Krabi & environs, Southern Thailand
12-18 September, 2009
This was very much a non-birding holiday with a few hours of birding squeezed in here and there. However this part of Thailand is famous for its spectacular karst limestone scenery, and has a range of stunning habitats, and I was able to persuade my wife into the forest at KNC, on boat and kayaking trips through the mangroves and into the forest around the Tiger Temple. I also had a couple of early mornings around the hotel at Ao Nang, and a morning on my own at KNC.
The trip started well, with a couple of Openbill Storks feeding unconcerned in a khlong at the airport, along with a Javan Pond Heron and a bunch of distant egrets, even before the plane had taxied to the gate at Bangkok. However there was not much more around either airport, but this was still a great way to kick of the holiday.
A morning at KNC
Having swiftly negotiated permission to zip off to KNC for a morning in the forest a 5 am start followed by a drive through constant rain go me to the reserve at dawn, just as the clouds cleared. However any thoughts that this might be a good omen were sorely stretched by the next three hours seeing no birds whatsoever. This sucked big-time as KNC has loads of top birds for me, the habitat looked excellent – rattans and damp gullies, streams and decent forest, but absolutely nothing nothing showed – (trail u for the masochists among you).
With an 11am curfew and an hour’s drive back I had an hour to go and morosely started wandering back, looking for spots with views of gully bottoms for pittas, rail-babblers etc. After staring for a while a branch on the ground in front of me moved – not because a pitta had landed on it, but because it was a whacking great Reticulated Python! This fantastic creature was at least twice my body-length (5ft 8) and about as thick as my (non-bodybuilder’s) bicep, and having been spotted, froze – fully stretched out. This gave me time for a few snaps with the coolpix, and a chance for a really good look at an animal I have always wanted to see – a big(gish) python. I suspect it had only just moulted as its skin was so pristine that it shone an iridescent blue where the sun touched it – just fantastic.
I was only torn away from it by my first bird wave of the morning – Ochraceous Bulbuls heading the show, with a stachyris babbler that I totally cocked up with back views only – but was either Grey-headed or Chestnut-winged Babbler. It came though at mid height and flew with a stiffly spread tail (any thoughts welcomed). I also utterly failed to sort outa bird which at first glimpse looked like a well-marked Ferruginous Flycatcher, but with a more yellow belly and white throat, but I was so distracted by the bird wave and desperate to catch everything that I made the schoolboy error of not being sure of what I was looking at before moving on. My best guess is Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher but I remain far from convinced. I did also get normal and white-phase Asian Paradise Flycatchers and a couple of Black-naped Monarchs, plus a Red-throated Barbet and a poorly-seen Raffles’ Malkoha. The real stars were the pair of Black-capped Babblers that marched up to me across the forest floor poked around in the leaf-litter right at my feet and were subsequently one of only two species of bird I photographed in the whole trip.
Tiger Temple & Krabi Mangroves
Thousands of mosquitoes inhabit the secret jungle surrounded by steep karst limestone cliffs at the Tiger Temple on the edge of town. We chickened out of the 1370 (or whatever) steps to the top and fed the mosquitoes instead. However a pair of Streaked Wren-Babblers showed well, and a Chestnut-breasted Malkoha made life easy by showing chestnut-edged tail feathers as it scrambled around in a tree. Black-naped Monarch was also in the same area, but the real highlights were the tortoise (unidentified) and Horned Tree Lizard.
The best birds came from the evening boat trip into the Krabi mangroves with the famous Mr Dai. Given the time of year and day I had no high expectations of seeing Mangrove Pitta, and my main target was Brown-winged Kingfisher. We saw at least four and possibly six in the 9 minutes we were out – each time perching high on branches overhanging the channel. They are big dramatic birds with fawn heads, chocolate-coloured wings, a giant coral-red bill, and as they shoot off, a bright blue flash down the back. Other birds included a couple of Collared Kingfishers and Common Sandpipers, a party of 35 Asian Glossy Starlings, numerous Pacific Swallows and Swiftlets, while an adult White-bellied Sea Eagle made a brief appearance.
As dusk fell and the boat passed between two forest-topped karst pillars that are the symbol of Krabi a dark sickle-winged raptor sliced across the channel and perched just out of site atop one of the pillars – Oriental Hobby! Thirty seconds later it zipped out and nailed a swiftlet right in front of the boat - a stunning moment!
Birding around Ao Nang
We had three nights in the Pagasay resort in Ao Nang, which I would highly recommend. Rated as 4-star, I actually expected grander rooms, but the setting, with the rooms spread under forest canopy, with a nice pool by the restaurant and a well sculpted stream/drainage ditch running right by our room, held some good birds.
Top for me was Orange-breasted Flowerpecker, which appeared and “zic’-ed away while searching for the last berries on a fruiting tree just outside the hotel fence. Other good ones included Little Spiderhunter and Brown-throated Sunbird feeding on the nectar in the plants by the restaurant verandah, Streak-eared and Stripe-throated Bulbul, and several Tiger Shrikes and Brown Shrikes.
Early morning walks up a forested hill behind the hotel and down to the beach produced Pied Fantail, Black-necked Monarch, Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, Black-bellied Malkoha, Barred Buttonquail, Zebra Dove, Yellow-vented, Black-headed and Black-crested Bulbuls, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Forest Wagtail, Striated and Pacific Swallows and Grey-rumped Treeswift, while the only raptors were single White-bellied Sea Eagle and Brahminy Kite.
We moved hotel to the grander, but less cosy Sofitel a little outside Ao Nang. That started well, as a dazzing blue on iridescent blue Indian Roller zipped across the road as we arrived, and a walk along the beach one evening gave three Collared Kingfishers, a pair of Asian Palm Swifts overhead, and a couple of Greater Sandplovers on the beach. Also of interest here were a few Yellow Wagtails and a Pipit I guess was Paddyfield around the grounds, while an early morning walk around the golf course failed to impress - Little Grebes breeding in the lakes were unexpected, but adding Greater Coucal and Spotted Munia, Spotted Dove and Brown Shrike was hardly a worthy reward for feeding the mosquitoes. I did enjoy the Blue Rock Thrush lurking on the roof beams inside the huge open air lobby one morning.
I'll post pix in the next few days
Cheers
Mike
Sounds like some nice birds, despite the fact that wasn't the focus of the trip. Good work on the Brown-winged Kingfisher - looks like there aren't too many places to find those. Also exciting to see the Hobby in action! Looking forward to your pics (including python and lizard?).
Nice trip report. Your visit to KNC reminds me of the few days I spent there- where were the birds! I saw some but didn't see a python!