Thailand: Doi Lang (west)

Doi Lang is definitely one of my favourite places for birding in northern Thailand. It has superb forests, which give you your only shot of seeing Himalayan Cutia and Black-throated Bushtit and it is also the place where local Thai photographers set up numerous feeding stations. I know this isn't everybody's cup of tea but the views you get of usually hard-to-see skulking species is phenomenal. Over the years we've had Rusty-naped Pitta, Spot-breasted Laughingthrush, Spot-throated Babbler and others. So whether you've got a little point-and-shoot camera or a big SLR, you are going to bring home some vert tasty snaps. 

Oh and what i did like about this year's tour was the opportunity given to us by the local Thai photographers to join them at their Mrs Hume's Pheasant stake-out. They let us park our minibus behind their portable hides and wait for the pheasants to show. I can't tell you how thankful I am and they even let one of our group have use of a hide to get some really close photos...

A fine male Mrs Hume's Pheasant

Mountain Bamboo-Partridges joined in the fun

The Mountain Bamboo-Partridges even photobombed the pheasant..!!

So here's a few photos form the western or Fang side of Doi Inthanon to whet the appetite.

White-bellied Redstart (male)

White-bellied Redstart (female)

Slaty-blue Flycatcher (female)

Ultramarine Flycatcher

Siberian Rubythroat

Black-throated Bushtit

Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher

Slaty-backed Flycatcher

Spot-breasted Parrotbill

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Thailand: Doi Ang Khang

Although we only pay a short visit to the rugged mountains of Doi Ang Khang, it still produces a number of quality birds. It's rather unfortunate that some migrant workers had plonked their tents on the feeding station where the Rusty-naped Pitta used to show, but that was over a month ago and they've relocated a little distance away - the workers not the pitta! But we still enjoyed nice looks at Streaked Wren Babbler and others.

Streaked Wren-Babbler

Another feeding station produced great views of 6 Black-breasted Thrushes, 2 Eye-browed Thrushes, female Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush and a Grey-sided Thrush.

Here's a couple of Black-breasted Thrushes

Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush

Cook's Swifts are extremely numerous

Eye-browed Thrush (left) & Grey-sided Thrush (right)

Giant Nuthatch showed well

I'm assuming this is the 'usual' Eastern Buzzard we get in northern Thailand, although with various claims of Long-legged and Himalayan Buzzards recently....

Eastern Buzzard

Doi Inthanon

Having done many blog posts on my tours to Thailand over the years, I think i'm at risk of repeating myself. Our tours here have always been popular and our main tour usually fills up over a year in advance. We don't brag about how good it is, but you can see by our Twitter posts and previous tour reports just how good the birding is. So for this year's tour i'm going to let the photos do the talking! 

So our tour began at Doi Inthanon where we saw pretty much everything we wanted, getting great views of most things. The summit usually has crowds of people but the birds don't seem to care and the point-blank views of Silver-eared Laughingthrushes, Rufous-winged Fulvettas, Green-tailed Sunbird and Chestnut-tailed Minlas are always amazing. 

Green-tailed Sunbird

Blue Whistling Thrush

Silver-eared Laughingthrush

I was particularly pleased to find a fruiting tree her with several Grey-sided Thrushes and a single Eye-browed Thrush feeding there, along with a pair of Yellow-bellied Flowerpeckers - just a shame I only got a photo of the female...

We really enjoyed close looks at Grey-sided Thrush

Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker

Down on the boardwalk that circles around the mossy bog we saw the usual Dark-sided Thrush, and even a Pygmy Wren-Babbler was feeding out in the open.

This is the easiest place to see Dark-sided Thrush

One of our favourite trails held an Asian Emerald Cuckoo, some confiding Clicking Shrike-Babblers, and I really thought we'd nail a calling Green Cochoa but it wasn't to be this year. 

Asian Emerald Cuckoo is always great to see

Clicking Shrike-Babbler

There were 10+ Blossom-headed Parakeets roosting near our lodge, but a crazy few minutes one evening produced 7 Collared Falconets and a Black-headed Woodpecker perched in the treetops.

Black-headed Woodpecker - phonescoped 

Collared Falconet - phone scoped.

Bhuj

Here are a few photos from our last days of the tour at Bhuj. It was pretty successful as we saw Grey Hypocolius, Red-necked Falcon, an exceedingly showy Bluethroat, Sirkeer Malkoha, Grey-necked Bunting, Rufous-tailed Lark, White-naped Tit, Marshall’s Iora, 9 Sociable Lapwings, Black-necked Stork, and eventually an Indian Nightjar.

This Bluethroat really wanted to be seen

Booted Eagle

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Grey Hypocolius

Grey-necked Bunting

We saw this Little Stint at a large lake

Marshall's Iora is a key species to see on this tour

Small Minivet

Sociable Lapwing