Winter visitors include Yellow Wagtail seen around Muang Chao Fah on the 2nd and Grey Wagtail at Wat Pratong in Talang on the 13th.

Highlights of the month go to the discovery of Fluffy backed Tit-Babbler in Baan Nai Chong in Krabi and finding a reliable stakeout for Copper throated Sunbird in Phang Nga, both of which were discovered and reported by Ian Dugdale in his trip with Dave Sergeant earlier this month. For the full report, click here.

With little birding time on my hands, I devoted what little free time I had to writing more reviews of birding sites. This month the site gained three new reviews: Lumpini Park in Bangkok, Beung Borapet in Nakorn Sawan and Huay Hong Krai in Chiang Mai. Special thanks to Peter Ericsson for proof reading the reviews for me.

-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 Baan 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. Special thanks to Peter Ericsson for his help in directing us to the Mangrove Boardwalk at Baan Bang Phat.

-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.

Birds of interest included Blue-banded Kingfisher, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Fiery Minivet, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Red-throated Sunbird, Spectacled Spiderhunter and Orange-breasted Trogon.

The kingfishers are of interest to me as the Rufous collared Kingfisher is a highly-sought after species which so far has only been reliable at Khao Sok along the forest stream. Access in Sri Phang Nga is better and easier than that of Khao Sok. The Blue Banded Kingfisher is a (supposedly) more common species which seems to have eluded many a birder who has it on his or her wish list. Many birders do express the same sentiment as I when I say that often we want to see a bird so bad and dip on it for years but when we finally see one, after that it seems like we can never miss seeing it again. –The bird is practically everywhere!

Other birds seen include Banded Woodpecker, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Banded Kingfisher, Silver-rumped Spinetail, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Whiskered Treeswift, Hooded Pitta, Lesser Green Leafbird, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Asian Paradise-flycatcher, Buff-vented Bulbul, White-rumped Shama, Chestnut-naped Forktail, Black-crested Bulbul, Spectacled Bulbul, Ochraceous Bulbul, Streaked Bulbul, Common Tailorbird, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Abbott’s Babbler, Black-capped Babbler, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Chestnut-winged Babbler, Crimson Sunbird, Little Spiderhunter, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird and White-rumped Munia.

Few birders visit the park in the wet season and there is a high possiblity anyone visiting will get rained out. Taking the risk and hitting a lucky dry day can actually reveal some interesting sightings of birds which may be overlooked during the wintering months. I hope to make a trip there with Ian in late August or early September.

There were a few interesting observations which I would like to mention, the first being a sighting of a Common Kingfisher at the Rama IX Park in town of the 4th. Little Cormorants were seen on the 4th, 9th and two were present at Bang Waad Dam on the 28th. A Black Drongo was also seen at the entrance to Phuket Country Club on the morning of the 14th.

Two White bellied Sea Eagles were seen over Muang Chao Fah on the 22nd and two juveniles with them again on the 25th. A single Gray faced Buzzard, harassed by two crows, was seen on the 18th.

Ian made a trip to Sri Phang Nga and Krung Ching with Games, and was successful in finding a male Great Argus at the latter site. Later in the month he and Games were joined by Dave Sergeant and spent a few weeks in Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary in Narathiwat, proving that the trip can be done without fatalities. Notes from the trip will be posted soon.

I was unable to join them due to my work schedule and the fact that I am moving houses this month. Anyone knows that moving houses is not an easy task and easily eats up a few weeks of the month.

I hope to visit a few sites with my family in the near future as I should have more time to go birding on weekends after we have finished setting up the house.

-Until next month then!

Four lifers and trips to the north and central areas combined made for a memorable holiday with plenty of fun things to do for the kids and some great birding opportunities for me. I was not able to make the trip to Doi Intanon or any other hot birding spots, nor was I able to snag the few birds I wanted at Beung Borapet but, there will always be a next time so that what I’ll look forward to and appreciate.

Most of the highlights for the month are reported in the trip reports, such as the afternoon and morning trips to Beung Borapet in Nakorn Sawan and the trip to Doi Pui in Chiang Mai.

Notable birds seen throughout the month will have to be the sheer number of migrants still around in the month of April. Many birds which were common in the winter in Phuket and the south were virtually absent come April yet were still surprisingly easy to find the further north we went. Red throated Flycatcher, Brown Shrike, Little Cormorant, Black Kite, Chestnut tailed Starling, Blue tailed Bee Eater, Stonechat and Eyebrowed Thrush were all still available north of Bangkok but not anywhere around Petchaburi.

A Javan Pond Heron in breeding plumage was seen on mudflats in Sapan Hin on the 1st and one was seen by Ian at Thai Muang Golf Course a few days later. This was perceived as great news for me until I headed north and found them practically everywhere. In Lopburi, on the 23rd along the Lopburi river I counted 14 Javan, 1 Indian and 12 Chinese Pond Herons in breeding plumage. –Odd?

A juvenile White bellied Sea Eagle was spotted over Central Festival on the 5th. A female Blue Whistling Thrush was seen in an abandoned townhouse near Makro on the 6th.

Updates to the site include a review of Muang Chao Fah site near Phuket town.

Leaving Chiang Mai for Nakorn Sawan at 1 PM naturally means getting to Nakorn Sawan before dark requires a fast car and breaking the speed laws. I was not in possession of a fast car and did not intend to get ticketed, so the leisurely drive to Nakorn Sawan meant I arrived in the city at 6 PM, too late for birding. –Too bad!

The next morning I was able to make a trip with my son to the tourist side of the lake. The tourist side was recently renovated by the local Or Por Jor (Local Provincial Government Administration) and boasts a state of the art aquarium which houses the world’s largest freshwater stingray, a crocodile farm and croc wrestling show, tour boats to take visitors out on the lake, a monkey drama stage and some local OTOP stores. They are still in the process of building more buildings so God only knows what will become of it all when they are through with their projects!

The lake has taken a hit with the recent rash of hot weather and the demand for fresh water for agriculture has reduced the amount of water in the lake drastically. Large islands have now appeared in the lake and much of the area around the visitor center has turned into shallow wading pools, perfect feeding grounds for the birds. Last week a birder told me how he’d found both Glossy and Black headed Ibis in the area, along with scores of other birds and ducks, and even a single Giant Bittern was on hand to take advantage of the feeding frenzy.

I spent three hours scanning the area for ibis but to no avail. Seems like the birds will have to wait until I get around to visiting this site again at the end of the year.

Lesser Whistling Duck were spread out all over the lake numbering in the thousands, along with Asian Openbill, Purple Swamphen, Black winged Stilts and Little Cormorant.

Around the buildings I encountered Common and White vented Myna, Sooty capped Bulbul, Streak eared Bulbul, Indian Roller, Brown Shrike, Rock Dove, Spotted Dove, Zebra, Dove, Red breasted Turtle Dove, Scaly breasted Munia, Coppersmith Barbet, Barn Swallow and Paddyfield Pipit.

Down by the Fisheries Department we ignored the no entry sign and were surprised to find that most the local population either are blatantly disobedient (like us) or don’t know how to read Thai, as the crocodile pens were full of visitors who were out enjoying another hot day in Thailand. Around the crocodile pens we fed the crocs and I finally got the Asian Golden Weaver tick that I’ve always wanted. –First and only lifer for the day.

Other birds in the area included 24 Black capped Night Herons, 14 Painted Stork, Oriental Darter, Chinese Pond Heron, Great, Little and Intermediate Egret, Black Drongo, Olive backed Sunbird, Asian Pied Myna, Black browed Reed Warbler, Large billed Crow and Yellow bellied Prinia.

After that I wanted to rent a boat to see the Ibis but the day was getting on and my son was desperate to see the giant stingray so we opted to enjoy the cool air and visit the aquarium instead. We’ll save the other lifers for next time we visit the site.

35 species with one lifer and hope of more next time we visit!

-How often do you wake up to a 38-degree morning and climb in the car to go to your birding destination and get out the car only to be met with 14-degree winds?

-How often do you go birding and get only 10 species on your entire morning trek but one of them just happens to be a Green Cochoa?

-To be honest with you, I’d have to answer never to both questions, with the exception of yesterday, when both of the aforementioned incidents happened.

Doi Pui, the tallest mountain in the vicinity of Chiang Mai city, is a popular birding destination for many birders visiting the north. I knew that I had to make it there at least one morning and relive my good-old birding days from when I was a youthful birder back in 1999. It took a good 70-minutes to fast driving to get to the top from the sticks and the boonies where I was staying out in Doi Saket. Arriving at the top of the mountain, I was genuinely shocked when I stepped out of the car to be met with a frosty 14-degree centigrade chill. I’ll have to admit I loved it so much I wanted to stay there forever!

Getting ready for the 3-kilometer trek to the top of the hill took some time a I had my three kids with me and we were equally disturbed when a truckload of hilltribe men barged through with their pickup heading for the summit.

The cool wind was enthralling but with it came the sound of silence. Birds were not out as they were waiting for the first rays of sunlight to warm the trees before they would start foraging.

The entire trek along the 3-kilometer path was pretty dead exept for a pair of Grey chinned Minivets and a whole flock of White tailed Leaf Warblers.

At the summit we were dismayed to find a fire had destroyed a large portion of the pine forest and the hilltribe men we had encountered were furiously working against the clock to put out another large fire which was spreading towards the summit. They were soon joined by three more forestry chiefs on motorbikes and another truckload of volunteers. That should have been enough to kill any hopes of a good birding morning.

At the summit we found Flavescent Bulbul, Black throated Sunbird and Grey streaked Spiderhunter.

On the trek down I found a birdwave moving through a patch of pine near the road. White browed Shrike Babbler, Lesser racket tailed Drongo, Asian Paradise Flycatcher and loads of White tailed leaf Warblers were seen but what was that large bird in the far corner? The bird perched on an exposed branch and fluffed its feathers for an astonishing 20 seconds white I stared at it. I did not want to draw conclusions until I had looked it up in the bird guide as the lighting was not that great but sure enough when I opened the books, there it was beyond a shadow of a doubt: Green Cochoa!

That was enough to make my day!

So yes, the day was very miserable for birding with all the smoke and disturbance but that one bird made it worth it all.

-Oh, and the weather stayed at 22 degrees until 1 PM when it finally rose to a still comfortable 27 degrees. –Who wants to move to the mountains? –I DO!!!!

Staying out in Doi Saket was perfect for me as even though it is 18 kilometers out of town, it is only five kilometers from Huay Hong Krai, a well-forested area well known for its local population of Green Peafowl, a highly endangered bird which thrives in the area.

The weather is far too hot to attempt a serious birding trip so I opted to take a few days visiting the site to scout out the potential and see if I could photograph the Green Peafowl.

First day was spent driving around on the endless dirt tracks which fork off the main road heading to headquarters. The distances are so great that this place can only be traversed with a good 4WD vehicle in the rainy season or a good bike in the dry season. Bird life was abundant but spotting birds from a moving vehicle was not the easiest thing. Nevertheless, Blue eared Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Puff throated Babbler, Streak eared Bubul, Ashy Bulbul, Red Whiskered Bulbul and Eurasian Jay were seen on the trails. –Doubtless more would have been seen if I had started out the day a little earlier rather than at 9 AM!

The Green Peafowl are best encountered around the wildlife rehabilitation center near headquarters. Here I found two birds on the first day and three on the second, all males. The birds are very skittish and the minute I lifted my 300mm lens at them, they took off on a run, one even flying off across the lake in sheer terror like I was about to shoot them with a 105mm howitzer cannon!

-Wait till I get a 500mm Canon prime!

Around the area I found Crow billed, Glossy and Greater Racket tailed Drongo as well as Greater Coucal, Rock Dove and Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Birding is better on the trails but most birders who visit have only one goal in mind so finding that is pretty straight forward. I managed to get a few shots of the birds I wanted and I hope in the future, when other birders visit and allot time to explore this vast area, that more birds will be discovered in this very potential area.

Total of 14 species were seen over a period of two days (birding started at 9 AM on both days, too late to make a complete evaluation) and my goal of photographing the beautiful Green Peafowl was accomplished. Hope you like the photo above!

-More photos will be posted in the future.

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!