-By Ian Dugdale

We had a spare week and decided to check out a new mangrove walkway in Phang Nga which we had been told about. Dave Sargeant, our birding friend from the North, joined us and we added a couple more locations to the trip to help him find a few more birds he wanted for his Thai list.

Top of our wish list for the trip was were the Copper-throated Sunbird and the Mangrove Blue Flycatcher.

Day 1

We spent the morning at Khlong Song Nam in Krabi. This is a very picturesque area where the crystal clear waters of a spring run into an area of Mangrove. Copper-throated Sunbird has been recorded from here. We didn’t find it but we did find twenty bird species including Blue-winged Pitta and White-chested Babbler.

The afternoon was spent aboard a longtail boat in the Krabi mangroves. We hired the boat from Krabi town for a three hour trip. We explained to our helmsman that we wanted to slowly trawl the narrow khlongs where we would be under the canopy. He understood and took us around some beautiful areas but we failed again to find any of our target birds. Ruddy, Brown-winged and Collared Kingfishers were seen.

We had planned to spend the night at a hotel in Ao Luk where we had previously heard a Brown Wood Owl calling. We got there before dusk and heard it call once from high up on a limestone karst. It didn’t respond to our calls but at last light we saw it fly up to an exposed branch where we had good views of it using a searchlight and a scope.

Day 2

The Ao Luk to Krabi road passes through Nai Chong, a forest of very tall trees which we had often talked about exploring. Years ago we had heard of Rail-Babbler, Black Magpie and Long-billed Spiderhunter being seen here. The forest is now reduced to a strip one hundred metres wide along both sides of the road for three or four kilometers. The first two trails we took led to buildings and plantations within fifty metres and little was seen. the third trail however was much better with Babblers calling from both sides. This area gave us about three hundred metres of forest trails and an area of secondary forest which had been reclaimed by the local government from encroachers.

In the primary forest we found Raffles’s and Red-billed malkoha, Orange-breasted Trogon, Black-and-Yellow Broadbill, Black-capped, Abbott’s, Moustached and Chestnut-winged Babblers. The highlight though was in the secondary forest where we heard a very familiar call from further South. We called back and three Fluffy-backed Tit-Babblers came out of the forest chattering away. In the same spot we also found Rufous-tailed Tailorbirds and Great Ioras.

It’s certainly worth visiting this area again and I’m sure we’ll find other interesting birds there.

In the afternoon we went to the beach area of Nopparat Thara from where there was a record of Pied Triller. We looked around the whole area for a few hours but found nothing. I think we need to find a better site for this bird.

Day 3

For me, this was the highlight of the trip. A morning at the newly built mangrove walkway at Ban Bang Phat between Phang Nga Town and Thap Put. The walkway is about 1km long and meanders it’s way through various types of mangrove.

Things were pretty quiet to start with but after fifteen minutes we heard a response to our Copper-throated Sunbird call. A male showed up and sat still for us to admire. This was a lifer for two of us. We found a few more during the course of the morning. After that sighting the forest became more active with very good views of Mangrove Whistler and White-chested Babbler. Other mangrove specialties seen were Brown-winged Kingfisher, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Ashy Tailorbird, Oriental White-eye and Chestnut-bellied Malkoha.

In all we found thirty seven species. This area will definitely be added to our itinerary of Phang Nga birding trips.

After lunch we drove up to Sri Phang Nga NP in the foothills of the West coast. We were here to look for a trio of birds for Dave. We had an afternoon and the following morning to look for them. We found a Lesser Fish Eagle and a Thick-billed Spiderhunter but dipped on the Fiery Minivets. We had fun photographing the rarely seen Violet Cuckoo. Other good birds seen included Blue-banded Kingfisher, Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Rufous Piculet and Chestnut-naped Forktail. Also heard were Bushy-crested Hornbill and Rufous-collared Kingfisher.

We had had a good trip. We had found two new locations to go birding at, had seen a lifer and Dave picked up five new birds for his Thai list.

-Contact Ian at this address.

-Who says you can’t have fun even if you have to work?

From the 30th of July to the 1st of August I attended an English Camp at Koh Yao Wittaya, a high school on Koh Yao Noi Island in Phang Nga Bay. The island is sparsely populated but has recently begun to boom with the unveiling of three resorts in the past few years, the largest and most luxurious of all being the Evason Sixth Sense Resort.

Despite the increase on tourism to the island, much of the natural beauty of the islands and the islands surrounding the area are still untouched and unadulterated. I’ve been to Koh Yao Yai island in the past, the larger of the two, and bird life was rather uninteresting and only the very common species were present. The only birds of interest were found on the high seas around the islands, such as Lesser Frigatebird, Pomeraine Jaeger more recently a Short tailed Shearwater seen as recently as last year.

On this trip there was no transportation available so I was only able to explore a small part of the island. What I did see was however, was pleasing enough for me.

The morning of the 30th was a hot and windy one, and after having to endure a long night of howling winds and heavy rain, a calm and flat sea was very welcoming. No birds were seen near the harbor (perhaps due to the high tide) and the boat ride out recorded only a single Greater crested Tern.

For most of the day I was occupied with the English camp and the rains again visited, unleashing a fury of stinging rain over the entire island.

On the afternoon of the second day I decided to take a walk around the mangroves and garbage dump behind the municipal offices. Back in 2002 when I first visited with my wife, the dump was alive with giant water monitors the size of small alligators and teeming with hundreds of birds. This year the municipality had covered the site with dirt and most of the birds were gone. Large billed Crow, Common Myna, White Vented Myna, Eurasian and Plain backed Sparrow and Pacific Swallow were still present in fairly large numbers. A single Jungle Myna was also noted.

On the way out we saw a flash of black and white in the tall trees near the offices and to our joy, discovered three Oriental Pied Hornbill in the area! Two of the birds were obviously paired as they preened each other. These hornbills seem to be present around the mangrove areas and are still thriving in these islands in the bay. It was very enthralling for me to be able to see a healthy population of large birds as these and most of all, I was happy to know that the general Muslim population here was uninterested in eating or killing these birds.

Other birds seen in the day were White throated Kingfisher, Spotted and Zebra Dove, Dollarbird, Common Iora, Brown throated and Olive backed Sunbirds, Scarlet backed and Orange bellied Flowerpecker, Coppersmith Barbet, Little Egret and Brahminy Kite.

Over the market two more Oriental Pied Hornbill were spotted in flight heading towards the mangroves.

The next day in the mangroves near the school I spotted Pied Fantail, Scaly breasted Munia, Stork billed Kingfisher, Pacific Reef Egret and Oriental Magpie Robin.

In the few hours before departing I was able to go to a hill and was surprised to find two Grey faced Buzzards circling over the fields.

Back on Phuket in the Bang Rong mangroves were encountered a Brown winged Kingfisher, one of the few places in Phuket where this bird seems to still exist.

33+ species were seen, and overall it was a fun and memorable experience.

-By Ian Dugdale

On 9th May 2010 Games (Punjapa) Phetsri, Ian Dugdale and Dave Sargeant visited the Bala section of the Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary in the far South of Thailand. A total of eight days were spent walking the various trails and roads in the area.

In all 159 bird species were seen and a further 8 were heard. This includes an afternoon visit to the nearby peat swamp forest at Pa Pru.

We stayed in the excellent rooms at the research centre and were well looked after by the head Ranger Siriphon and her very helpful staff – lam, Chin and Lo, who showed us the best birding locations in the area and found some great birds for us including the owls and frogmouths.

Following is a selection of some of the more ‘special’ birds seen and attached is a complete list showing the location(s).

Crimson-winged Woodpecker, Orange-backed Woodpecker, Yellow-crowned Barbet, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Wrinkled Hornbill, Helmeted Hornbill, Blue-banded Kingfisher, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, White-fronted Scops Owl, Reddish Scops Owl, Gould’s Frogmouth, Malaysian Eared Nightjar, Silver-breasted Broadbill, Crested Jay, Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Spotted Fantail, Grey-chested Jungle-flycatcher, Pale Blue Flycatcher, Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, Finsch’s Bulbul, Cinereous Bulbul, Horsfield’s Babbler, Chestnut-backed Scimitar-babbler, White-chested Babbler, Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler, Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker, Red-throated Sunbird, Temminck’s Sunbird and Long-billed Spiderhunter.

11 AM – 3 PM are always the worst time for birders as by then the heat is on, the birds have finished their morning feeding sorties and the only thing noticeable is the deafening roar of cicadas calling to each other in the forest. Most birders simply head off for brunch or retire for the time being until the cooler afternoon winds drift in and the birding starts again in more favorable weather conditions.

There is an old birders trick that can help turn this time of boredom into a productive birding opportunity. In the scorching dry season, hanging out near a supply of fresh water can prove to be perfect for finding those birds which can seem shy and skulking, or those which prefer to hang out in the treetops and irritate birders by refusing to come down and allow us a better look. –Not to mention the pain we have to endure in our necks and backs!

Ian Dugdale took this batch of photos at Ton Pariwat Wildlife Reserve in Phang Nga last November and for some reason I never really got around to looking at it until now. –So here it is, for all to enjoy, and hopefully remind you to bring your blind, get out and head for a waterfall in the heat of the day as that may prove to be the “hot spot” of the day!

OK, the last little critter isn’t a bird, bit he was there, so … thrown in for good measure.

 Special thanks again to Ian for allowing me to post his wonderful photos on this website.

I had a few hours for birding before the sun set and being in Nakorn Sawan offered the opportunity to visit Beung Borapet, the largest and most well-known waterbird sanctuary in continental Thailand. Hoping to get better luck than my last trip, I decided to try to get Khun Panom, a local guide, to help me collect a few wanted species.

Sadly by the time I got to the bird sanctuary, the sun was beginning to set and Khun Panom was not available to take me out. I decided to take a walk along the nature trail which leads to the lookout tower near the White eyed River Martin Statues. The trail was longer than expected but with the cool weather and the constant bird activity, keeping busy was never an issue.

Talking with Khun Panom, I found out that the large flock of Spot billed Pelican was now reduced to one bird, and locating it was difficult since it seems to like to hide from humans. Black headed Ibis were still abundant and the Glossy Ibis seemed to be steady in their numbers. All the ducks had headed north as had the Black necked Grebe. I guess lifers would be harder to come by than I had expected.

The trail was long but I did get in a lot of very good birding and with all the birds busy looking for a place to settle for the night, I was able to come up with more species than I usually would have encountered. Openbill Storks were jockeying for space in tall trees and some trees seemed overburdened with the task of accommodating for some 300 plus storks! My presence seemed to solve the problem as once one bird got a little suspicious, all the storks in the entire tree would take to flight, and the sight of 300+ birds circling a mere couple of meters overhead is a spectacle one will not easily forget!

An interesting observation was noted in a tree near the parking lot where a small collection of Baya Weaver nests were built within the vicinity of a bee hive, showing that both the birds and the bees benefit from the company of each other.

Giant Water Monitors were seen, the largest seen being close to nine feet long, a giant which I was very glad to see slithering off into the water as I approached it.

Birds seen along the trail included White shouldered Starling, Yellow bellied Prinia, Thick billed Green Pigeon, Eurasian Koel, Zebra Dove, Red breasted Turtledove, Oriental Magpie Robin and Bright capped Cistacola.

At the end of the trail I decided to walk out on a path into the marsh rather than head back to the towers. I was rewarded with my first lifer, a Pied Kingfisher, in flight over the marsh. Birds I encountered on the trail included Yellow and Cinnamon Bittern, Grey and Purple Heron, Purple Swamphen, Watercock, Hoopoe, Long tailed Shrike, Chestnut capped Bee Eater, Blue tailed Bee Eater, White breasted Waterhen and Eurasian Kestrel.

A muddy patch about 140 meters from the trail was bustling with bird activity as birds were both feeding and looking for a place to settle for the night. Black winged Stilt, Intermediate and Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Lesser Whistling Duck, Cotton Pigmy Goose and Little Grebe were all noted. I thought I spotted a single Glossy Ibis in the mix but I decided to not call it a lifer until I can actually verify it with better lighting.

By the time I started back the area was getting quite dark and it was only by chance that I was able to beat it to the car before the light had totally faded. A single thrush was seen hopping on the ground picking insects off the earth, and since it was too dark to fully ID it, I will have to settle for recording it as an Eyebrowed Thrush.

A pair of Red Wattled Lapwing were the last birds I encountered on the way out and Khun Panom came by to bid me farewell before I headed back to town, a 17 kilometer drive from the sanctuary.

With the drought in hand and little rainfall, Khun Panom mentioned I may have luck finding the Ibis on exposed patches on mud near the visitor center on the opposite side of the lake. I hope to try that site when I head back after a visit to Chiang Mai.

Total seen were 39 species with one definite lifer. -God is good!