Thailand Birding: Common Shorebirds at Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia

It is mid May now and all but a few of the commoner shorebirds have left Thailand and returned to their breeding grounds further north. However, I spent some time this week reviewing some photographs of the commoner shorebirds that I took at Pak Thale and Laem pak Bia earlier this year whilst leading a photography tour: Photography Tour of Thailand, March 2013.

Here are some of the photos that I obtained on the tour.

Wood Sandpiper

Temminck's Stint

Little Ringed Plover

Common Greenshank

Red-necked Stint

Usually some of the commoner shorebirds begin to return by the end of July; these are the non-breeders and birds that have failed at nesting. This is a good time to see some species in their breeding plumage, particularly Curlew Sandpiper.

Often by August or September Asian Dowitchers begin to pass through and by end of September shorebird numbers are really increasing as migration gets into full swing. Every year we wait for some of the rarer birds to return and usually they have shown by the end of October; the most awaited species is Spoon-billed Sandpiper and hopefully it will arrive again this year even though its numbers are very low now.

By early November all the speciality species of shorebirds have returned to Thailand and Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank, White-faced Plover and others can be found regularly. If you need any help finding them contact me: nickupton@thaibirding.com

Thailand Birding: Third Time Lucky?

With the weather conditions seemingly still good for finding grounded migrants I made my third trip in three days to Nakorn Sri Kuan Kan park. Arriving early at around 6.30am things were pretty dead on the migrant front; overcast skies were creating very humid conditions and with no sun to bring out the insects, bird activity was low. However, I had a chance to try and photograph some resident birds while waiting and got some shots of Vinous-breasted Starling.

Vinous-breasted Starling

Pink-necked Green Pigeons were in evidence again and a Green-billed Malkoha was among a flock of 12 Asian Koels sitting out in the open in a bare tree.

It took until about 9am for things to liven up and then some migrants showed, but mostly the same birds as I had seen on the previous two days, although some new arrivals did turn up. Today the total for Forest Wagtails was 3 and they were associating with an Eastern Crowned Warbler, 2 Black-naped Orioles, 1 Ashy Drongo, 1 Crow-billed Drongo, 1 Asian Brown Flycatcher and a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - a nice little party of migrating birds!

Once again there were quite a few Eyebrowed Thrushes and I saw a few flocks with a total of around 60 birds; not quite as many as yesterday but enough to get good views of a few.

At another spot some birds from the previous two days were still in the same place, including 1 male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, 1 female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher, 1 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, 12 Ashy Minivets and an Asian Brown Flycatcher which was aggressively chasing away other small birds.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

From the top of the bird watching tower I was able to get close up views of Ashy Minivet, Eyebrowed Thrush, 4 Dollarbirds, Pink-necked Green Pigeon and Brown-throated Sunbird. Several Chinese Pond Herons in breeding plumage were to be seen too as were two Javan Pond Herons also in breeding plumage. This bird is quite something in breeding condition, in contrast to its drab winter plumage.

I also added 1 Black-winged Cuckooshrike, 6 Black-naped Orioles and a male Mugimaki Flycatcher to my migrant list before stumbling into a Black Bittern in a swampy patch which was followed by a Malayan Night Heron! Unfortunately I only got brief views of this bird, which I have seen once before at this park, but I saw enough to be sure of its identification.

Another nice morning in the park, but it was not third time lucky in terms of finding a "lifer".

Thailand Birding: Sri Nakorn Kuan Kan Park Again

With rain all night I decided that it should be a good morning for grounded migrants and so went back to the park again this morning.

In terms of seeing different birds from yesterday it was a little disappointing, I was hoping for a new arrival of birds, but there was a good variety of species and a few surprises.

Many of the same birds were in the same places as the previous day with 1 male Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and 2 females, 1 subadult male Mugimaki Flycatcher, 1 Forest Wagtail, 4 Asian Brown Flycatchers, 12 Ashy Minivets, 2 Black-winged Cuckooshrikes, 1 Radde's Warbler, 1 Arctic Warbler all feeding in the same spots.

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

A few things were different though with a flock of 40+ Eyebrowed Thrushes landing in the trees around the bird watching tower. I watched them for a long time hoping to find something rarer among them but to no avail. However, the highlight of the morning was a fantastic Chestnut-winged Cuckoo which landed quite close to me giving me a great view and the chance to take a really bad photo of it.

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo

Amazing what photoshop can do; as poor as it is now this photo was much worse before a lot of work in photoshop - completely out of focus and dark!

After another short rain shower a few more migrating birds showed up including a few that I had not seen the day before; 4 Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, 1 Taiga Flycatcher, 1 Oriental Honey-buzzard flying overhead plus a female Mugimaki Flycatcher to join the subadult male.

Other migrant species that I saw this morning in the park were; Chinese Pond Heron, Drongo Cuckoo, Crow-billed Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Black Bittern, Dollarbird, Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, Hair-crested Drongos, Black-naped Oriole and Barn Swallow.

There were two other suprises in the park for me this morning too a Common Hill Myna and 2 Red-breasted Parakeets. It would be tempting to put them both down as of escaped origin but with strong winds last night with a storm the Myna could easily have been blown in, and a population of Red-breasted Parakeets are in the Dusit area of Bangkok - very close as the Parakeet flies!

Resident species included very many Pink-necked Green Pigeons and Koels plus Laced Woodpecker, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Lineated Barbet plus Collared Kingfisher and just as I was leaving the park a flock of 150+ Eyebrowed Thrushes emerged from the trees and continued their northbound migration.

Thailand Birding: Migrants at Sri Nakorn Kuan Kan Park

Yesterday morning I paid a visit to Sri Nakorn Kuan Kan park, close to where I live in Bangkok. This spot can be very good for migrants at this time of year so I was hoping for some good birds passing through. As it turned out, although there were quite a few migrant species to be found, there were not the variety of species that I was hoping for and have seen in previous years; perhaps I just missed the peak migration days or maybe it was that the weather was fine, allowing birds to continue their journey.

On of the nicest migrants I saw was this Black Baza, a species which can often be seen passing through here.

Black Baza

I was lucky enough to be standing at the top of the birdwatching tower when this landed in a tree quite close to me. For the rest of the morning I kept seeing it as it chased other migrating birds around, in particular, a flock of Ashy Minivets.

Ashy Minivet

This flock of about 20 Ashy Minivets spent the whole morning feeding on insects attracted to a flowering tree and this proved to be the best spot with 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Arctic Warbler, 1 Drongo Cuckoo, 2 Black-winged Cuckooshrikes, 1 Radde's Warbler and a female hepatic morph Himalayan Cuckoo also frequenting it.

Other migrant species I saw included 5 Chinese Pond Herons, 1 Black-capped Kingfisher, 20+ Black-naped Orioles, 2 Crow-billed Drongos, 3 Ashy Drongos, 1 Hair-crested Drongo, 1 Eastern Crowned Warbler, 1 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, 2 Taiga Flycatcher, 3 Asian Brown Flycatchers, 2 Shikras and 1 Hainan Blue Flycatcher.

Not too bad for a morning in a park but I was hoping for more in the way of flycatchers. Still, there were also a few interesting resident birds to see also with 2 Stork-billed Kingfishers, 50+ Pink-necked Green Pigeons, 1 Green-billed Malkoha and 2 Red-billed Blue Magpies, although the latter must surely be from escaped origin?

Thailand Birding: Summit of Doi Inthanon

Recently I had the pleasure of a very relaxing day spent at the summit of Doi Inthanon. I was accompanying Pieter Verheij and Roger Marchant who are both very keen bird photographers and wanted to take high quality photos of birds that they could get close to - well, Doi Inthanon with its semi-tame species was perfect for that.

We spent almost the entire day at the summit and over the course of the day excellent photos of the following species were obtained; Grey-sided Thrush, Bar-throated Minla, Silver-eared Laughingthrush, Buff-barred Leaf Warbler, Green-tailed Sunbird, Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Blue Whistlingthrush, Dark-backed Sibia and Yellow-bellied Fantail.

I managed to get a few nice photos too, particularly of the tame Minlas which I almost stepped upon at one point.

Female Green-tailed Sunbird

Bar-throated Minla

Silver-eared Laughingthrush with nest material

Other birds which we managed to photograph but not obtain high quality images of were Blyth's Leaf Warbler, Ashy-throated Leaf Warbler, Pygmy Wren Babbler and Rufous-winged Fulvetta.

A few other birds seen but not photographed were White-browed Shortwing, Flavescent Bulbul, Golden-throated Barbet and Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker.

It was a very nice day, taken at a slow pace which gave me time to look at species in detail and see things in their plumage and behaviour which I had never before noticed.

Thailand Birding: Large Waterbirds at Pak Thale

Most mornings at Pak Thale there are huge congregations of large waterbirds, mostly egrets but over recent weeks more and more other species have been joining them. 

Up until a few weeks ago there had been hardly any Indian Cormorants or Painted Storks in the area but there has been an influx; I guess that they are moving to Pak Thale from their breeding colonies, mostly in Cambodia, having finished nesting.

On 27th a flock of Painted Storks kept flying around before joining a large number of egrets to feed in a pool and then several hundred Indian Cormorants came in from the sea. Also amongst these birds was one subadult Black-headed Ibis. However, although I looked closely, there did not seem to be any Milky Storks in the area.

Painted Storks in flight

I am expecting there to be an arrival of Spot-billed Pelicans soon and hopefully there will be a Milky Stork or another rarity to join them.

Thailand Birding: Black-headed Ibis

I got lucky a few days ago with some Black-headed Ibises very close to the road near Wat Khao Takrao, Petchaburi. Usually sightings of these birds, in this area, are fairly distant and often made worse by heat haze, but these two birds were very obliging.

Black-headed Ibis, adult & subadult

These birds are to be found in this area all year round, with adults and juveniles often seen; this often makes me think that they must be breeding in the area at some unknown waterbird colony - this is not as unlikely as it may seem with large areas of habitat available that is virtually unvisited by birders. A nearby lake known as Nong Pla Lai, and which has access restricted by a locked gate, is a likely site for any such waterbird colony.

On 17th February I found a total of 26 Black-headed Ibises in the Wat Khao Takrao area.

Thailand Birding: A Morning in the Rice Fields

This morning I spent a few hours birding in rice fields near the Nong Pla Lai raptor watch site in Petchaburi province.

Rice Fields, Petchaburi

I arrived at first light with huge numbers of Asian Openbills landing in the rice fields and a few Black-crowned Night Herons making the opposite journey. I spent a few hours birding a small part of the rice fields, only walking about 1 kilometre in total; this allowed me to see a number of skulking and secretive birds.

Some of the more interesting species I saw were;

Bluethroat - 5

Oriental Reed Warbler - 18

Black-browed Reed Warbler - 2

Watercock - 1 female

Common Snipe - 3

Eurasian Wryneck - 1

Streaked Weaver - 46

Asian Golden Weaver - 17

Baya Weaver - 80+

Ruddy-breasted Crake - 1

Grey-headed Lapwing - 1

Eastern Marsh Harrier - 1

Black Kite - 1

Black-eared Kite - 3

Purple Heron - 4

Plain-backed Sparrow - 9

Black-naped Oriole - 1

The numbers of Openbills were quite amazing; hard to believe that less than 20 years ago there was just one small colony in Thailand.

Asian Openbill Storks

The rice fields around Petchaburi are an interesting birding site and somewhere that many people spend too little time in, missing many nice birds such as Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Jacanas, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Greater Spotted Eagle, Pied Harrier and many others. In the past I have seen much rarer species here, including Blunt-winged Warbler, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Comb Duck, Great Bittern and others. Lots more could be found by those who spend time here.

Thailand Birding: Doi Lang

I have just spent three days at Doi Lang in Chiang Mai province and thought others would like to know of some of the amazing sightings from the location. Now that the breach in the road has been repaired and that the mountain is accessible from Fang, there is even better birding on the mountain than before. On the road up from the Fang side there is a lot of great pine forest and we saw Mrs Hume's Pheasant and Giant Nuthatch on the way up. This forest is good for flycatchers and we found Ultramarine, Sapphire, Pale Blue and Slaty-backed Flycatchers. However, it is the photographic stakeouts that make for a spectacular visit.

Large Niltava

I took this photo of a male Large Niltava using a cheap point-and-shoot camera from a distance of about 1 metre as the bird came down to take mealworms. At the same spot I was mobbed by Dark-backed Sibias and also was able to photograph Himalayan Bluetail and Eyebrowed Thrush from a similarly short distance.

Eyebrowed Thrush

Himalayan Bluetail

Other birds that came to this feeding spot at the upper checkpoint on Doi Lang included Silver-eared Laughingthrush, Spectacled Barwing and Blue Whistling Thrush.

Spectacled Barwing

Further down the mountain some photographic hotspots have popped up with access from the Fang side with birds such as Spot-throated Babbler, Siberian Rubythroat, White-gorgetted Flycatcher, Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher, White-bellied Redstart all coming down to take mealworms, but it is the Rusty-naped Pitta and Spot-breasted Laughingthrushes which are the main attraction - both are fairly tame and can easily be observed and photographed after supplying mealworms.

Spot-breasted Laughingthrush 

These last two species are next to impossible to see under normal conditions so it is a real treat to be able to observe them out in the open - thank you to the Thai photography community for having the patience to create these bird hotspots and sharing them with everybody.

Other interesting birds we saw were Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler, White-browed Laughingthrush, Crested Bunting, Mountain Hawk Eagle and Slender-billed Oriole, all of which contributed to an excellent visit.

Thailand Birding: Boat Trip at Bueng Boraphet

Last week I took a boat trip on the lake at Bueng Boraphet to see the large numbers of waterbirds that occur there. At the "Nok Nam Park" on the southern side of the lake Mr Phanom has been taking birders and photographers out for many years and he always knows what is to be seen on the lake.

Our trip was spent mainly taking photographs of the commoner waterbirds; I have been out on the lake many times but it is always a beautiful sight to see so many birds amongst the colorful water lilies and lotus flowers.

I am not really a photographer but many of the birds were so close that I was able to get a few nice pictures using just a point-and-shoot camera.

Intermediate Egret by Nick Upton

I have used the above photograph as one of many updates to the Bueng Boraphet page on thaibirding.com.

On this visit we were able to see a large number of migratory ducks which had recently arrived; 1200 Northern Pintail, 800 Garganey, 9 Common Teal, 2 Ferruginous Pochard and 1 Tufted Duck; perhaps a rarity will turn up soon.

Thailand Birding: 2012 Year List

Every year I keep a record of the number of species I see; I don't go chasing birds for my year list but it is interesting to record what I see from year to year.

In 2012 I ended up with a total of 743 species having spent 3.5 months in UK and the rest of the time in Thailand.

I managed to get a few new species in 2012 which included Mew Gull, Northern Boobook, White-browed Fantail, Red-crowned Barbet, Balaeric Shearwater, Great Grey Shrike, Shorelark, Little Auk, Red-breasted Goose, Spot-breasted Laughingthrush and Slaty-legged Crake.

For my Thai list I also added Mandarin Duck, House Crow, Red-crested Pochard, Black-legged Kittiwake and Copper-throated Sunbird.

Currently, my 2013 year list stands at one species - this Peaceful Dove on the street in Bangkok as I went for lunch this afternoon!

Thailand Birding: Eared Pitta at Khao Yai

Eared Pitta is one of the most sought-after birds in Thailand and also a very tough one to find. It does not seem to call very often and I find it mostly unresponsive to call playback; one of the best ways to find it is to walk quietly through the forest and listen for it foraging in the leaf litter.

A few days ago this is exactly what we did on the nature trail which begins at park headquarters, Khao Yai, and around the halfway point on the trail we located a pair of Eared Pittas which we were able to view and I was able to follow them through the forest obtaining one of the worst photos of an Eared Pitta ever taken - at least it is better than no photo!

Eared Pitta by Nick Upton

The only other Pitta detected in three days at Khao Yai was another Eared Pitta which called twice on the Km 33 trail at around 5.15pm but did not respond to call playback. Blue Pitta, which is fairly common at Khao Yai, was silent everywhere we looked for it.

Photographing Insects

Bird activity has been at its lowest that I can remember in a dry season, mostly due to the strange weather patterns that have produced late rain and hotter temperatures than normal and which are now followed by wind.

Bird activity has been virtually zero from about 10.30am until about 4pm leaving a huge time window to fill; this is when it is good to be interested in photographing butterflies as well as dragonflies and damselflies as they are at their most active in the heat of the day.

I photographed the above damselfly on the stream near Haew Suwat waterfall, Khao Yai, in the middle of the day after trying harder than should be required to find even the commonest birds on 27th December. Many other damselflies were present as were large congregations of butterflies, making this a good spot to visit in the middle of the day.

Thailand Birding: Khao Yai Stakeout

The well-known stakeout behind the toilets at Pha Gluai Mai campsite, Khao Yai, produced a few birds yesterday morning. Most of the Thai photographers are camped out on Doi Lang and Mae Wong these days so there seems to be little feeding of the birds at this stakeout in Khao Yai and consequently birds that have visited in previous years are not performing right now: most notably Blue Pitta and Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo.

Although Phil Round had told me that the Ground Cuckoos had been calling a week earlier (although not seen) we neither heard nor saw this species at the stakeout and these days there are very few sightings at this formerly reliable spot.

All is not lost, though, and this great Orange-headed Thrush was extremely tame, coming within a few feet of me allowing for these photographs using a point-and-shoot digital camera.

Other species seen at the stakeout were a male White-rumped Shama, adult male Siberian Blue Robin and a pair of Puff-throated Babblers.

Overall birding at Khao Yai right now is very slow but we have seen some nice birds in Red-headed and Orange-breasted Trogons, Great Hornbill, Siamese Fireback, White-throated Rock Thrush, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Black-throated Laughingthrush, Long-tailed and Banded Broadbills, Slaty-backed Forktail, Golden-crested Myna and Great Slaty Woodpecker.

Thailand Birding: Shorebirds at Pak Thale

One of the most anticipated arrivals each year is that of Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Birdwatchers from all over the world come to Thailand to watch this critically endangered shorebird at Pak Thale and Khok Kham.

A few days ago on 25th October, 2012, I did a little birding at Pak Thale in the company of Jules Tolboom from The Netherlands. We spent around 1.5 hours in the late afternoon at Pak Thale watching large numbers of shorebirds.

Curlew Sandpipers with Broad-billed Sandpiper

Photo by Alex Vargas

We had a long hard look at all the shorebirds that could be seen from the dirt road at the Spoon-billed Sandpiper site at Pak Thale but despite looking hard none appeared to be present. In fact this is pretty much as expected as it was probably about 1 week too early for the bird.

Despite the lack of Spoon-billed Sandpiper there were very impressive numbers of Great Knot (1500+) and Eurasian Curlew (250+) as well as good numbers of Red-necked Stint, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Kentish Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Eastern Black-tailed Godwit and Marsh Sandpiper.

The most uncommon bird was one Eastern Curlew amongst the flock of Eurasian Curlews which I picked out due to its warm brown buffy appearance. Identification was ensured when it began to preen and showed me its dark underwing (pale/white on Eurasian Curlew). It ought to be noted that length of bill is not an identification point here where the female Eurasian Curlews have bills that are as long (if not longer) than the Eastern Curlews.

Other species present were Red Knot, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Spotted Redshank and Common Greenshank.

Elsewhere at nearby Wat Komnaram a Milky Stork was seen alongside two Painted Storks and 6 Black Ibis and 36 Grey-headed Lapwings were feeding.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper should be back next week!

Thailand Birding: Great Hornbill

There are lots of great birds to see in Thailand but one of the best, to me, is the Great Hornbill. Whilst it is not the rarest bird, it is certainly one of the most memorable and any sighting is a highlight in my opinion: a few years ago I did a survey and Great Hornbill was voted the third most wanted bird by birders visiting Thailand.

Great Hornbill Calling Poster Available on Amazon.com

Great Hornbills are striking looking birds but when you hear them flying over the forest canopy the sound is amazing. I have had people ask me in the past if a helicopter is overhead; the surprise on their faces when I tell them it is a Great Hornbill is quite funny.

I see Great Hornbills virtually every time I go to Kaeng Krachan or Khao Yai national parks, but it is one of those birds I never tire of seeing and every time it is one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Thailand Birding: Silver-eared Mesia

Johan Svensson kindly e-mailed me this photograph of a Silver-eared Mesia in a cherry tree; it is so nice I thought that I would share it with everyone.

Silver-eared Mesia by Johan Svensson

Johan correctly stated that it was one of my favourite birds, something that I have written about here: My favourite birds of Thailand.Silver-eared Mesia is a fairly common bird in the mountains of the north of Thailand but its amazing combination of colours always make it a welcome sight as far as I am concerned. I always encounter this species on my trips to Doi Ang Kang at various points around the mountain, but I find the Mae Per forest trail to be particularly reliable for it.

Thailand Birding: Day Trips to Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale

The Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale area of Petchaburi province has established itself as the best shorebird site in Thailand and one of the best in the world. What is impressive about this site is:

1. The Size
2. The sheer number of birds
3. The variety of species
4. The quality of species

Recently, I have been to this area 6-7 times and each time have seen 85 species plus, including a number of very rare birds and a few that are uncommon. It is not that unusual to see more than 100 species in a day.

On the 8th December I spent the day at Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale with Des and Tina Langford from UK and we had an excellent day starting with Nordmann's Greenshank (it's good to get this bird early before work on the salt pans flushes them away) and then moving on to look for Spoon-billed Sandpiper in it regular location (also good to see this bird early for the same reasons). This bird took some time to find and it was getting tot the point where we thought we might not see it; fortunately as things were getting desperate we found 1 bird on the last pool we looked at.

The Sand Spit We hired a fishing boat to take us out to Laem Pak Bia sand spit which is a great place to find Malaysian Plover. This is a non-migratory shorebird with a restricted range; confined to sandy beaches in Southeast Asia. As sandy beaches in South East Asia suffer from development pressure from the tourist industry, this species is threatened. The boat trip takes about 30-40 minutes to get to the sand spit and Malaysian Plover is easy to find. White-faced Plover is also usually present but often requires a lot more effort to locate - we found one in a roosting flock of Greater Sand Plovers, Lesser Sand Plovers, Kentish Plovers, Curlew Sandpipers, Sanderling and Red-necked Stints.

Freshwater Wetlands The Petchaburi region has a lot of freshwater wetland areas too and a short distance from the main shorebird sites are a small area where a good number of species can be found. From the main crossroads near Hat Chao Samran one should drive back towards Petchaburi and take the first right hand turning (about 1km). This turning is for a temple and as one approaches a village there are some nice reedy areas on the right of the road. Here we found Painted Stork, Asian Openbill, Black-faced Spoonbill, Purple Heron, Pied Kingfisher, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Oriental Reed Warbler and Greater Painted Snipe.

Also in this area was a very strange Little Egret with some sort of aberrant plumage.

The King's Project This area is great for seeing lots of birds at very close range. Lots of egrets, herons and shorebirds such as Pintail Snipe and Ruff can be seen easily. One must enter before 6pm but between 5pm and dark large numbers of birds come to roost in the nearby mangroves. In the region of 10-15000 Black Drongos sometimes pass through and in the winter there are always small flocks of White-shouldered Starlings too. We saw around 150 White-shouldered Starlings and some other good birds we saw were Oriental Reed Warbler, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Caspian Tern, Black-crowned Night Heron and Collared Kingfisher. Indian Nightjar can be found here too. Upon entering, one is sometimes given a brochure which explains what the purpose of this area is.

Conclusion Whether you are with a guide or choose to go independently, birders will find that Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale gives a great day's birding. Indeed, many experienced and well-traveled birders have told me that it was their best day ever! Most people visit for just 1 day but I am increasingly often spending 2 days in the area and by visiting a variety of habitats can see in excess of 130 species over the 2 days. I would suggest that more people take their time in this area and find many species that they did not expect on their Thai birding holiday.

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.

Thailand Birding: Birds on the Balcony

Today I received an e-mail from Jorgen Eriksson with a very nice photo of a Blue Rock Thrush attached (see below).

Apparently this bird made Jorgen's back yard in Bangkok its winter territory last year and now it has returned for a second year. I am constantly amazed at how many species can exist in such an urbanised area as Bangkok, a sentiment shared by Jorgen in his e-mail to me. In fact, Bangkok has quite a high level of biodiversity due to its fairly haphazard development; many areas have patches of wasteland and unkempt corners and these along with small yards, balconies with plants and a few parks creates a number of foraging opportunities for birds.

Even in an area as busy as Sukhumvit and its side roads birds such as Plaintive Cuckoo, Plain Prinia, Brown Shrike, Common Iora, Scaly-breasted Munia, Olive-backed Sunbird and Coppersmith Barbet can be found.

Particularly at this time of year, when migration is in full swing Leaf Warblers, Flycatchers and Shrikes often turn up in gardens of shopping centres, restaurants, embassies as well as Bangkok's parks, making it worth keeping ones eyes open even the most central areas of the city, indeed, Bangkok is one of the best places for watching House Swifts in huge flocks an hour or so before dusk - try standing on Chidlom Skytrain station at 5.30pm and watch the House Swifts swooping around in front of you.

However, if you see any Weavers flying around in central Bangkok they were certainly victims of the release-birds-to-make-merit trade: Weavers for sale on Sukhumvit Road.