Central & South Thailand, 11-29th January 2017 (1 Viewer)

[jwreeves]

This is a summary of my recent trip to Thailand! Not going to be the best read, especially compared to some going on right now, but hopefully anyone visiting may find some useful information in here somewhere!

This trip sprung up out of the blue last summer. Two of my non-birding friends had decided to go travelling around Thailand for a couple of months over the Christmas/New year period and asked if I would be keen on meeting up with them for part of it. As soon as they mentioned it the first thing that popped into my mind was spoon-billed sandpiper! They might have been trying to sell the beaches and bars to me, but this would be my reason for going if I went! So after a few days mulling over it, and quickly coming up with some potential itineraries, I settled on some dates and booked my flights!

It was almost 2 separate holidays, I had just over a week for birding, then a week of partying with my mates in the south. Although obviously keeping an eye out when I was with my friends, I did no proper birding as such in this time

My itinerary was:

Jan 11th - evening flight from Birmingham
Jan 12th - Arrive Bangkok in evening. Night color living hotel Bangkok
Jan 13th - Picked up by guide. Pak thale/Laem pak bia area am, then travel to outside kaeng Krachen via pong salot university campus, with evening visit to ban song nok hide. Night Ban Maka resort
Jan 14th - Upper Kaeng Krachen. Night Ban Maka resort
Jan 15th - Ban song nok, Lower Kaeng Krachen, pick up hire car. Night Thong Ta resort, near suvarnabhumi airport
Jan 16th - Phetchaburi rice fields area am, Pak thale/Laem pak bia pm. Night some random resort along the 3177, phetchaburi province
Jan 17th - Phetchaburi rice fields, laem pak bia. Return hire car. Night Thong Ta resort
Jan 18th - Suvarnabhumi - Krabi flight am. Ao phang-nga pm. Night Phang-nga bay hotel
Jan 19th - Sri phang-nga, takua pa river, Ao phang-nga. NIght Phang-nga bay hotel
Jan 20th - Ao phang nga, Thai mueang, back to Ao phang nga. NIght Maritime resort & spa, Krabi
Jan 21st - Hotel grounds of Maritime resort am. Return car, 1:30pm ferry krabi - phi phi don. Night uphill cottage
Jan 22- 24th - Phi Phi don. Night uphill cottage
Jan 25th - 11:30am ferry phi phi don - phuket. Night D1 hotel Patong beach
Jan 26/27th - Patong beach. NIghts D1 hotel
Jan 28th - Phuket/Bangkok/Dubai/Birmingham (arriving 6am on 29th)

Birding wise I looked at it as spoon-billed sandpiper is the main target, get a nice introduction to Asian birds, as this was my first trip to the continent, and everything else is a bonus. In this respect it was a very successful trip! Although a pitta would have been a nice, I was very pleased with my 306 species, 238 of them lifers, plus heard another 17. A pretty good total for only 7 full days of properly birding!

I hired a guide for my first 3 days, without whom I would not have seen anywhere near this total! The forest birding was slow going for much of the time, very little bird activity for long periods, then flocks going through quickly usually in either the tops of the very tall trees, or low down obscured by thick bamboo or whatever else! This, combined with the humidity, lugging telescope, bag with water and book in, along with the neck strain, made for some very tiring days!

I managed to coincide this trip with some of the wettest winter(dry season!) weather this country has seen for decades! Torrential rainfall for weeks prior to my trip had taken several lives, flooded villages and washed away roads. The south of the country was worst hit. Only a few days before leaving the UK I discovered that a bridge to access to the site I was planning on visiting in the south, Krung Ching waterfall, had been washed away, so obviously had to come up with a plan B! Kaeng krachen had been closed too, but thankfully re-opened the day before I got there! The only heavy rainfall I saw was on Phi Phi, every afternoon, all afternoon! But I saw rain each day from 15-24th, with the only days where the sky was more blue than grey were the 13th and 28th!

Costs etc

(The exchange rate was about 42 baht to the pound)

I flew with Emirates, Birmingham to Suvarnabhumi via Dubai. These flights cost £470, found on skyscanner. There were initially flights available for under 400 but this shot up in a few days. All bar the Dubai to Birmingham leg were delayed, and both times at Dubai we had to wait to land, for over an hour on the way out! But it took under half hour to reach connecting flights here so no harm done!

For my internal flights I used Bangkok airways for Suvarnabhumi to Krabi, which was £40, and Thai airways Phuket to Suvarnabhumi, which was £35. Both were ok

The ferries to and from Phi phi were 400 baht

For car hire I used Sixt from both suvarnabhumi and krabi airports.
From suvarnabhumi I hired a Honda civic saloon for 2 full days, cost just under £90 with everything in. A very nice car, and the staff were ok. However initially they were telling me the GPS was playing up and could only visit sites that were saved in it. I don't own a sat nav at home, but took a chance on the employee not knowing what they were talking about and that I would figure it out, pretty easy with a little help from google! And on returning the car, instead of booking me a taxi from the office to my nearby hotel as I said a few times I would prefer that, they insisted I had to get on the free shuttle to the airport and find a taxi there, which was further away!
At krabi I hired a Toyota vios for 4 days, cost £126. Initially it looked a nice car, but after arriving at Ao phang-nga, only about 90km away, I noticed I had used a quarter of the tank! Turned out it was ok on fuel consumption if you don't go over 80kmph! Not a car to have if you are planning on long drives or like to put your foot down! Also the headlights were next to useless driving in the rain back to krabi on the night of the 20th.
I didn't register the price of fuel, but it was c1000 baht for 2/3,3/4 of a tank with both cars

Guide

Friends who had visited a few years ago recommended to me the guide they used, Wich'yanan ''Jay'' Limparungpatthanakij. They quickly put us in touch, and we soon came to cost and dates. I initially wanted guiding from 13th to 17th, but Jay was only available for the first 3 of those so we arranged that. I could not recommend him more highly. He is an excellent birder, very involved in Thai birding, eagle eyed, extremely knowledgeable on calls, their behaviour, taxonomy etc... brilliant company, and as well as seeing many species I would not have had a sniff at without him, I also learnt a great deal, and it felt like I was like birding with a friend for 3 days. Also knew his stuff on other animals too. He helped me sort out my hire car and drive in front of me to my hotel to make sure I found it, even though it was getting late and he had finished guiding me, and had to be up early to lead a tour next day! His standard price is 7500 baht per day I believe(he offered me a lower rate due to mutual friends), to be guide and driver, so accommodation, park entries, food, gas etc paid on top.

Accommodation

Color living hotel, Bangkok - pre booked at £35. Was a good hotel, air con, nearby shops etc and convenient location to stop in bangkok if like me you arrive late and are heading to phetchaburi early the next morning

Ban Maka resort, outside Kaeng Krachen - cost 1500 baht per night for double bungalow, Jay arranged it in the afternoon of the 13th for 2 nights. Very handy location for visiting Kaeng krachen, and the food was excellent! Never saw it in daylight hours but had collared scops owl and large-tailed nightjar 1st evening

Thong Ta resort, Suvarnabhumi - pre-booked 2 separate nights here for £24 each. Handy location for the airport, with free shuttle, and the morning I had a car I left early and it was easy to get onto the main road network. Apart from the aircon units leaking it was a good hotel for the price

Phet plog Petay Resort(?!), phetchaburi. I have no idea if that is the real name of the place, but that was what the wifi was called! Found it on the 3177 road between the city and the coast. Cost 500 baht, nice room and location.

Phang nga Bay resort - Located just around the corner from Ao phang - nga park HQ. 1000 baht per night, I ended up staying here for 2 nights. Looks a right dump from outside but ok inside. The food was decent too. Minutes drive from mangroves

Maritime resort & spa - pre booked for £45 for a night. Very posh hotel! It would cost many times that in other parts of the world! Stopped here to bird the gardens, you can do that without stopping, but fancied a bit of luxury for a night!

Uphill cottage, Phi Phi Don - pre booked 4 nights, £30 p/n. It's called uphill, and it most certainly is! So many steps! I'm 32 and like to exercise, and it still took it out of me getting up to my room! Was even more of a struggle after a night out! The rooms were ok but not worth the hike!

D1 hotel, patong beach - pre booked 3 nights at £26 p/n. If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in patong, don't stop here. Actually really nice rooms, but on a busy road with no sound insulation

All had wifi, at least warmish showers, air con, fridge, although they all also had hard beds which took some getting used to!

The whole holiday cost me c£2300, obviuosly it can be done for much less without the nightlife!

Books etc...

For field guide i used the 2016 edition of Craig Robson's 'A field guide to the birds of Thailand'. It is generally a good field guide. The taxonomy is a bit dated, although it lists the subspecies present, is in a strange order(woodepckers after ducks?!), the text and illustrations seem somehow out of sync to me on some plates and doesn't illustrate 'white-faced' plover! But it is the best field guide for the country
Useful websites include thaibirding.com, norththailandbirding.com, phuketbirdwatching.com, souththailandbirding.com, surfbirds, cloudbirders, xeno canto and ebird

Sites visited and trip list to follow...

 

[jwreeves]

Sites visited

Most of these sites are described in much more detail, including maps, on Nick Upton's excellent thaibirding.com website, and should be the first place to look when planning a trip here. In addition, all are hotspots on ebird

Phetchaburi Province

About a 2 hour drive south west from Bangkok, this province contains many top sites and birds, and is worthy of 4-7 days birding IMO. As well as the sites listed below I visited, numbers of birds seemed high everywhere, and it was hard to drive for long before seeing something worth pulling over for!

Pak Thale
These saltpans are obviuosly well known as being the spot to see spoon-billed sandpiper. Even without the star attraction, the spectacle of so many waders, which seem quite habituated to humans, is a memory that will last forever. I visited here with Jay for our first proper stop on the morning of the 13th, and returned by myself twice on the 16th in the afternoon. On the 13th, the waders were very jumpy due to a peregrine doing the rounds, so we struggled to find a group that were close enough and would sit still! The first pans we searched first had smallish numbers of red-necked stints, larger numbers of lesser sand and kentish plovers, marsh sandpipers etc.. We picked out my lifer terek sandpiper, greater sandplover and a distant group of lesser whistling ducks, all good stuff, but the calidris flocks here were not that large and we had not picked out the main target. As we carried on on foot, still not coming across THE flock, my mind was starting to wonder if we would be starting the trip off with a huge dip, so we returned to the car and drove further towards the coastal shelter. Along this road we noticed a large number of waders roosting off to our left. We got out to scan. It wasn't long until i noticed a bird amongst all the red-necked stints and broad-billed sandpipers with an obvious white forehead, which immediately turned its head towards us to reveal that amazing bill! It was fairly distant, it wasn't doing much, but I was looking at my first Spoonie! Mission accomplished! Though at the same time quite humbling to be looking at a creature so rare and unique. After admiring it some more, checking its legs for any bands, and scanning the flock for more we moved on. Looking at the pans from 4028 we could see a big flock of curlew, but they were distant and not moving, so we carried on after a short while as the chances of picking out a Far eastern were remote. This was a big factor in returning on the 16th.
Firstly I visited in the early afternoon. It didn't take long to find a nice big flock of calidrids, much closer than a few days previous, feeding in 1 of the pans by the dirt track I was on. It didn't take long to pick up a spoonie, again an unflagged bird, and shortly after in the same scan I picked up another unflagged bird! And this was showing really well! I turned off the engine so I could get some phone scoped pics, but the heat was that intense I was melting after a minute! Scared to get out and risk flushing the flock, I had to reverse a short distance to a nearby shelter. The flock was a little further away, but through the scope I had really good prolonged views of this amazing little bird feeding away, even managing to get a good video through my phone! Eventually the bird flew off, I was unable to refind it or the other, so decided to look for the curlew. The flock was in the same place, but much smaller and just as inactive, so I left to return in the evening. This time the big flock of curlew was back, albeit even further away than the 13th! But after a short while they started moving, initially just 1 or 2 but it built up into a constant stream. It took about 10/15 minutes of checking each distant bird until 1 with dark underwings and rump came into view! Far eastern! A bit of an anti climax if ever there was 1, so instead of waiting to see if any more flew by distantly, I went back into the pans to watch the sun go down to the sound track of thousands of waders feeding all around me!

Wat Komnaram
This is a fresh water area just inland of the coast road. There were decent numbers of birds here, nothing too special, but better than the saltpans for things like long-toed and temminck's stint. Many zitting cisticolas, paddyfield and 1 richards pipit, oriental skylarks and chestnut and scaly-breasted munias added a few birds to the day lists

Laem pak bia Saltpans
These saltpans are a little deeper than many at pak thale, and hold a greater number of larger waders, in equally impressive flocks! On the 13th these flocks were distant, it took some scanning through the masses of godwits and great knot, but we picked up some roosting Nordmann's greenshank. I could only see 8, of the 20 Jay saw, and the views were not brilliant, but still a relief to see this rare wader, especially with reports of trapping here and the nordmann's not being seen for a while shortly before I flew out. Jay picked out an even more distant Asian dowitcher, and on the furthest pan were 15 red-necked phalaropes. On my return on the 16th the majority of the flocks were much closer. A scan through a big flock quickly revealed some nordmann's, with a conservative tally of 30 present, some just about close enough for record shots! Nearby the dowitchers had increased to 4, and this time were close enough to study plumage detail through telescope

Environmetal Project
Didn't see a great deal here on a quick visit with Jay. We saw a pair of golden-bellied gerygone's well but that was about the only birding highlight, with the mangrove whistler staying hidden. Best here were a couple of very large water monitor lizards!

Laem Pak bia sandspit
Jay arranged our departure time with Mr daeng, a fisherman come birder, to take us out in his boat to the spit. Cost 1000 baht. This is the place to look for the mysterious 'white-faced', or swinhoe's plover, currently regarded by IOC as a race of kentish plover. On the boat trip we passed a roosting colony of lyle's flying foxes, an animal I wanted to see, but the spectacle of seeing them in flight would have to wait til later in the trip! On reaching the spit and getting out, jay quickly picked up a close pair of Malaysian plover just in front of us. The gull and tern roost contained many greater crested terns, and 1 each of Heuglin's and Pallas's gulls, and a bee-eater turned out to be an immature blue-throated, which was quite a good record for the time of year! Waded through a channel to continue the search for our quarry. On this larger section of beach there were more malaysian plovers, and it wasn't long until Jay saw a white-faced plover amongst them! Shortly after Mr Daeng picked up another, more distant bird, but this was a male and I spent more time watching this 1! A much more distinctive bird than I was expecting. Back in the channel we had crossed, a Chinese egret had taken up territory, with a little egret later joining it to give a nice side-by-side comparison. 4 dark pacific reef herons were also on distant rocks

Phetchaburi Rajabhat University(Pong salot campus)
This site is situated between Phetchaburi and Kaeng Krachen. We visited here as a bit of a twitch! A bay-backed shrike was wintering here, I think only the third(?) for Thailand, along with a couple of Burmese shrikes. From the title I was expecting a modern, typical bustling university campus, full of people, but it was a research centre, just a clearing in scrubby farmland, with a little marsh and pool! Unfortunately no sign of the shrikes, bird activity was low in the early afternoon heat, but we saw 4 Indian thick-knee here, 2 pairs, which was a nice surprise as although this is a known breeding site for them, winter records are less frequent.

Ban Song Nok
This is a small hide overlooking a couple of waterholes outside of Kaeng Krachen, not far from Ban Maka resort. It is best to arrange visits in advance, and the cost is 200 baht per person. The amazing thing about this site was that a completely different set of birds visited in the morning and evening! Not 1 species was seen on both visits! My visit on the evening of the 13th saw a pair each of Tickell's blue flycatchers and black-naped monarch, abbott's babbler, pale-legged leaf warbler, brown-cheeked fulvetta, 1 large scimitar babbler, abbott's, puff-throated and pin-striped tit babblers, but star of the show for me were the siberian blue robins! I have wanted to see this bird for many years! At first just 1 female was visiting, then a second, then a couple of young males, and eventually an adult male! Every bit as good as i imagined it would be! The final robin count was 7 birds! On the morning of the 15th it was the turn of gretaer and lesser necklaced laughingthrushes, 4 of each, and red junglefowl, of which 10 came in! Joining these for some time was a young male kalij pheasant. Also of note whilst it was still dark was being shown the occupied burrow of a cobalt blue tarantula! Mozzies were a nuisance, especially in the evening, and seemed immune to jungle formula!

Kaeng Krachen
This is a beautiful national park, with impressive valleys, and teeming with wildlife! As my visit was on the weekend it was also teeming with people, lots of noisy people! As most the birding here is from the road, it was hard to get away from them! It is accessible to a normal car only to just beyond the first campsite(Ban krang). After this there are 3 stream crossings which you need a high clearance vehicle to cross, the second in particular seemed impassable. Beyond the 3rd stream crossing the road becomes 1 way at set times which are not good for birders! If you go up early you can either come back down before 10, or wait until 4pm! As it turned out my trip up here on the 14th was hard work, and it took til gone 3 to see some of the main targets! The main areas birded higher up were...

Km27
A small layby to the right of the road on a left hand bend is a good place to park. We spent some time here for our first stop of the day. A buff-breasted babbler called as soon as we got out of the car, it came in to tape, but remained unseen, mainly because soon after a rusty-naped pitta started calling! This came in close to playback, certainly within 10 metres, but unfortunately just over a tiny ridge that we could not see over! We tried different angles but it wasn't happening! BIrds actually seen around here included lesser racket-tailed drongo, long-tailed broadbill, orange-breasted trogon and alstrom's warbler.

Panoen Thung
This higher campground has toilets, cold drinks and a some simple but tasty and filling food served. In the morning we birded around the toilet block and viewpoint, and in the afternoon we walked down the road back the way you drive in. Highlight of the morning was a female bamboo woodpecker, showing well after a bit of hide-and-seek. A couple of red-headed trogons were seen shortly after getting out of the car, and a fruiting tree attracted some flowerpeckers, everett's white-eye and 2 species of leafbird. After this it got quite! A collared babbler flock set the tone for much of the day, several calling, not far away, hidden by bamboo til they moved on, with not even a hint of movement seen! A rufous-browed flycatcher and Hill blue flycatchers kept the spirits up, but after a while round here it was obviously turning out to be very quite birdwise, and very loud people wise! So we drove further along the road, still very quite, but a smart black-and-yellow broadbill made up for that! After having lunch at the campsite, which was interrupted by 2 little cuckoo-doves feeding in a fruiting tree giving exceptional views and 3 species of barbet including a few great, we walked down the road trying to find a flock. We soon heard 1, but it took what seemed like hours trying to get views of anything! Anything at all! Eventually I got a good look at a collared babbler, so they gave themselves up easily after that, I saw most of a black-throated laughingthrush over several glimpses, then a larger long-tailed black bird flew from above us! We knew it was a treepie but certainly not tickable views! Fortunately there was a trail in this area, and we refound the flock quickly, and 1 of the first birds we saw was a ratchet-tailed treepie! This gave good prolonged views in the trees over our heads. The rest of the flock was as elusive as before, white-crested laughingthrush being 1 of the main birds in this flock and I never got more than a shadow on this species!

Stream Crossings
We stopped here briefly on the way down on the 14th for a chinese blue flycatcher, but mainly birded it on the 15th. It was very slow going, with very little calling, and the flocks that did pass through were high up and moved through quickly. The sky above provided more excitement, a pair of black eagles and a jerdon's baza, 5 wreathed hornbill and a small group of brown-backed needletail being seen. We did eventually see some birds in the trees, crimson sunbird, sultan tit, asian emerald cuckoo and heart-spotted woodpecker being the best for me. We got a response to blue pitta tape twice, first time near the 1st crossing may have been 1, or may have been a bird mimicing it, and the 2nd time, just beyond the 3rd crossing where there was a stake out for this species, it turned out to be another tape! There are currently no known roost sites for white-faced scops owl around here, the previous site got abandoned, apparently due to idiots tapping the roost tree to wake the birds up for a better photo! Although a dutch birder we met heard 1 on 13th and 14th just beyond the 1st stream crossing

Km9 vicinity
This was quite birdy on the 3 visits we made. The first visit at dusk on the 14th was brilliant, we saw at least 1 brown boobook of several calling, a huge large eared nightjar went past, a pair of black-thighed falconet showed well, and a spotted owlet was calling, but we failed to see it. On the morning of the 15th, a large fruiting tree was attracting a large number of birds. Mostly asian fairy bluebirds, but also 2 golden-crested myna, with my only green-eared barbet and great hornbill nearby. Later that afternoon we saw a pair of greater yellownape and 13 tickell's brown hornbill

Outside of park
The roadsides between ban maka and kaeng krachen were good for birds going in and out of the park on the 15th. We saw my only lesser coucal, vinous-breasted starlings and sooty-headed bulbul. It was the stop for the latter that produced the birds of the trip for Jay! A large flock of chestnut-tailed starlings flew into a tree. As this was a lifer for me Jay got the scope on them, for him to discover that amongst them were a small group of spot-winged starlings! This is quite a rarity in this area, and Jay was very happy with finding them!

Phetchaburi rice fields area
This is a large area of paddies and fish ponds just north and north west of phetchaburi. The open habitats and high number of birds made this a very enjoyable area after 2 days in the forests! I birded 2 main areas

Ban Khum fishponds and paddies
I really enjoyed this site. As well as the ponds and paddies, there were reedbeds and scrubs, and it held a good mix of birds. Highlights included my first pheasant-tailed and bronze-winged jacanas, cotton pygmy geese, black-backed swamphens, watercock, white-browed crake, and a near summer plumaged javan pond heron! The many calls in the reeds and scrub usuall turned out to be black-browed and oriental reed warblers, but a smart chestnut-capped babbler eventually revealed itself in a close bush. There were several groups of weavers around here, I got good views at baya and asian golden. My favourite bird here though was the longicaudatus long-tailed shrike that was giving exceptional views on both visits!

Nong Pla Lai
I visited here for raptors, there is a stretch of road that has large signs with some of the raptors possible along here, and as soon as i got out of the car at the greater spotted eagle sign, 1 appeared overhead! I also saw several black-winged and black-eared kites, 2 eastern marsh harrier and 1 booted eagle at this spot, but not the hoped for pied harrier unfortunately!

Wang Manao Junction Paddies
If returning to bangkok from phetchaburi, shortly after turning onto highway 35, look for the mcdonalds sign and park in the service area. The paddies are behind here. I visited here as Jay said this is very reliable for greater painted snipe and I had time to kill. I got some lunch, and started checking the area out. Nothing! But just as i was about to leave, a dog appeared, and this eventually flushed 1 male


The South

Ao Phang-nga NP
I spent many hours around the buildings here, although most of it was quite! This is one of the better areas for most of the mangrove specialities. The mangrove walkway is still derelict and ends after about 100 metres. The only bird of note I saw along here was a calling sakhalin leaf warbler on 2 dates. Rufous-bellied and pacific swallows were also on show above constantly, but I failed to string a black-nest swiftlet out of the germain's flock! A white-bellied sea eagle was over the most obvious karst from the restaurant on 2 dates, brown-winged kingfishers were seen several times, common flameback, streak-breasted woodpecker and blue rock thrush were seen and on my last visit a small flock included olive-winged bulbul and 2 male black-and-red broadbill! Nearby a road/track cuts through the mangroves adjacent to the main road. On my first visit here I saw my lifer brown-winged kingfisher, followed 5 minutes later by an excellent, if brief, close encounter with a ruddy kingfisher! I also saw what I think was a mouse deer trying to hide in the mangroves! On the evening of the 19th the mangrove pittas decided to announce themselves. There were 2 calling on the opposite bank from the restaurant, 1 near the walkway which was never going to give itself up, and 3 down a short stretch of the mangrove road. They were all pretty close, but the light was going fast and I could just not locate 1, even though I figured out which tree one was in! At the Phang nga bay hotel there was a small roost of asian glossy starlings, a species I only saw here and phuket, and an endless flight of flying foxes went over on my second evening! Quite a spectacle!

Sri Phang nga NP
Just over an hour and a half drive from the Phang nga bay hotel. This was my plan B for Krung Ching. Reading up on the place it sounded very promising, chestnut-naped forktails along the stream, slim chance of helmeted hornbill, and a reliable stake out for malayan banded pitta! As I got out of the car in the morning I was very optimistic for the day ahead, how wrong was I! In 8.5 hours birding I saw 23 species, in low numbers, with none of the more desired species making an appearance! A red-billed malkoha near the weir was the only decent bird in this hard shift! The trees here are massive and not knowing any of the calls, not that there were many, made for a very slow day! The trail to the pitta stakeout, which apparently is only frequently visited when they are feeding young, crosses a stream 4 times. It was unavoidable getting wet feet as it was shin deep in parts, and some of the rocks were very slippy. This site was also quite busy with tourists. The main waterfall is very scenic but didn't make up for the lack of birds!

Road 4090 bridge over Takua Pa
A reliable spot for river lapwing, I saw 2 looking east from the bridge, but it is a busy road, and the sidewalks are not wide enough for tripods so mid distance binocular views only

Thai Muaeng Exercise Park
I decided to visit here as it was only 45 minutes away from Ao phang nga, and is a known spot for spotted wood-owl. I did 3 laps, checked every branch of every tree but couldn't find them! But it was nice to be somewhere with more bird life than Sri phang nga and the mangroves! Only common stuff but saw my only lineated barbet and first ashy minivets, and got my best views of vernal hanging-parrot here

Maritime Resort & Spa, Krabi
I stopped at this very impressive hotel as I've read that mangrove pitta can give themselves up very easily here. Well they didn't, but there was still some bird life in the grounds. Saw my only blue whistling-thrushes of the yellow-billed group, got my best views of orange-headed thrush and saw my only yellow bittern on the lagoon

Phi Phi Islands
This is not a birding site as such, and I only came here to meet my friends. It is well known as being the best spot in thailand to see frigatebirds however, with lesser, christmas island and great all possible. To see these it is best to hire a boat and visit some stacks on the other side of phi phi ley. Heavy rain and catching a nasty stomach bug ended my plans of doing this! But I saw 3 lessers from the ferry to phuket. There is a trail up to a viewpoint which has some potential for birding if you find yourself here. I saw several greater racket-tailed drongos and a drongo cuckoo species, and pied imperial pigeon is easy. I saw my first from my balcony minutes after dumping my bag off, and saw upto 30 each day. Common birds are in abundance and I'm sure a nice surprise would await someone that explored a little

Patong Beach
Horrible place! Noise, mopeds and ladyboys! This was the 1 area I visited where I felt uncomfortable, like people were out to scam you. Crossing the roads takes an eternity and the path ways are good only for twisting ankles and chipping teeth! Only birds of note seen were 3 red-breasted parakeets of unknown origin frequenting the beachside trees opposite the post office, and 3 pink-necked green pigeons.

Hopefully get time to post trip list in next few days

 

[jwreeves]

Trip list part 1

Red Junglefowl - 10 ban song nok 15th
Kalij Pheasant - 1 imm male ban song nok 15th
Cotton pygmy-goose - 7 ban khum 16 & 17th
Garganey - 2 laem pak bia saltpans 17th
Little grebe - most wetlands phetchaburi province
Grey-capped pygmy-woodpecker - 1 sri phang nga 19th
Freckle-breasted woodpecker - 1 at a random stop between ban khum and nong pla plai
Bamboo woodpecker - 1 female panoen thung, KK 14th
Speckled piculet - 1 panoen thung 14th
Black-and-buff woodpecker - 1 higher KK 14th
Heart-spotted woodpecker - 1 KK stream crossings 15th
Greater yellownape - pair km9, KK 15th
Streak-breasted woodpecker - 1 km9 14th, pair Ao phang nga 18 & 19th
Common flameback - 1 female ao phang nga 20th
greater flameback - several KK 14 &15th
Great Barbet - 2+ panoen thung 14th
Lineated barbet - 1 thai muaeng 19th
Green-eared barbet - 1 km9 15th
Blue-throated barbet - panoen thung 14th
Blue-eared barbet - KK 14 & 15th, maritime resort 21st
Coppersmith barbet - ban song nok 13th, thai muaeng 19th, maritime resort 21st
Oriental pied hornbill - several KK 14 & 15th
Great hornbill - 1 near km9 15th
Tickell's brown hornbill - 13 km9 15th
Wreathed hornbill - 5 KK stream crossings 15th
Orange-breasted trogon - 1 km27 14th
Red-headed trogon - 2 panoen thung 14th
Brown-winged kingfisher - ao phang nga and maritime resort
Common kingfisher - ban khum and sri phang nga
Ruddy kingfisher - 1 ao phang nga mangrove road 18th
White-throated kingfisher - widespread
Black-capped kingfisher - widespread
Collared kingfisher - 2 en route to pak thale 13th
Blue-bearded bee-eater - ban krang and km9 areas KK 14 & 15th
Green bee-eater - phetchaburi province 13th & 16th
Blue-throated bee-eater - 1 imm laem pak bia spit 13th
Blue-tailed bee-eater - Phetchaburi province, ao phang nga, thai muaeng
Chestnut-headed bee-eater - KK 15th, sri phang nga 19th, en route to thai mueang 20th
Greater coucal - widespread
Lesser coucal - 1 outside KK 15th
Asian emerald cuckoo - 1 KK stream crossings 15th
Square-tailed drongo-cuckoo - 1 stream crossings 14 & 15th, drongo cuckoo species phi phi viewpoint 24th
Asian koel - widespread
Green-billed malkoha - km9 vicinity 14 & 15th
Raffle's malkoha - pair km9 15th
Red-billed malkoha - 1 sri phang nga 19th
Indian roller - widespread
Oriental dollarbird - KK, ao phang nga, phi phi don
Vernal hanging parrot - KK 14 & 15th, thai mueang 20th
Red-breasted parakeet - 3 patong beach 26 & 27th
Hoopoe - pong salot 13th, Thai mueang 20th
Himalayan swiftlet - 2+ panoen thung 14th
Germain's swiftlet - common
Asian palm swift - widespread phetchaburi
Pacific swift - 1 south of sri phang nga 19th
Brown-backed needletail - 3+ KK 14th
Grey-rumped treeswift - 1 km27 14th, several south of sri phang nga 19th
Eastern barn owl - 1 in evening along road 3177, phetchaburi
Collared scops owl - 1 seen 13th & 14th ban maka resort
Brown boobook(/hawk-owl) - 1+ km9 14th
Great eared nightjar - 1 km9 14th
Large-tailed nightjar - 1 ban maka 13th, 1 km9 14th
Mountain Imperial pigeon - 2 km27 14th
Pied imperial pigeon - 30+ phi phi don 21-24th
Spotted dove - common
Red collared dove - common phetchaburi/bangkok
Little cuckoo dove - 2 panoen thung 14th
Zebra dove - widespread
Pink-necked green pigeon - 2+ ban khum 16th, 3 patong 27th
Thick-billed green pigeon - several KK 14 & 15th
Wedge-tailed green pigeon - 2+ panoen thung 14th, 1 ban krang 15th
Common emerald dove - a few flushed off road KK 14th, 1 sri phang nga 19th
White-breasted waterhen - common phetchaburi rice fields area 16 & 17th
White-browed crake - 1 ban khum 17th
Watercock - 1 ban khum 17th
Black-backed swamphen - 2 ban khum 16th, c20 there 17th
Common moorhen - KK 15th, ban khum 17th
Greater painted snipe - 1 male wang manao junction paddies 17th
Pintail snipe - 1 in flight ban khum 16th
Black-tailed godwit - common on coast especially laem pak bia pans
Bar-tailed godwit - common laem pak bia
Asian dowitcher - 1 laem pak bia 13th, 4 on 16th
Eurasian whimbrel - Laem pak bia spit 13th
Eurasian curlew - common pak thale
Far eastern curlew - 1 pak thale 16th
Pheasant-tailed jacana - 20+ ban khum 16 & 17th
Bronze-winged jacana - c5 ban khum 16 & 17th
Spotted redshank - common coastal pans
Common redshank - common on more tidal waters
Marsh sandpiper - common saltpans
Common greenshank - several pak thale, wat komnaram & laem pak bia
Nordmann's greenshank - 8 laem pak bia pans 13th, 30+ 16th
Wood sandpiper - common
Terek sandpiper - 1 pak thale 13th
Common sandpiper - widespread in small numbers
Ruddy turnstone - a few pak thale 13th
Great knot - common pak thale/laem pak bia
Red Knot - 1+ pak thale 16th
Ruff - c5 pak thale/laem pak bia
Sanderling - several pak thale
Spoon-billed sandpiper - 1 pak thale 13th, 2 16th
Red-necked stint - common coastal pans
Temminck's stint - 5+ wat komnaram 17th
Long-toed stint - a couple pak thale & laem pak bia pans, c50 wat komnaram 17th
Curlew sandpiper - common saltpans
Broad-billed sandpiper - common saltpans
Red-necked phalarope - 15 laem pak bia pans 13th
Indian thick-knee - 4 pong salot campus 13th
Black-winged stilt - common
Little ringed plover - common wat komnaram and phetchaburi rice fields
Kentish plover - common coastal phetchaburi
White-faced plover - 2 laem pak bia spit 13th
Malaysian plover - c5 laem pak bia spit 13th
Lesser sand plover - common saltpans
Greater sandplover - only picked out 2 in field pak thale/laem pak bia, but photos of other birds reveal several in background!
Pacific golden plover - pak thale/wat komnaram/laem pak bia
Grey plover -pak thale/wat komnaram/laem pak bia
River lapwing - 2 4090 bridge over takua pa on 19th
Red-wattled lapwing - widespread
Heuglin's gull - 1 laem pak bia spit 13th
Pallas's gull - 1 laem pak bia spit 13th
Brown-headed gull - common pak thale/laem pak bia
Caspian tern - common pak thale/laem pak bia, highest single flock 62
Lesser crested tern - several followed ferry out of krabi 21st
Great crested tern - common laem pak bia spit 13th
Common tern - pak thale/laem pak bia, ferries to and from phi phi
Gull-billed tern - pak thale/laem pak bia
Little tern - laem pak bia and ferry to phi phi
Whiskered tern - very common pak thale/laem pak bia and ban khum
White-winged black tern - 1 laem pak bia pans 16 & 17th
Jerdon's baza - 1 en route to KK 13th, 1+ KK 15th
Oriental honey buzzard - Widespread in small numbers
Black eagle - 2 KK stream crossings 15th
Black-eared kite - Seen near pak thale, 10+ nong pla lai
Brahminy kite - common near coasts
White-bellied sea eagle - ao phang nga 19 & 20th, maritime resort 21st
Eastern marsh harrier - 2 nong pla lai
Crested goshawk - 1 each stream crossings and km9 15th
Greater spotted eagle - 2+ nong pla lai 16th, 1 17th
Crested serpant eagle - 1 lower KK 15th, 1 sri phang nga 19th
Booted eagle - 1 nong pla lai 16th, more surprisingly 1 maritime resort 21st
Mountain hawk eagle - 1 beyond panoen thung 14th
Black-winged kite - pak thale, ban khum, nong pla lai
Black-thighed falconet - 1 at lodge beyond panoen thung 14th, 2 km9 14 & 15th
Peregrine - pak thale and nong pla lai
Common kestrel - 1 pong salot 13th
Oriental darter - seen near pak thale, but c50 ban khum 16th
Little cormorant - widespread phetchaburi province including KK
Indian cormorant - seemed fairly common coastal phetchaburi, but didn't pay much attention to cormorants after both seen
Little egret - common
Chinese egret - 1 laem pak bia spit 13th
Pacific reef heron - 4 laem pak bia spit 13th
Great egret - common
Intermediate egret - common
Eastern cattle egret - common phetchaburi rice fields area, and en route to phuket airport 28th
Grey heron - common
Purple heron - common ban khum and nong pla lai
Chinese pond heron - KK. A little presumptive as none seen acquiring breeding plumage, but apparently all wintering pond herons in the park this species
Javan pond heron - 4 acquiring breeding plumage ban khum/nong pla lai, 2 almost fully. All other pond herons left alone, but apparently 80% on the coast are javan
Black-capped night heron - seen laem pak bia, ban khum and wang manao
Striated heron - laem pak bia(mangroves near spit), ao phang nga
Yellow bittern - 1 maritime resort 21st. 1 small bittern seen ban khum 17th but binoculars were steamed up!
Black-headed ibis - 1 seen 17km north east of ban khum 16th
Painted stork - a group of c5 seen laem pak bia pans 13th & 17th
Asian openbill - common especially around nong pla lai and suvarnabhumi airport
Lesser frigatebird - 3 males 3/4 of the way on phi phi to phuket ferry. 3 more un/id frigates just outside phuket harbour and 1 krabi - phi phi

Rest of species list to follow

 

[jwreeves]

Trip list part 2

Black-and-red broadbill - 2 males ao phang nga 20th
Black-and-yellow broadbill - 1 several km beyond panoen thung 14th
Long-tailed broadbill - 1 km27 14th
Greater Green leafbird - 1 panoen thung 14th
Blue-winged leafbird - 2 panoen thung 14th
Golden-fronted leafbird - 2 ban song nok & 1 km9 15th
Asian fairy bluebird - common KK
Brown shrike - widespread
Long-tailed shrike - 1 ban khum 16 & 17th
Ashy drongo - ban song nok & KK. 'chinese white-faced' and 'sooty' seen
Bronzed drongo - ban song nok & KK
Lesser racket-tailed drongo - 1 km27
Hair-crested drongo - common KK
Greater racket-tailed drongo - KK area and phi phi don
Eastern Jungle crow - a few phetchaburi
Large-billed crow - Several sightings most sites in south
Common green magpie- km27 and panoen thung 14th
Ratchet-tailed treepie - 1 panoen thung 14th
Black-naped oriole - widespread
Black-hooded oriole - 1 ban song nok 13th
Black-winged cuckooshrike - 1 3rd stream crossing 15th
Swinhoe's minivet -KK and sri phang nga
Ashy minivet - thai mueang and maritime resort
Grey-chinned minivet - 1 km27 14th
Scarlet minivet - several KK 14 & 15th
Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike - 1 3rd stream crossing 15th
Malaysian pied fantail - widespread
Common iora - widespread
Great iora - 2+ lower KK 15th
Black-naped monarch - ban song nok, KK and ao phang nga
Large woodshrike - 1 ban krang 15th
Blue rock thrush - 1 scaly male, possibly pandoo?? ao phang nga
Blue whistling thrush - 2 maritime resort of yellow-billed race
Orange-headed thrush - 1 flushed from road upper KK 14th, better views of 1 maritime resort 21st
Eyebrowed thrush - several upper KK
Dark-sided flycatcher - 1 panoen thung 14th
Asian brown flycatcher - widespread
Taiga flycatcher - a few KK
Rufous-browed flycatcher - 1 panoen thung
Chinese blue flycatcher - 1 seen KK stream crossings 14th
Hill blue flycatcher - upper KK 14th
Tickell's blue flycatcher - pair ban song nok 13th
Verditer flycatcher - 1 ban song nok 13th, up to 5 KK 14 & 15th
Grey-headed canary-flycatcher - A few KK 14 & 15th
Siberian blue robin - 7 ban song nok 13th
Oriental magpie-robin - widespread
White-rumped shama - pair each ban song nok and malayan banded pitta stakeout sri phang nga
Stejneger's stonechat - common ban khum and nong pla lai
Ashy woodswallow - several sightings phetchaburi
Asian glossy starling - phang nga bay hotel and patong
Asian pied starling - widespread phetchaburi
Spot-winged starling - 8+ outside of kk on 15th
Chestnut-tailed starling - many outside of KK 15th
Vinous-breasted starling - 2 seperate sightings outside of KK
Common myna - common throughout
Great myna - common phetchaburi, 1 thai mueang
Golden-crested myna - 2 km9 and 8 stream crossings 15th
Velvet-fronted nuthatch - panoen thung 14th, 3rd stream crossing 15th
Sultan tit - c5 3rd stream crossing 15th
Asian house martin - seen km27 and panoen thung on 14th
Sand martin - just 1 ban khum
Barn swallow - widespread
Pacific swallow - common in south
Red-rumped swallow -laem pak bia and KK
Rufous-bellied swallow - ao phang nga and maritime resort
Black-headed bulbul - common lower/mid KK
Black-crested bulbul - common KK and also seen sri phang nga
Sooty-headed bulbul - 1 outside of KK
Stripe-throated bulbul - ban song nok and sri phang nga
Flavescent bulbul - upper KK
Yellow-vented bulbul - ban khum and phi phi
Olive-winged bulbul - 1 seen well out of small group ao phang nga on 20th
Streak-eared bulbul - common
Red-eyed bulbul - 1 sri phang nga
Grey-eyed bulbul - several KK
Ochraceous bulbul - KK and sri phang nga
Ashy bulbul - upper KK 14th
Mountain bulbul - upper KK
Golden-bellied gerygone - 2+ environmental project
Zitting cisticola - wat komnaram and nong pla lai
Yellow-bellied prinia - ban khum
Plain prinia - laem pak bia and ban khum
Common tailorbird - widespread
Dark-necked tailorbird- a few in KK
Ashy tailorbird - 1 ao phang nga
Black-browed reed warbler - common ban khum
Oriental reed warbler - common ban khum
Dusky warbler - seen pak thale, environmental project and ban khum
Arctic warbler - 1 calling bird ao phang nga 18th
Two-barred warbler - seen both days in KK
Pale-legged leaf warbler - seen ban song nok 13th and km9 15th. Many more heard KK and mangrove sites
Sakhalin leaf warbler - 1 calling bird ao phang nga 18 & 20th
Yellow-browed warbler - only saw 2!
Chestnut-flanked white-eye - 2 panoen thung
Oriental white-eye - 2 pak thale mangrove patch
Everett's white-eye - panoen thung
Alstrom's warbler - 1 calling bird km27 on 14th
Marten's warbler - 1 calling bird panoen thung 14th
Yellow-bellied warbler - KK 14 & 15th
Lesser necklaced laughingthrush - 4 ban song nok 15th
Greater necklaced laughingthrush - also 4 ban song nok 15th!
Black-throated laughingthrush - 1 panoen thung
Abbott's babbler - 1 ban song nok 13th, 2 sri phang nga 19th
Puff-throated babbler - ban song nok 13th
Large scimitar babbler - 1 ban song nok 13th
White-browed scimitar babbler - 1/2 at lodge above panoen thung
Pin-striped tit babbler - ban song nok 13th, stream crossings 15th
Chestnut-capped babbler - 1 ban khum 16th
Rufous-fronted babbler - km27
Grey-throated babbler - upper KK, sri phang nga
Blyth's shrike babbler - 2 around panoen thung
Striated yuhina - c5 panoen thung
Brown-cheeked fulvetta - ban song nok 13th, panoen thung
Collared babbler - eventually several panoen thung on 14th
Yellow-vented flowerpecker - 1 panoen thung
Plain flowerpecker - 2 panoen thung
Scarlet-backed flowerpecker - widespread
Brown-throated sunbird - ban khum, ao phang nga, phi phi
Olive-backed sunbird - common coastal phetchaburi, phi phi
Crimson sunbird - 1 KK stream crossings 15th
Black-throated sunbird - several sightings upper KK 14th
Little spiderhunter - 1 km9 15th
Streaked spiderhunter - 2 panoen thung 14th
Richard's pipit - 1 wat komnaram 17th, 2 thai mueang 20th
Paddyfield pipit - several pak thale and wat komnaram
Red-throated pipit - 3 nong pla lai
Indochinese bushlark - 1 pong salot
Oriental skylark - wat komnaram
Eastern yellow wagtail - 1 flyover pak thale
Grey wagtail - KK and sri phang nga
House sparrow - urban areas phetchaburi and bangkok
Plain-backed sparrow - 2+ at a breakfast stop in samut songkhram 13th, pair ban khum 17th
Tree sparrow - very common!
Baya weaver - seen en route to KK on 13th, several ban khum
Asian golden weaver - several ban khum
Scaly-breasted munia - wat komnaram, ban khum
Chestnut munia - wat komnaram, ban khum

Heard only

Grey peacock-pheasant - a few KK from stream crossings up
Bay woodpecker - panoen thung
Great slaty woodpecker -stream crossings and near km9
White-browed piculet - stream crossings
Banded bay cuckoo - ban song nok and KK
Asian barred owlet - km9
Collared owlet - km9 and stream crossings
Rusty-naped pitta - km27
Mangrove pitta - 6 ao phang nga on 19th only
Banded broadbill - 1 stream crossings on 15
Grey treepie - panoen thung
Racket-tailed treepie - km9 15th
Mangrove whistler - environmental project
White-crested laughingthrush - several panoen thung. very frustrating!
Buff-breasted babbler - km27
Red-billed scimitar babbler - panoen thung. had a very brief and poor view of a red/coral-billed a few minutes prior
Fire-breasted flowerpecker - 2 flew over calling but I only got poor views

Other animals

Dusky langur - KK and panoen thung
Long-tailed macaque - phetchaburi, maritime resort and phi phi
Water monitor - laem pak bia mangroves and some big ones environemntal project!
Lyle's flying fox - several at roost laem pak bia mangroves, and hundreds of flying foxes over phang nga bay hotel
Tree shrew sp - ban maka and ban song nok
Giant black squirrel - KK and sri phang nga
Pallas's, western striped and grey-bellied squirrels
Mouse deer species ao phang nga mangrove road
Cobalt blue tarantula - 1 in burrow ban song nok
A few small snakes, including a small green one that fell out of a tree in patong at my mates feet that made him jump a mile and develop a phobia of walking under trees! Another holiday where I wish I knew more about butterflies as there were some stunning ones! Especially in kaeng karchen.
Never saw gibbons but their calls at KK and sri phang nga were quite a sound!

 

[MKinHK]

Looks to me like you did pretty well. Kaeng Krachan definitely on the bucket list.

I had no idea stone curlew was resident in Thailand.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Mark:-)]

Only a few days before leaving the UK I discovered that a bridge to access to the site I was planning on visiting in the south, Krung Ching waterfall, had been washed away, ...

Nice haul of birds and really useful gen; thanks for posting. I'm off to South Thailand at the end of the month and was planning on a few days at Krung Ching, so I'd really appreciate some info on which bridge was taken out.

 

[jwreeves]

Nice haul of birds and really useful gen; thanks for posting. I'm off to South Thailand at the end of the month and was planning on a few days at Krung Ching, so I'd really appreciate some info on which bridge was taken out.

In the latest bird sightings section on norththailandbirding.com it just said the bridge providing access had been washed out. Probably as good a site as any to look for updates on this. I had pre booked a night at the krung Ching hill resort and tried to contact them for more info but both the phone number and email address provided on my confirmation were not recognised!

 

[Mark:-)]

Thanks. In pre-booking Krung Ching Hill Resort, you managed something I couldn't - their online booking system kept falling over whenever I tried. Eventually booked a place 50 minutes away - but sounds like that might have to change!

 

[jwreeves]

Looks to me like you did pretty well. Kaeng Krachan definitely on the bucket list.

I had no idea stone curlew was resident in Thailand.

Cheers
Mike

Kaeng krachen is brilliant! Wish I could've spent more time there, it's so picturesque and is amazing for all sorts of wildlife! The closest I came to seeing any larger mammals(langurs aside) was fresh elephant dung, but another group saw a clouded leopard 1 of the days before I got there! Even though I had long quiet spells, like hour plus with seeing next to nothing, still racked up 90 & 92 species seen on my 2 days there!

My guide was quite surprised with the stone-curlews!