It is important to go out at the right time of the day when bird watching in Thailand and I was recently reminded of this when I took a late afternoon trip to do some birding at Suan Luang as I was bored with lurking around the house. Afternoon trips in Bangkok can be a risky strategy due to the chaotic traffic that builds up in the late afternoon and early evening but I travelled to the park when things were quiet; the journey home was another story though. Although Suan Luang can be quite a nice birding spot in the morning, I wasn’t expecting too much on this visit as the park gets busy in the afternoon. However, with such low expectations I was pleasantly surprised with a nice selection of birds. 

I was charged 10 baht to enter Suan Luang, which I guess is fair enough considering how well-kept it is. Just a little way into the park many of the most common species were very obvious; Common Myna, Oriental Magpie Robin, Peaceful Dove, White-vented Myna an loads of Streak-eared Bulbuls, many feeding fledged youngsters. I sat in a shady spot near the water for a few minutes and a pair of Pied Fantails squabbled nearby and a pair of Common Ioras fed overhead. Despite being avery common bird, Common Iora is an attractive species and interesting to watch as it collects caterpillars from the trees.

Moving on I hoped to find a few more birds around one of the ponds which is allowed to get a bit overgrown and usually attracts a number of species. It proved a good strategy with a number of Brown-throated Sunbirds, 2 male Plaintive Cuckoos, a pair of Asian Koels sitting still in a tree, a White-breasted Waterhen walking around on lillies, 3 Black-crowned Night Herons and a Little Egret. Overhead a few Asian Palm Swifts and House Swifts were feeding and the only migrant I saw passed by; a single Barn Swallow. On other occasions this pool has been more productive and in the early morning I have found some interesting migrants.

Moving along I stopped on a little bridge and witnessed a three-way tug-of-war between a Streak-eared Bulbul, a female Oriental Magpie Robin and a Common Myna. They seemed to be fighting over a large grasshopper or something similar, and predictably, the larger Myna won the battle. I always enjoy watching these types of bird behaviours, it feels like the real essence of bird watching when you take the time to enjoy seeing something like this rather than running around ticking birds off of a list. Staying on the bridge I then noticed a pigeon feeding in a tree, and after looking through my binoculars I saw it was a female Pink-necked Green Pigeon; nearby a pair were also feeding. The male is a particularly nice bird and seeing this species in the park made the trip worthwhile. A Javan Pond Heron in breeding plumage walking on the lillies was also a nice sight.

After taking some photos for my website I decided to begin my way to the back gate of the park. I had been hearing Coppersmith Barbets everywhere the whole time but now as it began to cool down I also began seeing them everywhere. Another nice bird on the way out was a very tame Long-tailed Shrike which sat on a lampost as people jogged right next to it. I managed to walk right up to it and take a photo; unfortunately the light was beginning to fade and the picture isn’t as good as it should have been.

I saw a few other species on the way out; a pair of Olive-backed Sunbirds, 2 Asian Pied Starlings foraging on frshly mown grass, 2 Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers chasing each other around, a pair of Yellow-vented Bulbuls bathing in a puddle and a pair of Paddyfield Pipits with a very nicely marked juvenile, allowing me to approach very closely as they hunted for insects on a sports field.

Close to the back gate there was a very noisy and well-attended aerobics session in progress where the chance of seeing any birds was zero so I walked out of the park to get a drink. I saw 31 species in the 2 hours I spent in the park, which I guess isn’t bad, although most of them were what I would consider common birds of Thailand.