Last Day on Doi Lang

Great views of many birds at the feeding stations on Doi Lang today and we spent quite some time enjoying this amazing spectacle. I've put a few assorted photos below of some of my best shots from the day.

Hill Prinia

Himalayan Bluetail

We saw 3 different Siberian Rubythroats today

Slaty-blue Flycatcher

White-browed Scimitar-Babbler

Spot-breasted Parrotbill

General birding today was also rather productive and amongst a lot of new trip birds were Slender-billed Oriole, Indochinese Cuckooshrike, Chestnut Bunting, Blyth's Shrike-Babbler, Hume's Treecreeper, Sapphire Flycatcher, Chinese Leaf-Warbler, Rufous-backed Sibia and Golden-throated Barbet. Best of all were the two male Mrs Hume's Pheasants feeding alongside the road on the way up the mountain at first light. It was a good, fun day although there were inevitably slower periods during the heat of the day and it was good to get back to the hotel a little earlier and have a nice cold beer!

Rare Buntings and Bluetails

The big news from the Zoothera Birding tour to Thailand with Nick Upton today was our discovery of 7+ Black-headed Buntings and a pair of Red-headed Buntings in Thatorn rice fields late this afternoon. There are apparently less than 10 records of both species for Thailand..... In company with them were also some Yellow-breasted Buntings as well. This was a magical couple of hours trying to get definitive views and although I have the following Black-headed Bunting photo, it was Nick Upton who managed a record shot of a Red-headed Bunting. This totally overshadowed the male Jerdon's Bushchat and Baikal Bush Warbler found a little later....!

Black-headed Bunting

Also liked the views of this Pintail Snipe today

Earlier in the day we had birded Doi Lang from the Thatorn side and may well have found one of the few records of Northern Red-flanked Bluetail for Thailand. Although a female and pretty much unidentifiable in this plumage, the call was totally different from the several Himalayan Bluetails in the same area....

female Northern Red-flanked Bluetail

male Himalayan Bluetail

We saw all the usual suspects at the feeding stations and thoroughly enjoyed the mind-blowing views you get here. It really has to be seen to be believed, so here's a few of the best photos from today...

female Large Niltava

male Large Niltava

Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher

Scarlet-faced Liocichla

Davison's Leaf Warbler

Baer's Pochard

For a break from forest birding we drove to Chiang Saen today and birding close to the Laos border and the mighty Mekong River. Stand out finds today were the superb drake Baer’s Pochard (the 3^rd time we’ve seen it on this tour over the years) and a drake Falcated Duck. Views were good through the scope but too far for photos.

Birding was typically slow throughout the day but we did find many top birds and amongst other species around the lake were Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Garganey, Pintail Snipe, Grey-headed Lapwings and Plaintive Cuckoo. Along the Mekong was a flock of Small Pratincoles, with Citrine Wagtail, Kentish Plover and Temminck’s Stints. We also had close Red Avadavat, Bronze-winged Jacana, Striated Grassbird and Slaty-breasted Rail. 

Eastern Marsh Harriers

Ending the day watching 200+ Eastern Marsh and Pied Harriers flying in to roost was awesome, and we even had better than usual looks at Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler. The male Western Marsh Harrier we saw at the roost was also a special bird as there are less than 10 Thai records. So a good haul and our perseverance was rewarded with plenty of quality sightings despite the heat today.    

Grey-sided Thrush at Doi Ang Khang

A rather successful day today as we birded Doi Ang Khang in the morning and then Doi Lang in the late afternoon, with the highlight for me being a couple of Grey-sided Thrushes (see photo below). Now this is not a bird I have seen very often at all and this was only my 3rd or 4th decent sighting ever, but this pair showed well if a little distantly this morning in company with a single Eye-browed Thrush. It wasn't a great day for sharp photo's for some reason but here goes...

We birded a nice sunlit slope and had a great time nailing a whole bunch of goodies such as Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Spectacled Barwing, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, Buff-throated Warbler and others. 

Moving on to Doi Lang in the afternoon I was particularly pleased to get this male White-bellied Redstart  at one of the feeding stations. This is a really tough bird to see under normal field conditions but this just proves how amazing these sites are in Thailand. 

A female Slaty-blue Flycatcher was also at the same spot.

After finding a few Crested Buntings we retuned to the same area and got this obliging Spot-breasted Parrotbill....

We ended the day watching an Ultramarine Flycatcher and enjoying fantastic views of a big flock of Cook's Swifts flying low overhead. I did try to get a few pics but they aren't great although you can see the thin rump band and scaly underparts...

Back in Thailand....

As there are numerous Thailand posts from the past few years I thought that this time i'd do a summary of events as we go along and put a few decent photos here, just to give you a flavour of what birding in Thailand is all about. As you know, we do quite a few Thai tours each year and i really love the birding here.

So today was our first day here in the north and we have reached the forested slopes of Doi Ang Khang where we went straight to one of the feeding stations and totally nailed Rusty-naped Pitta. I mean NAILED IT!! Point-blank views down to 4 metres of this male feeding right out in the open, and a female skulking in the shadows behind.

Rusty-naped Pitta

There was also a flock of Silver-eared Mesias, Black-breasted Thrush, White-tailed Robin, Hill Blue Flycatcher and Large Niltava at the same spot. So not a bad start right...?

Black-breasted Thrush

Silver-eared Mesia

South India Wrap-up

Well i'm on my way to Thailand and some great birding in the dry season (it's definitely not the wet season as some people have suggested!!) & really should wrap-up the end of this tour. We finished our stay at Nagarahole National Park with 2 more jeep safaris and a boat ride. No Tigers this time, although we came pretty close and I feel that if you do maybe 6 jeep safaris then a Tiger sighting is pretty much guaranteed here. It would be a far more 'personal' experience than at one of the busier Tiger reserves in central India, where you might have to share your sighting with upwards of 30 or 40 other jeeps. Here at Nagarahole there are much fewer jeeps in the park and we had only 5 other jeeps at the Leopard we saw. 

Anyway, the boat ride along the Kabini River was very rewarding for sightings of Gaur, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Asian Elephants, Grey-headed Fish-Eagle, Western Osprey, Red-naped Ibis, Red-headed Vulture, and a flock of 250+ Small Pratincoles wheeling overhead at dusk. My particular favourite was the repeated views of a family of Smooth-coated Otters.

Smooth-coated Otter

Woolly-necked Stork

We moved on to Mysore and Ranginathittu Bird Sanctuary where a short boat ride got us up close and personal with Great Thick-knees, Eurasian Spoonbills and Spot-billed Pelicans. 

A real surprise was the nesting colony of Streak-throated Swallows that we sailed right beside and was a totally mesmerising experience.

Several Asian Openbills were also present and i enjoyed trying to get some action shots of this individual drinking the water and some fine breeding plumaged Little Egrets almost floated my boat....!

Thrushes and Spots...

The Oriental Scops-Owl I called in just before daybreak was our 14^th species of owl on the tour so far and a pretty decent start to proceedings. However, the reported Nilgiri Thrush failed to show so we drove down the road and quickly found Jerdon’s Bushlark and watched it song-flighting in the cool early morning. Driving on we stopped to watch a roving group of Tawny-bellied Babblers feeding beside the road and ended up with a White-eyed Buzzard in the scope. But we were under a time constraint today as it was going to be a 4 hour driver to Kabini River Lodge at Nagarhole National Park, however the birding gods had other ideas. As a phone call revealed that Sudeesh had found the Nilgiri Thrush and we were 35 minutes away, so raced back to the lodge. Without any breakfast so far and it was nearly 10.30am already we raced around and eventually had reasonable views at this shy & retiring bird, although not everyone managed to see it well enough. So we ate a quick breakfast, having been promised it at 7.30am but it had failed to materialise…!

Kabini River

Then we were off on a rally to get to Kabini and our afternoon jeep safari. Drove into Karnataka and through Bandipur Tiger Reserve before arriving at the wonderful Kabini River Lodge at 2.45pm and dashed into the dining room for a really late lunch after dumping our gear into our luxury tents. Then we were off on a jeep safari into the park and drove alongside the water where Gaur, herds of Spotted Deer, Woolly-necked and Painted Storks, Red-naped Ibis, Osprey, and a distant Grey-headed Fish-Eagle were seen. In the forest we drove along quiet tracks, stopping occasionally to listen for alarm calls.

We had an amazing experience with this Leopard

 Sure enough we heard a few alarms and drove in the general direction and unbelievably came across a stunning male Leopard dozing in a tree. Wow! So we stayed with him for over an hour and waited and waited for him to wake up and climb down. Several times he raised his head, twitched his tail and even turned around before waking up and staring balefully down at us, yawning a couple of times before suddenly climbing down to the ground, walking past us and crossing the track behind us and away into the forest. We were all speechless as it was an absolutely fabulous experience and by now it was past 6pm and we had to leave the park, elated…