Whimbrel

This is the only Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus which we saw on the whole trip to Thailand. It was perched at the edge of a mangrove swamp and photographed from a moving boat. I see Whimbrels near my home in the UK on migration to the Arctic in Spring and on return migration travelling as far south as islands off the coast of southern Africa. It came as a big surprise to see one in Asia so I looked up the world distribution.

It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland. This is a migratory species wintering on coasts in Africa, South America, south Asia into Australasia and southern North America. Whimbrel is also a coastal bird during migration and fairly gregarious outside the breeding season.

Reference: Wikipedia