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.

Autumn is a season which means close to nothing to people in Thailand. After all, continental Thailand only has three seasons (dry/summer, cold/winter and rainy) and in the peninsula we are cursed to have only two of those three. For birders in the kingdom however, autumn has a whole differnt meaning; we celebrate it with gusto!

To us, October signals the beginning of our own special season: migration season!

Yep, it’s that time of year again and the venue for this year’s festival is Pencil Hill in Chumporn. Khao Din-Saw (as the locals call it) will be hosting its annual autumn Raptor Watch Festival in October and all birders are welcome to attend.

Entrance to the venue is free of charge and it should be a great time to get to know other birders from Thailand and around the world, as well as brush up on those raptors (which can sometimes be a real hassle to identify). Many birders agree that the raptor family is perhaps one of the hardest families of birds to ID due to the constant change of plumage due to wear and tear, and with all the best raptor specialists flocking in from around the country (and around the world) this is a rare chance to learn from the greats in the field of birdwatching; an opportunity that should not be passed up!

The main organizer of the festival is Mr. Chukiat Nualsri, a well-known local birder actively involved in the conservation of birds in Chumporn and a key member of the annual Raptor Watch Project. Other key members likely to attend include Dr. Robert “Birding Bob” DeCandido from New York and Dr. Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua, head of the Thai Raptor Group.

For those who have never heard of the Raptor Festival or may not know what it entails, Dr. Robert and Mr. Chikiat offer this concise explanation of the program including a brief history of how it all came to be, entitled “Khao Dinsor: the Premier Site to Observe Migrants in the Orient?” The document is available in PDF format and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

-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.

To tell you the truth, this bird is not an easy one to get on film.

The bird was photographed at Huay Hong Krai Watershed Station in Chaing Mai in April. The wild birds tend to hang out around the breeding station near the cages of their fellow peafowl. These birds are genuine wild birds and unlike their cultured counterparts, can actually fly through the air like most other birds. Of course they prefer to be terrestial, but the sight of a bird this size, tail feathers in tow, flying through the forest or over a lake, is nothing short of impressive.

The birds are extreemly skittish and it is very hard to get within 10 yards of the birds. This photo was taken by chance as I rounded a tree and managed to snap a shot of a calling male before he scampered off into the deer enclosure.

-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.

Everyone loves pittas so why not celebrate with a fantastic photo of a Blue Winged Pitta?

The wet-season breeding visitor to Thailand is by far the most common pitta and yet many birders still find it hard to find even one of these gorgeous birds. This photo was taken by Peter Ericsson in a garden near Khao Yai National Park and was used from his site with his permission.

I opted to use this photo over the others as this one seems to have better contrast and a very shallow depth of feild. The bird is also fluffing it’s feathers, giving it a more “candid” appearance, unlike its usual regal and handsome self.

While it is easy to regret no being able to join in on a trip of a lifetime, I was very thankful that Ian was able to photograph a Reddish Scops Owl in Hala-Bala. You see, I had a picture of a Reddish Scops Owl as well, but for the longest time, I doubted if it really was the Reddish. -Why?

-I took the photo of the bird perched in a mango tree in my yard. –And I live in Phuket town, NOT Hala-Bala National Park.

-So how did the bird get here?

I really can’t say, all I know was there was an owl calling for three nights in a row sometime last year and I finally got so upset with this bird disturbing my sleep that I got up at 2 AM and went to investigate. After finally photographing the bird, I sent it to various birders, among whom were mentionable personalities such as Dr. Phil Round, Peter Ericsson and Nick Upton. There was a lot of discussion and some said it looked like it could be a Reddish (juvenile perhaps?) and others thought it was a darker variation of the Collared.

In my mind there was a 90% certainty of what species of owl was as it seemed to respond to the call of the Reddish (does any owl respond well to taped calls?) and looked like it as well. However, there are some burning questions which are crying out to be answered: How did this bird end up in Phuket? –Where does it live? –How many are left in the wild? Such a rare species cannot be passed off easily and this sighting demands an explanation, one I cannot offer.

Since the beginning of construction on a road through the Muang Chao Fah area in recent months and the destruction of much forest and marshland in the surrounding areas, the owl has disappeared, only showing once in March this year for less than 10 minutes. I cannot say if I will ever see the bird again.

However, now with Ian’s photo to use as reference, I’d like to again bring out my old photos from the archives and see what the birding community might have to say about the two.

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.

No matter how many times I’ve seen this bird, every time I meet up with it, the feeling is one of pure bliss.

I’ve posted this photo before in an earlier post but the shot is just too pretty to let go without offering some recognition for the great photography. Ian Dugdale photographed this fellow in the Bala sector of Hala Bala Forest Reserve in the deep south. The bird is fairly common throughout the rainforests of the south and in the breeding season, has a habit of building its nest over streams and roads (the species have been around long before the invention of roads so they must think it’s a dry riverbed or something) so it isn’t too hard to spot this stunning creature.

The Silver Breasted Broadbill is just one of the beautiful and extreemly attractive birds in the broadbill family. My other three favorites would be the Black and Yellow Broadbill, the Green Broadbill and the Long Tailed Broadbill.

Thank you to Ian for sharing this photo with us and allowing permission to use his photos on this site.

-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.