Two to Thailand: Spoon-billed Sandpipers, Giant Nuthatches and Big Cats (1 Viewer)

Chiang Saen. 25 December.

Christmas Day, northern Thailand. Not a full day's birding, largely due to wasting an hour or so after locking the keys in the car and another couple visiting Chiang Rai city, but nevertheless with a change of location some good stuff seen.

In the so-called 'Golden Triangle', the temples and markets of Chiang Saen sit right on the junction of three countries, the mighty Mekong River all that separates you from Laos just opposite and Myanmar a few hundred metres upriver. Sipping coffee in a riverside cafe, scope against the table and Green Bee-eaters hawking adjacent, the goal here was to find was to find River Lapwing, a localised species that favours the sand banks in this area. Plain Martins zipped the river, a Temminck's Stint and Little Ringed Plover trotted the edges of mid-channel islands, a Grey Heron lumbered down the river. No immediate sign of the River Lapwing, but a short stroll soon changed that ...a rather smart pair found on a small side channel a half kilometre downchannel. A bonus indeed, one Yellow-legged Buttonquail also seen here, an individual running out from trackside scrub on the river embankment!

Next came the very clever move of locking the car keys in the boot! Duh! Waited for an hour while various locksmiths were apparently 'on the way', then got news that actually no locksmith could be found! Hmpph! Smashed a small side window and opened the car ...we were mobile again, albeit with a new ventilation system!

Needing to go to Chiang Rai, there was still time to pop into Chiang Saen Lake on the way - vast beds of water lily and gentle bays, large flocks of Lesser Whistling Ducks and gaggles of Purple Swamphen, it was certainly a picturesque spot. Sitting in the shadow of Wat Phrathatsiwiangkan temple, we only had an hour here, but most relaxing it was, Purple Herons winging over, Spot-billed Ducks and flocks of Coots drifting by, one Eastern Marsh Harrier flushing the lot. Also Mallard here, my only sighting in Thailand. Unfortunately soon I had to go, town was calling, the birding over.

So was that it for Christmas Day? No real birding treat? Na, absolutely not, the real treat was still to come! After a short stop in Chiang Rai, I was back at Chiang Saen Lake, this time at Wat Bamakno on the opposite side. It was now an hour or so before sunset and one of the true ornithological spectacles of Thailand was about to unfold!

Gazing across the adjacent marsh, great pods of Purple Swamphens clambered through the rank vegetation, Little Egrets picked their way through shallows, the first drifts of Barn Swallows came hawking in, later many would congregate to roost. Scanning either way, no hints in the skies of the birds that would soon come pouring in. Three Chestnut-tailed Starlings flew over, Oriental Magpie Robins scuttled from neighbouring bush, the sun began to edge towards the horizon. Then, almost simultaneously, in straggling waves from both the north and south, they began to arrive, first a few singles, then pairs and small flocks, then a mass of them, settling on the marsh directly in front, rising and chasing a little, little clouds of them circling in the growing twilight. Absolutely spectacular, the birds were harriers - hundreds and hundreds, Pied Harriers and Eastern Marsh Harriers everywhere. What a glorious sight, by dark there were perhaps 700 of these beauties littering the ground in front, the two species intermingling, stunning male Pied Harriers all lined out, interspersed by the others. It was very difficult to get any accurate counts, as birds were streaming in right to dark and a second group were landing a little to the north, but it certainly seemed that the Pied Harriers were the most numerous in the roost. Either way, it was a stunning spectacle, a nice way to end Christmas Day! For added effect, a flock of about 250 Red-throated Pipits also dropped in to roost!

Jos Stratford said:

...........that I began the daunting task of trying to separate the umpteen phylloscs that winter in northern Thailand ... gee, they are designed to induce headaches! Two pages of near identical leaf warblers in the fieldguide, confused even more so by the fact that half seem to have been split and renamed since the guide was published. And then, just to add to the challenge, the little blighters themselves liked nothing more than to stick to the canopy of the forest far above, flocks of them flitting by, mere flits the standard view, the result being a cranked neck and a half imagined presence or absence of a feature that may have been diagnostic or not. Needless to say, I didn't do very well with these on the first day!

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Frustratingly similar to China where we have at least 23 Phylloscs, 13 Sylvia, and another 11 mixed leaf-warblers plus 10 Grasshopper Warblers, 11 Reed Warblers & 25 Bush warblers !! Many, I'm sure, endemic to this area of Asia so common to both countries.
I have a technique for IDing them now .. photograph them as best I can so I don't waste time trying to ID them on the spot, then ask the China warbler experts on BF for help if I can't ID them myself at home (as is often the case) !

Jos Stratford said:

........ gee, those initial thoughts of not liking tropical forests were far from my thoughts now!

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o Quite enchanting aren't they. They may be mostly dim (so difficult for photography - especially birds in the canopy) and certainly not the easiest places to bird, but the rewards are more than worth it. If only I could tick those pittas ...

And then the Leopard and Dhole .. OMSJ. Wife is away for a few weeks in March/April .. you may have just convinced me of where I need to go to take advantage of her absence.

Jos Stratford said:

gee, those initial thoughts of not liking tropical forests were far from my thoughts now...

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Frogfish said:

Quite enchanting aren't they...

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Still hasn't changed my overall impression I'm afraid ...when in the tropical forests, they are great - but they just don't do it for me, I never get the bug enough to make me push them up the list of places I want to return to.

Next trip, in the next few days, back to a more rugged wild type of place :t:

Chiang Saen. 26 December.

Whole day round and about Chiang Saen Lake, starting off on on the south and eastern sides, later to the bays either side of Wat Phrathatsiwiangkan, then rounding off nicely with another gawk at the harrier roost at Wat Bamakno.

A couple of weeks earlier, a Baer's Pochard had been reported on this lake, so I really thought it worthwhile to explore the lesser visited bays up at the far south-east on the off-chance ...slowly traversing the lake, I found no less than three Yellow Bitterns en route, plus plus dozens of Intermediate Egrets, Chinese Pond Herons and Purple Herons et al. And as far as Purple Swamphens were going, my brain was going into overload with the sheer numbers ...when the tally got to about 150, I decided to just add a 'plus' to the number and leave it at that! Also plenty of White-breasted Waterhens and, in the land bird category, four very nice Lineated Barbets, an impressive suite of shrikes (five Brown Shrikes, ten Burmese Shrikes, three Long-tailed Shrikes) and both Greater and Lesser Coucals. Ever present bulbuls of various shades along the way, so too a few White-shouldered Starlings and Black-collared Starlings.

At the south end of the lake, the road left the lakeshore, but, eventually, after several random turns down rough muddy tracks, we found ourselves meandering through a vast pineapple field. And then at the brow of a hill, so the lake opened out in front, shallow bays full of emergent vegetation stretching below. Little one decided to wander off and explore the pineapple plantations, I decided to scan the bays ...and there, little rafts of ducks dotting the waters. Hmm, I was sure there would be a Baer's Pochard drifting out there somewhere. Out came the scope, hundreds of Lesser Whistling Ducks again, perhaps as many as 200 Little Grebes scattered across the nearest bay, but most promising indeed, quite a selection of both dabbling and diving ducks bobbing around between the mats of floating vegetation. Pintail, Garganey and Common Teal quickly found, so onto the diving ducks. An hour and more, I carefully went through the visible birds, pairs and small flocks regularly emerging from behind vegetation, floating across small open areas, then vanishing again. The end result, sadly, no Baer's Pochard ...but still, not bad, at least 40 Ferruginous Ducks, plus six Tufted Ducks and one Common Pochard, all new birds for the trip.

Somewhere in the middle of my scans I had to break off to reclaim the little one, who had now made friends with pineapple pickers off yonder. So now, with my spotter aside and pointing up, soon I was looking up as an ace male Pied Harrier drifted over, the blacks and whites catching the morning sun a treat. Also here, several Common Ioras in a nearby woodland grove, one Racket-tailed Treepie and a flock of Japanese White-eyes.

Departing the area, one emergency stop to watch a very nice Asian Barred Owlet sitting on a roadside post.

After a bit of a detour to explore the Mekong River again, totally pointless from a birding angle, we then returned to the Phrathatsiwiangkan temple area. What I had missed the bay before was a large shallow bay to the direct east of the temple. Strolling in this area, a Striated Grassbird was nice, a Thick-billed Warbler welcome, but the best of the lot were the occupants of a couple of islands of floating vegetation. With perhaps 40 Purple Swamphens as sentry guards on all sides, the stars were Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, an amazing 52 in a single flock!!!

Well, it sure had been a good day, and there was no better way to end it than return to the harrier roost at Wat Bamakno. Swirling flocks of Pied Harriers and Eastern Marsh Harriers to a setting sun, bliss.

I visited this lake in 1989 - sadly no harrier roost in June, but there were Little Pratincoles on the river.

I will always remember it as the place I heard about Tiananmen Square.

Cheers
Mike

Chiang Saen/Doi Lang. 27 December.

Morning again at Chiang Saen Lake, hopes still that a Baer’s Pochard might be lurking. Alas, it was not to be, a good sift through the ducks revealing little over and above the birds of the day before. Highlights, Yellow Bittern again, two male Pied Harriers drifting over, one Black-shouldered Kite, a couple of Coppersmith Barbets and one Violet Cuckoo.

Having given Doi Lang relatively short thrift on the route north, my plan was to now return both to Doi Lang and Doi Inthanon on the way back, hopefully to mop up on all the key species that I had yet to see. And so it was, a midday departure from Chiang Saen and a mid-afternoon arrival back at Doi Lang. All the reports speak of the eastern approach to the Doi Lang Mountain as a horrendously rough track, difficult even in a four-wheel drive. I tend to take such accounts with a pinch of salt and decided to give it a go in my standard economy compact two-wheel drive. Rough it was, the guard at the national park gate giving a smile at my idea to ascend in this car, but unpassable it certainly was not. And as for birding, most excellent it turned out – I only had time to climb as far as paddies at km 20, but regular stops en route added a whole stack of good birds – a pair of Blue-eared Bee-eaters, three Great Barbets, the same number of Grey Treepies, both Black-winged and Large Cuckooshrikes, flocks of Pin-striped Tit-Babblers and many more birds. A stop at a large bridge with wide vistas added a Little Cuckoo Dove and Mountain Imperial Pigeon flying across the valley, while Lesser Racket-tailed Drongos and mixed minivet flocks (Scarlet and Grey-chinned Minivets) filtered through the canopy adjacent, with both Japanese and Chestnut-flanked White-eyes also present, along with assorted bulbuls and phylloscs. Finally arriving at the paddy area, amazingly having not scraped the car underside even once, I unfortunately knew I would have not enough time to go any further, so instead took a wander amongst the Water Buffalo ambling around the dry paddies. Pied Bushchats present, so too Stegneger’s Stonechats, but overall not a lot of birds here – one Dusky Warbler in a ditch, one Oriental Honey Buzzard on the forest edge, several Rufescent Prinias at the edge of the area, and that was about it.

As the sun dropped behind the hilltops, I thought it prudent to get back down the track before dark, so set off for the bumpy ride back down. At the big bridge, flocks of Cook’s Swifts were hammering up the valley, so too Asian House Martins (my only ones of the trip). As darkness fell, I reached the valley bottom and drove back to Fang, one more night in a hotel there.



Doi Lang. 28 December.

An excellent day on the western route up to Doi Lang, kicking off with three Hume’s Pheasants fighting on the road at dawn, the two males fighting on the asphalt whilst a female looked on from the verge. And the day pretty much continued in the same vein, a remarkably good spread of excellent species – another pair of Great Nuthatches in the pines midway between the two feeding sites, both Blue Rock Thrush and Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush in the same general area, Brown-breasted Bulbul just below the upper feeding station and then, in most pleasurable couple of hours, a grand selection at and around the upper feeding sites … male Himalayan Bluetail, male Slaty-backed Flycatcher, male White-gorgeted Flycatcher, three Rufous-gorgeted Flycatchers and two Large Niltavas amongst the haul, so too flocks of White-browed Laughing-Thrushes, Silver-eared Laughing Thrushes and Spectacled Barwing. Top of the lot however, requiring a clamber up an adjacent hilltop, four rather striking Himalayan Cutias, a prize bird! Also saw the Spot-breasted Parrotbills again, along with one Great Barbet, two Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpeckers and a range of more common birds such as Grey-cheeked Fulvetta and both Dark-backed and Rufous-backed Sibias.

By now, early afternoon, I moved a half dozen kilometres further up to an exposed hilltop for a little skywatching – stacks of both Cook’s and Pacific Swifts and a Crested Serpent Eagle, but otherwise not a lot happening. Three Himalayan Griffons had been seen a couple of day earlier by another observer. After a while, with the feeding station area quietening down, I decided to try my luck above the military checkpoint – although cars are prohibited to travel further, you are (usually) allowed to continue on foot after having completed a form with passport details, etc. This turned out to be a very good move – the habitat above the checkpoint is a mosaic of more open land and woodland patches – soon I flushed a flock of about 15 Olive-backed Pipits, then the first of my targets for this upper segment, a nice male Crested Bunting. The next birds though were a real surprise – feeding behind a water tank associated with the military camp, two simply superb Red-faced Liocichlas, a bird that certainly occurs in these higher elevations, but not one I had expected to find. Four Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babblers also here, the final finale to a very good day.

With that, mid-afternoon, we departed ...adding a very nice pair of Slaty-backed Forktails on the river just below the entrance gate. It was then a long drive all the way to Doi Inthanon, five hours plus that saw us arrive well after dark. Fortunately, the good folk at Mr Deang’s had a spare room, so we booked in for two nights.

Trying to finish this report a bit speedy, so pictures will have to wait. Next couple of days to follow...

I relent, a few snaps for this section...

And a Yellow Bittern...

Return to Doi Inthanon. 29 December.

Jeepers, what a difference a week or so makes ...whilst Doi Inthanon had not been exactly devoid of tourists on my first visit, it was absolutely heaving now! Celebrating the New Year break, it seemed every Thai within a hundred kilometre radius had descended on the national park, the previously deserted grassy green in front of the national park headquarters now a rock festival like jam-pack of tents and barbecues, kites rising into the air and squeals of people! Grassy patches elsewhere were much the same, winding queues of cars were snaking ever upwards towards the summit. Oo, quite a sight indeed!!!

Still, my goals were all pretty much restricted to the trails at km 34 and km 37 and, given these were 'just dank dark trails through forest', the general mass of tourists clearly saw no reason to pause … not a single soul did I see on either! My main target was Yellow-cheeked Tit, though there was any number of other birds that I would also be happy to see. With a constant stream of cars edging past, our day began on the roadside adjacent to the km 37 trail – with a view across secondary growth and the canopy, this makes for far easier birding than in the depths of the trails themselves. Kicking the day off, a nice pair of Chestnut-crowned Warblers in low vegetation, a Barred Cuckoo Dove flying over and no less than six species of bulbul in the surrounding bushes and trees. But for the glories, quite a bit of effort was required – switching between the two trails several times and birding mostly in slightly more open patches, the day's tally slowly rose ..Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Rufous-winged Fulvetta, Grey-throated Babbler, Golden Babbler, Blue-throated Barbet and on it went. At the forestry station at the end of the km 34 trail, a small picnic stop (courtesy of some kind Thais who insisted on plying us with food and drink), three more species added themselves to the trip list – Hume's Treecreeper in the pines, Plain Flowerpecker and Fire-breasted Flowerpecker in flowering shrubs.

Hmm, still a certain target bird missing though! Not for long however, the jewel in the crown of a large roving flock at the road-ward end of the km 34 trail, suddenly three gorgeous Yellow-cheeked Tits materialised, right little crackers. Like London buses, having searched for days for the first, I then promptly found another two, these feeding aside the road near km 37.

So, not a bad day so far. Thoughts of going to the summit were quickly dismissed, I could imagine the throngs of people there, so instead drove down the mountain to the dry forests near the park entrance. Ended up playing pooh sticks for much of the time, supposedly looking for forktails, but eventually started a hike through the surprisingly arid forest ...very quiet with very few birds seen, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, White-rumped Shama and Black-naped Monarch the only rewards for the first hour or so. We then got lucky with two birds ...first, a very smart Collared Falconet sitting on the snag of a dead tree, then second, following quite a scramble through thickets following the hammering, a stonking pair of White-bellied Woodpeckers, a really amazing bird!

And that was the end of the day, we returned to Mr Deang's quite early, watched videos for the evening.

Doi Inthanon. 30 December.

With most of the key targets bagged, I pondered my options for this morning, finally settling on a dawn start at the Siriphum waterfall, a picturesque spot that was mercifully free of people at this early hour. Through waves of Chestnut-flanked White-eyes, across the associated botanical garden I wandered, Short-billed Minivets and a stunning Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker also seen. Beyond the garden, on the rocks atop the waterfall, one Slaty-backed Forktail delicately picked its way; high above a Black Bulbul appeared in a tree top. Black-headed Bulbuls, Black-crested Bulbuls and Streak-eared Bulbuls also in the garden, but not much else. Fortunately, I then tumbled across a 'nature walk', which in reality was a simple path that cut across the slope above some cottages. A forest fringe type habitat, this turned out to be an excellent walk – almost immediately found three Emerald Cuckoos feeding in a small blossom tree, the birds seeming to be sunbathing half the time. A little further, and without doubt the highlight of the day, a mighty impressive flock of Silver-eared Mesias appeared, cracking birds and no less than 25 in the single flock! Wandering along, both Yellow-bellied and White-throated Fantails graced the pathside, so too a Streaked Spiderhunter, a couple of Taiga Flycatchers, a Little Pied Flycatcher male, several Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers and, always a good bird to see, one Speckled Piculet. Also added Arctic Warbler to the growing list of phylloscs, though I believe this is not a very usual species at Doi Inthanon.

Later, as the tent cities and Thai masses cranked up a gear into full activity, we made the mistake of visiting the summit – hmm, mid-morning and heaving with people, not exactly conducive to seeking out lurking thrushes et al! A very cursory look round added three Common Rosefinch to the day list, along with the expected Ashy-throated Warblers and Mrs Gould's Sunbirds, but I can't say we really put much effort in here, resorting instead to snacks at the Summit Cafe, then a rapid retreat down the mountain!

Today would be my last in northern Thailand, at dawn the next day we had a flight from Chiang Mai, so as midday slipped into afternoon, we departed Doi Inthanon and decided upon a random meander through farmland a little to the north. Rather hot at this hour, and nothing terribly unusual found, but still a nice selection of open country birds – Hoopoe, Indian Roller, Green Bee-eater, Lineated Barbet, Greater Coucal, etc etc. Also Brown Shrike, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo and Racket-tailed Treepie, along with my only Chinese Francolin of the trip, a single bird flushed from a overgrown farm field.

And that basically concluded my trip to northern Thailand, we drove the hour or so to Chiang Mai, checked into a hotel and took a wander in the city, stacks of Common Mynas roosting on power lines throughout.




Krabi. 31 December.

Very much a concession to my partner-in-crime on this trip, our Thai odyssey would conclude with a short added extension to the sunshine and beaches of Krabi Province in southern Thailand, the promise of crab-eating monkeys quite an incentive for a five-year old! And so it was, a 6.00 a.m. flight from Chiang Mai saw us touching down in Krabi two hours later, a twenty minute bus ride then taking us into downtown Krabi. What a super hotel we had booked – a balcony overlooking the river and limestone karsts, Pacific Swallows on wires just adjacent, a nice Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker in the tree outside and masses of swiftlets circling above.

First job was to organise a motorbike for the next few days and then off we went, a glorious 28 C as we zoomed up the road. Mere minutes from our hotel, the mangrove boardwalk was our first stop ... quiet on the bird front, but midway a crashing in the mangroves, then a thud as a creature landed on the roof of a small shelter. Eyes popping out from my co-traveller, swinging directly towards us was a troop of Long-tailed Macaques, aka Crab-eating Macaques. And as they advanced through the mangroves, what were they many of them doing? Eating crabs! Super, my promise of crab-eating monkeys was fulfilled! Pleasure soon turned to quite an element of fear however ...this were darn aggressive monkeys, one very large animal in particular coming for us, baring teeth and certainly looking intent on an attack. All the way to the end of the boardwalk, we slowly retreated as this beast continued to threaten, the animal mere metres away and showing absolutely no interest in backing off, my telephoto lens now serving as a baton to try and ward it off! When we could walk no further back, the water now behind us, we had no choice but to stay put ...a lot of aggressive show by the monkey, not exactly endearing itself to either of us, then eventually the monkey and whole troop gave up and dispersed into the mangroves. Hmm, can't say I was terribly impressed by these monkeys!

On the river, as we kept a wary eye open for a possible returns of monkeys, I found the first of the day's Brown-winged Kingfishers, big chunky things, quite a treat. Also a Brahminy Kite, lots of Striated Swallows and a confusing mix of swiftlets … I could see I would need to sit down a while and sort these out! One Dark-sided Flycatcher in the mangroves as we exited. Just beyond the mangrove boardwalk, the luxurious grounds of an expensive hotel also offer some quite good birding …we saw another Brown-winged Kingfisher here, plus more Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers, three Arctic Warblers, a couple of Hoopoes and two Coppersmith Barbets. Then we encountered another troop of Long-tailed Macaques, peaceful at first, they slowly advanced across the hotel lawns, biting open fallen palm fruits, several of the mothers carrying babies. Then once again, several of the more aggressive members of the troop changed ...even though we were not near, they came charging over and again started the threatening displays, baring teeth and looking every bit like they were about to launch an attack ...and given the size of their teeth, it wouldn't have been very pleasant! Fortunately I had now armed myself with a stick, this seemed to have the desired effect, though clearly did little to pacify the monkeys! It seems that the monkeys in the Krabi area have come to see people as a source of food and regularly harass to try and get food handouts, resorting to physical attack of they can actually see any food being carried. Not a very good situation, several folk have ended up in hospital as a result.

In the afternoon, we tootled round various resorts to the west, stopping in at a few beaches – this was supposed to be simply for the chance to paddle in the shallows, but I confess that I was actually looking for White-bellied Sea Eagles and rare pigeons. Rather busier resorts than I had been expecting, I actually saw neither, but I did add Pacific Reef Heron and a few Greater Sand Plovers.

Our beach tour was mercifully short and with a good hour or so of light left, we were back on the Krabi riverfront – the swiftlet numbers were amazing, flocks and flocks of them. I could see these were about to cause me a headache. Alternating between two vantage points, the end of the mangrove boardwalk and the balcony of our hotel, views were pretty good and eventually I felt reasonably confident that I was identifying most correctly. Though many were not particularly easy, especially those silhouetted against the sky, the majority appeared to be Himalayan and Germain's Swiftlets, but amongst them lesser numbers of Black-nest Swiflets too. Also, from the end of the boardwalk, low against the limestone karst directly opposite, three Glossy Swiftlets also appeared. I am not sure if this species is regular here or not. So, if I hadn't completely messed up, the grand swiftlet cocktail actually consisted of four species. Either way, quite an impressive sight they were, especially with all the added Striated Swallows and Pacific Swallows mingling with them.

So it was now New Year's Eve, a pleasant warm evening to cruise around Krabi town and eat in the street markets and explore. Not a bad end to 2014.

Innocent-faced critters ...didn't get a shot with teeth bared!

Khao Nor Chu Chi. 1 January.

New Year's Day, up well before dawn for the hour or so on the motorbike to Khao Nor Chu Chi, the legendary ex-locality for Gurney's Pitta. A tragic statement on failed conservation efforts, it took just 28 years for the species to go from the much-heralded rediscovery in Thailand to total extinction, the last male apparently vanishing just a year prior to this trip.

Still, with a desire to get 2015 off to flying colours, still I decided to visit this lowland forest reserve, plenty of other birds to see I hoped. Asian Glossy Starlings, Yellow-vented Bulbuls and and Coppersmith Barbets were the first birds of the year, on roadside wires just before the reserve, but once inside Khao Nor Chu Chi, boy was it hard work! Dense cover, poorly maintained or non-existent trails and a bird density that seemed low ...all conspired to create the hardest going birding in all Thailand - long periods passed with not a single bird seen!

That said, quite an interesting forest with lots of big bugs and critters crawling through the depths and, as the day edged by, slowly the list of species edged up, finally ending up not shabby at all. After various attempts along trails that would have benefited from a hack with a machete, I then tried a long broad track ('H' Trail) that runs through the centre of the reserve - far better, I did at least see the occasional bird here - Rufous-winged Philentoma was new for the trip and, as I reached a clearing, a whole bunch of good birds appeared - seemingly the flowerpecker and spiderhunter capital of the world, I had a few crazy half hour where I encountered five of the former and two of the latter! In full, Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker, Thick-billed Flowerpecker, Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, Orange-bellied Flowerpecker and Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, plus Thick-billed Spiderhunter and Long-billed Spiderhunter. All bar one were new species for me!!!

Elsewhere however, it was back to the real grind ...an Arctic Warbler here, a Black-naped Monarch there, occasional Ochraceous Bulbuls or Black-headed Bulbuls in the canopy. The effort did pay dividends however - in between the periods of inactivity and just after getting half chomped by a mass of ants, I bumped into a very fine Raffle's Malkoha, followed shortly after by an Eye-browed Thrush and then two Chestnut-winged Babblers.

After quite a while, and separated by a touristy stop at the stream near the Emerald Pool for paddles in the shallows, we attempted the 'U trail', the key former haunt of the Gurney's Pittas ...a little sad walking this trail, even though there might be a very faint possibility that a bird lingers on ...needless to say, I saw nothing hinting of a pitta of any description, but two Cream-vented Bulbuls were nice, as were a Green-backed Flycatcher and, in a dank patch along a steam, a male Tickell's Blue Flycatcher.

With pleanty of time to spare, I thought I would then zip back to Krabi for another evening in the swiftlets ...but somehow I took the wrong turning and headed ever inland! By the time I had realised my mistake, we were miles and miles away from Krabi and so stopped instead at some random town for snacks. Filling the skies, vast clouds of Striated Swallows were descending, the town was serving as roost to many many thousands, a truly incredible sight.

So it was, far later than expected and way after dark, back to Krabi we arrived, both a little chilled by the long ride of the motorbike. Evening back in the street markets on the seafront, the tally of birds seen a mere 38 species - quite some quality amongst them, especially the Raffle's Malkoha, but I would have doubled that number by staying in the Krabi area!

Krabi. 2 January.

A moderately lazy day, but it did start with a cracking White-bellied Sea Eagle drifting straight over the hotel early morning! Also saw no less than four Brown-winged Kingfishers along Krabi seafront, plus three Common Kingfishers and, adjacent to the navy port, one Collared Kingfisher. Also here, flapping across the sea to offshore islands, two more superb White-bellied Sea Eagles, along with at least 35 Lesser Crested Terns, six Great Crested Terns and a couple of Common Terns. One Black-shouldered Kite also, so too a usual collection of common Krabi birds such as Indian Rollers, Common Mynas and Asian Glossy Starlings.

For the greater part of the day however, we zipped over to the beaches around Klong Moung, a half hour or so on the motorbike. Found some near deserted beaches and relaxed half the day, three Lesser Frigatebirds meandering around the bay for a few hours, Pacific Reef Herons paddling the surf. Checking the adjacent scrub on occasion added a Red-throated Barbet and a couple of Pied Trillers, plus plentiful Brown-throated Sunbirds, four Coppersmith Barbets, several Asian Koels and other odds and ends, including Common Ioras, Thick-billed Spiderhunter and Pied Fantail.

On route back, taking a stroll after an ice cream, we stumbled across a massive mist net slung in front of a small marsh …four metres high and about twenty metres in length, several dead bats were tangled within, one very alive Spotted Dove too. I was not too impressed by this, so while my little partner kept an eye out for potential owners of the net, I proceeded to free the dove, then cut down the entire net! Quite relieved to have not encountered any angry owners of the net, we made a quick exit on the motorbike, destroying the net and disposing of it later.

And so the day ended, very much a concession day to my smaller co-traveller, but quite a nice selection of species to boot.



Krabi. 3 January.

Our final day in Thailand. And to mark the day, we rose early for one last outing on the motorbike, zooming off to the nearby temple of Tiger Caves – a popular tourist destination, the site is also pretty good for wildlife with densely forested cliffs rising from the rear of the temple complex. This was actually a pretty impressive locality for birds – Blue RockThrushes on the temples and, in roving flocks, lots of small birds along the forest edge: a little flock of Pin-striped Tit-Babblers, two Drongo Cuckoos, a Swinhoe’s Minivet, three Bar-winged Cuckoo-shrikes, two Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers and on the list went. Five Orange-bellied Green Pigeons flew along the slope, at least eight Ruby-cheeked Sunbirds fed along the path, so too one Plain Sunbird and a couple of Olive-backed Sunbirds. And then we saw monkeys …arghh! Fearing a repeat of the aggression of a couple of days before, we were mighty happy to find these were a rather friendlier bunch – restoring a little faith in the monkey mix of Krabi, these were not Long-tailed Macaques, but the dainty Dusky Langurs instead, a dozen of them in all, golden babies under mothers’ arms, all peaceful and quiet.

And with that, our time was over. Back to Krabi town we went, reluctantly handing our motorbike back and checking out from the hotel. ‘What’s that?’ inquired the little one. ‘Er?’ said I, glancing up to where she was pointing. ‘Germain’s Swiftlets’. A disbelieving look from her, ‘No, not them, higher’. I looked again. ‘Oo, a Booted Eagle!’ It was our last species for the trip, not a bad was to conclude.

At midday, we took a domestic flight from Krabi to Bangkok, then took the free bus transfer across the city to the international airport. With a couple of hours to spare we settled down to watch videos, so much so that we forgot to watch the time …missed final check-in, got a kind Thai lady to rush us through, then spent our last moments in Thailand running like crazy to get to the gate before it closed! Several hours later, we touched down in Qatar, some hours more and we were back in the chill of mid-winter Eastern Europe. Neither of us were particularly happy to be back!

The End!

Jos
Another absolutely superb report, thanks for the read. Looking forward to the next one. Get writing that book of your travels.

Again, many thanks.

Phil

Brilliant stuff Jos.

Your Leopard experience at KK trumps mine but I'm not too upset :t:

One of the locals told us how excited he was to have once seen a leopard for five seconds or so in his 33 years at the site (I recall). The next evening, we were driving down from the top at KK when a shape appeared in our headlights; a large black cat. We drove right up to it and enjoyed fantastic views of a (black) leopard as it sauntered down the track at point blank range. We followed this up with good views of Porcupine.

Also scored Grey Peacock Pheasant and other goodies at KK. Wonderful site.

Nice write-up Jos, glad you had a good time. And good to see there's plenty to go back for, as a family trip next time, especially as the boys are taking to birding and wildlife so well.

Cheers

James

Thanks for another gripping report!

Cheers all, a nice destination is Thailand, no doubt.

In hindsight, the Pak Thale/Kaeng Krachen segment was certainly the most enjoyable ...and left me wanting for more. If I were to repeat, I would cut out Chiang Doi completely and sling the extra time into KK ...thinking about it, I'd be tempted to actually skip the whole north and simply the spend the whole month at Kaeng Krachen

As for the little traveller, she had a wail of a time, especially once perched on the back of a motorbike! Throughout the trip, the Thai people were absolutely captivated by her ...and I think folk took more photographs of her than I did of birds! Warm welcoming people throughput.


Right, enough of that, back to proper travel now, where you need to suffer freezing conditions and sleep out on wild windswept headlands

Jos Stratford said:

Cheers all, a nice destination is Thailand, no doubt.
Right, enough of that, back to proper travel now, where you need to suffer freezing conditions and sleep out on wild windswept headlands

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Wonderful trip report, greatly enhanced by the presence of a discerning birding partner!
The trip becomes that much more real for ordinary mortals when 'proper travel' is confined to quarters.