Introduction
For some years I had been intrigued by a few sightings of
the regionally endemic Mekong Wagtail made along the Mekong
river in Ubon Ratchathani province in the far east of Thailand.
I was not aware of more than a handful of sightings but when
a new field guide to the birds of Thailand was published the
range map for Mekong Wagtail showed it as resident for a whole
stretch of the river in the lower northeast my interest became
keener. I found myself with some free time in early April
2013 and heading in the general direction of Ubon Ratchathani
so I decided to try and track down the bird for myself.
Phil Round helpfully pointed me in the direction of a town
called Khemmarat where he knew that observations had been
made, so that was my point of reference. Armed with this information
and the knowledge that Phil had seen Great Thick-knee in this
area a few years ago I set off towards Khemmarat to see if
I could get myself into suitable habitat and find either bird.
Transport
I used a diesel Toyota Vigo pickup for this trip. While it
would be possible to get any vehicle to the sites I visited,
a couple of dirt tracks were a bit rutted and this economic
vehicle can deal with potholes and dirt roads much better
than a saloon car is able to.
Accommodation
As we did not know exactly where we would be staying we did
not book any accommodation in advance, which did not matter
at the time we visited, although we were told that the area
got busy at weekends and public holidays. A variety of simple
guesthouses were available in Chanuman, Khemmarat and along
the river at Kaeng Pisamai/Had Wijitra, near Khong Chiam.
New guesthouses were being built at both Chanuman and Kaeng
Pisamai, both of which looked like they would be pleasant
places to stay.
Notes on Finding Birds
As all the sites visited were open in their nature, actually
spotting birds was easy. However, due to the intense heat
at the time of our visit, bird activity was almost zero after
10am until about 4.30pm making it essential to be out very
early and until dusk.
Kaeng Chang Mob: Mekong Wagtail, Small Pratincole,
Wire-tailed Swallow, River Lapwing
Had Wijitra: Great Thick-knee, Mekong Wagtail,
River Lapwing, Wire-tailed Swallow
Birding Diary
2nd April
We arrived in Khemmarat, in Ubon Ratchathani province, at
about 2pm so I immediately tried to find the right rocky/sandy
habitat in the river that might be home to the species I was
searching for. Driving along the road that heads north to
a town called Chanuman, after about 15 kms, I saw a sign,
in English, pointing to an area of rapids in the river called
"Kaeng Chang Mob". It was only 2 kilometres away
so I drove down the road, into a small village, and after
a couple of turns found myself overlooking a large area of
sand dunes and rocks with patches of vegetation within the
river Mekong. Much of the habitat here was quite close and
some seemed accessible on foot due to the low water levels
at this time of year, which is the end of the dry season.
Standing on the Thai bank of the river, looking out over
the large area of habitat, I was wondering how I would get
out there and what sort of effort would be needed to find
the birds I was after - the answer was very little effort
at all, as I spotted a Common Sandpiper chasing something
that looked like a wagtail. As both species flew towards me
I could see that one of them was definitely a black and white
wagtail and when the bird finally landed I could see that
it was indeed a Mekong Wagtail, the big, white supercilium
was obvious, I did not think that it was going to be as easy
as that!
Whilst I could be certain about the identification of the
bird, the view I obtained was less than I had hoped for (only
just "tickable") so I went back to the car to get
my telescope. Of course, when I returned the bird was not
to be refound easily. However, with the temperature far too
high to go walking around on the huge area of habitat I decided
to continue driving and see where else I could get down to
the river and search for birds with the plan to return the
following morning.
About 7kms before reaching Chanuman a sign in Thai pointed
towards Kaeng Hin Kun which was also marked on my map. About
1km down the side road I was at the bank of the Mekong but
the river was very wide here and whilst there were plenty
of sand bars and rocks, it was all too far away to be of much
use. I took a look through my scope anyway and could see some
very distant Small Pratincoles and decent numbers of Chinese
Pond Herons and Little Egrets.
Moving on towards Chanuman I crossed the provincial boundary
into Amnat Charoen province and saw another sign in Thai to
Kaeng Kun Sung. About 1.5kms down a small side road I found
myself in a small parking area where several groups of Thai
tourists were hiring rubber tubes to play in the river. This
spot was on the bank of a smaller channel of the river and
the distances were much more manageable for birding so I took
a quick look through my binoculars out the car window and
instantly spotted a wagtail on some small rocks.
With this I got out of the car and set up my telescope and
was able to watch a pair of Mekong Wagtails foraging along
the shallows and on the rocks for around half an hour. The
wagtails fed mostly in a similar fashion to other wagtails,
picking at prey in between stones and just under water, but
I also saw them hammering prey on rocks. During the half and
hour that I watched the birds they did do a lot of tail wagging,
but this could just be the behaviour on a particular day and
not anything that is ecologically significant in the species.
This seemed to be a most unlikely spot to see what is one
of Thailand's scarcest breeding birds; just a few small rocks
in a river full of children playing on rubber rings, noisy
boats passing by and guys in their underpants stalking fish!
Other species that I also saw here included Common Greenshank,
Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and
Wire-tailed Swallow all of which went together to make for
a nice late-afternoon stop.
After this we went to Chanuman where I managed to find an
acceptable place to stay and a restaurant. However, there
was time to have a quick look for a Thick-knee on some sandy/muddy/rocky
areas out the front of the guesthouse. Unfortunately, most
of the area was too overgrown to spot a bird like this from
the bank, but there was a track out into the area and it was
fairly undisturbed and may have harboured a Thick-knee. Certainly
there was more riverine habitat here and further upstream
according to my map.
Finding the birding sites between the towns
of Khemmarat and Chanuman is quite easy. When
heading towards Chanuman from Khemmarat take the
first turning on the right, this will take you
along a loop road which will rejoin the main road
again later. About 15kms along the road there
is an obvious blue, touristic sign for Kaeng Chang
Mob in English which displays a picture of some
fish. Follow this through a village until you
are at the river.
The sites of Kaeng Hin Kun and Kaeng Kun Sung
were only indicated by small wooden signs in Thai
script. Both of these sites are accessible after
rejoining the main road to Chanuman and were less
than 1 kilometre off of the main road.
There was simple accommodation in both Khemmarat
and Chanuman as well as one guesthouse between
Khemmarat and Kaeng Chang Mob.
All the restaurants in Chanuman
closed before 7pm but as Khemmarat is a bigger
town food is probably available later here.
3rd April
I was out of bed at about 6.15am and took a look around the
area around the guesthouse and the river front. I did not
see anything particularly noteworthy but there were nice numbers
of species including Yellow-vented Bulbul, Brown-throated
Sunbird, Eastern Stonechat, Pied Bushchat, Green Bee-eater,
Chestnut-capped Babbler and a few nesting Baya Weavers.
My next stop was Kaeng Hin Kun where the birds were still
to far away to make much out of apart from about 50 Lesser
Whistling Ducks, a few Black-winged Stilts, some Small Pratincoles
and a couple of Great Egrets, Little Egrets and Chinese Pond
Herons. However, we did manage to get a bowl of noodles for
breakfast here!
Although I had obtained the best views of Mekong Wagtail at
Kaeng Kun Sung, there did not seem to be the prospect of seeing
very much more there as the area of habitat was small, so
I decided to spend the rest of the morning exploring the huge
area of rocks, sand, mud and vegetation at Kaeng Chang Mob
a few kilometres back towards Khemmarat.
Parking
was a bit of a struggle at Kaeng Chang Mob, but I squeezed
the vehicle in out of the locals' way. Descending the
river bank I could see a way out onto the rocks on my
right and soon found myself away from everyone and everything
- apart from birds that is which were quite abundant.
On the sandy patches Small Pratincoles were nesting as
were the odd Little Ringed Plover or two with Wire-tailed
Swallows up and down the river. In the vegetation I saw
Black-browed Reed Warbler, White-rumped Munia, Yellow-bellied
Prinia, Oriental Reed Warbler and Pied Bushchat. I also
heard the call of a Bright-headed Cisticola and then saw
it fly away which was a bit of a surprise.
I kept scanning the rocks and sand for Great Thick-knee
but the best I could do was Common Greenshank, Common
Sandpiper and 1 River Lapwing. Whilst doing this I inadvertently
strayed into an area close to a Small Pratincole nest
and was mobbed by three birds. One of the pratincoles
performed its fake injury display, flapping around strangely
and trying to lead me away. After taking a few photographs
I followed it, assuming that it would lead me safely away
from making a further disturbance.
I continued exploring the riverine habitat but it began
to get exceptionally hot and I had forgotten to take any
water with me, besides, the chance of finding a bird such
as Great Thick-knee, which is basically crepuscular, at
10.30am did not seem high so I headed back to the car.
On the way back I saw a Pintail Snipe and a flock of White-rumped
Munias but the air conditioning in the car was welcome!
Having had a pleasant morning's birding we decided to
head further down the Mekong towards Pa Taem national
park where there are some ancient cave paintings, close
to the town of Khong Chiam. However, as we drove southwards
we kept coming across other access points to the river
Mekong and investigated some of them for suitable habitat.
Most of these places seemed to consist mostly of rocks
and due to the midday heat I did not spend much time looking
for any birds as it would have taken a lot of effort.
We did stop at the well-known Kaeng Sam Pan Bok where
we were able to have lunch and look out over a vast area
of exposed rocks - it would be a site worth investigating
at a time of day when the heat is less intense.
Birdwatching
Trips In Thailand:
The dry season is a good time
to visit the Mekong in Ubon Ratchathani province
and a trip.
here
can be combined with visiting other seldom-visited
sites such as dry dipterocarp woodland at
Pa Taem and wetlands in Burirum province.
Alternatively, if you are interested in visiting
more frequently birded locations both the
dry and wet seasons have a lot to offer.
Contact me to arrange a trip and/or to discuss
the best birdwatching options for you: nickupton@thaibirding.com
We
kept driving until almost reaching Pa Taem national park but
I saw a sign to "Had Wijitra" a few kilometres before
the park gate. "Had" is the Thai word for beach, so
this indicated another place to access the river where there
was sandy habitat. Following the road for about 3-4 kms we followed
another sign for the beach and found ourselves in the car park
of a guesthouse where we could park and overlook the river,
beach and more rocky outcrops. It was still a bit early in the
afternoon for birding and decided to look around a bit more
and found another guesthouse back downstream that was more to
our liking; we checked in there. This guesthouse overlooked
another large area of rocks, known as Kaeng Pisamai. From around
4-5pm I explored this area. It started off well with a River
Lapwing and some Little Ringed Plovers plus lots of Wire-tailed
Swallows which were nesting in the rock formations but a lot
of climbing and sweating produced very few birds indeed. Deciding
that the sandy habitat at Had Wijitra looked better we drove
the few kilometres back there.
We descended to the beach and slowly walked upstream along it,
onto some dunes. Very quickly I heard a wagtail and soon spotted
a pair of Mekong Wagtails perched on some small rocks not far
away. As I was watching these, a third bird attacked them but
was chased off by the pair! We walked perhaps half a kilometre
upstream, perhaps not even that and I started scanning the rocks
and sand on the Laos side of the river; the time was about 5.30pm.
I spotted a couple of River Lapwings then some giant shorebird
running around on the rocks - a Great Thick-knee!!!!! Even though
I was hoping to find this species, which is now very rare in
South East Asia, I was still surprised to actually see one.
We were quite far away so we walked a few hundred metres closer
and obtained really nice 'scope views. Both my wife and I enjoyed
looking at this bird but imagine my surprise when two more Great
Thick-knees chased the first bird away to the Thai side of the
river; now I could put Great Thick-knee on my Thai list without
feeling a fraud.
We watched the Great Thick-knees until sunset and returned to
the guesthouse for dinner.
Both
Had Wijitra and Kaeng Pisamai were easy to find.
Pa Taem national park was signposted from road 2112
from Khemmarat to Khong Chiam and about a kilometre
along the road to the park was another sign in English
and Thai to Had Wijitra. Both Kaeng Pisamai and
Had Wijitra were signposted along the road although
both were best accessed through the grounds of two
guesthouses
Kaeng Pisamai can be accessed in the dry season
by crossing a bamboo bridge and Had Wijitra is accessed
by some steps cut into the soil bank.
There were several guesthouses along the river here
as well as some other places to stay in the town
of Khong Chiam. A new and pleasant-looking guesthouse
was in the process of being built when we were there.
4th
April
This morning we decided to go for a boat trip along the river.
Leaving at 7.30am we headed upstream in a narrow, long-tail
boat with a canopy to protect us from the sun. The boat was
going too fast really for birding, but having seen the target
species already I was happy just to enjoy the ride and look
at the scenery.
Along
the way there were several places where groups of River
Lapwings were hiding and I probably saw about twenty during
the course of the morning as we cruised along the river.
We were heading to a spot called Kaeng Gao Pan Bok which
turned out to be another area of rocks and sand and it
looked like a possible site for Thick-knees and other
interesting birds but by the time we got there it was
too late and too hot. However, the views along the river
were very nice and the rock formations were quite interesting.
I did see a few species on the boat ride that I had not
seen before along the river, including Grey Heron, Little
Heron, two Blue Rock Thrushes and a soaring Osprey but
no more Mekong Wagtails, although I am sure if we had
been traveling more slowly we would have found some given
that I had seen three at Had Wijitra.
After the boat trip we decided to begin heading back to
Bangkok as it is a very long drive but I wanted to check
out the area known as Two Colours River" where the
Mun river joins the Mekong. We found an access point just
outside the town of Khong Chiam and there were masses
of suitable habitat for Mekong Wagtail but as we had a
long journey ahead of us and getting closer required a
bit of a walk in the heat of the day we decided to move
along.
As we made our way back to Ubon Ratchathani city we made
a quick stop at the Pak Mun Dam, which has been the centre
of controversy for some years. Stopping on the dam to
try and get a look down the river I could see yet more
interesting riverine habitat and to my surprise a female
Mekong Wagtail was perched on a part of the machinery
that raises and closes the dam's gates.
Summary
One of the things I was concerned about before heading to
the Mekong river in Ubon Ratchathani province was that it
would be difficult to get to any suitable habitat to find
both Mekong Wagtail and Great Thick-knee, however, it is fact
easy to find many access spots to the river and excellent
habitat, at least in the dry season.
There was little information available as to how abundant
Mekong Wagtail would be in Thailand and the low number of
sightings would imply that it was a rare bird. However, the
fact that I found a total of nine birds at four separate locations
would indicate that I was either extremely lucky or that the
species is actually far more common in this region than previously
realized and the low number of sightings is down to the fact
that few birders make the journey out to this part of Thailand.
Given that there is a lot of suitable habitat and that I found
three Great Thick-knees with very little effort, I suspect
that this species is perhaps easier to find than may have
been previously thought too and that if other birders visit
the region they would have a good chance of finding both birds.
Chanuman: Ch
Kaeng Kun Sung: KKS
Kaeng Hin Kun: KHK
Kaeng Chang Mob: KCM
Kaeng Sam Pan Bok: KSPB
Kaeng Pisamai: KPS
Had Wijitra: HW
Kaeng Gao Pan Bok: KGPB
Two Colours River: TCR
Pak Mun Dam: PMD
1. Lesser Whistling Duck:
30+ at KHK. 2. Coppersmith Barbet: 1
at Ch. 3. Indian Roller: A
few at Ch. 4. White-throated Kingfisher: 1
at KHK. 5. Green Bee-eater :A
few at Ch. 6. Blue-tailed Bee-eater:
1 at KCM. 7. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater:
1 at KPS. 8. Green-billed Malkoha: 1
at Ch. 9. Asian Koel: 1 at
Ch & 1 at KCM. 10. Greater Coucal:
A few at Ch & KCM. 11. Asian Palm Swift:
Everywhere. 12. House Swift :2
at KPS, 10 at KGPB & 1 at TCR. 13. Feral Pigeon 14. Spotted Dove:
A few at KCM, KHK, KCM & HW. 15. Red Collared Dove:
A few at Ch. 16. Peaceful Dove :A
few at Ch & TCR. 17. White-brested Waterhen:
1 at KCM. 18. Pintail Snipe:
1 at KCM & 2 at KPS. 19. Common Greenshank:
A few at Ch, KKS, KHK, KCM, KGPB. 20. Green Sandpiper:
2 at KKS & 1 at KCM. 21. Common Sandpiper :
A few at Ch, KHK, KCM, KPS, HW, KGPB & PMD. 22. Great Thick-knee:
3 at HW. 23. Black-winged Stilt:
A few at Ch, KHK, KCM, KPS, KGPB, TCR. 24. Small Pratincole:
About 30 at KHK & about 20 at KCM. 25. Little Ringed Plover :
Seen at all sites. 26. River Lapwing :1
at KCM, 3 at KPS, 3 at HW & a20 at KGPB. 27. Black-shouldered Kite:
1 at Ch. 28. Brahminy Kite: 1
at KPS. 29. Osprey:1 at KGPB. 30. Little Egret: All
sites. 31. Eastern Great Egret: A
few at KHK & KGPB. 32. Eastern Cattle Egret:
A few at HW. 33. Grey Heron:1 at
KPS. 34. Chinese Pond Heron: All
sites. 35. Little Heron:1
at KGPB. 36. Brown Shrike: 1
at Ch. 37. Eastern Jungle Crow: A
few at Ch, KHK & KCM.
38. Black-naped Oriole:
1 at KSPB. 39. Ashy Minivet: A
few at KPS. 40. Ashy Drongo: 1
at KHK. 41. Black Drongo: A
few at KCM. 42. Common Iora: 2
at KHK & 2 at KCM. 43. Blue Rock Thrush:
2 at KGPB. 44. Oriental Magpie Robin: A
few sites. 45. Stejneger's Stonechat: 1f
at Ch. 46. Pied Bushchat: A
few at Ch, KCM, KSPB, KPS, HW, KGPB & TCR. 47. Common Myna: At
a few sites. 48. White-vented Myna:
At a few sites. 49. Ashy Woodswallow:
A few at Ch. 50. Striated Swallow:
About 8 at Ch & a few at KPS. 51. Barn Swallow: A
few at all locations. 52. Wire-tailed Swallow: At
all sites. 53. Sooty-headed Bulbul:
A few at Ch & KCM. 54. Yellow-vented Bulbul: Ch,
KCM, KHK & KSPB. 55. Streak-eared Bulbul:
Common at Ch. 56. Grey-breasted Prinia:
A few at KCM. 57. Yellow-bellied Prinia:
2 at KCM. 58. Bright-headed Cisticola:
1 at KCM. 59. Black-browed Reed Warbler:
1 at KCM. 60. Oriental Reed Warbler:
1 at KCM. 61. Common Tailorbird: A
few at Ch & KCM. 62. Dark-necked Tailorbird:
1 at Ch. 63. Dusky Warbler: 1
at KCM. 64. Chestnut-capped Babbler:
2 at Ch. 65. Indochinese Bushlark:
2 at Ch & 1 at KHK. 66. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker:
1m at Ch. 67. Brown-throated Sunbird:
2 at Ch, 1 at KHK, 1 at KSPB. 68. Little Spiderhunter:
1 at KH. 69. Mekong Wagtail:
2 at KKS, 3 at KCM, 3 at HW & 1 at PMD. 70. Yellow Wagtail:
1 at KCM. 71. House Sparrow:
A few at Ch. 72. Plain-backed Sparrow:
Many at KCM. 73. Eurasian Tree Sparrow:
A few at Ch, KHK, KPS. 74. Baya Weaver: About
20 at Ch. 75. White-rumped Munia:
About 5 at KCM. 76. Scaly-breasted Munia: A
few at KCM & KPS.
by Craig Robson
- Thai language field guide by various contributors
Download
a full 
