Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia

Meanwhile, all around us were large gatherings of other waders with Great Knot, Marsh Sandpiper, both Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Broad-billed Sandpipers, and other more familiar species such as Dunlin, Red Knot, Curlew Sandpiper and others. Once we were done with the Spoonie we nailed a Far Eastern Curlew hiding pretty well in a huge flock of Eurasian Curlews before checking out an area which gave us Chinese Egret, a couple of Terek Sandpipers and Golden-bellied Gerygone as well. There was also some Gull-billed, Little, Caspian, and both Greater and Lesser Crested Terns seen this morning as well.

Broad-billed Sandpipers

Just a small part of the huge Great Knot flock...

As we had been watching the Spoonie for so long the flock of Nordmann’s Greenshanks had moved from their regular area so we drove around for a while until we came across four of them in a flock that also had 29 Asiatic Dowitchers as well. Wow! 

Asiatic Dowitchers

Some distant Nordmann's Greenshanks

Plenty more photos were taken although they weren’t that close but our drive around these salt pans gave us numerous opportunities to get extremely close views of a variety of other waders such as Spotted Redshank, Pacific Golden Plover and yet more Broad-billed Sandpipers.

Broad-billed Sandpipers

Always nice to get such close views of common waders - Common Greenshank

Black-winged Stilts, Curlew Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper

Pacific Golden Plover

Kentish Plover

Temminck's Stint

Wood Sandpiper

Following lunch we headed out to the sandspit at Laem Pak Bia where both Malaysian and White-faced Plovers showed well, along with Pacific Reef and Chinese Egrets, Great Crested Tern, and also 5 Pallas’s Gulls as well.

Malaysian Plover

Gull and tern roost at Laem Pak Bia...

White-faced Plover

White-faced Plover - female

White-faced Plover

White-faced Plover

Leaving here we found a few White-shouldered Starlings and an Indochinese Bushlark before heading to another area where we enjoyed close views of Indian Cormorant and several White-winged Terns, as well as seeing Pin-tailed Snipe, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Black-crowned Night heron, and at dusk an Indian Nightjar showed well. 

White-winged Tern

Literally 1000’s of Lyle’s Flying Foxes flying overhead from their roost site was a quite spectacular sighting to end a fantastic day.

Sensational Spoonies..!

It is always a highlight of our Thailand tour to visit the shorebird mecca of Pak Thale and today did not disappoint because within literally a few seconds of setting up our scopes we were watching the first of six Spoon-billed Sandpipers seen this morning. In fact all six were in the same saltpan right in front of us at one stage and we spent a rather long time soaking up the views of this mega, which is classified as Critically Endangered by BirdLife International. It’s always a trifle difficult to focus on one species here as there are just so many birds present, but this is such a rare bird and we were treated to the best views I’ve ever had here.

A selection of photos taken this morning of Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

Khao Yai to Phetchaburi

We were back in the park at first light, enjoying our picnic breakfast from a fine viewpoint and spent a very nice hour or so scanning the remarkably tall roadside trees that were laden with fruit. Many Spangled Drongos were in attendance, along with Blue-eared, Moustached and Green-eared Barbets, Stripe-throated Bulbuls, Blue-winged Leafbird and many Asian Fairy Bluebirds, whilst several Vernal Hanging-Parrots showed well in the scope and a couple of Oriental Pied Hornbills flew by. Best of all a huge Great Hornbill put in an appearance before flying across in front of us – absolutely brilliant. 

Great Hornbill

It was good fun to be able to scan lots of birds perching in the treetops. We then tried a trail that was practically birdless before driving across the park and enjoying both Van Hasselt’s and Crimson Sunbirds perching in the treetops. Nearby, we watched a Crested Goshawk soaring overhead, Black-capped Kingfisher, a flyover Dollarbird, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, and we also found a huge Burmese Python coiled in a large tree. Then at a car park further down the same road we had much closer views of both sunbirds, as well as a Little Spiderhunter.

Crimson Sunbird

Van Hasselt's Sunbird

It took just a little over 4 hours to drive to the Phetchaburi rice fields where we spent the late afternoon birding along a relatively quiet road scanning the marshes and pools. At the first stop there was a mixed flock of Baya, Streaked and Asiatic Golden Weavers, as well as Brahminy Kite, Oriental Reed Warbler, Red Collared Dove, Plain-backed Sparrow and Yellow-bellied Prinia.

Moving on, a wet, ploughed field held lots of Long-toed Stints, Wood Sandpipers, Eastern Yellow Wagtails, and a lone Grey-headed Lapwing. Further on and another ‘wet’ field held lots of Black-winged Stils, our first Bronze-winged Jacana, and a really good find was a Watercock, with several Pink-necked Green-Pigeons, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Chestnut-capped Babbler, brief Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler and a Racket-tailed Treepie seen nearby.

Brahminy Kite

Our last stop along a dirt track led us to a pool where 30+ Cotton Pygmy Geese were seen, plus a couple of Pheasant-tailed Jacanas. We spent a good while scanning the area and also saw White-browed Crake, Yellow Bittern, close Black-browed Reed Warbler, Chestnut Munia, a calling Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, and a few Ashy Minivets flew high overhead calling.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Our hotel was only a short distance away and we celebrated a good day with some nice cold Changs!

Trogons, Pachyderms and Dholes....

Drove through Khao Yai and on reaching the far side of the park were greeted by a group of confiding Black-throated Laughingthrushes feeding close to our minibus. It was a little cool and windy but despite this we still managed to find a perched Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, several Barred Cuckoo-Doves and a Common Green Magpie. Birding lower down the road proved to be tricky as the forest was quiet, although several Orange-breasted Trogons showed extremely well, as did Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Puff-throated Babbler, Blue-winged Leafbird, and a few Sulphur-breasted Warblers.

Orange-breasted Trogon showed really well today...

A little too close for comfort....

So we drove to a different section of forest and after getting a close encounter with an Asian Elephant, walked along a trail which was very good and birdy despite several groups of annoying tourists passing by. Best of all was a pair of Red-headed Trogons, followed by a flock of White-crested Laughingthrushes that also held White-browed Scimitar-Babbler and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush. 

Red-headed Trogon (male)

Also here were Black-naped Monarch, more Sulphur-breasted Warblers, Claudia’s Warbler, and we had the first of two flyby glimpses of Wreathed Hornbill for the day. I love birding these forest trails!

After lunch we drove along the road looking for pheasants without any luck, although did get Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Philippensis Blue Rock Thrush (a future split…) and a Richard’s Pipit. 

Blue Rock Thrush of the race philippensis

So following this we birded around one of the campsites seeing Blue-eared Barbet, a pair of Orange-headed Thrushes, Abbott’s Babbler, Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, and both Yellow-browed and Two-barred Warblers.

We ended the day watching a flock of Common Hill-Mynas in a flowering tree, and eventually picked up a couple of distant Golden-crested Mynas, plus several Oriental Pied Hornbills as well. Leaving the park at dusk I was amazed to see a Dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog) crossing the road in front of us, and we finished with a superb Great Hornbill perched prominently in a bare tree to round off a good day.