
Fact: Its crest folds flat into an axe (หัวขวาน, axe-head) and opens into a fan when it is excited. It probes the ground for grubs with its long bill.
Story: In the Quran and in Jewish lore the hoopoe is Solomon's messenger, the bird that brought news of the Queen of Sheba. In Attar's Persian poem The Conference of the Birds it leads all the birds on their journey to find their king.
Places to try: Huay Tung Tao · Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University

Photograph

Luc Viatour · CC BY-SA 3.0

Recording by Sharadapte · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Red Junglefowl

ไก่ป่า · Gallus gallus

kai paa · 70 cm

Listen for: A rooster's crow, cut short: the last note clipped off.
Fact: The wild ancestor of every chicken on Earth. A 2020 genome study traced the first chickens to the red junglefowl of southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar.
Story: Thai children learn the tale of the young Prince Naresuan, a hostage in Hongsawadi, whose fighting cock beat the bird of the Burmese crown prince.
Places to try: Doi Suthep–Pui National Park · Doi Inthanon

Photograph

dhfischer · CC BY 4.0

No recording yet

Green Peafowl

นกยูงไทย · Pavo muticus

nok yuung thai · 200 cm

Listen for: A loud, trumpeting ki-wao at dawn and dusk, carrying across valleys.
Fact: Endangered. Thailand holds one of the last strong populations, in the west and in the north around Phayao. Tap it: the train opens, its eyespots set on the golden-angle spiral that packs a sunflower's seeds.

Photograph

Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Chinese Pond Heron

นกยางกรอกพันธุ์จีน · Ardeola bacchus

nok yaang krok phan jiin · 47 cm

Listen for: Mostly silent; a harsh kraa when flushed.
Fact: Streaky brown on the mud, it vanishes until it flies and flashes pure white wings. In breeding dress, drawn here, the head turns chestnut and the back slate.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Ang Kaew, Chiang Mai University · Mae Kuang Reservoir

Photograph

JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0

No recording yet

Asian Openbill

นกปากห่าง · Anastomus oscitans

nok paak haang · 81 cm

Listen for: Silent, mostly; pairs clatter their bills at the nest.
Fact: The gap in its bill grips apple snails. When the invasive golden apple snail spread through Thai rice fields, openbills boomed; colonies of tens of thousands now nest in Thailand.
Places to try: Huay Tung Tao · Mae Kuang Reservoir

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

No recording yet

Green-tailed Sunbird

นกกินปลีหางยาวเขียว · Aethopyga nipalensis

nok kin-plii haang yao khiao · 14 cm

Listen for: Thin tzip notes and a fast twitter among the rhododendrons.
Fact: It lives near the summit of Doi Inthanon. The Inthanon birds are their own race, angkanensis, named for Doi Ang Ka, the mountain's old name, and the only race with a scarlet breast band.
Places to try: Doi Inthanon

Photograph

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

Barn Owl

นกแสก · Tyto javanica

nok saek · 34 cm

Listen for: No hoot: a long, rasping shriek in the dark.
Fact: The heart-shaped face is a dish that funnels sound to the ears, and one ear sits higher than the other, so it can pin a mouse in total darkness. A family eats thousands of rats a year, so farmers put up nest boxes. Around Chiang Mai it is the eastern barn owl; the photograph and recording here are of its western cousin, Tyto alba.
Story: In Thailand a barn owl landing on a house is read as a sign of death or bad luck, and the family makes merit to turn it away. The face drawn here is the heart curve: x = 16 sin³t, y = 13 cos t − 5 cos 2t − 2 cos 3t − cos 4t.
Places to try: Huay Tung Tao

Photograph

Alun Williams333 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording by Victor C. Lewis (recordist), The British Library · CC BY 4.0

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

นกกระจอกบ้าน · Passer montanus

nok kra-jok baan · 14 cm

Listen for: Cheerful chip, chip, and a roar of chatter at the evening roost.
Fact: In Asia this is the town sparrow, doing the job the house sparrow does in Europe.
Story: At temples, small cages of sparrows are sold to set free for merit, ปล่อยนก. Most of the birds are caught wild for it.
Places to try: Tha Phae Gate and the moat · Warorot Market

Photograph

Peter P. Othagoer · CC BY 4.0

Recording by Derek Paulo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Who sings when

Each ring is one bird; its thickness is how much it sings at that hour, shaped to today's sunrise and sunset in Chiang Mai. The red dashes are civil dawn and dusk. Drag the hand round the day, then press play to hear that hour. The curves follow field-guide habits; they are a sketch of a typical day.

–

Up the mountain

From the moat at about 310 m to the top of Doi Inthanon at 2,565 m. Each column is the height band where you can expect a bird (approximate). Tap a bird to hear it.

Tha Phae Gate and the moat (310 m) · Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (1,060 m) · Doi Suthep–Pui National Park (1,676 m) · Doi Chiang Dao (2,175 m) · Doi Pha Hom Pok (2,285 m) · Doi Inthanon (2,565 m)

Birds of the Himmapan

The Himmapan is the forest at the foot of Mount Meru, home of the mixed creatures painted on temple walls and carved on gables across Lanna.

Takeaway · CC BY-SA 3.0

Hatsadiling

นกหัสดีลิงค์

A bird of the Himmapan with an elephant's head. In Lanna, a high monk or a royal may be cremated on a pyre built as a hatsadiling. In 2008 the pyre for Chan Kusalo, head of the northern sangha, stood at Wat Chedi Luang. Wat Chedi Luang

Hamsa

หงส์

The goose of Brahma and the emblem of Hongsawadi, the Mon kingdom at Bago. Mon and Burmese-style temples raise a hamsa on top of a tall pole.

Karawek

การเวก

A bird whose song is so sweet that every creature that hears it stops to listen. Drawn here as rings of sound.

Garuda

ครุฑ

Half man, half eagle: Vishnu's mount and the enemy of the nagas. The garuda is the emblem on Thai government papers.

Kinnari

กินรี

Half woman, half bird. Manohra, a kinnari princess, marries Prince Suthon in a tale told from Lanna to the south. In the north, Shan (Tai Yai) dancers perform the kinnara dance, ฟ้อนนกกิ่งกะหรา, with wings and a tail strapped on.

Sources

Recordings and photographs, from Wikimedia Commons

Greater Coucal — ♪ Alasdair Forbes, CC BY 3.0, Phuket, Thailand · ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Asian Koel — ♪ Sharadapte, CC BY-SA 4.0, Haripur, Sangli, Maharashtra, India · ◐ Jason Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Oriental Magpie-Robin — ♪ Vinay bhat, CC BY-SA 4.0 · ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Red-whiskered Bulbul — ♪ Sharadapte, CC BY-SA 4.0, Jamboti, Karnataka, India · ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Streak-eared Bulbul — ◐ JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0
Common Myna — ♪ L. Shyamal, CC BY-SA 2.5 · ◐ Hobbyfotowiki, CC0
Coppersmith Barbet — ♪ Sudipto Roy, CC BY-SA 3.0, Tollygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal, India · ◐ Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0
Lineated Barbet — ♪ Sudipto Roy, CC BY-SA 3.0, Narendrapur, West Bengal, India · ◐ Mildeep, CC BY-SA 4.0
Black Drongo — ♪ Gypsypkd, Public domain · ◐ T. R. Shankar Raman, CC BY-SA 4.0
Spotted Dove — ♪ Sharadapte, CC BY-SA 4.0, Kulgi Nature Camp, Dandeli, Karnataka, India · ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Olive-backed Sunbird — ◐ JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0
White-throated Kingfisher — ♪ Shajiarikkad, CC BY-SA 3.0 · ◐ Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large-tailed Nightjar — ◐ MamunSheikh121, CC BY-SA 4.0
Asian Barred Owlet — ◐ Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0
Common Tailorbird — ♪ L. Shyamal, CC0, Siem Reap, Cambodia · ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Eurasian Hoopoe — ♪ Sharadapte, CC BY-SA 4.0, Perambikulam, Kerala, India · ◐ Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0
Red Junglefowl — ◐ dhfischer, CC BY 4.0
Green Peafowl — ◐ Crisco 1492, CC BY-SA 4.0
Chinese Pond Heron — ◐ JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0
Asian Openbill — ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Green-tailed Sunbird — ◐ Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Barn Owl — ♪ Victor C. Lewis (recordist), The British Library, CC BY 4.0, Cardiganshire, Wales, UK · ◐ Alun Williams333, CC BY-SA 4.0
Eurasian Tree Sparrow — ♪ Derek Paulo, CC BY-SA 4.0, Murcia, Negros Occidental, Philippines · ◐ Peter P. Othagoer, CC BY 4.0
Hatsadiling — ◐ Takeaway, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sun: NOAA solar calculator equations. Moon: Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, chapters 47–48. Wan phra calendar for BE 2569: Thai PBS, the table the Coucal Clock carries. Places: Mot Dang. motdang.net

Facts are written from field-guide knowledge; these were checked: