Doi Lang

Began the day at a lowland site where we found White-capped and Plumbeous Water-Redstarts, Slaty-backed Forktail and Striated Heron along a narrow stream, as well as a tree full of Pin-tailed Green-pigeons with a few Thick-billed Green-pigeons and Great Barbet mixed in as well. We also saw Golden-fronted Leafbird, Black-capped Kingfisher, Blue Rock Thrush and Asian Barred Owlet here as well. The main prize was a flock of Spot-winged Grosbeaks perched at the top of some tall trees and were quite active. There was also numerous Asian Fairy Bluebirds feeding in some fruiting trees with lots of Coppersmith Barbets, Thick-billed Flowerpecker and a Blue-throated Barbet. The distinctive local race of Eurasian Jay with a white face and Short-billed Minivet was also much appreciated.

Heading up into the beautiful forest of Doi Lang we had a great start with a male Ultramarine Flycatcher and a pair of Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrushes at a feeding station. Further on we quickly nailed a pair of Giant Nuthatches feeding close to the road, as well as a fine male Little Pied Flycatcher, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker and Velvet-fronted Nuthatch.

Higher up in a shady area of tall forest we visited a number of feeding stations set up by the local Thai birding community and although it was late morning we really enjoyed close views of species such as 3 separate Siberian Rubythroats, male Himalayan Bluetail, White-gorgeted Flycatcher, Large Niltava, Lesser Shortwing, with a Hume’s Treecreeper and Rufous-backed Sibia feeding in the surrounding forest. 

Himalayan Bluetail

3 different Siberian Rubythroays

Lesser Shortwing

Lesser Shortwing

White-gorgeted Flycatcher

An extremely obliging Spot-breasted Parrotbill was calling and displaying aggressively for a long time along the road and gave us unparalleled photo opportunities as well.

Spot-breasted Parrotbill

The early to mid afternoon birding session driving across the ridge and birding from the road was really quiet as it was so hot but when the temperature dropped later we picked up Sapphire Flycatcher and both Yellow-breasted and Crested Buntings which we don’t normally see on this tour – so very pleasing! Returning to the feeding station area we picked up White-browed Laughingthrush, Silver-eared Laughingthrush, White-browed Scimitar-babbler and a female Slaty-blue Flycatcher, Pallas’s Warbler and Grey-backed Shrike in the surrounding forest. At the end of the day a large number of Cook’s Swifts were streaming overhead and we had a Hume’s Warbler as well, and driving back down the mountain a Mrs Hume’s Pheasant and Yellow-throated Marten were patrolling the road in front of us to end a fantastic day.

Doi Ang Khang

After a very chilly night we left after breakfast and had a quick and spectacularly unsuccessful search for Mrs Hume’s Pheasant before driving to one of our favourite spots. We then spent the next couple of hours watching a sunlit hillside below us where  numerous birds were coming in to feed and what a great time we had. Highlights here were both Lesser and Greater Yellownapes, Golden-throated Barbet, Striated Bulbul, Long-tailed Minivet, Brown Shrike, Spectacled Barwing, a couple of Grey-headed Parrotbills, a stunning Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Grey Treepie, and a brief Chestnut Bunting. A short walk produced Grey Bushchat, Buff-throated Warbler, and Grey-breasted Prinia before reaching the road again. 

Mountain Bulbul

Mrs Gould's Sunbird 

Here a large flowering tree was attracting lots of Mrs Gould’s Sunbirds, Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler, Blue-winged Minla, Buff-barred Warbler, Japanese Tit and a brief Black-throated Sunbird.

Then we drove to the Royal Project and at the feeding station watched several Black-breasted Thrushes, White-tailed Robin, an immature male Siberian Blue Robin and best of all, a Streaked Wren-Babbler feeding just a couple of metres away, whilst nearby we saw Taiga Flycatcher and a Martens’s Warbler. After an enjoyable time here we drove up to the border post with Myanmar and quickly found a Daurian Redstart, White-browed Scimitar-babbler and several Yellow-streaked Warblers.

Black-breasted Thrush (female)

Black-breasted Thrush (male)

Rufous-bellied Niltava (male)

Siberian Blue Robin (immature male)

Siberian Blue Robin

Streaked Wren-babbler

Streaked Wren-babbler

White-tailed Robin

Back at the lodge we enjoyed numerous bulbuls coming down to feed including some White-headed Bulbuls, along with an Olive-backed Pipit, beside a small stream before heading down to the rice fields near Thaton. Here we walked along the track and had a few Eastern Marsh Harriers, Green Sandpiper, Citrine Wagtail, Eurasian Wryneck, Bluethroat, numerous Dusky Warblers, a couple of male Siberian Rubythroats and Black-collared Starling.

North Thailand

Well what a leisurely start to this tour as we had arrived up here in Chinag Mai a day ahead of our usual schedule so we enjoyed a huge buffet breakfast at 8am before a little scanning from the balcony across some waste ground with tall trees and bushes. Actually nothing fantastic but still nice views of a male Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker from 2 metres away, along with Streak-eared and Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Coppersmith Barbet, Greater Coucal, House Swifts and Common Tailorbird. If you’ve never been to Asia then these are all new birds and this was the case for one of the couples today. How exciting!

Anyway, met up with my good friend Nick Upton at 11am and then were heading out into the countryside and up the winding mountain road of Doi Ang Khang, but not before ticking off a perched Rufous-winged Buzzard. Just a shame that a singing Siberian Rubythroat didn’t show itself. Nevertheless we knew we would get that baby sooner or later, and up at the old cemetery area a fruiting tree seemed like a good place to stop. Sure enough we were soon watching a gathering of Crested Finchbills, Sooty-headed, Ashy, Red-whiskered and 

Brown-breasted Bulbuls along with a Blue-throated Barbet glowing in the afternoon 

sunshine. Moving on to a nice section of road we enjoyed the last couple of hours of sunshine seeing Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Verditer Flycatcher, Black-breasted Thrush, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, and both Bronzed and Ashy Drongos. A pair of Bay Woodpeckers did their usual thing of playing hard to get but we had several flight views and a couple of brief perched views which isn’t bad considering this species’ notorious reputation. And that was all for today and a quick couple of minutes drive saw us reach our usual lodge where the temperature soon plummeted to around 

5 degrees centigrade and a real contrast to the hot lowlands.

New Tour to China in November 2016

Yet another new tour has just been posted on our website and this one is something a little different. This time we will visit some excellent birding sites in China that are all easily accessible and hold an enviable list of mouth-watering species. A good number of the potential species we hope to see are not available on other ZOOTHERA tours and you have to see them in winter. With direct flights from UK to Shanghai it really is an easy place to get to and Shanghai Pudong International Airport is also easily reached from major airports in Europe and USA as well. The vast Yangcheng Nature Reserve and Poyang Lake are home to 6 species of crane: White-naped, Hooded, Red-crowned, Siberian, Common and sometimes Sandhill. And then there is also Baikal Teal, Baer's Pochard, Falcated Duck, Oriental Stork, Swan Goose, plus multitudes of other wildfowl. 

We will also visit Wuyuan for the much-wanted Scaly-sided Merganser, and visit the Minjiang Estuary for Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Black-faced Spoonbill. There's also a great selection of wintering passerines such as Northern Red-flanked Bluetail, Dusky Thrush, Naumann's Thrush, Pale Thrush, Siberian Thrush, Yellow-browed Bunting, Pallas's Reed Bunting and others. And i'm personally hoping for a Japanese Robin..!

Follow this link to see the tour itinerary: http://www.zootherabirding.com/page_3208813.html

Baikal Teal - a real stunner!

Hooded Crane

Red-crowned Crane

Scaly-sided Merganser

Chinese Grosbeak is a stunner too!

Grey-sided Scimitar-babbler at Fuzhou Forest Park

Real wild Mandarin Ducks

Oriental Stork

More Red-crowned Cranes

Even more Red-crowned Cranes

The endemic Reed Parrotbill

Going to need a large slice of luck to see Short-tailed Parrotbill

Silver Pheasant at Fuzhou

Its always a delight to see Spoonies...

New Tour - Cambodia & Malaysia 2016

Another new and exciting tour has just been posted to our website, this one to Cambodia in search of Giant and White-shouldered Ibis, Milky Stork, White-winged Wood Duck, Chestnut-headed Partridge, Bengal Florican, Oriental Plover, Manchurian Reed Warbler, Mekong Wagtail, Cambodian Tailorbird and much more!

We will be staying in some remote areas and visiting Angkor Wat, Tmatboey, Okoki and Bokor. There's also an optional extension to Fraser's Hill in Malaysia for a different set of birds including Malayan Whistling-Thrush, Blue Nuthatch, Malayan Laughingthrush and others.

Just follow this link for the tour itinerary: http://www.zootherabirding.com/page_3197360.html

Banded Broadbill

Bengal Florican

On the way to look for Milky Stork

Great Hornbill

Watching floricans

This is part of the Okoki Jungle Camp.

The above photo shows part of Okoki Jungle Camp where we will stay for 2 nights. There's Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo, Bar-bellied Pitta, Green Peafowl, Blyth's Frogmouth, Oriental Bay Owl and other species out in those forests. Although we don't expect to see possibly any ( ! ) of those species, they are there. Let's hope White-winged Wood Duck behaves!

You can see more photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/94771517@N07/sets/72157649622614680/

New Tour - Borneo September 2015

We have recently added a new tour to Borneo for 2015. Following a request from some of our regular customers this tour will take place in September visiting Mount Kinabalu, Sepilok, Kinabatangan River and finishing at Danum Valley with 4 nights at the fabulous Borneo Rainforest Lodge.

Tour highlights could include such delights as Red-breasted Partridge, Great Argus, Storm's Stork, Whitehead's Trogon, Black-crowned Pitta, Everett's Thrush, Bare-headed Laughingthrush and Orang-Utan amongst others. Our tour this year also saw Bornean Ground-Cuckoo and Giant Pitta as well....!

Click here for tour itinerary: http://www.zootherabirding.com/page_2478758.html

Black-crowned Pitta at Danum Valley

A young Orang-Utan at Danum Valley

Ethiopia - The End

Our last morning’s birding in fabulous Ethiopia saw us back in Awash NP where we had a few hours before returning to Addis Ababa. 

Gillett's Lark

Highlights here included great views of a Gillett’s Lark singing from the top of an acacia, Grassland Pipit, Turkestan & Masked Shrikes and our final new bird was a stunningly beautiful Green-winged Pytilia – thanks to Christine. Other species noted included Bateleur, Buff-crested Bustard, the Hartlaub’s Bustard again, and a pair of close Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse amongst others.

Buff-crested Bustard

Hartlaub's Bustard

Hartlaub's Bustard

 

Hartlaub's Bustard

The drive back to Addis Ababa wasn’t too painful and along a new freeway we passed flocks of Common Cranes, some White Storks, a field full of Abdim’s Storks, and even a Great Spotted Cuckoo flew over. So that was it, and we arrived at our hotel at 4.30pm and enjoyed a relaxing evening after a hectic yet bird-filled tour before flying back home the following day.