On the way back home from a big trip to Australia i stopped off for 12 days in Thailand as a sort of intriduction to birding in the country, heres a brief trip report:
Hopefully ther emay be few pics on my blog soon, theres a link to it in my signature
11th-13th Jan
Khao Yai National Park
After a long flight into Bangkok arriving in the wee hours of the 11th i was very keen to get into the jungle and get some birding done. I arrived at Khao Yai in the late afternoon after some pretty hectic public transport and hitch hiking and managed a bit of birding in the fading light. The campsite at Pha Kluai Mai where i was staying was a good spot with Raddes Warbler and Red Throated (taiga) flycatcher seen whilst erecting the tent. A walk down to the river behind the restaurant revealed a cracking Slaty backed Forktail and Blue Bearded Bee eater.
At dawn on the 12th i went to the restaurant at the campsite, a famous stakeout. The star bird duly put in an appearance, a Coral Billed Ground Cuckoo. Orange headed Thrush, Blue Rock thrush and Red Junglefowl were also feeding behind the building but disappeared as soon as the campers started to wake up and get noisy.
A walk along the river to Pha Kluai Mai waterfall passed through some excellent dense rainforest that held loads of superb birds including Red Headed Trogon, Banded Kingfisher, Siberian Blue Robin, Common Green Magpies, Asian Fairy Bluebird ,White throated Rock thrush and Asian Paradise Flycatcher, as well as far too many commoner birds to mention.
In the evening i walked out along the road towards the Park HQ where there were plenty of good open country birds like Indian Roller, Brown Shrike, Ashy Woodswallow and Grey Bushchat.
The next morning i hitch Hiked out to the Park HQ, luckily before i got picked up i found a fruiting tree on the roadside which had about 20 Oriental Pied Hornbills and 2 each of Great and Wreathed Hornbills, there was also a few Vernal Hanging Parrot flying overhead. Once at the HQ i wlaked out along 'Trail 6' which at first seemed very quiet but gradually racked up some good stuff including White crowned Forktail, White browed Scimitar Babbler and Greater Yellownape Woodpecker. Emerging out of the forest at the Watchtower i had excellent views of a Crested Seroent Eagle soaring overhead and on getting back to the HQ there was a small flock of Pin Tailed Parrotfinches in the seeding bamboo with some Scaly Breasted Munias.
That evening a Great Eared Nightjar flew over the campsite at dusk, what a bird, bigger than a Short Eared Owl, a massive Nightjar!
14th-19th Jan
Doi Inthanon NP
I thought Khao Yai was good! Doi Inthanon was awesome, thats the only way of putting it. I stayed at the legendary Mr Deangs, near the Park HQ. What a great bloke, he provided a very basic but comfortable room for free and served up excellent cheap Thai food in his little cafe (and the Singha Beer was most welcome after having to deal with aussie piss for so long).
He also has a Log book which is very useful and some excellent photos of the parks star inhabitants decorate the walls. To simplify this i'll list eh key sites and the birds seen there.
13KM JEEP TRACK
This track through the dry forest towards the bottom of the mountain did not hold many birds but the birds seen were true quality, Collared Falconet and a stonking group of 3 Black headed Woodpecker on the ridge trail.
MR DEANGS AREA
The best spot was the farmland over the road. This held good open country birds including Pied and Grey Bushchat, Olive backed pipit, long tailed shrike, verditer flycatcher and Oriental Honey Buzzard and loads of Red Rumped Swallows overhead. The woods at the back held Eye Browed thrush and Little Pied Flycatcher
34.5KM JEEP TRACK
A good track early in the morning, the first 500m are best with Stripe breasted woodpecker, Marron Oriole, Asian Emerald Cuckoo, Rufous Backed Sibia Chesnut fronted Shrike babbler and chestnut vented Nuthatch being the highlights
37KM JEEP TRACK
The most productive trail. Dark sided thrush was tame on the track at the 400m mark. Further along one excellent bird feeding wave held White browed shrike babbler, yellow bellied fantail, Chesnut crowned warbler, yellow cheeked tit and black eared shrike babbler. Eye browed wren babbler was seen ans Pygmy Wren babbler heard towards the 1200m mark and a pair of Slaty bellied Tesias gave fleeting glimpses in the understorey.
MAE CHAEM ROAD
This road passes through some pine forest which looked promising and provided Grey Backed Shrike and Chinese Leaf warbler but little else. It then heads into drier forest similar to the habitat at the 13km track. at 14.5 km along this road a pair of the rare Rufous Winged Buzzard were seen soaring and perched in a dead tree.
SUMMIT AREA
This area was heavily disturbed by Thai tourists, thought why the hell they were up there at dawn i dont know, it was flipping freezing at 2500m. the boardwlak through the mossy forest/swamp was good for chestnut tailed Minla, rufous winged fulvetta and Chestnut crowned laughing thrush. Flowering trees around the visitor centre area were good for Green tailed and Mrs Goulds Sunbird
PARK HQ AREA
The best spot near here is Siriphum Waterfall which was rubbish during the day thanks to disturbance from workers in the gardens but i head one truly brilliant evening here which scored the star bird of Doi Inthanon - White Capped Water Redstart, i had great views of a male here along with Plumbeous Water Redstart. The walk back along the 'nature trail' had a pair of Velvet Fronted Nuthatch and Orange Bellied Leafbird.
The campsite was quite busy people wise but still held a Snowy browed Flycatcher in the stream and an Asian Barred Owlet flying around the trees near the toilet block.
After gettign back to Bangkok i had time for a few quick visits to coastal spots not far from the city.
Muang Boran Fish Ponds
This was a very birdy site with Pheasant tailed and Bronze winged Jacans being numerous on the forst pond. Unexpected were 2 Cinnamon Bitterns flying across the first pond and landing in the reeds. Black Crowned Night Heron and White browed Crake were also nice. Blue tailed bee eaters were numerous over the ponds as were red rumped swallows, plus 2 sand martins.
Khok Kham Salt Pans
A fantastic wader watching site. I visited here with the hope of seeing Spoon Billed Sandpiper before it goes extinct. Unfortunately the resident birder Mr Tii was away birding somewhere else and unsurprisingly without his help i didnt see the key bird. However a single Nordmanns Greenshank was great compensation. Long toed Stint and Bbrown headed gull were also good lifers. There were a few Broad Billed Sandpipers and Temmincks amongst the numerous Red Necked Stints and Marsh Sandpiper was very common.
Interesting to see that the Ground Cuckoo is still coming to the stakeout behind the restaurant at Pha Gluai Mai campsite - I had been told that the stakeout had been trashed, but obviously not.
The campsite gets uncomfortably crowded at weekends, during the week it is virtually empty though, and very quiet!
I took a look at your excellent blog... wow, you've got some incredible photos. I love the owl head-on shot!
I'll bet the formaldehyde in the Singha Beer did get the sweet taste of Aussie beer off your taste buds! :-)
Great trip report. I gotta get up there to see the Ground Cuckoo.