Introduction
This trip to Thailand was a stopover on the way back to the UK after
6 months backpacking in Australia and Fiji. The aim of the trip
was to take it easy and cover just a few sites thoroughly and get
an introduction to Asian birding rather than tearing around the
country trying to see as much as possible.
Diary
11.01.07
: I arrived at Bangkok from Melbourne in the very early
morning and crashed out in a hotel in the middle of the city somewhere.
Around midday I set off from the Hotel to head towards Khao
Yai National Park. This was easily done with a bus
from Mor Chit bus terminal to the town of Pak Chong, and then a
songthaew up to the National Park entrance. After paying the entrance
fee I hitch- hiked from the gates to Pha Kluai Mai campsite, arriving
in the late afternoon. After getting the tent set up I birded around
the campsite. This was quite productive with several Radde's
Warblers and Taiga (Red-throated) Flycatchers
within metres of the tent. The river behind the restaurant held
Slaty-backed Forktail and Grey
Wagtail and a Blue-bearded Bee-eater
was perched up in dead tree next to the restaurant.
12.01.07
: A dawn start was rewarded with a Coral-billed
Ground-cuckoo feeding behind the restaurant along with several
Red Junglefowl and an Orange-headed
Thrush. A female Blue Rock Thrush
sat up on top of the toilet block as I walked past onto the Pha
Kluai Mai Waterfall trail. This was a very productive trail and
highlights along the trail included Red-headed
Trogon, Blue Whistling Thrush,
Banded Kingfisher, Siberian
Blue Robin, Green-billed Malkoha,
Lesser Necklaced LaughingThrush, Common
Green Magpie, Asian Fairy Bluebird,
Scaly-breasted Partridge, Ashy
Minivet, Asian Paradise Flycatcher,
Mugimaki Flycatcher and Blue-winged
Leafbird.
The area around
the Haew Suwat restaurant at the end of this trail held another
Orange-headed Thrush, Asian
Brown Flycatcher, White-throated Rock
Thrush, and a mixed Warbler flock containing Yellow-browed,
Eastern-crowned, Arctic
and Grey-crowned.Warblers. In the afternoon
I hitched out along the access road from Pha Kluai Mai campsite
to the TAT pond. The pond held Chinese Pond
Heron and a Common Kingfisher,
along with a Verditer Flycatcher perched
high up in a dead tree. Walking along the road through the open
ground between here and Mo Sing To Reservoir produced a pair of
Indian Roller, a Besra,
Grey Buchchat, Brown
Shrike, a flushed Lesser Coucal,
Richard's Pipit, a small group of Plain
Prinia, Ashy Woodswallow, and
a pair of Red-wattled Lapwing.
13.01.07
: After a quick look at the Coral-billed
Ground-cuckoo behind the restaurant I stood next to a large
fruiting tree on the road about 100m west of the campsite entrance.
Over the course of an hour the tree held Great,
Oriental Pied and Wreathed
Hornbills, along with a pair of Vernal
Hanging Parrots and a Blue-eared Barbet.
I then hitched out to the HQ and walked out along Trail 6 towards
the Wildlife Watchtower. This a very long and exhausting hike but
provided some good birds in the form of White-crowned
Forktail, White-browed Scimitar-babbler,
Hill Blue Flycatcher, Rufous-throated
Partridge, Greater Yellownape,
Barred Cuckoo Dove and White-crested
Laughingthrush. After emerging from the rainforest near to
the Watchtower a Crested Serpent Eagle
soared overhead and a Greater Coucal
showed well. I hitched back to the HQ where a flock of Pin-tailed
Parrotfinch were feeding in the seeding Bamboo. I walked
back up the hill to Mo Sing To reservoir where I took the track
across the dam and went a short way up the hill into the woods.
One flowering tree held Little Spiderhunter,
Fire-bellied Flowerpecker and Chestnut-flanked
White-eye. The open ground next to the reservoir held a Siberian
Stonechat. As dusk approached that evening, a Great-eared
Nightjar flew over the campsite several times.
14.01.07
: I spent all day travelling. I left KhaoYai at first light
and hitched back to Pak Chong, then got a bus back to Mor Chit in
Bangkok, then in the evening boarded the overnight bus to Chiang
Mai.
15.01.07
: Arrived in Chiang Mai before dawn, then took a songthaew
out to Jorm Tong, then another songthaew up to Doi
Inthanon National Park HQ. After a quick look around
I decided that my best bet for accommodation would be Mr. Deangs,
a few hundred metres uphill from the HQ. Mr. Deang very kindly provided
a free but basic room at the back of his restaurant. After dumping
my stuff I spent the rest of the morning birding the Hmong farm
and woodlands over the road from Mr. Deang's. The farm held Grey
and Pied Bushchat, a few Olive-backed
Pipits, a leucopsis White
Wagtail, Long-tailed Shrike,
and several Red-rumped Swalllows and
an Oriental Honey-buzzard soared overhead.
The woods at the back of the farm were alive with birds and I saw
Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker, Greater
Necklaced Laughingthrush, Eye-browed
Thrush and Little Pied Flycatcher.
After lunch at Mr. Deang's I hitched up to the summit. By this time
of the day the summit march walk was very crowded and birding wasn’t
easy but I still saw the site specialities: Chestnut-tailed
Minla, Dark-backed Sibia, Rufous-winged
Fulvetta, Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush
and Mrs Gould's and Green-tailed
Sunbirds. Walking and hitching back down the mountain I saw
Scarlet Minivet, Grey-throated
Babbler, Flavescent Bulbul and
Rufous-bellied Niltava.
16.01.07
: I managed to hitch an early morning lift to the summit
with a pick-up truck full of Buddhist monks in the hope of avoiding
the midday crowds. An Ashy Woodpigeon
flew over the road next to the marsh, and the marsh itself held
all the birds seen the day before along with several Common
Rosefinch, Ashy-throated Warbler,
White-browed Shortwing and Black-throated
Sunbird. Whilst at the Summit I met Doug and Donna Witt and
their friends Cathy and Larry, from California. They offered to
provide my Accommodation and food, plus use of their car in exchange
for guiding them over the next few days, an offer that I gratefully
accepted. As the marsh walk was getting busy, we headed down the
mountain to the 34.5km Jeep Track. It was getting hot so birding
was difficult but we still got saw Chestnut-fronted
Shrike-babbler, White-browed Fantail,
Black-throated Sunbird and a fleeting
glimpse of a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch.
A quick stop at Vatcharitan Falls on the way down the mountain failed
to add White-capped Water-redstart
but Plumbeous Water-redstart was nice.
A walk around the farmland near the Inthanon Highland Resort that
evening was quite productive with Green Bee-eater,
Rufous Treepie, Hill
Prinia, Striated Swallow, Great
Tit, Bronzed Drongo and Pied
Bushchat.
17.01.07
: This was one of the best days of the trip. We started
off at the 37.5km Jeep Track. At first we really struggled and hardly
saw any birds. A confiding Dark-sided Thrush
and a small flock of Eye-browed Thrushes
kept the interest going until we finally bumped into a spectacular
feeding wave that included Black-eared
and White-browed Shrike-babblers, Yellow
Cheeked Tit, White-browed and
Yellow-bellied Fantails, Maroon
Oriole and Slaty-bellied Tesia.
I got a quick look at what was most probably a Brown-throated
Treecreeper but it eluded the rest of the group. After this
we headed out along the road to Mae Chaem. A quick stop in the coniferous
woodland produced a Grey-backed Shrike,
Chinese Leaf-warbler and Grey-headed
Canary-flycatcher. Once we got out into the dry woodland
further down the mountain a short walk found a small group of leucotis
Eurasian Jays and a scanning from a
convenient high point produced a pair Rufous-winged
Buzzard. We then headed back towards Doi Inthanon and went
back downhill to the Dry woodland at the 13km. It was unbelievably
hot, but a Coppersmith Barbet was still
belting its heart out in the car park and a Black-hooded
Oriole showed briefly just across the river from the car
park. Walking up the hill onto the ridge trail Doug expertly picked
out a tiny Collared Falconet perched
up on the tip of dead tree. We were really struggling in the heat
but carried on and soon enough were rewarded with a superb group
of 3 Black-headed Woodpeckers. We drove
back up the hill for an evening at the HQ campsite, unfortunately
the vegetation by the ponds had encroached to such a level that
there was no sign of the Black-tailed Crake
but we did see a Snowy-browed Flycatcher
and an Asian Barred Owlet. I said my
goodbyes to my American friends as they were leaving to Doi Angkang
the next day and I returned to my room at Mr.Deang’s for the
night.
18.01.07
: After a little lie in I started walking up the mountain
with no particular plan in mind. On the way up I saw Dusky
and Hume’s Yellow-browed Warblers,
White-headed Bulbul and White-browed
Shrike-babbler next to the road. A short walk down the 34.5km
track gave a pair of Rufous-backed Sibia,
the 700th bird of the trip since leaving home in June 2006, and
Short-billed Minivet. I hitched up
to the 37.5km trail, which produced Eye-browed
Wren-babbler, Chestnut-crowned Warbler
and another look at the Dark-sided Thrush.
After hitching back down to the HQ, an evening walk around Siriphum
Waterfalls was excellent, as it was very quiet as the workers had
finished for the day. Highlight was a stunning White-capped
Water-redstart, along with Slaty-backed
Forktail and Plumbeous Water-redstart.
Walking back along the ‘nature trail’ added a pair of
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and an Orange-bellied
Leafbird.
19.01.07
: I managed a quick morning trip up to the 34.5km track
before leaving. This was well worthwhile as I finally managed to
pick out a Golden-throated Barbet for
good views having been frustrated by their calls all week. Also
seen were a Stripe-breasted Woodpecker,
Striated Bulbul and an Asian
Emerald Cuckoo. I was very lucky as I got a lift back to
Chiang Mai with Mr. Deang who was going in anyway and caught the
overnight bus back to Bangkok.
20.01.07
:
After arriving in Bangkok and finding a hotel, I took a taxi out
to Muang
Boran fishponds to the South-east of the city in the
afternoon. By the time I arrived I didn’t have much time before
the light started to go so concentrated on the first of the big
ponds. This was very birdy and I wished I had more time to explore
the site properly. Several Blue-tailed Bee-eaters
and a pair of Sand Martins were hawking
over the ponds, which held Pheasant-tailed
and Bronze-winged Jacanas, White-browed
Crake, Javan Pond-heron, Black-crowned
Night Heron and a pair of Cinnamon
Bitterns.
21.01.07
: This was an interesting day exploring the public Transport
of Bangkok, starting out with a Tuk-tuk to the southern train station,
taking the train out to Samut Sakhorn and then a motorbike taxi
out to Khok
Kham Saltpans. Unfortunately, the legendary Mr. Tii
was away for the day so my chances of connecting without transport
and a scope were always going to be slim and unsurprisingly I failed.
However a superb selection of commoner waders out on the pans was
almost compensation. Star bird was a single Nordmann's
Greenshank in a mixed flock of Greenshanks,
Redshank and Marsh
Sandpipers. Other good birds were Temminck’s
and Long-toed Stint, Broad-billed
Sandpiper, Brown-headed Gull,
Yellow Wagtail and Little
Ringed Plover. I just had enough time to dash back to Bangkok,
grab my stuff from the hotel and make the final call to board my
flight back to the UK after almost 7 months abroad, of which these
11 days in Thailand were a big highlight, that has definitely whetted
my appetite for the region.
Joe
Cockram |