Lerxst
Well-known member
Hello again,
I am a day early, but here it is. Week 6 was another full week of work, followed by a weekend of birding.
This week's update covers our first of many jaunts out from Bangkok by air. We will be flying out and back to Bangkok now for every weekend (plus some holidays) until at least mid-June before the first respite.
I am going to come to hate airports even more than I hate them now. That's something.
This trip started at DMK, the "old" Bangkok airport, which seems more and more antiquated every time we go there. Flying on AirAsia, we were first herded into the Gates 1-6 waiting room, which really has nothing to do with gates. It is more like a bus station, complete with incomprehensible audio, poor food choices, inadequate seating, and many screaming children. From here the crowds are led into buses which drive out to the plane on the tarmac.
Luckily the trip got much better after that. We were picked up from central Kuala Lumpur by Weng Chun, whom we hired as a guide last year as well. He is a fantastic birder and I cannot recommend him highly enough. I had sent him a long list of targets including low- and high-elevation birds, and he designed an itinerary that aggressively went after it. All said we picked up 63 new birds for the year, and 32 lifers.
At this point, I have 376 species, or 15.0% of the 2,500 goal, with 11.5% of the year used up.
Our weekend trip involved three sites: first, the outskirts of the Krau Wildlife Reserve, which was fantastic; second, Fraser's Hill, which was cold, windy, and damp; and finally the National Botanic Gardens in Kuala Lumpur, which was hot and crowded, but also productive. Weng was able to coax out both Blue-Winged and Hooded Pittas at the Gardens; no meant feat, given the human disturbance in the area.
Of the three sites, Fraser's Hill was decidedly the least productive; but worth the effort to visit, of course. With an elevation of 1.5 km it can be rather cool; this is the second time I've gone and forgot to pack warm clothes. I won't make that mistake again. It is also a bit of a challenge to get a beer there; Weng says that there are three places that serve it in town, and we've been to two of them now.
More details are at https://legallyblindbirding.net/2018-gbwy/
Another full week of work, and then we head to Siem Reap, Cambodia, Friday night. We will go to Prek Toal and Ang Trapeang Thmor.
Cheers,
Michael
I am a day early, but here it is. Week 6 was another full week of work, followed by a weekend of birding.
This week's update covers our first of many jaunts out from Bangkok by air. We will be flying out and back to Bangkok now for every weekend (plus some holidays) until at least mid-June before the first respite.
I am going to come to hate airports even more than I hate them now. That's something.
This trip started at DMK, the "old" Bangkok airport, which seems more and more antiquated every time we go there. Flying on AirAsia, we were first herded into the Gates 1-6 waiting room, which really has nothing to do with gates. It is more like a bus station, complete with incomprehensible audio, poor food choices, inadequate seating, and many screaming children. From here the crowds are led into buses which drive out to the plane on the tarmac.
Luckily the trip got much better after that. We were picked up from central Kuala Lumpur by Weng Chun, whom we hired as a guide last year as well. He is a fantastic birder and I cannot recommend him highly enough. I had sent him a long list of targets including low- and high-elevation birds, and he designed an itinerary that aggressively went after it. All said we picked up 63 new birds for the year, and 32 lifers.
At this point, I have 376 species, or 15.0% of the 2,500 goal, with 11.5% of the year used up.
Our weekend trip involved three sites: first, the outskirts of the Krau Wildlife Reserve, which was fantastic; second, Fraser's Hill, which was cold, windy, and damp; and finally the National Botanic Gardens in Kuala Lumpur, which was hot and crowded, but also productive. Weng was able to coax out both Blue-Winged and Hooded Pittas at the Gardens; no meant feat, given the human disturbance in the area.
Of the three sites, Fraser's Hill was decidedly the least productive; but worth the effort to visit, of course. With an elevation of 1.5 km it can be rather cool; this is the second time I've gone and forgot to pack warm clothes. I won't make that mistake again. It is also a bit of a challenge to get a beer there; Weng says that there are three places that serve it in town, and we've been to two of them now.
More details are at https://legallyblindbirding.net/2018-gbwy/
Another full week of work, and then we head to Siem Reap, Cambodia, Friday night. We will go to Prek Toal and Ang Trapeang Thmor.
Cheers,
Michael
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