Thaibirds and more

 I don't know how many records there are of Brown Noddy in Thai waters but there certainly are not many. Together with 5 Expat birders here in Thailand we hired a boat in search of one that had been reported in the Paktaley area. None of us had seen it anywhere so it turned out to be a successful and fun trip for all. The Noddy, being a tern, was feeding alongside primarily White-winged, Whiskered and Common Terns. Schools of small fish are common in the area about 10km from the shore line. It wasn't easy to hold the camera still in choppy waters but some frames turned out ok.

Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler and Davison's Leaf Warbler were easily the most common phylloscs.    It was a normal weekday when we visited the park but an incredible amount of traffic. Apparently the area has been popularized in recent years and the Thai middle class love to go for family outings in their nice vehicle to take in the scenery, cool weather, fresh vegetables and lovely sunrise/sunset. Pied Bushchat was common along the roadside. While photographing the Nepal House Martins I heard a little whistle. Not knowing what it was I tried some playback of the song of Jerdon's Bushchat. Out it popped! This is a hard bird to find in Thailand and a nice find.                                                                                                                                                                                A raptor was perched in a dead tree but I didn't pay enough attention to it. It wasn't until I checked the  images

 It had been many many years since I visited Pho Hin Rong Kla in the province of Petchabun. My good friend Bengt Legnell came with me on this trip as we both wanted to see the alleged Nepal House Martin on the mountain. We were not to be disappointed as we came across several hundred of birds if not thousands. One can only speculate as to the status of these birds. Is there a smaller resident population that increases dramatically in winter? Either way, the birds were a lot of fun to photograph. Fast fliers, twisting and turning made for challenging photography.  I used my Canon 7D with the 400F5.6. Had it on servo with 9 focal points and as high shutter speed as possible. The last two images are my favorite. Imagine trying to do the same with an old film camera? 

 I went to visit Prasae, Klang, Rayong, 2 hours SouthEast of Bangkok. Here there are some mangroves and areas where waders feed on exposed sandbars during low tide. During high tide they often perch on poles put in the water for various fishing contraptions. It is necessary to hire a boat and so we did along with a boatman. The birds have only fairly recently arrived from their breeding grounds in Siberia and were quite skittish. It was not as easy as I had hoped to get close to them. We counted 36 Nordmann's Greenshanks and 1 Grey-tailed Tattler besides the many Grey Plovers, Great Knots, Whimbrels, Bar-tailed Godwits, Common Redshanks and oodles of Sand Plovers. As I got home and checked my images I was pleasantly surprised to find this Spoon-billed Sandpiper in one of the images. This is the 1st time I have come across one outside of the sites on the Western coast of the Inner Gulf of Thailand.                                 Nordmann's Greenshanks h

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For some reason I have a special interest in shorebirds and try to visit whenever I can. It is rather long to get to Paktaley (2 hours drive) which makes it a bit of an undertaking. November is an interesting month though that normally produce big numbers of birds. I reckon some of them are still on the move but most will settle for winter in the Inner Gulf of Thailand. The prime target is always Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshanks and Asian Dowitchers. Having seen all of them already I spent time with everything else. I had come across a group of 30 some Red-necked Phalaropes and seen a few scattered ones in the area. I was aware of the 1st and so far only sighting of Red/Grey Phalarope some years back and so tried to see if any would be one of this kind. Since there is still a lot of water in the pans many birds were found 'knee deep'. I set out to photograph some Marsh Sandpipers when this Phalarope came real close to me. It wasn't until I poste

Off to the airport and a flight to Don Muang, Bangkok. Taxi to my house and pick up my own comfortable Toyota Camry. Drive to Kaengkrachan and discussing what strategy to adapt for the remaining birds on their respective lists. The lists did not correspond very well anymore so a logistic nightmare over again. On the way to the park we dropped by some fields and saw many common bird which included all 3 Weavers: Streaked, Asian Golden and Baya. Two of these were on their wanted lists so reason to rejoice again. We stayed at Baan Maka and hired the services of Piyak  as he has a sturdy off road vehicle suited for the road to higher grounds as well as being updated on the latest birding in the park. Two main targets were soon taken care off: Red-bearded Bee-eater and Long-tailed Broadbill. Both found  at their respective nests. I had heard of a Von Schrenck’s Bittern at a pond by the Broadbill’s nest a couple of weeks earlier. I was very keen on seeing if it was still there and I

In the afternoon we revisited Sri Pangnga National Park looking for Chestnut-naped Forktail. Instead we found a Hooded Pitta that Francesco had fun photographing. The next morning we chased Blue-winged Pittas in a palm oil plantation as it was on Leonardo’s wanted list. These birds have just arrived and were calling  so not that hard to track down. Then back to the park and waiting for the Forktail. As Francesco sat in the hide I walked off to look for other things. A male Rufous-collared Kingfisher perched rather close to me and I got my very own images of this elusive forest Kingfisher. Meanwhile Francesco had a pair of Forktails in front of his hide. Just as he wished! So late morning we drove off to Thaimuang about 90 km South of the park. Here is a known roost for Spooted Wood Owl. Inspite of 2 hours search we failed to find the birds. (I later was told by a local birder that the birds have not been seen for some time, at least it wasn’t us missing the bird for lack of trying). O

Ever since I heard of a Pied Cuckoo (Jacobin Cuckoo) being seen at Phuket I always wanted to see one. Then a couple of years later a pair showed up at Chiang Rai by the Mae Kong River but I didn't fancy a 1000 km drive. Thridly, last year another was spotted at Beung Borapet when I was in Europe. So when I saw a posting of this bird by Thanarot I knew I had my chance.  Thanarok kindly invited me to his home and we enjoyed a true Thai meal at a restaurant by the river.                                                      Thank you Thanarot! Very yummie! In the morning we did general birding in the wetlands surrounding Beung Borapet (240km North of Bangkok) and saw a lot of birds including a roosting Savanna Nightjar, Glossy Ibises and plenty of Streaked Weavers.......We then sat down to view the trees he had seen the Cuckoos in. After 2 and a half hours and no bird I thought; 'better pack up, bet that will bring it in, a bit sarcastically'. Before we got our s

I had heard of a stake out for Great Argus but during my research found  that it was being sold by a resort for a rather handsome amount of money. I kept digging and finally found the direct connection with the villager that initially set up the stationary hide by the bird’s lek. And that at a lot cheaper price then the upscale resort. Well, it wasn’t all that easy to get the communications right and even harder to find the villager  at his appointed spot. We drove to the km mark we were told only to find out that the road department had changed all the road markers. Through a set of nothing but small miracles we finally met up with the man deep inside the jungle only to find out that he meant for us to come a day later. Ha! Well, we found a very nice resort in the area some 20 km East of the entrance to Khao Sok National Park. Again, good food, warm showers, big bed and air-con for weary souls. The next morning we drove off to Sri Pangnga National Park about an hour’s drive fur

At noon I went to pick up Francesco and Leonardo at the airport. Francesco had graciously brought some Italian salami which I cherished throughout the trip. Thank you! The drive to Krung Ching took most of the afternoon. A better option is to fly to Nakorn Sritamaraht with Airasia. Hertz allow for free drop off of their vehicle if hired more then 5 days. We were greeted at a nice Homestay by the park and a sumptuous meal was waiting for us as well. The ranger Daang and his family has set up a little homestay with 4 rooms available. They are air-conned with hot water and a big blessing as opposed to using the park bungalows with all their ‘wildlife’ in the room, no warm water and no air-con. At the homestay you can also have 3 meals that are wonderfully cooked by the Grandmother of the house. The next morning we set out with our target in mind. We were accompanied by ‘R’, Daang’s nephew. It was his job to locate the Babbler and bring it to us. After about an hour of searching alo

Francesco Veronesi  and his birding friend Leonardo Beghellini had been asking me to see the Malaysian Rail Babbler for a long time. So when I got news of one showing at Krung Ching in Southern Thailand they immediately wanted to visit. Francesco is a dedicated photographer with over 3200 species in his portfolie as well as a lister and Leonardo is a global lister with over 6000 birds seen. Along with the Babbler they gave me a list with rather difficult birds and so I was faced with both a logistic challenge as well as finding the birds. I couldn’t set a fixed itinerary since we didn’t know how long it would take to nail down the Babbler. I flew down to Krabi in advance as I wanted to visit Satun some 4 hours drive to the South of Krabi. I used a Honda City from Hertz which turned out to be a reliable vehicle for the entire trip. It was interesting to see the landscape and the make up of this area as I drove through the western part of the very South. Satun ha

Man Nai Island, Rayong, Thailand 24 th of April 20014 For the last two years Fairy Pitta has been photographed at this island as the birds pass through on their way to their breeding grounds in China and Taiwan, having spent the winter in tropical Borneo. (Or elsewhere?) This year I found myself in Thailand in April, something I try to avoid due to the intense warm weather during this time. So, I hoped for the opportunity to visit the Island and was waiting and waiting for someone to give the ‘green light’, meaning the birds were not only showing but possible to photograph. Well, this year a banding station had been set up for the entire month of April which make access to the hill side not possible. In other words there were no regular Fairy Pittas being reported coming for worms. In the end I decided I better go anyhow before it was too late. Seeing the island itself is a worthy experience and the possibility of various migrants is exhilarating. I joined u