Now the winds are starting to change and the weather is starting to come from the west/southwest directly off the sea into most of Phuket’s beach resorts. The sea loses its blue colour and the waves start to roll in. The majority of the plastic chairs that have littered the beaches for the past five months have been packed away with just a couple of rows placed back under the shade of the trees. The small swimming pens for tourists have been removed as well as the two large jetties for the cruise ship passengers to come and go. Even the number of jet-skis that normally are strewn all over the beach in the high season have been reduced due to the surf and on shore winds.
The beach once again can be beautiful and be home to all the wild sea birds here on Phuket. Now every morning you will see birds like the Great Egret and Little Egret wading in the shallows feasting on the small fish. Both these birds are fairly similar to look at. They both fish by wading in the shallows. Both have bright white feathers and long black legs. The great Egret has a yellow or orange bill where the Little Egret has a black bill. The other difference as the name says the Little Egret is smaller. But if you do not know which is which as you do not have both together to compare then the bill colour is the easy way to tell them apart.
Normally alongside the egrets you will find several charcoal grey wading birds. These are Pacific Reef Herons. These look similar to the Egrets but with dark grey feathers rather than white. They have black bills and dark legs with a yellow tinge to them. They, too, feed in the shallows on small fish, crabs and other shellfish. These birds also have very bright yellow eyes. Both the Egrets and the Herons if you walk slowly towards them you can get quite close, 15-20 metres if you are in a quiet location, which makes for good photos. Both birds fly slowly and just glide above the waves effortlessly.
In the quieter areas you can also find small sandy coloured birds, normally not wading as the waves are too strong but paddling in the pools left on the beach. This is the Greater Sand Plover, which is by far the most common here. There are other types but to be fair I have not seen any yet. These you will find on the sand and shallow pools rather than in the actual sea unless it is a very calm day. They feed on small shellfish, insects and worms found in the sand. As long as you don’t scare them and walk real slow so they can see you, you can get really close, maybe 10 feet (just a couple of metres) – so again these are good for a close look and some good photos.
As with most areas where you have people you also have pigeons and lots of sparrows all feeding on the leftovers that people leave on the beach. Sparrows here are quite entertaining to watch, hopping around in small groups and having sand baths in the shade of the trees. But as these birds are here in numbers all year round, I may come back to them another day.
So for now it really is worth going for a walk with the camera nice and early as the crowds have gone and the sun rises as about as early as it gets here on Phuket with it being sunrise around 6:10am. Then it’s nice and cool, quiet and perfect for a stroll along the now clear beaches before breakfast.
‒ Simon Lomas
Simon Lomas is an expat who has been living in Phuket for more than 12 years, and takes enjoying nature and the island’s surroundings to heart.