Kaeng Krachen Rocks...!

You can’t get much better than starting the day with a pair of Black-and-red Broadbills beside the trail we were following this morning. 

Black-and-red Broadbill

To then see a close Blue-bearded Bee-eater sunning itself in a bare tree right overhead was an even better start! 

Blue-bearded Bee-eater

We then birded the forest road between the three streams and bumped into a big flock with a Banded Woodpecker being something of a surprise, along with Greater Yellownape and Bay Woodpecker. Then 6 Tickell’s Brown Hornbills flew over and landed in a large tree right overhead. We followed this with a pair of Dusky Broadbills feeding and called right overhead.

Dusky Broadbill

After lunch we drove up the hill to a fruiting tree where Greater Green Leafbird and scope views of Yellow-vented Green–Pigeon  was very satisfying. Lots of Thick-billed Green-Pigeons were also present, with a good selection of barbets as well. Afterwards we had a brief Rufous-browed Flycatcher, and eventually a group of Collared Babblers appeared. 

Collared Babbler

We finished with a large flock with Swinhoe’s Minivets, more Collared Babblers, and other previously seen species. Then a Dark-sided Flycatcher was spotted on the drive down to end another great day in Thailand.

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Broadbills.......!

There are a number of iconic SE Asian birds present in Kaeng Krachen National Park and I’m pleased to report that we saw a good selection today. We began with 4 Great Slaty Woodpeckers scoped at some distance along the main park road, followed by a pair of cracking Black-thighed Falconets. 

Black-thighed Falconet

We followed this with Black-and-yellow Broadbill and a skulking Blue Pitta. Not bad for a morning! 

Black-and-yellow Broadbill - wow!

Other species seen between 6am – 12noon included Cinnamon Bittern, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Common and Greater Flamebacks, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Eye-browed Thrush, Ochraceous and Black-headed Bulbuls, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Thick-billed Warbler, Sultan Tit, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Thick-billed Flowerpecker, and a Golden-crested Myna. 

Grey-rumped Treeswift was new for this tour.

Sultan Tit

Ochraceous Bulbul

During lunch a Blue-eared Barbet was seen excavating a nesting hole beside the restaurant.

Blue-eared Barbet

We spent the afternoon ‘up the hill’ in search of one of the rarest birds of the tour – Ratchet-tailed Treepie. It took several hours but eventually we were rewarded with prolonged and close views of this strange-looking species. 

Ratchet-tailed Treepie

We came across a couple of large mixed-species flocks as well that held many previously seen species including Sulphur-breasted Warbler, Swinhoe’s Minivet, Black-naped Monarch, Yellow-bellied Warbler, and Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo amongst others.

Long-tailed Broadbill

We also found Rosy Minivet, Asian Paradise-Flycatcher and at least 4 delightful Long-tailed Broadbills that had been calling constantly for ages but proved extremely difficult to track down. Well that was until they decided to hang around over the road right in front of us! 

This displaying Mountain Imperial-Pigeon gave crippling views.

Overhead, a Rufous-bellied Eagle was a new raptor for us, to add to the Mountain Hawk-Eagle we had seen on the drive up.

Kaeng Krachen Hides Again...

It took a while this morning, but eventually we tracked down a Black-headed Woodpecker and enjoyed prolonged scope views in the morning sunshine. So with the major target bird under our belts we drove to a nice lodge near Kaeng Krachen National Park and were able to enjoy a little ‘free time’ before meeting for lunch. Anyway, a few of us saw Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler and an Eastern Crowned Warbler near the dining room, along with a few Greater and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes.

Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush

After lunch we drove to one of secluded drinking pools and settled into the photo blinds and waited to see what would appear. As it happens it took several hours for things to kick off and apart from the laughingthrushes again nothing much happened for a while. Over the next hour or so birds started to trickle in with Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Black-naped Monarch, White-rumped Shama, Racket-tailed Treepie, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and others.

Black-naped Monarch

White-rumped Shama

Racket-tailed Treepie

Eventually, 3 Scaly-breasted Partridges came in and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when a lone Bar-backed Partridge started feeding in front of us. 

Bar-backed Partridge

Scaly-breasted Partridge

Later in the afternoon more and more birds flew in to bathe and we saw several Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers, a single female Blue-throated Flycatcher, White-bellied Erpornis, Pied Fantail, Puff-throated and Abbott’s Babblers, and a  couple of Lesser Mouse Deers also appeared. 

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - female.

Best bird was the extremely shy Large Scimitar-babbler that appeared a couple of times – wow!!

Large Scimitar-Babbler

Large Scimitar-Babbler

Driving back to the lodge we stopped as a Large-tailed Nightjar was sat on the road and giving fine views.

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.