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: Indochinese Bushlark

A few days ago I was looking for an Indochinese Bushlark just outside Kaeng Krachan national park for some visitors who had never seen one. After obtaining a few brief flight views of one bird in some scubby grassland a few minutes later one crossed the road in front of us and settled in the roadside vegetation.

We drew alongside it and the bird did not fly away allowing us good views which allowed us to notice that it was moulting heavily. I then got out of the vehicle to see if I could take a photo of the bird and was amazed that it did not fly away or run away, allowing me to take a number of photographs at very close range.

Indochinese Bushlark

We could only assume that as the bird was moulting it was in fact incapable of flight. Whatever the reason that it did not disappear, it gave me an opportunity to get close to it that I am not likely to ever have again.

Thailand Birding: Kaeng Krachan

Unseasonal weather continues in Thailand and we ran into overcast skies and mist at Kaeng Krachan which made the general levels of activity lower than would be expected. However, what we lost in activity we made up for with quality birds. The wet weather seems to have fooled some species into thinking the wet season is arriving and it is time to breed and this meant that we were able to get good sightings of Silver-breasted Broadbill and Black-and-red Broadbill, both species that are hard to find at Kaeng Krachan outside of the breeding season.

Some other excellent birds that we found were a pair of Bamboo Woodpeckers, Black-and-buff Woodpeckers, Black-throated Laughingthrush, Collared Babbler, Red-headed Trogon and Ratchet-tailed Treepie at Km 27.5 as well as Great Hornbills and White-handed Gibbons in a fruiting tree in the same area.

The White-fronted Scops Owls are still roosting in the same spot near stream 2 and two Tickell's Brown Hornbill nests are also active in the same area; we also found Black-and-yellow Broadbill in the same area.

Staying at Ban Maka provided a few interesting sightings too with Oriental Pied Hornbill coming to the bananas at the feeder next to the restaurant as well as a female White-shouldered Starling on a flowering tree and an Orange-headed Thrush hanging around the restaurant.

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Also in the garden at Ban Maka were a pair of Black-hooded Orioles busy making a nest, which made obtaining excellent views very easy indeed, and a Stripe-throated Bulbul nest right next to the restaurant - be careful not to disturb it please!

Stripe-throated Bulbul in the nest

So, despite less than optimal weather Kaeng Krachan is still providing birders with some great sightings right now; other interesting species that we saw in three days included Drongo Cuckoo, Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Golden-crested Myna, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Mountain Hawk Eagle and Orange-breasted Trogon; the bird spectacular at Lung Sin hide also contributed to a very memorable few days at Kaeng Krachan.

Thailand Birding: Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia

The dreary weather in Thailand continues and we had to deal with drizzle, mist and low cloud today at Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia. However, we did not let this stop us from finding 3 Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Pak Thale within 10 seconds of beginning our search!

We were able to watch these critically endangered birds for about 30 minutes before they moved on to another area to feed. Also at Pak Thale were 2 Far Eastern Curlew with the Eurasian Curlew flock (identifying them in flight is really the only way), 1 juvenile Black-tailed Gull, 1 Dunlin, 3 Red Knot with a large group of Great Knot, 3 Pied Avocets and a Mangrove Whistler in nearby mangrove trees.

Long-toed Stint

Moving on to Laem Pak Bia we managed to beat the mist and find a total of 39 Nordmann's Greenshank hanging out with Grey Plovers and Great Knots. A flock of 43 Pied Avocets was an unusually high number and more than 50 Asian Dowitchers were seen in the same pool that they have been in for more than a month.

Our afternoon boat trip to Laem Pak Bia sand spit was pleasant and quite successful with a first winter Heuglin's Gull, 1 Lesser Crested Tern, 8 Great Crested Terns, 5 Malaysian Plovers, a male and female White-faced Plovers (alone, not together), 2 Chinese Egrets, 3 Pacific Reef Egrets keeping everyone happy.

Unfortunately, bad weather meant that we had a less than satisfying ending with no sign of any Indian Nightjars where they are usually common.