Doi Ang Khang to Thaton

After a bitterly cold night we had breakfast and then drove along the road through pine forest where we pulled the minibus onto the verge and sat and waited for a while. We were waiting for Hume’s Pheasant which suddenly appeared after around a 20 minute wait and was two males were seen feeding inside the forest not too far away from us. The views weren’t god at all but shortly after another male and a female appeared on the grassy verge downhill from us and proceeded to feed right out in the open. They weren’t that close but we enjoyed the opportunity to see them as our hopes weren’t that high to begin with. But unfortunately a car drove past us and disturbed the birds which didn’t reappear, so we hopped out of the minibus and had a look at a Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher and Blyth’s Shrike-babbler that were calling from nearby. 

Yellow-cheeked Tit

Further up the hill we birded on a sunlit piece of hillside and found quite a lot of activity with a few Chestnut-vented Nuthatches, Japanese and Yellow-cheeked Tits, Grey-cheeked Fulvettas, a pair of Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babblers, Mrs Gould’s Sunbird, Grey-backed Shrike, and a fine Golden-throated Barbet.

Leaving here we drove back to our lodge and enjoyed nice views of the Grey-winged Blackbird and Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush again, but this time in much better light than yesterday and a few Olive-backed Pipits were also present. 

Olive-backed Pipit

We spent a while enjoying the other garden birds here, such as White-headed and Brown-breasted Bulbuls, White-capped Water-redstart, Maroon Oriole, Common Rosefinch and others. A short drive took us to another stake-out where we saw several White-tailed Robins, Black-breasted Thrush, stunning male Rufous-bellied Niltava, male Hill Blue Flycatcher, and a juvenile Siberian Blue Robin all feeding some 20 feet away. In the surrounding trees there was Blue-winged Minla and Yellow-bellied Warbler as well.

Rufous-bellied Niltava

Hill Blue Flycatcher

After lunch we drove up to the border post which overlooks Myanmar and found a pair of Daurian Redstarts and a female Slaty-backed Flycatcher, but not a lot else, so we set off down into the lowlands and headed to Thaton ricefields. It was unusually cool here and there was a lot of bird activity and as soon as we got there an immature Pied Harrier flew by and landed not too far away. A good start! I think the male Siberian Rubythroat that sat out in the open for ages takes some beating though. 

Siberian Rubythroat

We also had a Green Sandpiper, Long-tailed Shrike, Black-collared Starling, several Dusky Warblers and Chestnut-tailed Starling. Keeping our run of good luck going we found Thailand’s 2^nd ever Siberian Chiffchaff as well!

Doi Ang Khang

We took a 10.30am flight north to Chiang Mai, which meant we had a little later than usual start. But some of the group had a few commoner birds around the hotel, as well as a couple of Java Sparrows – a species that was also seen at the airport as well. The flight only took just over an hour and we were out of the airport with our luggage and in the minibus in double quick time, arriving at our first stake-out around 3.45pm. As I have always stated, this tour is about getting really nice views of birds, and with the relatively recent phenomenon of numerous feeding stations you get to see some stunningly rare and beautiful species quite easily. When you consider that you would not see most of the ‘staked-out’ birds usually, then this is a winning combination. 

White-headed Bulbul

 However the first good bird was White-headed Bulbul in the gardens of the resort we were staying at tonight, and having seen the white-headed race of Black Bulbul on the drive up (which is also quite a scarce bird in Thailand) it made for a nice comparison. Also in the garden was a Grey Wagtail, Grey Bushchat and Sooty-headed, Red-whiskered and Brown-breasted Bulbuls.

Then we set in for a short wait and had a male White-tailed Robin, male Black-breasted Thrush and a female Rufous-bellied Niltava putting on a fine show. Then some White-headed Bulbuls came down to the ground beside a small stream and showed exceptionally well. 

White-headed Bulbul

Nearby we sat on the ground and waited patiently for all of 10 seconds and a male Grey-winged Blackbird came in to feed on mealworms, followed by a White-capped Water-Redstart and a pair of Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrushes. Wow! 

Grey-winged Blackbird - a scarce Thai bird

Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush (male)

Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush (female)

The blackbird is incredibly scarce in Thailand, whilst the rock-thrushes are usually seen on a regular tour, but often distantly and in the scope – and not 10 yards away… So that was it for today and everyone was early to bed ready for an exciting day tomorrow – and to hide under their duvets as the temperature plummeted to just above freezing!

Last Day Wrap-up

So we left the lodge early doors and spent the rest of the day around Petchaburi. Our first port of call was an open area of dry fields, marsh and reeds where we found numerous Ruddy-breasted Crakes, along with a couple of Eurasian Wrynecks, 8 Greater Painted Snipe, Black-browed Reed-warbler and a brief Watercock. 

Eurasian Wryneck

Walking along the road to another open area, we found a Paddyfield Pipit and then had superb views of an Indochinese Bushlark that actually landed about an inch from my speaker that was placed on the ground a few metres in front of us! 

Indochinese Bushlark

 Leaving here, the lure of Laem Pak Bia was too much and we decided to march out into the saltpans to try and find a Far Eastern Curlew amongst the several hundred Eurasian Curlews present. This we did and managed to find a single bird which we saw in flight initially before scoping it when the flock settled down. There was also Bar-tailed Godwit, Chinese Egret, and plenty of previously seen waders. Amongst some mangroves we nailed Golden-bellied Gerygone and Mangrove Whistler, plus I counted 39 Broad-billed Sandpipers along the shoreline. And boy was it rough out in the Gulf of Thailand as a strong easterly wind was whipping the waves into a frenzy and made our task very difficult today. From here we checked out a place for Black-faced Spoonbill without any joy, but did find Painted Storks and Black-headed Ibis before having lunch in a nearby restaurant.

The afternoon was spent driving around the ricefields in search of weavers and Nick knew a place where we saw Baya and, more importantly, Asiatic Golden Weaver very well. 

Asiatic Golden Weaver

A fine Eastern Imperial Eagle and a female Eastern Marsh Harrier were next up as we drove along a side road. Leaving here, a different set of fields was alive with birds and we saw a couple of Greater Spotted Eagles, an Osprey, male Eastern Marsh Harrier, lots of Red-throated Pipits and a Bluethroat. 

Greater Spotted Eagle

So that was our birding done and we had seen 302 species this week, including many of the most-wanted birds during a central Thailand tour. But not only that, it had been a rather jovial affair and I have to thank our lovely group for making it such a fun tour. And without the guidance of Nick Upton we would not have seen so many superb birds and a special thanks to him for looking after us so well and showing us the birds of his adopted homeland.

By 3pm it was time to leave and head back to Bangkok, where we said our goodbyes to Jeff, Heather and Phil who had all been excellent company and meet 3 new members of our team to head into the northern mountains tomorrow.

Kaeng Krachen (17th January)

Running behind with the blog now, as shivering in the north of the country but have internet for the next few days at least - so here's a catch up…

Wasn’t sure what to expect from today but as it turned out, we did very well and managed to fill quite a few holes in our list. A slightly later start was much appreciated by everyone and meant we got to our first stop at just the right time. Patrolling the road and scanning from a decent viewpoint resulted in Black-thighed Falconet, Besra, two fly pasts from a Merlin (a scarce Thai bird), a pair of Great Hornbills, 3 Wreathed Hornbills, Wedge-tailed Green-pigeon, Thick-billed Warbler, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird and a Golden-crested Myna.

Thick-billed Warbler

Driving towards the campsite and a thrush flew up from the side of the road so we killed the engine and waited. A random play from the ipod got a response (finally) from a Black-and-red Broadbill and we ended up seeing 6 of these brightly coloured beauties. 

Black-and-red Broadbill

Moving on to the streams and ‘Little Nick’ quickly found us an Orange-breasted Trogon, with an Asian Paradise-flycatcher nearby. As the day warmed up, bird activity decreased but we still saw several Sultan Tits, Grey-capped Woodpecker and Greater Flameback, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Rufous-fronted Babbler, and a few Sulphur-breasted Warblers.

After lunch we headed back up the hill, seeing a perched Japanese Sparrowhawk on the way,  and spent a couple of hours around the summit, but didn’t see anything new. It is a little frustrating to say the least that you cannot start driving back downhill until 4pm and we really could have done with some extra time at a slightly lower elevation. However, as soon as we arrived we could hear the distinctive call of a Long-tailed Broadbill from the hillside above us. Try as we might we couldn’t entice these much-wanted birds to come into view, but did find a couple a little later as we walked lower. A large mixed-species flock was just around the corner and it was nice to experience such a big group of birds including our first Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo. But we couldn’t locate the right flock which would hold the key species here, Ratchet-tailed Treepie. A flyover Rufous-bellied Eagle was also a welcome addition to our lists. So we walked back up to the minibus and had what we thought was our last new bird here, Ashy Bulbul. 

Ratchet-tailed Treepie

Driving down I was a bit dejected, but just then Nick slammed on the breaks and we could hear some Black-throated Laughingthrushes, so jumped out and quickly found a Ratchet-tailed Treepie feeding above us. Everyone was thoroughly elated with this and it is such a rare bird and one we would have hated to miss. 

Gaur

It was an incredibly jovial ride back down the bumpy road, and to cap things off Heather and I had a brief glimpse of a black Leopard disappearing into the undergrowth and a herd of Gaur were seen beside one of the small ponds.