Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
I just spent a few days as a tourist in Luang Prabang, Laos. As others have noted, Laos, especially the settled part of Laos, is not a very birdy place, but there are a few things you can find. And while this wasn’t really a birding visit, since there aren’t many details in other reports about what can be seen there, I’m putting a quick report together.
The most common bird in Luang Prabang has got to be Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Flocks of them are just about everywhere. I think they live on the rice offerings at the temples and in peoples “spirit houses.” After that, you’ll frequently hear the “see-yee” of Yellow-browed Warblers and the song of Common Tailorbirds. If you find a fruiting tree you may find a flock of white-eyes. I identified one flock as mostly Japanese White-eyes, though I understand oriental and chestnut flanked also occur.
In the town, there weren’t many other species. I saw a couple of Olive-backed Sunbirds from my guest-house window one afternoon and occasionally heard Oriental Magpie-robin. On a morning walk up Phu Si Hill, I had a few Greater Coucals and a small group of Red-whiskered Bulbuls. Given the number of the latter species I saw in cages around town, I can’t be sure they weren’t escaped birds, but likely they’re common enough that they might have been wild. And for the record, I also saw White-rumped Munias for sale and release at Wat Phu Si.
One day, I took the standard tourist boat trip on the Mekong to Pak Ou Caves. I was stunned at how absolutely birdless the river was. We spent two hours getting to the caves, during which I saw four birds of only three species: a Little Egret, a lone Dollarbird perched at the top of a bare tree, and a pair of Small Pratincoles on a rock in the river. At the caves there were a few more species. Of course, Common Tailorbirds were there, along with Red-whiskered Bulbuls. I also heard a few greater coucals and a distant singing barbet, which I think was blue-throated. On the boat back to town I saw two White Wagtails. That’s it for 25 km of river. No swallows, no raptors, no lapwings, no birds perched up on bare trees, no nothing. Even a non-birding patron remarked about how little birdlife we saw.
The last morning I took a boat across the river to the Chompet District and wandered around a bit. I heard an Asian Barred Owlet calling a couple times, but the only birds that responded to its call on my iPod were Common Tailorbirds and Yellow browed Warblers. I did turn up a Fork-tailed Sunbird in one of the tailorbird flocks, and again heard a few greater coucals, but I only heard two new calls, and neither would come close enough to the path to see and identify.
Good birding,
Jeff
The most common bird in Luang Prabang has got to be Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Flocks of them are just about everywhere. I think they live on the rice offerings at the temples and in peoples “spirit houses.” After that, you’ll frequently hear the “see-yee” of Yellow-browed Warblers and the song of Common Tailorbirds. If you find a fruiting tree you may find a flock of white-eyes. I identified one flock as mostly Japanese White-eyes, though I understand oriental and chestnut flanked also occur.
In the town, there weren’t many other species. I saw a couple of Olive-backed Sunbirds from my guest-house window one afternoon and occasionally heard Oriental Magpie-robin. On a morning walk up Phu Si Hill, I had a few Greater Coucals and a small group of Red-whiskered Bulbuls. Given the number of the latter species I saw in cages around town, I can’t be sure they weren’t escaped birds, but likely they’re common enough that they might have been wild. And for the record, I also saw White-rumped Munias for sale and release at Wat Phu Si.
One day, I took the standard tourist boat trip on the Mekong to Pak Ou Caves. I was stunned at how absolutely birdless the river was. We spent two hours getting to the caves, during which I saw four birds of only three species: a Little Egret, a lone Dollarbird perched at the top of a bare tree, and a pair of Small Pratincoles on a rock in the river. At the caves there were a few more species. Of course, Common Tailorbirds were there, along with Red-whiskered Bulbuls. I also heard a few greater coucals and a distant singing barbet, which I think was blue-throated. On the boat back to town I saw two White Wagtails. That’s it for 25 km of river. No swallows, no raptors, no lapwings, no birds perched up on bare trees, no nothing. Even a non-birding patron remarked about how little birdlife we saw.
The last morning I took a boat across the river to the Chompet District and wandered around a bit. I heard an Asian Barred Owlet calling a couple times, but the only birds that responded to its call on my iPod were Common Tailorbirds and Yellow browed Warblers. I did turn up a Fork-tailed Sunbird in one of the tailorbird flocks, and again heard a few greater coucals, but I only heard two new calls, and neither would come close enough to the path to see and identify.
Good birding,
Jeff
