Thailand Birding: Some Notes on Birdwatching in November

Throughout November I was away from home most of the time, visiting some of Thailand's best birdwatching locations with a number of visitors who provided some excellent company. The sites visited in November included Khok Kham, Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale, Tung Bang Jak, Kaeng Krachan, Doi Inthanon, Doi Ang Kang, Huay Tung Tao and Doi Lang. All of these sites provided some of their specialities and one or two surprises.

November is a time of year that I have not done much birding in the past, so there were a few things I discovered that I will pass on here to others.

Generally, resident forest birds were rather quiet and difficult to find; this was particularly true around Ban Krang at Kaeng Krachan where woodpeckers, broadbills and kingfishers were almost impossible to locate. Local birders and rangers told me that they hadn't seen a broadbill for more than a month, however, towards the end of the month I did hear a pair of Banded Broadbills calling.

Despite resident birds being rather trickier than at other times, migratory birds were more rewarding. Although November is a little early for large numbers of migrants to be present, "falls" of migrants were quite obvious and it was interesting to turn up species that are either scarce passage migrants or winter visitors that were more active than normal because they had just arrived. At Doi Ang Kang, Bush Warblers were rather more active than at other times, with Aberrant Bush Warbler and 2 Manchurian Bush Warblers being seen. Perhaps they were busy feeding up after their long journey.

In the north Thrushes were beginning to arrive in small numbers and 2 Eyebrowed Thrushes were seen, 1 Dusky Thrush and 2 Black-breasted Thrushes. Also the Dark-sided Thrush had recently shown up at Mr Daeng's at Doi Inthanon and there was an arrival of caeruleus Blue Whistling Thrushes at Doi Inthanon on the 12th November.

In the lowlands things were exceptionally quiet at Huay Tung Tao with many of the regular birds being absent. There was no sign of Purple Sunbird, Lineated Barbet, Rufous-winged Buzzard, Bright-headed Cisticola or Chinese Francolin but the Wire-tailed Swallows were present.

November also saw the return of Nordmann's Greenshank & Spoon-billed Sandpiper to Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia, with 1 Spoon-billed Sandpiper turning up at Khok Kham on 28th October. Any visitors coming to Thailand at the end of October/beginning of November would do well to visit Khok Kham as the bird always seems to turn up there first.

In the freshwater wetlands weavers and jacanas were in short supply, but plenty of other birds were to be found such as Reed Warblers, Spot-billed Pelican and Black-headed Ibis.

I hope that these random notes will be of some assistance to birders planning their trips to Thailand in the future.