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| Indian Roller Petchaburi |
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Last Morning at Petchaburi
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Chinese Egret, White-faced and Malaysian Plovers
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| Whiet-faced Plover Laem Pak Bia |
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| Chinese Egret Laem Pak Bia |
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| Malaysian Plover Laem Pak Bia |
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| Yesterdays Spoon-billed Sandpiper Pak Tahle |
No up dates for a few days as tomorrow off to Keang Krachan National Park for five days.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Dowitcher and Nordman's
We spent the day birding along the coast, starting early morning at Pak Thale and finishing at the research station at Laem Pak Bia. Once again within twenty minutes of arriving at Pak Thale we had excellent views of a single Spoon-billed Sandpiper. There were many more waders around than the previous evening, with good numbers of Broad-billed, Curlew and Marsh Sandpiper, Eastern Black-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Stint, Lesser Sandplovers, Great Knot, Kentish Plovers, Grey Plover and smaller numbers of Long-toed Stint, Spotted Redshank, Common Greenshank, Little-ringed Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Sanderling.
Amongst a large group of Marsh Sandpipers we managed to find a single Asiatic Dowitcher, which for all but one of the group was a new bird.
Large numbers of terns were roosting on the saltpans with many Whiskered and Common and smaller numbers of Gull-billed and Caspian and on post off shore a dozen Great-crested Terns. Also around Pak Thale were three Bhraminy Kite, two Little Heron, Yellow Bittern, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Germain's Swiftlet and two Richard's Pipit.
As we headed south along the coast road, we found a Heuglin's Gull amongst a large flock of Brown-headed Gulls, a group of 50 Caspian Terns and a very large but distant flock of Curlew. On saltpans at Laem Pak Bia were 16 roosting Nordman's Greenshank, 56 Avocet and an amazing looking completely albino Eastern Black-tailed Godwit.
We finished the day in the research station at Laem Pak Bia, where at least 350 White-shouldered Starling came into roost and three White-winged Black Tern fed amongst the Whiskered Terns.
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| Asiatic Dowitcher Pak Thale |
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| Common Tern Pak Thale |
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| Greater-crested Tern Pak Thale |
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| Heuglin's Gull Pak Thale |
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| Grey Heron and Great Egret Laem Pak Bia |
Friday, January 4, 2013
Petchaburi Province
Myself, Fred and Marian Rowe from the UK, David Bennet from Australia and our driver Uthai left Bangkok shortly after dawn, we headed straight for the eagle watchpoint at Nong Pla Lai, it was very quiet and after around one and half hours all we had seen was one very distant probable Greater Spotted Eagle, 20 Black Kite, 6 Bhraminy Kite, half a dozen Red-throated Pipits, a Purple Heron and a few standard open country birds.
After checking into our hotel at Petchaburi and a leisurely lunch we head to the coast and spent a couple of hours birding around the research project at Laem Pak Bia. As usual there was plenty of birds and photo opportunities, waders present including four Ruff, 80 Black-winged Stilt,10 Spotted Redshank, 8 Wood Sandpiper, 6 Common Sandpiper and a Marsh Sandpiper. Around 50 Whiskered Terns fed over the pools, along with 2 Little and 2 Caspian Terns. A walk through the mangroves produce relatively little, apart from several singing Golden-bellied Gerygone and at the end of the boardwalk five Collared Kingfisher. Good numbers of waders flew out to feed on the mudflats as the tide receded with 500 Great Knot, 30 Common Redshank and smaller numbers of Whimbrel, Greater Sandplover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Greenshank.
For the final hour and half of the day we headed towards Pak Thale, where within 20 minutes we had found and enjoyed excellent views of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Other waders included good numbers of Red-necked and Long-toed Stints and a few Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpiper.
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| Pacific Golden Plover Laem Pak Bia |
After checking into our hotel at Petchaburi and a leisurely lunch we head to the coast and spent a couple of hours birding around the research project at Laem Pak Bia. As usual there was plenty of birds and photo opportunities, waders present including four Ruff, 80 Black-winged Stilt,10 Spotted Redshank, 8 Wood Sandpiper, 6 Common Sandpiper and a Marsh Sandpiper. Around 50 Whiskered Terns fed over the pools, along with 2 Little and 2 Caspian Terns. A walk through the mangroves produce relatively little, apart from several singing Golden-bellied Gerygone and at the end of the boardwalk five Collared Kingfisher. Good numbers of waders flew out to feed on the mudflats as the tide receded with 500 Great Knot, 30 Common Redshank and smaller numbers of Whimbrel, Greater Sandplover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Greenshank.
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| Ruff and Black-winged Stilt Laem Pak Bia |
For the final hour and half of the day we headed towards Pak Thale, where within 20 minutes we had found and enjoyed excellent views of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Other waders included good numbers of Red-necked and Long-toed Stints and a few Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpiper.
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| Fred and Uthai Trying to Photograph Spoon-billed Sand |
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Bangpoo
Early afternoon we had a few hours to kill whilst waiting for friends to arrive from the UK and Australia, so we headed to Bangpoo south east of Bangkok for a bite to eat and a bit of birding. As usual there was many Brown-headed Gull's waiting to be fed alongside the pier, along with good numbers of Whiskered Terns.
Despite the area around the mangroves and pools being closed due to repairs, we climbed through a hole in the fence, good numbers of waders were roosting on the pools, with around 1200 Black-tailed Godwit, 33 Marsh Sandpiper, 50 Black-winged Stilt, 25 Common Redshank, 13 Greenshank, 9 Pacific Golden Plover and 8 Wood Sandpiper. Other species present included three Painted Stork, two Bhraminy Kite, several Golden-bellied Gerygone and Eastern Yellow Wagtail.
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| Brown-headed Gulls Bangpoo |
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| Whiskered Tern Bangpoo |
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| Black-tailed Godwits Bangpoo |
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| Black-tailed Godwits, Common Redshank and Paccfic Golden Plover Bangpoo |
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| Painted Stork Bangpoo |
New Years Eve
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| Blue Rock Thrush Chiang Dao |
Spent the first few hours of new years eve birding around Wat Tham Pha Plong at Chiang Dao, best birds were a Orange-breasted Trogon and two more calling, four Pin-tailed Green Pigeon, Violet Cuckoo, Bay Woodpecker, Sultan Tit and Oriental Pied Hornbills.
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| Blue-throated Barbet Malee's Chiang Dao |
Birds in or over the garden at Malee's included Blue-throated Barbet, Green-billed Malkoha, Oriental Honey Buzzard and in the evening a Red Angry Bird.
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| Angry Bird Chiang Dao |
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A Tail of Two Pheasants
On 29th and 30th I spent both days birding with David and Michael Bruce at the DYK sub station at Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary and along the track near the second checkpoint. On the first day we were also joined by Dave Lindo (www.theurbanbirder.com).
Day One
We left Malee's at around 530am, the first bird we saw was a Large-tailed Nightjar flushed off the track, followed a little later by two Blue Whistling Thrush and several Olive-backed Pipits. Dave had a brief Hume's Pheasant in the forest as we drove along, but as we approached the campsite all four of us had excellent views of a stunning male running down the track in front of the truck. We all jumped out of the truck and almost immediately had saw of at least two Giant Nuthatch which was also joined by a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch to be followed a few minutes later by several Velvet-fronted. We spent the next few hours birding along the track and around the campsite, before the hoards of new year visitors arrived, though the area was generally quite, we did manage a good selection of species. Along the track we had good views of Maroon and two Slender-billed Oriole, several Grey-capped Pygmy, Stripe-breasted and Lesser Yellownape Woodpeckers, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, c50 Cook's Swifts, Eurasian Jays, Crested Serpant Eagle, Hill Prinia, White-browed Scimiter Babbler, Blyth's Shrike Babbler, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker and a dozen Grey Treepie. We also heard a White-bellied Redstart and Rusty-cheeked Scimiter Babbler. Birds around the campsite included a noisy party of Mountain Bamboo Partridge several of which showed very well, Oriental Turtle Doves, Gould's Sunbird, Grey Bushchats, Grey Tit, Black Bulbuls, Grey-backed Shrike, Greenish's, Pallas's and Humes Warbler and Grey-crowned Warbler.
Day Two
We spent most of the day birding along the track beyond and before the second checkpoint, first bird of the day was a very obliging Collared Owlet. Though there was a lot of traffic beyond the checkpoint there was still plenty of birds including a stunning male Silver Pheasant seen by one of the group. New birds along this section of the track included Bay Woodpecker, Green-billed Malkoha, Lesser-racket Tailed Drongo, Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, at least a dozen Claudia's Leaf Warblers, good numbers of Davidson's Leaf Warbler, two Omei Warbler, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta's, two Speckled Piculets and best of all a group of at least eight Silver-breasted Broadbills which we all watched down to a few feet for at least 20 minutes. There were numerous birds feeding in flowering trees around one of the hill tribe villages, with at least 50 Chestnut-tailed Starlings, many Chestnut-flanked and Japanese White-eyes, 10 Large Woodshrike, 15 White-headed Bulbul, 50 Black Bulbuls (half of which were white-headed birds) and a male Black-throated Sunbird.
In rice fields at the start of the DYK track there was a single Chestnut Bunting, along with several Pied Bushchat, Eastern Stonechats and Plain Prinia. A breif walk to Wat Tham Pha Plong produced a Violet Cuckoo, a group of Rufescent Prinia and numerous Grey-eyed Bulbuls feeding in a fruiting tree.
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| Happy Birders David Bruce, Dave Lindo and Michael Bruce |
Day One
We left Malee's at around 530am, the first bird we saw was a Large-tailed Nightjar flushed off the track, followed a little later by two Blue Whistling Thrush and several Olive-backed Pipits. Dave had a brief Hume's Pheasant in the forest as we drove along, but as we approached the campsite all four of us had excellent views of a stunning male running down the track in front of the truck. We all jumped out of the truck and almost immediately had saw of at least two Giant Nuthatch which was also joined by a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch to be followed a few minutes later by several Velvet-fronted. We spent the next few hours birding along the track and around the campsite, before the hoards of new year visitors arrived, though the area was generally quite, we did manage a good selection of species. Along the track we had good views of Maroon and two Slender-billed Oriole, several Grey-capped Pygmy, Stripe-breasted and Lesser Yellownape Woodpeckers, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, c50 Cook's Swifts, Eurasian Jays, Crested Serpant Eagle, Hill Prinia, White-browed Scimiter Babbler, Blyth's Shrike Babbler, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker and a dozen Grey Treepie. We also heard a White-bellied Redstart and Rusty-cheeked Scimiter Babbler. Birds around the campsite included a noisy party of Mountain Bamboo Partridge several of which showed very well, Oriental Turtle Doves, Gould's Sunbird, Grey Bushchats, Grey Tit, Black Bulbuls, Grey-backed Shrike, Greenish's, Pallas's and Humes Warbler and Grey-crowned Warbler.
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| Collared Owlet Chiang Dao |
We spent most of the day birding along the track beyond and before the second checkpoint, first bird of the day was a very obliging Collared Owlet. Though there was a lot of traffic beyond the checkpoint there was still plenty of birds including a stunning male Silver Pheasant seen by one of the group. New birds along this section of the track included Bay Woodpecker, Green-billed Malkoha, Lesser-racket Tailed Drongo, Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, at least a dozen Claudia's Leaf Warblers, good numbers of Davidson's Leaf Warbler, two Omei Warbler, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta's, two Speckled Piculets and best of all a group of at least eight Silver-breasted Broadbills which we all watched down to a few feet for at least 20 minutes. There were numerous birds feeding in flowering trees around one of the hill tribe villages, with at least 50 Chestnut-tailed Starlings, many Chestnut-flanked and Japanese White-eyes, 10 Large Woodshrike, 15 White-headed Bulbul, 50 Black Bulbuls (half of which were white-headed birds) and a male Black-throated Sunbird.
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| Purple Sapphire Chiang Dao |
In rice fields at the start of the DYK track there was a single Chestnut Bunting, along with several Pied Bushchat, Eastern Stonechats and Plain Prinia. A breif walk to Wat Tham Pha Plong produced a Violet Cuckoo, a group of Rufescent Prinia and numerous Grey-eyed Bulbuls feeding in a fruiting tree.
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