The Gulf Coast

Myself, Fred and Marian Rowe have spent the last three days birding the coast at Pak Thale/Lam Pak Bia, where as usual there were plenty of birds. In a couple of visits to Pak Thale, we managed to see a single Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Terek Sandpiper, Red Knot, 70 Painted Stork, Heuglin's Gull, 80 Caspian Terns as well as good numbers of other waders. Further along the coast at Laem Pak Bia we managed to find three Nordmann's Greenshank, 2 Asiatic Dowitchers, 6 Pied Avocet, 12 Ruff and a single Red-necked Phalarope. A boat trip out onto the sandspit produced 2 White-faced Plover, 12 Malaysian Plover, Chinese Egret, Pallas's Gull (a Thai  tick), Black-tailed Gull (a world tick), a Lesser Crested Tern and 12 Great Crested Tern.

We spent a lot of time in the royal project at Laem Pak Bia where a Bay-backed Shrike showed well, my third Thai tick of the day,  this being only the first or second record for Thailand. Also present were 40 White-winged Black Tern, 12 Ruddy-breasted Crake, 2 Watercock, a Slaty-breasted Rail, male Eastern Marsh Harrier and 120 White-shouldered Starling. At nearby Wat Kamaron there was no sign of the recently present Collared Pratincole a new bird for Thailand, but we did add 35 Oriental Pratincole, a Grey-headed Lapwing and several singing Oriental Skylark to the list.

Much of today was spent exploring freshwater habitats north of Petchaburi and around Wat Takaro. Huge numbers of birds were present on the main lake by the Wat but were distant, however we did see 10 Black-headed Ibis, several Painted Stork and hundreds of Garganey and Black-tailed Godwits. On pools nearer Petchaburi we found good numbers of Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacana, several Purple Gallinule and two Chestnut Munia. Only birds of note during a couple of hours at the raptor watchpoint were two Greater Spotted Eagle and 15 Black-eared Kite.

Photos to be added to the blog when better internet connection, we will also be at Keang Karachan for the next five days so there maybe no more posts for a few days.