I had to make a trip to Surat airport to drop off a friend as there were no available flights from Phuket, Krabi or Samui. Chinese New Year had been good to the tourist-dependent provinces of the south and the huge influx of Chinese from Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and China helped to boost the local economy. The airports were bursting at the seams and even a week after the festivities were over, people were still trying to find a way off of Paradise Island.

The drive took 2.5 hours and I did not stop to look at anything along the way. Getting to the airport was of utmost importance.

At the airport we stopped to have breakfast in the cafeteria, which offers perhaps the cheapest airport food in all the country. –To add to that, it was also tasty and attractively prepared. The restaurant is located on the top floor and gives commanding views of the airport runway, allowing us to observe the take off of a Nok Air flight and two F-5 fighters on their routine morning sorties.

The view from the restaurant also allowed us to see over the marsh and scrubland where I was able to find a variety of birds, the only highlights being a Purple Heron and a breeding-dress Indian Pond Heron.

The drive back was more leisurely and with all the time in the world, I decided to do some scouting of the area for future trips. First stop was Cheio Lan Dam, home of Khao Sok National Park. The pier was bustling with activity with plenty of tourists heading for the floating bungalows near the national park side. One of the fishermen came out of the water with a “baby” Giant catfish weighing over 87 kilos. Apparently he’d caught a 200 kilo catfish last week so this one was a little on the smallish side.

Bird life was not too abundant so I moved on to Ao Phang Nga National park.

Arriving at the mangrove walkway at 1 PM was not a wise choice, or so I thought. Arctic Warbler and Common Tailorbird were the first to greet me and soon after I found a pair of Forest Wagtail snooping around the garbage heap. I played the pitta call once but there was no reply. Brown throated Sunbird came through, a young bird chasing after a mother. Next there was a Common Iora and a Olive backed Sunbird in a quarrel over something, and that kept the mangrove buzzing with activity.

No Ashy Tailorbird was seen, but I did get Yellow Vented and Streak eared Bulbuls.

The call of the Black and Red Broadbill caught my attention but a pair of noisy teenagers scared it off before I could get a good look at it. The newcomers were not all useless; they helped flush out a Mangrove Pitta, which was heard but not seen.

While waiting for the pitta to show, I found a pretty Yellow eared Spiderhunter which was feeding on a web full of spiderlings. The lighting was poor and I didn’t manage a single good shot of the lightning fast bird, even though I had over 40 attempts at it.

At last the Mangrove Pitta answered the call of the tape and it was then I discovered it was not a single bird, but four little jewels, each of them curious as to who else there could be in the area! One took up position in a tree while the other three sat in low branches near the floor, all the while calling to each other. I managed a good shot of the bird in the tree, which didn’t seem at all bothered that I was a mere 4 feet away. The other three soon took to the deeper forest and the last straggler bade a fond farewell (pooped on my shoes) before flying off to find it’s friends.

All in all, it was a magical time and the first time I managed to find the pitta on my very own, so that makes me happy. –It was also the first time I had that many pitta in a single sitting!

12 species in the mangroves and the pitta was the topping on the pie which made it all the sweeter!

Ian Dugdale, on a birding trip with Dave Sergeant and Games, found Black Headed Ibis at Thai Muang Golf Course on the 1st of February. This is a bird which has eluded me for a few years and I was hoping to finally get myself an honest look at the bird so I decided to make a trip to the beach with my kids the next day.

I arrived at the marsh shortly after 5 PM and after dropping off the kids at the beach, made my way on foot through the marsh. Golden Plover were abundant as were Paddyfeild Pipit. I managed to flush a single White fronted Plover and got good looks at it as it posed only a few meters from me.

Other birds encountered included Purple Swamphen, Black shouldered Kite, Grey headed Lapwing, Stonechat, Grey Wagtail, Watercock, Pin tailed Snipe, Common Kingfisher, Black Drongo, Brahminy Kite, Chinese Pond Heron and Red wattled Lapwing.

I wasn’t sure what I was looking for as far as size, but after scanning the fields and finding nothing but Intermediate and Little Egrets, I headed back to the car to try an adjacent road. By then it was 6 and with no sign of the bird, I was beginning to wonder if the bird would again elude me.

On the next road I found Japanese Sparrowhawk, Yellow vented Bulbul, Eurasian Koel, Greater Coucal, Great Egret and Germaine’s Swiftlet. Still no ibis.

Walking into the field once more I saw in the distance what looked like a bird with a very dirty bill. As I got closer I realized it was a Black headed Ibis! It was still a good 500 yards or so off so I stomped off through the fields go get closer. I had to keep my eyes glued to the floor as I didn’t want to step on a snake or encounter another scorpion like I’d seen a few minutes earlier. When I stopped to catch my breath, I glanced up so see another Black headed Ibis had landed scarcely 20 feet from me! We both stared at each other for the next five minutes as I just stood there, thrilled with the fact that I was finally looking at the bird which had eluded me for the last five years!

After a while I turned and made my way back to the car and the ibis, sensing I meant it no harm, went back to feeding in the mud. After getting in the car I still kept looking at it for a while until it started getting dark and I went off to pick up the kids at the beach.

Calling Ian to thank him for the tip, I found out he also had scored a lifer with a single Lesser Adjutant in flight on Koh Pratong.

At the beach we encountered four Malaysian Plover on a sandbar in the middle of the river and two River Lapwings on the beach.

Before leaving I wanted to let Rosie see the Ibis one time but it was hard to find in the waning light. Instead we came across five Large tailed Nightjar and a Barn Owl.

A total of 40 species were seen in two hours, and the Black headed Ibis is finally in the bag!

Special Thanks to Ian Dugdale for his tips on finding the bird.

Ian Dugdale reported seeing a large flock of 17 Rosy Starling at the Thai Muang Golf Course in the last days of December 2009. I was in Nakorn Sawan at the time and felt bad that I was unable to get this lifer, as I myself was having a tough birding trip, having missed out on seven potential lifers.

On Children’s Day, my wife and I had contemplated visiting the air force base in Surat Thani so my kids could see some airplanes. Due to a late morning start and a few grumpy kids, we decided to head out a little later and make for the navy base in Thap Lamru which was closer and still enabled my eldest son to see a helicopter in action as well as explore some naval vessels. By the early afternoon the sun was bearing down and my kids wanted to go swimming. I took this as a great opportunity to take the kids to a forest waterfall and get in some birding time as well.

Khao Lampi Waterfall was crowded and noisy and the park staff wanted to charge unreasonable prices for the holidays so we opted to go to the beach.

Thai Muang was the closest beach available and when I was reminded of the starlings at the golf course we decided to try it out.

After settling the kids and my wife on the deserted beach, I started my search for the starlings near the casuarinas near the former carpark. The area was rich in bird life an in little time I had myself 34 species. A tree near the large lake had a group of 30 Orange breasted Pigeons, making this site perhaps the best place to find this rather uncommon specimen. A tree in the far distance had a group of some 20 White shouldered Starlings and three Purple backed Starling, but aside from that, the area was void of any of the rare migrants we were looking for.

Around the old golf track I connected with Hoopoe, Pacific Golden Plover, Blue tailed and Chestnut capped Bee Eater, Common Snipe, Pink necked Pigeon, Little, Intermediate and Great Egret and Lesser Coucal. White throated, Common, Collared and Black capped Kingfisher were all seen in a little creek near the center of the course, making it a good day for kingfishers.

After an hour of birding I had 42 species but still no sign of the starling. It is not uncommon to discover a species of starling in an area only to find they have moved on a few days later and I was beginning to think perhaps I was not going to see anything new on this trip. The area is very large and it would only take a miracle of God to find these little birds in time before the sun set.

I decided to go back to the old spot where I had sighted the first group of starlings to see if they had returned. At the casuarinas I spotted them again but approach was difficult and I ended up using the car as a blind as the birds were very skittish.

Initially I had noticed only 15 or so birds foraging in the tree but closer observation revealed a very large number of roosting birds hidden among the droopy boughs of the casuarinas. While the majority of the birds were full grown White shouldered Starling (30 or so birds), I did find around 10 Chestnut Cheeked Starling and 10 Purple backed Starling. I had my best views yet of the Chestnut cheeked Starling, a beautiful bird which was only discovered to winter here a few years ago by Stijin De Win on one of his birding trips to the area.

Even after seeing those birds I still felt disheartened that I was unable to get a few lifers when suddenly a pair of reddish-colored starlings flew up from the ground, scared off by an egret in low flight. I hardly believed by eyes when I realized they were Brahminy Starling! With this I got out of the car to get a closer look, almost trampling a Barred Buttonquail in the process. The flock of birds, being skittish as ever, took to a looping flight around the tree and it was then I was able to count around 50-60 mixed starlings in the group. After they had landed I called Ian to tell him the good news and ask him the whereabouts of the Rosy Starling.

Ian told me many of the Rosy Starling he’d seen were juvenile, so I began scanning through the many White shouldered Starling and finally found a single juvenile Rosy sitting very still and quietly in a branch. The reason for its inactive behavior was discovered minutes later when a group of mature Chestnut Cheeked Starlings came by and began persecuting it until it was finally chased off of the tree.

The birds were feeding on something on the branches of the tree, what I could not see, but they were systematically making their way through the branches as they picked through the bark, picking up what could have been insects or grubs.

Contented and shaking with excitement, I hopped back into the car and barely made it a few feet down the road when I looked up in a nearby tree to see the Brahminy Starling had taken up roost only 10 feet from the car! I quickly grabbed my camera but the second I rolled down the car window for a shot, the birds took to the air.

By then it was 6 PM and getting late. Satisfied, and brimming with joy, I picked up my kids from the beach and drove back to Phuket and celebrate my first two lifers of the year with a dinner at Sizzlers!

Altogether there were 47 species in one hour and two lifers. -God is good!

A birding trip to three key birding sites in Phang Nga on the 11th netted over 100 species, making it an exceptionally great birding day record-wise. Any time a person reaches the 100-species plataeu in a single day, you can bet they saw some noteworthy species.

On the 11th Steve Potter, a visiting birder from Australia and I, visited Sri Phang Nga National Park, Laem Pakarang and Thai Muang Golf Course. Doubtless if we had more time we would have tried other places but there are only so many hours in a single day. We did get a fair number of specialties such as Nordmanns Greenshank, Chinese Egret, Grey Tailed Tattler, Lesser Fish Eagle. Orange breasted Green Pigeon, Golden Crested Myna and Long billed Spiderhunter.

Enclosed is the trip report, available as a PDF document.

The raptor migration in Chumporn seems to be going very well this year.

Thousands of raptors are moving through the province this month, at astonishing rates. So far no vultures have come through, but a few Aquila eagles (Greater Spotted) have come through, according to Dr. Robert DeCandino, a visiting professor from New York who is monitoring the migration at Radar Hill.

My contribution is to watch for raptor movement in Phuket, and so far it’s been quite … dull. No movements have been seen, although the small groups I’ve encountered give credence that the birds are passing through. Four Japanese Sparrowhawk, tailed by a pair of Booted Eagle were spotted near Baan Nam Kem, Phang Nga on the 18th, while three Grey Faced Buzzards were seen over open fields north of British International School, Sapam, on the afternoon of the 23rd.

Two more Japanese Sparrowhawk were sighted in the Muang Chao Fah area on the 27th but other than that, all raptor sightings have been Brahminy Kites or White belled Sea Eagle, both of which are resident.

15 Grey faced Buzzards were seen circling over the municipal park in Phuket town on the 29th and later headed off in a northeastern direction.

Blue Tailed Bee Eater has arrived in small numbers throughout the island, and so far no major migration group has been encountered. Three are regulars in a field near my home.

Last year the migration hit Phuket in November, so we’re anticipating that the time will be coming soon. According to data from the past two years, the migration should come from the northwest, come over Muang Chao Fah and head off in the direction of Khao Khat and Laem Panwa before heading off over the sea enroute (presumably?) towards Phi Phi and Krabi.

Khao Khat seems to be the best place to observe the migration and hopefully we’ll be able to cash in on it this year.

The roosting sites for the last two years have been Muang Chao Fah, Bang Waad Dam, (2008) and Klong Mudong (2007), which seem to be the prime places to keep an eye on when the birds come through.

(Following is a report from Ian Dugdale and Games (a Thai guide) who visited Koh Pratong for three days on a survey trip to test the potential of the site. Koh Pratong has gotten rave reviews from many birders in Bangkok who have spent countless hours exploring this still untamed wilderness island. The island is still mired in a legal battle between the RFD (Royal Forestry Department) and local villagers who insist they want to keep the land from becoming a National Park. Many depend on fishing for their livelihood and declaring it a national park will put stipulations on the future of their income.)

-By Ian Dugdale

We had heard that the following had been seen on the island:

White-bellied Woodpecker: Of the five or so residents we spoke to, only one had thought he had seen them at the southern end of the island. We did not see any.

Grey-headed Fish-Eagle: One adult seen in the central part of the island, an area of shallow ponds, flooded grassland and open forest.

Lesser Adjutant: Local knowledge is that there are 100 birds on the island but during the wet season they stay in the landward side of the mangroves in an inaccessible area. In the dry season (Jan-Apr) they frequent the central open areas and are easily seen. We did not see any.

Cinnamon-headed Green-Pigeon: A few locals thought they had seen them but no reliable information. We did not see any.

Pale-capped Pigeon: No local information. We did not see any.

Birding in the open areas was very enjoyable and provides a nice contrast to the usual forest birding in Southern Thailand. The island is beautiful and well looked after by the locals. Very little of the island has been cultivated and we saw no signs of hunting. Apparently some mainlanders do come over to hunt but the locals stop it when they can. We also learnt that the government wants to make it a National Park but the locals are against it because their livelihood depends on fishing.

Our conclusion was that it is an excellent place to visit for one or two days as part of a birding trip in Southern Thailand.

Following is the list of birds we saw between 17/10 and 20/10.

Lesser Whistling-duck, Barred Buttonquail, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Common Goldenback, Rufous Woodpecker, Coppersmith Barbet, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Eurasian Hoopoe, Burmese Roller, Oriental Dollarbird, Common Kingfisher, White-throated Kingfisher, Black-capped Kingfisher, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Indian Cuckoo, Himalayan Cuckoo, Greater Coucal, Lesser Coucal, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Red-breasted Parakeet, Germain’s Swiftlet, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Brown Hawk-owl (heard only), Great Eared Nightjar, Red Turtle Dove, Zebra Dove, Pink-necked Green-pigeon, Spotted Dove, Slaty-breasted Rail, Pin-tailed Snipe, Common Sandpiper, Pacific Golden-plover, Red-wattled Lapwing, Crested Honey Buzzard, White-bellied Sea-eagle, Brahminy Kite, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Crested Serpent-eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Common Kestrel, Little Grebe, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Chinese Pond-heron, Striated Heron, Cinnamon Bittern, Brown Shrike, Large-billed Crow, Black-naped Oriole, Lesser Cuckooshrike, Black Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Common Iora , Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Oriental Magpie Robin, Common Myna, Common Hill Myna, Barn Swallow, Pacific Swallow, Black-headed Bulbul, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Olive-winged Bulbul, Streak-eared Bulbul, Dark-necked Tailorbird, White-chested Babbler (heard only), Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Brown-throated Sunbird, Van Hasselt’s Sunbird, Olive-backed Sunbird, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Forest Wagtail, Paddyfield Pipit, White-rumped Munia.

Total species seen: 78 species

The migrant season is coming up soon, and what better way to prepare than to read up on what’s been coming through in the past years.

Two documents were sent to me from Dr. Robert DiCandido, a professor in New York who has been involved with the Chumporn Raptor Festival for a number of years, along with Mr. Chukiat Nulsiri and Mr. Chaiyan Kasorndokbua, the two Thai coordinators of the annual event. The first is a document taken from this years edition of Forktail describing the Spring 2008 migration, and the second documents the migration from December last year.

The Chumporn Birding Club has been making waves in the local birding front for quite some time now, from migrating raptors to wintering starlings in the municipal football stadium. Not only that, but their ongoing efforts to educate the locals and youth regarding this topic is worth commenting on.

Dr. Robert has requested if any birders happen to see any movements of raptors or bee eaters during this period, to please report their findings to the Chumporn Birding Club or to him so that they can study the movement pattern of these birds. Phuket does experience at least one afternoon of mass raptor migration at least once a year and so far the event has been poorly documented.

Those interested should contact Dr. Robert about joining in on the raptor festival on Radar Hill (Promsri Hill) as it looks to be an exciting and enjoyable event for birders.

Dr. Robert can be reached at this address: rdcny@earthlink.net

Stijn De Win sent me this photo he captured of a Eurasian Thick-Knee taken at Puttamontol Park in east Bangkok on the Thonburi side. This park is becoming the new Thai birdwatching hot spot!

I know plenty of people who go tearing through Thailand and Laos looking for this thing and it shows up in a public park. -Completely unbelievable.

This park is already in the limelight as the place where Thailand’s first and only record of Fairy Pitta was seen, and also produced good sightings of other pleasant birds such as Narcissus Flycatchers and Hooded Pitta.

Its sad I won’t be able to go and see it, bit to all of you who got to get the tick, cheers and well done.

Completely unrelated to southern Thailand birdwatching, but nevertheless a very interesting development:

Stijn De Win of Birding2Asia.com recently photographed some odd-looking bulbuls in Laos. Read his report and see for yourself at the following link.

As it turns out, they are a new species. This is exciting news indeed!

It took almost a year to get back to this wonderful place. A few months back a Thai photographer had located a very rare Malaysian Rail Babbler and photographed it. I followed the developments on Thai websites and simply felt that I ‘had to go’. For years I have wanted to see this bird but the unrest in the deep South has made it impossible to visit Hala Bala, the preferred site for the bird.

A friend of mine, Alex Vargas, joined me for this stint and we set out in pursue of the Babbler.

Other target birds for me was Diard’s and Cinnamon-rumped Trogon, Wallace’s Hawk Eagle, Maroon-breasted Flycatcher and Javan Frogmouth.

We managed to squeeze in our trip right in between Thai holidays. Upon arrival we were informed that no one had tried for the Babbler that day as they felt the bird needed a rest.

The next day we set up our blind and waited. A couple of rangers and Mr Narong who found the bird set out along the trail to lure the bird towards our spot. They used playback of its long drawn out call. After hours of searching and moving the birds towards the blind it finally came. However it refused to show. Instead we had to wait till the next day when the same procedure had to take place again. This time they found the bird a lot closer and it didn’t take that long for it to come around. It was decided not to use flash as the bird is very skittish. It was dark and difficult to get a good shot but at least I did get a few. We watched it come and go for a couple of hours and gave space to others on the narrow trail.

-A pair of Wallace’s Hawk Eagles were nesting high on a branch and gave distant views.

Diard’s Trogons kept calling and showed on all 3 days. -Wonderful to catch up with this bird.

Javan Frogmouth had abandoned its nest after 10 days of incubating the eggs. (it was photographed extensively)

A surprise Green-backed Flycatcher (split from Narcissus) gave me my 4th lifer of the trip and 745 for my Thai list.

Some other noteworthy birds encountered:

Banded Pitta
Orange-headed Trogon
Scarlet-rumped Trogon
White-crowned Forktail
Banded Kingfisher
Blue-eared Kingfisher
Rufous-winged Flycatcher
Buffy Fish Owl
Brown Wood Owl
Short-tailed Babbler
Ferruginous Babbler
Brown Barbet
Green Broadbill

Peter Ericsson photographed this lovely Hooded Pitta at Puttamonton Park in Thonburi last week.

Continue Reading

Ian and Mike just got back from KNCC with terrific news:

“Our first morning we found a Red-crowned Barbet nest. We were very happy with it but didn’t know how big a deal it was until we later told Yotin. He’s only ever found two and neither was as accessible as ours.”

This is a rather rare bird and finding a nesting pair is not only good news for birders (for those who desperately want the tick, like myself) but also for the status of the bird, which hopefully repopulating at a higher rate than it was in previous times.

-Good find Ian!

Fairy Pitta, a new bird for Thailand, was discovered in Puttamonthol Park in Thonburi during the Songkran week.

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Pitta season begins this month and already we’ve had our share of goodies.

Two species: Banded and Mangrove Pitta were spotted on the same day in Phang Nga, albeit in two separate locations. Sri Phang Nga currently seems to be the easiest place to find the Banded Pitta, and the mangrove walkway outside Phang Nga town is still the best location in Thailand to see the Mangrove Pitta.

The key to finding the Mangrove Pitta is to come when the tide is on its way out. Playing the call is another option but beware that you don’t overdo it. –These birds are fast learners and after a few minutes will refuse to show interest in the playback.

Next month we should be expecting the breeding season to start up, and with it will come two more species: Hooded and Blue Winged Pitta.

Those still seeking to tick their first Gurney’s Pitta should also make a serious attempt sometime between now through May.

Birders on the hunt for these birds should also remember to wear cool clothing; April is the hottest month of the year and the humidity will be at an all time high!