Birdhouses
There has been a wonderful series on 'bird watching in Thailand' for quite some time now. What I am missing, however, is something about 'Birdhouses'. By this Lung addie does not mean what the Flemish among us will know best, not the houses where you can go 'Birding'.
When Lung Addie only lived in Thailand, he saw, on his wanderings with his motorcycle, here along the coast, structures, two or three stories high, but without windows and with, usually only 1 entrance door. What was this, what is it used for? Asked his neighbour: Professor Gobelijn'. The answer was: BIRDHOUSES. (track cam)
Here along the coast there are many swallows, called 'sea swallows' (Hirundo Tahitica) and not the land swallows, which are also called the 'barn swallow'. These birds do not nest in the trees, but somewhere in a dry place, preferably under a roof. By the way, every year, during the breeding season, they usually return to their old nest.
The content of the nests is a delicacy, which is highly prized, especially by the Chinese, and they also pay a lot of money for it. This is also the reason why, on uninhabited islands with cliffs, there is surveillance by the government, as these nests were massively stolen or looted by the local population.
Now, knowing that this brings in quite a lot of money, the Thais have already discovered the bird houses years ago and they are often built along the coast. These birdhouses have round entrances that only small birds can pass through and are high enough so that snakes cannot enter. Inside there is a water-sprinkling installation and a sound system. This sound installation spreads the chirping of the swallow as a lure, both indoors and outdoors. Fortunately not really disturbing as the sound system is switched off at night. Most installations are now automatic.
Unfortunately, but that is also typical Thai, too many of these swallow houses are being built. Even though there have been here for a long time, in a radius of no more than 2 km around my house, at least already 10, a new bird house was built here, 100 m from my house, this year. The result is guessing…. Too few birds…