Introduction
Bill Collis asked me what would be an interesting birding
trip in the month of June. Having been to Kaeng Krachan and
Khao Yai together previously at this sort of time of the year
I suggested to Bill that Southern Thailand would be the way
to go. The best options were either Krung Ching or Hala-Bala
Wildlfie Sanctuary and with the latter being safe and convenient
to visit these days that was the option we went for, particularly
as it gave Bill the opportunity to visit a part of Thailand
that he had not previously been to as well as the chance to
see some really spectacular birds; some of the scarcest and
most range-restricted species in Thailand.
I met Bill in Hat
Yai but turned the trip into something a little more by visiting
several sites in the south that I had been meaning to visit
for some time on my journey to and from Bangkok.
Vehicle
We used a Nissan
Calibre pick up, a powerful vehicle that deals with potholed
and muddy tracks well allowing for exploration down farms
tracks and small remote roads in a bad state of repair. This
vehicle is very fuel efficient and robust with enough space
in the cab for all of our luggage, although the rear portion
is also covered but we did not need it.
Bueng Khun Thale
Having driven from Bangkok I rested for the night at the conveniently
located The
LePhant Hotel, getting up before sunrise to drive twenty
minutes or so to Bueng Khun Thale just to the south of the
city of Surat Thani, a site I had never previously visited
but had a series of eBird lists posted by other observers.
I arrived a short time after first light to find the location
easy to park at and the temperature moderate due to overnight
rain. A walkway runs around the lake and swampy areas and
although it is not a huge lake, due to the long, snaky shape
of it the walkway/road extends for a distance in excess of
ten kilometres. I took a walk for about 1.5 kilometres with
the call of Blue-winged Pitta welcoming me from a nearby plantation.
With a track providing access it did not take long for me
to find this smart bird; a great start! On the water an Oriental
Darter was cruising around like a submarine about to disappear
under the surface with a few Asian Openbills and Little Cormorants
perched on waterside trees.
These early mornings are always a good time for seeing a
lot of birds quickly and calling Yellow-bellied Prinias, Common
Flameback, Baya Weaver, Common Iora, Pin-striped Tit Babbler
and Racket-tailed Treepie all came one after the other. A
pair of flyover Lesser Whistling Ducks flew over, surprisingly
not landing on the lake with a single Bronze-winged Jacana
flushing from floating vegetation. Further along an interesting
call came from some waterside trees and within a few moments
a pair of Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpeckers appeared. A fairly
common bird in Thailand but any species of woodpecker is always
nice to see in my mind. While standing on a bridge with a
good outlook over the lake a spotted a couple of Black Bitterns
flying past, a few Purple Herons and a single noisy Red-wattled
Lapwing. Things were warming up so I turned around and within
a few minutes I noticed a group of mynas bathing in a puddle
on the edge of the road. Mostly they were Great Mynas but
in among them were three Jungle Mynas, a scarce bird in Thailand
now.
I decided to take a more extensive look around the long, meandering
arms of the lake by car, stopping at various places to see
what was around. In this way I came across a group of Pink-necked
Green Pigeons feeding in a fruiting tree and a single Grey-headed
Swamphen lurking around in dense floating vegetation. A couple
of Asian Palm Swifts flying around a palm tree were quickly
followed by a pair of House Swifts and my final stop turned
up a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and two Lesser Coucals calling
from an area of thick grasses. With quite some distance to
cover and other sites to check out along the way I deaprted
the site a little before 9am.
Thale Noi Thale Noi is a very well known, large area of wetlands
close to the town of Phattalung which provides the best wetland
birding in Southern Thailand but somehow I had never visited
but now was the opportunity. At first I parked near the Nature
and Education Centre on the west side of the lake where large
numbers of Grey-headed Swamphens and Bronze-winged Jacanas
were obvious on floating weeds that were choking the water
here. The 400 baht entry fee to walk on a boardwalk of about
500 metres meant that I didn't hang around too long but an
Ashy Tailorbird announced its presence with its loud call,
a few Oriental Pratincoles were soaring and calling overhead
with a Brahminy Kite cruising around too. I could see on a
map that a road (Route 5050) runs right through the larger
area of wetlands and sedge swamp so I got back in the car
and headed along that, making several birding stops over the
course of the next couple of hours.
The first stop didn't turn up anything much of note, a single
Jungle Myna, an Indochinese Roller and a Purple Heron but
the second stop was a bit more promising with a pair of Chestnut
Munias, lots of Oriental Pratincoles, a single Siamese Pied
Starling and a Black Bittern in flight. I could see that further
along the road things were getting much wetter and there were
large numbers of birds in the shallows but heat haze meant
that it was essential to get closer so that's exactly what
I did. Once I had found a good observation point I could see
across a very large area of shallow wetlands either side of
the road with large numbers of Asian Openbills, Grey-headed
Swamphens and Lesser Whistling Ducks the most obvious species.
A small group of Painted Storks were in among the Openbills
with a scattering of Black-winged Stilts also present while
a small number of unseasonal Whiskered Terns alternated between
fishing and sitting on bamboo poles. While I was scanning
through the groups of birds a large raptor flew through my
field of view and managing to follow it gave me a great view
of a massive White-bellied Sea Eagle cruising low over the
water. Little Cormorants, Great Egrets, Medium Egrets and
a single Common Moorhen made up the numbers but the bird I
was really hoping for, Knob-billed Duck, was nowhere to be
seen so I decided to head to another site which turns up regular
sightings of that weird species.
Ranod Phang Yang Rice
Fields
This area of rice and other various types of agriculture has
become a reliable place to see Knob-billed Duck, a species
which is otherwise very seldom seen in Thailand. Entering
the area I was welcomed by a Black-winged Kite hovering next
to the dirt track and a Zitting Cisticola displaying over
rice stubble. Driving further along the track took a turn
along an irrigation canal and a bird in flight caught my attention.
Jumping out of the car I managed to get some flight shots
of a male Knob-billed Duck before three more came flying across
in front of me.
It is always nice when one gets success quickly like this
and having parked next to an area that looked very suitable
for munias I pushed my luck to see if I could find my next
target bird. A couple of Magpie Robins and a Brown-throated
Sunbird were in the tree next to me along with a Plain-backed
Sparrow but a soft noise from tangles of self-seeded rice
made me immediately focus my attention on it. A short wait
and eventually four White-headed Munia flew out and perched
in some tall rice stems; another bird with a very patchy distribution
in southern Thailand. With the two birds I was hoping to see
in the bag I drove on a bit further, toying with the idea
of heading towards my hotel in Hat Yai, but a field full of
recently germinated rice full of birds stopped me. With over
twenty Knob-billed Ducks and some Oriental Pratincoles and
Bronze-winged Jacanas this field was a real hotspot and gave
me plenty of time to take some video of them feeding, interacting
and bathing. Whilst doing this a small group of Cotton Pygmy
Geese flew in and a female Watercock suddenly launched itself
across the field. This was a really nice session of birding,
exactly what I had been hoping for and a great way to finish
the day before a fairly long drive to Hat Yai.
Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai Campus
A short drive took me to Bill's hotel at Hat Yai airport after
which we grabbed a quick coffee and breakfast in a convenience
store. It took only about twenty minutes to get to the university
campus which was much more built up and busy than we had expected.
The target bird here was Pied Triller and we had been hoping
to go into the site and find it quickly but there was quite
a large area to cover and heavy cloud cover meant that bird
activity was very low. There were lots of Pink-necked Green
Pigeons feeding on fruiting trees close to where we parked
the vehicle and another small fruiting tree a little further
along was a magnet for Coppersmith Barbets and a couple of
Lineated Barbets as well as several Vernal Hanging Parrots.
A Banded Woodpecker gave us flight views but even though we
thought we knew where it had landed we couldn't relocate it
until we heard it laughing from quite some distance away.
We continued walking around the lake, greeting the morning
joggers along the way but bird activity was rather low. Pacific
Swallows were hunting over the water and Common Ioras were
numerous in the low trees. At one point I thought I heard
a Pied Triller call but it was in an area that was inaccessible
so as we were keen to get to Hala-Bala we called an end to
the morning and started our drive to our main birding site.
Hala-Bala
Wildlife Sanctuary
The drive to Hala-Bala was uneventful and we arrived in the
nearby village of Ban Buketa in time for an early lunch in
a small restaurant run by two ladies who seemed delighted
to have foreign visitors. After this refreshment we went to
our accommodation to ensure that they knew we had arrived
before heading straight into the forest.
There is a long stretch of quiet road that runs through
miles of prime habitat here so one could stop anywhere and
go birding but I decided that we would start by checking out
an area that has a good view over a
large area of forest and has often been a good spot for hornbills
in the past. Considering it was the middle of the day there
was a good amount of bird activity with a group of foraging
birds including Great Iora, a few Blue-winged Leafbirds and
a Grey-breasted Spiderhunter feeding on some small flowers
in the treetops but the call of some hornbills took our attention
away from these. Scanning the huge trees in the distance I
spotted a Rhinoceros Hornbill but unfortunately it flew away
before I could point it out to Bill. We walked a short way
up the road, spotting some Buff-vented Bulbuls and Hume's
White-eyes in a small fruiting tree before getting to a spot
that gave us a much better view across the forest. From here
we noticed a couple of hornbills and once we looked though
the 'scope we could see they were Wreathed Hornbills.
I heard the call of Black-and-yellow Broadbill and a very
short burst of playback drew in at least three of these outrageously-coloured
birds for some really great views. A Black-eared Barbet performed
in a similar way for us, although we needed the telescope
to be able to appreciate the colours on this one but a Yellow-crowned
Barbet just would not show itself. Bill spotted a Verditer
Flycatcher and bulbuls that we would see throughout our few
days here included Asian Red-eyed Bulbul and Spectacled Bulbul.
Rain clouds were building quickly so we thought we would try
and outwit the weather by going elsewhere but the heavens
opened for about an hour or so but this would be the only
rain during the daytime that we would experience during our
stay.
Periods of clear weather after rain can be really good in
forests like this with birds perching out in the open to dry
themselves and take the opportunity to feed. Firstly, we found
a low fruiting tree at one of the ranger stations which over
the course of several visits, over several days gave us fantastic
views of lots of Yellow-vented Flowerpeckers, several Orange-bellied
Flowerpeckers and the only Thick-billed Flowerpecker of the
trip. Every time we stopped there we saw Black-eared Barbets
feeding on the fruits, on one occasion a juvenile Red-throated
Barbet and on the last day we got spectacular views of Yellow-crowned
Barbet here. Scaly-bellied Bulbul was another really attractive
bird that we only saw at this little fruiting tree; one of
the best of the bulbuls for sure. Further along the after
rain effect meant that at the forest lookout we spotted some
superb birds in the form of Rhinoceros Hornbill and Great
Hornbill drying themselves after the downpour. At another
location a flock of Plume-toed Swiftlets were feeding over
the forest allowing us to clearly see their white bellies
and greenish upperparts and the fact that they were joined
by a Silver-rumped Spinetail was a bonus. On our way out to
complete our first day we also encountered a wet Blyth's Hawk
Eagle as well as a Crested Serpent Eagle before we had dinner
in the village and prepared for the next day.
Over the next three days we enjoyed rain-free birding throughout,
visiting lots of different spots along the road as well as
making two visits to the Toh Moh Gold Mine Trail. This trail
follows a stream along the border with Malaysia going through
lowland forest. We never actually got that far down the trail
as we saw a lot of species on our walks along there with a
good number of babblers to be seen including a nice group
of Grey-headed Babblers, abundant Chestnut-winged Babblers
and a lovely pair of Black-throated Babblers aggressively
calling. At one point there were two pairs of Chestnut-rumped
Babblers involved in a territorial dispute but it was tough
to get a good look at them. Eventually we did get onto one
pair once the commotion had subsided. The Toh Moh trail was
also good for woodpeckers with us seeing Buff-necked Woodpecker
on both visits as well as a Crimson-winged Woodpecker allowing
us to walk right up to it as it was so busy pecking on a small
branch. Buff-rumped Woodpecker was also seen along here as
well as Banded Woodpecker and the scarce Grey-and-buff Woodpecker
with a nice pair of these birds being very active. There was
always a good selection of bulbuls along here including parties
of the attractive Grey-bellied Bulbul on both visits and this
was the only place we saw Blue-throated Bee-eaters which was
odd as they are usually abundant in this region. Black Magpie
is a bird that is very scarce in Thailand but here we first
heard the weird call of this bird before getting several brief
views of a pair as they moved through the forest. Parties
of small birds were fairly frequent here too with common species
such as White-bellied Erpornis, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and
Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher joined by the much more range-restricted
(in Thailand) Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike.
Broadbills are always great birds and as well as Black-and-yellow
Broadbill, which is quite common in the south of Thailand,
we had a smart pair of Black-and-red Broadbills along the
Toh Moh trail, a gorgeous Green Broadbill, a couple of Dusky
Broadbills along the road and a pair of Banded Broadbills
at the Wildlife Research Centre. This last location also proved
quite good in the late afternoon and early morning with a
fruiting tree giving us great views of Red-throated Barbets
and Gold-whiskered Barbets with a couple of Black-thighed
Falconets nearby on an exposed tree. In the late afternoon
here we saw several Grey-cheeked Bulbuls, a fairly rare bird
and a flock of Bushy-crested Hornbills flew overhead. However,
probably the best bird was a Bat Hawk flying by way before
dusk; perhaps the cloudy conditions had tricked it into thinking
it was much later in the day.
Hornbills are perhaps the prime reason to visit Hala-Bala
Wildlife Sanctuary. Having seen Rhinoceros Hornbill at distance
several times we eventually got amazing views of this monster
of a bird one morning as it flew over the road right over
our heads and landed in a tree close by. We also had a couple
of close encounters with the magnificent Great Hornbill and
a few groups of Bushy-crested Hornbills at various places
in the forest. However, one afternoon was very notable for
two really great hornbill species. We had been birding on
a quiet afternoon seeing only a few common species when BIll
spotted some large birds from the car. Stopping we could see
that these were White-crowned Hornbills, an amazing-looking
bird. We were able to watch them as they crashed around in
some trees in front of us and after we had parked we saw them
several more times over the course of the next hour or so;
spectacular birds. While enjoy these we heard the call of
Helmeted Hornbill and after a lot of searching a pair of these
real life "dragons" flew over the road for nice
flight views of this endangered species. Sometimes birding
is all about moments that happen for patient people and these
two magical birds were a great reward for our persistence.
Such is the quality of the birding at Hala-Bala that I have
not yet mentioned some of the other fantastic birds that we
saw that include the stunning Rufous-collared Kingfisher,
an Orange-backed Woodpecker, a flyover Olive-backed Woodpecker,
Sunda Scimitar Babbler, Diard's Trogon, Maroon-chested Philentoma,
Rufous-chested Flycatcher, Red-billed Malkoha and Blue-crowned
Hanging Parrot. The birding here is really good at the right
time of the year!
Tammalang Mangroves, Satun
After a trouble-free journey we reached Satun and then checked
into the Singkiat
Buri Hotel, heading straight out to the mangroves after
putting our things in our rooms.
It is only a ten to fifteen minute drive to Tammalang Mangroves
and we headed straight to an area that I thought would turn
up one of our main targets in the late afternoon. The first
bird of interest we saw was an Ashy Drongo. This is a really
common species in much of the country but this resident, dark
subspecies is surprisingly different not only in colouration
but it has a shorter tail; surely a potential split in the
future. Getting into a position to get a good view of this
bird revealed a fruiting tree that was full of Pink-necked
Green Pigeons and Coppersmith Barbets gorging themselves.
A family of Yellow-vented Bulbuls were taking advantage of
this larder of food too with the chicks screaming loudly for
more every time the adults turned up with a fruit. Standing
close to some small dead trees full of small holes paid off
when eventually a pair of Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers showed up;
this species being restricted to this area within Thailand
although common through much of its range. An incredible group
of nine Brahminy Kites began circling overhead, calling as
they flew, but the appearance of a male Copper-throated Sunbird,
among the many Brown-throated Sunbirds, was another exciting
moment for us as this was another of our targets at this location.
Shortly after this the distinctive call of Cinereous Tit was
heard and it didn't take us long to track down a pair of these
jolly little birds foraging for food in low trees.
We had some more target species to locate and I felt that
we had to move on to find them so the remainder of the afternoon
was spent searching for Mangrove Pitta and Brown-winged Kingfisher.
Ashy Tailorbirds obliged us as did a couple of Golden-bellied
Gerygone but we could not find either of these targets, although
we did hear Brown-winged Kingfisher from a bridge with a good
view of the mangroves and felt that if we returned in the
morning we might have more luck. From this spot we did see
plenty of Collared Kingfishers though and a surprise in the
form of a Brown-backed Needletail flying past. With light
fading we went and found a restaurant for dinner before returning
to the hotel.
The following morning we were out early, grabbing some breakfast
and heading to the bridge. The light was not very good due
to heavy clouds and a little drizzle but as we pulled up Bill
noticed a Brown-winged Kingfisher sitting on wires right next
to us as it peered down into the water looking for food. This
was exactly the sort of result we wanted and we were able
to watch this impressive bird at length while we ate our breakfast.
This success allowed us to move a short distance down the
road to an area that looked good habitat for Mangrove Pitta.
With the very gloomy weather things did not look that great
but we took a slow walk while carefully listening. Cinereous
Tit, Ashy Tailorbird and Ashy Drongo all showed and suddenly
there was the call of Mangrove Pitta. It took a little searching
but after a while we found this Mangrove Pitta calling from
high up in a mangrove tree, giving us great views; a very
pleasing result. It seemed like finding any more species might
be quite difficult and Bill was keen to visit another spot
so we drove around fifty minutes to nearby Thalebun National
Park.
Bird
Watching Trips in Southern Thailand:
Birding in the south of Thailand is best in the breeding
season when birds are active and vocal. March to July
usually provides a large number of exciting forest birds
including Pittas, Hornbills and Woodpeckers. Coastal
and wetland sites can also make for some variety with
several excellent locations for mangrove specialities.
Contact me to arrange a birding trip and/or to discuss
the best bird watching options for you: nickupton@thaibirding.com
Thalebun National Park protects a sizeable lump of forest
along the Thai-Malay border but access to the habitat is more
or less restricted to the headquarters area and the campsite/accommodation
areas. It does have a very photogenic lake surrounded by forest
with a limestone karst backdrop and there are a good number
of scarce southern species that can be found here.
The weather was still fairly poor, a little light rain
interspersed by dry periods but always heavy dark clouds making
things difficult. However, there were still good birds to
see with a group of four Black-thighed Falconets engaged in
some strange behaviour, hanging from palm leaves! nearby a
Raffles's Malkoha was feeding but then we heard the call of
some woodpeckers. A short wait and they appeared nearby but
the angle and light made it hard to identify them easily.
A few quick photographs allowed me to see that they were Checker-throated
Woodpeckers, a really scarce bird in Thailand so a good sighting
indeed. We continued walking along and were surprised to hear
a high-pitched call followed by a flash of movement and then
a Chestnut-tailed Forktail landing on the track where a puddle
held some attraction for this beautiful bird. We watched this
bird as it went little by little up a rocky stream before
disappearing into the forest.
There is one "nature trail" at Thalebun HQ and this
is where we wanted to go in order to search for Malayan Banded
Pitta. A couple more species showed up before getting to the
trail head including a Hairy-backed Bulbul and a pair of Lesser
Green Leafbirds. As is typical on these forest trails in the
south, things were really quiet with the weather not helping
as a persistent drizzle ensued. We did see a Fulvous-chested
Jungle Flycatcher flitting around in the dark and plenty of
leeches on our legs. The trail was longer than remembered
and a bit indistinct at several points but eventually we did
hear the call of Malayan Banded Pitta close to the trail.
I was convinced that we were going to see it but somehow it
completely avoided both of us and eventually disappeared without
a trace. A bit disappointing but we chose to appreciate the
birds we did see, particularly Chestnut-naped Forktail, rather
than the ones we did not. In the end it was a bit of a relief
once we were out of the trail and as we got close to the lake
a good number of birds appeared. Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
and Buff-rumped Woodpecker were both active but the most obvious
and easily observed birds were a group of Grey-rumped Treeswifts
swooping around and perched upon the trees. Lots of Pacific
Swallows were present too but after taking a few scenery photos
we decided that it was time to go back to the hotel for a
shower and then get lunch before making the journey back to
Hat Yai airport where I would drop Bill off but not before
taking a look at a group of Rufous-bellied Swallows along
the way..
Sirindhorn Botanical Gardens
After an early breakfast in the rain I got on the road with
a long journey ahead of me, heading back to Bangkok. The location
that I had pinpointed to visit was under heavy, black cloud
and rain so I turned north towards what looked like slightly
brighter weather and after about one hour I arrived at Sirindhorn
Botanical Gardens in Nakhorn Sri Thammarat province, a small
area of forest and gardens set among limestone hills.
This is a site that I had never visited before but it turned
out to be a nice spot with easy walking along paved tracks
through some nice habitat and a good abundance of birds. Common
species like Common Iora and Oriental Magpie Robin greeted
me but the early morning birdsong included the sweet whistle
of Streaked Wren Babbler, predictably emanating from an area
of rocky limestone. Sometimes this species can be hard to
spot in the undergrowth but I was lucky on this occasion with
the bird sitting out on an exposed branch, uttering its morning
song before bouncing around on the limestone rocks.
Moving along I came across the first of a few Little Spiderhunters
followed by a Red-throated Barbet and a calling Blue-eared
Barbet but the sound of a Blue-winged Pitta drew my attention
rather more. Calling from high up in a tall tree it was not
particularly difficult to spot although it kept flitting around
and hiding behind leaves in the upper canopy. A fruiting tree
held a Vernal Hanging Parrot, Yellow-vented Bulbul, some Streak-eared
Bulbuls as well as some squabbling Banded Bay Cuckoos and
a noisy Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. Continuing my walk around
the circular loop track I came across several Blue Whistlingthrushes
lurking around in cave-like areas, although photographing
them was very challenging due to heavily overcast skies. The
high-pitched "pipping" of Rufous Piculet came from
some dense bushes but luckily it flew out into a more open
area to give me some amazing views of this tiny little woodpecker;
a real highlight of the visit. Shortly after I was treated
to a very confiding display from a Red-throated Barbet that
allowed me to photograph it from every angle before a flypast
from a Black-bellied Malkoha.
As my lap of this location neared conclusion I added a calling
Black-naped Oriole and Lineated Barbet to my morning list
with groups of Pacific Swallows swooping around over the water
and a pair of Rufous-bellied Swallows cruising around higher
above. A Black Bittern flew overhead as I was approaching
the vehicle in which I was able to cool down and get a break
from the high humidity. The only thing left was to begin my
marathon drive back to Bangkok but on the way out of the botanical
gardens an Oriental Honey Buzzard was the final addition to
a nice morning's birding.
If you are interested in arranging a bird
watching tour you can see some suggested itineraries here
- Birdwatching
Trips - and you can contact me at the above email address
to discuss the best options.
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