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Best Places for Birding in Thailand in April (1 Viewer)

LaughingDove

Well-known member
I will be staying in Thailand for 12 days in April 2017, so far all I have booked is the flights. I know February is supposed to be the best time for birding in Thailand, but April is when I'm going and that can't be changed.
I will be travelling around with my non-birding family, but I would like to visit a few sites specifically for birding and ideally also do some birding around the touristy sites too.
So I would like to draw upon the collective BirdForum wisdom and ask about the best birding locations in Thailand for the first half of April!

Obviously I will be flying in and out of Bangkok, but otherwise I'm pretty much flexible to go anywhere. I will definitely have a few nights in Bangkok though, so I would also be interested in the best birding sites near to there.

Thanks very much! :)
 
Near Bangkok are Khao Yai to the east and Kaeng Krachan to the west. Don't visit them in weekend - they are INCREDIBLY overcrowded. Pak Thale should still have some waders in April, and is good for a family trip, with beaches and beach hotels. And is to be done in the weekend.

See also:
http://www.thaibirding.com/
http://www.norththailandbirding.com/

Thanks very much for the information and the links. All three of those seem to be very interesting places to visit.

Do you think places like Doi Inthanon or Chiang Mai would be worth visiting?

Both those sites and more list loads of birding sites all around Thailand so it's quite difficult to decide which look most interesting and which are best in April. Since I have no experience birding Thailand, I would like to visit a few places that have a wide range of Thai birds and a large number and diversity of species to make the most out of my time in Thailand.
 
I had a look at fatbirder.com and it says:

March-June is the second best time for both passage migrants and resident species, which are then breeding. The best areas are the West, Southwest and the south. The most popular birding spots are Krabi province areas such as the mangroves, Khao Nor Chu Chi and newly established destination is Halabala Wildlife Sanctuary in the far south, Narathiwat province etc.

Any thoughts about these places from people with experience birding in Thailand?
 
While you're in Bangkok Lumpini Park is worth a look. Easy to get to on the BTS or MRT. Quite a range of birds plus the Water Monitors are excellent value :). I've found the northern side just east of the two large lakes best but there are birds everywhere.
 
While you're in Bangkok Lumpini Park is worth a look. Easy to get to on the BTS or MRT. Quite a range of birds plus the Water Monitors are excellent value :). I've found the northern side just east of the two large lakes best but there are birds everywhere.

Ooh, that definitely sounds like a place worth checking out. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Hi LaughingDove,

The question is how experienced birder you are and how many South-East Asian birds you have already seen. For general birding, Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan can easily take 3-5 days each, Pak Thale area a day and a half. Chiang Mai is an hour flight north and several spots there can take a week or more, Krabi is south, so you must choose what you visit and miss.

To the south, Khao Nor Chu Chi is not so interesting after the death of the last Gurney's Pittas, and Hala Bala is unsafe due to Islamist terrorism.

If in Khao Yai or Kaeng Krachan it pays to book beforehand a bird guide at least for the first day, he will greatly increase your sightings. Lumpini park you should visit only if you cannot get out of the city into the proper wildlife habitat.

You can get an overview from downloading trip reports from good tour companies, e.g. Birdquest, to see their itineraries.
 
Hi LaughingDove,

The question is how experienced birder you are and how many South-East Asian birds you have already seen. For general birding, Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan can easily take 3-5 days each, Pak Thale area a day and a half. Chiang Mai is an hour flight north and several spots there can take a week or more, Krabi is south, so you must choose what you visit and miss.

To the south, Khao Nor Chu Chi is not so interesting after the death of the last Gurney's Pittas, and Hala Bala is unsafe due to Islamist terrorism.

If in Khao Yai or Kaeng Krachan it pays to book beforehand a bird guide at least for the first day, he will greatly increase your sightings. Lumpini park you should visit only if you cannot get out of the city into the proper wildlife habitat.

You can get an overview from downloading trip reports from good tour companies, e.g. Birdquest, to see their itineraries.

Thanks very much for the reply and the information.
I am quite experienced with birding in Europe, Africa, and Australia, but I have never birded South-east Asia before so the vast majority of birds that I see in Thailand will be lifers. As a result, I expect it will take a bit of time to get the hang of identifying Thai birds.

I will look into each of those places a bit more, but it seems that Kaeng Krachan is definitely somewhere that I want to visit so I think I may prioritise that one. I will have to discuss with my family of course to decide exactly which place(s) we will visit, but I hope to get to at least two and maybe three birding sites in Thailand.

I will do a bit more research into some of the other places and look into the possibility of a bird guide for a couple of the days as well. I looked at a few bird tour itineraries but I wasn't sure which of the places they visit would be best in April as it seems that a lot of the tours are around February.

If (more likely when) I have some more questions after doing a bit more planning and research, I will come back to this thread to ask them. Thanks again for your help! :)
 
Are you familiar with the cloud-birders trip report site (https://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport), if you look at their reports for Thailand and filter on April they have 80 trip reports for that month, which should give you a good idea of what birders see and where they go in April. I have been in mid to late March a few times, and from that have no doubt you will enjoy birding in April, there will be plenty (too much) to see as a first time visitor to Asia. In my limited experience the start of rains at the end of March and in early April can actually improve birding as many of the resident birds start to breed (and call/be more active).

There are great birds in the areas accessible from and around Krabi in the South, but personally I found this area harder work to bird than more central areas to the south-west of Bangkok. It definitely pays to hire a guide in the South if you want to see much, the birds are quite thinly distributed in the rainforest and mangroves, and unless you are familiar with bird calls from the area could be frustrating without a guide.

A combination of a day in the area around Pak Thale to see the salt pans and other coastal/wetland sites in that area, and a few days (3-5) in Kaeng Krachan would make for a good trip and a reasonably wide range of birds. There is a good range of height (and hence birds) available at Kaeng Krachan, bird densities are quite high for rainforest, and the forest is beautiful. It is reasonably interesting for a non-birder too - nice butterflies and some other wildlife. Non-birders might also enjoy the boat trip out to try to see White-faced Plover (less so that salt pans). My (non-birding) wife enjoyed Kaeng Krachan and the boat trip. One other advantage of this area is it doesn't require a flight to get to, and you could spend the money you save on that on a guide (with a 4x4 to get you to the higher areas of Kaeng Krachan).

Khao Yai and Northern Thailand I can't comment on, as I haven't visited. I preferred Kaeng Krachan because of reports that staff at Khao Yai were unhelpful, and it tends to be much busier.

Wherever you go I am sure you will have a great time.
 
Thanks for the information, particularly PJSharp.
I think we are going to spend four nights near Kaeng Krachan. A couple of people have suggested hiring a guide, but where do you hire a guide from? Is this something that should be done just on the day from the national park entrance/HQ or should it be done in advance online?
 
April is one of the best months in KK. Both breeding birds and migrants present. I live in Hua Hin just 1hr drive from KK. If you need any help or more information-feel free to contact me!
/Tom
 
Hi LaughingDove,

If it was me, I would hire a guide in advance. I reckon April is a reasonably popular time for birders to visit Thailand, and many guides are likely to be booked up when you arrive. There are expat and local guides based in Thailand - details via google, or you can look through recent trip reports and see who gets good recommendations. The main thing to check is that they have a 4WD vehicle so that you can access higher areas of Kaeng Krachan.

The other thing I would do if I return is book in to stay at Ban Maka (sometimes spelled Baan Maka), they have a water hole and feeding set up with blinds which attracts good numbers of birds to their grounds.

Happy birding, Paul
 
Note that April has the long public holiday for the Songkran festival from 13th-16th inclusive - you should avoid Kaeng Krachan & Khao Yai at this time, and ideally avoid driving anywhere as everybody is drunk and the roads become even more dangerous than usual (and that is saying something!).

April is the hottest month (typically high 30's Celsius and into the low 40s), but as we have had a rather wet winter I suspect we may get some rain in April and that will encourage the Pittas to start calling. Also broadbills will be into their breeding season and should be easier to see at Kaeng Krachan and Khao Yai.

In Bangkok Suan Rot Fai (my local patch) is worth a look - excellent as a migrant trap, easy to access from BTS Mo Chit.

Pak Thale will still have waders and they will be looking very smart in summer plumage. If you are here early in the month you may get a late Spoon-billed Sandpiper (they stay into the first week of April, may be a little later), and Nordmann's Greenshank may be a possibility. Asian Dowitchers move through the inner gulf (between Pak Thale and Bangkok) in April with flocks of up to 400 during our co-ordinated survey last year.

Doi Inthanon and the other northern mountains will still offer some interest, but wintering birds will be thinking about departing.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Since I originally posted, I have largely planned out the rough details for the trip (looking at the Thai Birding website and advice from someone on another forum who has been birding in Thailand before), but I could probably still do with some advice on finer details.

I have booked to spend the first third of the trip at Kaeng Krachan and have booked four nights (so three full days) to stay at Baan Maka and I have also arranged for a bird guide with a 4x4 for two of the three days that I will have to visit the Kaeng Krachan National Park. So it looks like that's good then, though the guide was only available for the second and third day of my time at Kaeng Krachan unfortunately. I am hoping to be able to stop at Pak Thale when driving either to or from Kaeng Krachan and Bangkok though this of course will mean an afternoon visit which would probably not be ideal.

After Kaeng Krachan I will be staying in Bangkok for three nights followed by another couple of nights around the Sriracha and Khaow Kheow Zoo area and having looked at the information on the Thai Birding page visits to Bang Phra and the Muang Boran fishponds are on the cards for two of those days.

After that though, I have another couple of nights that are not planned as yet with the night of the 13th and 14th and a flight out of Bangkok around 7PM on the 15th which would give me a full day as well as the evening and morning of the day either side to go somewhere for birding. Khao Yai would be the obvious place to go for that short stay, but as noted it overlaps with Songkran so I'm not sure if that would be a good place to visit at that time.

So suggestions for somewhere that would be a good place to stay for two nights for birding that is close enough to Bangkok but wouldn't be too busy at Songkran? Should I try Khao Yai anyway despite the probable crowds?
 
As others have suggested, Khao Yai NP can be busy - we stayed just outside the park during the festive period in 2015. If (when) I visit again, I'd stay inside the park and I'd advise this too if you are thinking of going - being there early and getting access onto the trails before the day visitors arrive (around 8am) will greatly increase you chances of seeing some interesting birds. If you look at the Thai National Parks website, there are options there for accommodation inside the park. If visiting with the family, there is good scope for other wildlife too - elephant, deer, primates, water monitors too, which I'm sure they will enjoy.
I'd also second the option of Lumpini Park in Bangkok - again an early start is necessary, but it can be quite good for incidental birding in an urban environment. The alternative is to follow David Gandy's advice and visit Suan Rot Fai as this seems to be an excellent area and likely offers more options than Lumpini. Enjoy your stay, Thailand is a wonderful country.
 
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