• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

RFI Khao Yai specialities (1 Viewer)

Larry Sweetland

Larry Sweetland

Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
I'm hoping to visit Khao Yai in a couple of weeks. I'd appreciate any gen on locations within the park where any of the following species have been seen recently, or even traditional good spots for them :

Blue and Eared Pittas, Banded Kingfisher, and the Ground Cuckoo.

Cheers,

Larry
 
Hi Larry

I am part of a team heading out to Thailand in March and we shall be at KY in early April. I am currently collecting gen and can offer this (not sure who it is from but relates to December 07 I believe):

"The CBGCuckoo is now the other side of the road to the campsite restaurant, behind the toilet block there. With Blue Pitta, Sibe Blue Robin, etc"

More gen as I find it

Paul
 
I'll also be in the area (central and north) at the very end of this month. Any info sharing is appreciated! If anyone getting back from trips can send on reports before I leave (Feb 26) I'd appreciate it...

Jon
 
Larry - was that you I met at KY yesterday and today? How many Larry's can there be in KY? Good to meet you, if so.

The new Ground Cuckoo spot is very much behind the toilet block, as described. It is extremely popular with photographers, so there is a risk it may be ruined pretty soon. There was some speccy plonker there when Larry, Larry's better half and I were there who had his head stuck out of the hide only a few metres from where the bird turns up. We should have chucked rocks at him.

Blue Pitta also there, v nice. Also White-throated Rock Thrush at other end of campsite and loads of birds generally. In fact, all of the decent birds I saw at KY in 2.5 days were in that campsite, or along Upton's Trail A (from the campsite). Every where else was frankly rubbish. Well, aside from White Crown Forktail on Upton's Trail B.

Other news, Limestone Wren Babbler showing v well at the newer Wat site that ends in Noi (near Sariburi - sorry dont have details here).
 
Banded Kingfisher - most of the time along Trail 6. Especially after the rocky streambed crossing.
Eared Pitta - Trail 6, usually a territory along the trail before that crossing, listen for the rustle of the leaf-litter. They extremely rarely respond to tape but are very confiding and noisy when feeding.
Blue Pitta - Anywhere but especially Trail 6.
Still haven't seen the confiding Ground-Cuckoo around the campsite despite many visits over the years, trail 6 is again a good spot for a wild-acting one.

Best of luck....
 
Hi John

Thanks for the 'in country' updates!

Where are you staying at Khao Yai? We have tried to contact Mr Nine at the Greenleaf Guesthouse without success. If anyone else has had any luck there we would be pleased to know.

A workable email or a phone number would be great.

regards

Paul
 
I stayed at the campsite with all the birds. Great birding, terrible sleeping. Apparently Thursday was a holiday in Thailand - I was wondering why the campsite was a lot more like Glastonbury festival than I had expected. Birds didnt mind though.

The trouble with staying in luxury outside the park is the drive in. Still, if you dont mind that, it would be a lot more comfortable. Its also surprisingly cold at 5am in Khao Yai.

Just saw one of these White Faced Plover efforts, on a boat trip from the harbour at Liam Pak Bia. Reasonably distinct, what with the lack of black lores and general white face effort. The bird was considerably more agro than its Malaysian Plover chums, chasing everything around. Also good selection of sand bar loving types, such as both Sand Plovers, both Crested Terns, sanderling etc. Well worth doing.

Also had much better views of the Spoonbill Sand once the sun had shifted round to the west.

Home tomorrow, work Monday, the horror, the horror

John
 
Beg to differ James but I bashed trail 6 4 times over the last 2 days and had no luck at all with Eared Pitta or Banded K :-C. Did see a Blue Pitta there though which I'd have swapped for either ! ;)

Also heard from a team at Khao Yai that there's a Silver Oriole and YV Pigeons visiting a fruiting tree two days running at km27 at Kaeng Krachan.

Nice to meet you John ! - any chance you can give us directions to this plover/ SB Sand site ?
 
Larry Wheatland said:
Beg to differ James but I bashed trail 6 4 times over the last 2 days and had no luck at all with Eared Pitta or Banded K :-C. Did see a Blue Pitta there though which I'd have swapped for either ! ;)

Also heard from a team at Khao Yai that there's a Silver Oriole and YV Pigeons visiting a fruiting tree two days running at km27 at Kaeng Krachan.

Nice to meet you John ! - any chance you can give us directions to this plover/ SB Sand site ?
Click to expand...

Sorry Larry, couldn't resist, just to prove to you that they really are there!

Tip for Banded Kingfisher - Learn the call in case you are not familiar with it - They suddenly become quite common then, also try the forest along the flat road beyond the 2nd stream crossing at Kaeng Krachen for them.

You could grip me off with Silver Oriole, was tempted to twitch it if it hangs around this week.

Pak Thale/Lam Pak Bia - Lots and lots of reports on the internet with directions, see eurobirding.com for reports. I would highly recommend hiring a car for this though, plenty of salt pans for the birds to get around. It takes under 3 hours to reach from Bangkok and is en-route to KK.
 

Attachments

  • Eared-Pitta_trail-6.jpg
    Eared-Pitta_trail-6.jpg
    78.8 KB · Views: 134
I wish you'd been there to point out the calls James ;). I was thinking about twitching the oriole too, though our plan is to go to Laos next, and I guess that tree won't still be fruiting in 5 weeks :eek!: I can't believe I'm thinking of twitching a single Silver Oriole in a single tree at this stage in my stoopid life when I still need Snow Finch. Had visions of hitching for it and hoping to hire a tent at the park somewhere ?
 
Warning! This thread is more than 16 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

S
Sri Lanka November 2023
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
sbradfield
S
S
Local Guides for the Guaviare State of Colombia
Replies
1
Views
458
temmie
temmie
Brian Stone
Tenerife January 2024
Replies
11
Views
1K
MKinHK
MKinHK
dwatsonbirder
Honeymooning: Palawan and Singapore
Replies
19
Views
2K
MKinHK
MKinHK
wolfbirder
GRAN CANARIA - 2- 6th February 2024
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
Mike Crawley
Mike Crawley

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top