I spend much of my time in Thailand visiting the very best birding sites over and over again as I show people the most exciting and sought-after species within the country. However, earlier this month I found myself with some time to myself and decided to visit a number of sites in and around Bangkok; sites that I have never visited or have seldom visited. For one of my days out I decided to take in a few eBird hotspots in the province of Chachoengsao, a little to the east of Bangkok. The first of these was a large copse of trees in a Toyota factory which is maintained as a learning resource and then drove around the surrounding rice fields and fish ponds. Secondly I visited a set of salt pans that I have been to before and then a strange temple built over the mudflats. The variety of habitats made for an impressive number of species through the day including a few nice surprises.

White-rumped Shama

My first stop was at a location listed on eBird as “Biotype by Toyota” which consists of a large copse of trees at the front of an enormous Toyota car manufacturing plant. In its setting, next to a very busy road and in a major industrial area, this is hardly an obvious place for birding. There is an ecology learning centre there and the area has a lot of potential as a refuge for migrating birds. On my visit there were only a few migrants including several Taiga Flycatchers, an Ashy Drongo, 2 Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Pale-legged Leaf warbler which was singing small snatches of its song; large numbers of Black Drongos were also present.  Pink-necked Green Pigeons were the most interesting of the resident species while there were plenty of Pied Fantails, Common Tailorbirds along with a Dark-necked Tailorbird and a male White-rumped Shama. On a good day for migrants this could be an interesting spot but more interesting on my visit were the rice fields, fish ponds and areas of typha at the rear of the site which are accessible from the side road on the left immediatley before reaching the Toyota factory.

I spent a couple of hours driving around this area where I saw a good variety of birds. Asian Golden Weavers were quite obvious with the males in their bright yellow breeding attire, busy displaying to females and building nests for them to inspect.

 Asian Golden Weaver

A few Chestnut Munias and a pair of Red Avadavats in the same habitat were nice while both Plain and Yellow-bellied Prinias were common birds. I stopped at an area of fruit trees next to a canal where I heard the call of Stork-billed Kingfisher and it did not take long before I saw two of these smart birds. I managed to catch this one as it flew past me.

Stork-billed Kingfisher

As often happens in birding one bird led to another with several Duksy Warblers creeping around in the remians of some begetation in a burnt field. This field also turned up a Lanceolated Warbler and a Eurasian Wryneck which was no surprise as both species seem to like very dry areas. While watching these I heard the call of a Freckle-breasted Woodpecker which I located very quickly in a nearby tree.

Freckle-breasted Woodpecker (female)

Along the side of the road there were a few small fish ponds that had been drained and there were large groups of Little Egret, Great Egret and Javan Pond Herons coming into breeding plumage. I only found one Chinese Pond heron among them which is interesting as most people seem to assume that the majority of non-breeding plumage pond herons are Chinese but when they are coming into breeding plumage that does not seem true.

Javan Pond Heron

Chinese Pond Heron

Further along there were a lot of dry rice stubble fields and here impressive numbers of Oriental Pratincole were gathering and at times feeding on insects in a large flock. These are always smart birds and by driving around the fields I was able to get a lot of very close views; these always seem to be very approachable birds.

Oriental Pratincole

In these areas I also added Eastern Stonechat, Plain-backed Sparrow, Oriental Reed Warbler, Indochinese Roller and Plaintive Cuckoo to the morning’s list but best of all was a Black Baza that came in and perched in a small tree before taking off and gaining height, presumably to continue with its migration.

Black Baza

It was time for some lunch so I left this site and drove towards the coast after having something to eat. I went to a set of salt farms where I have seen roosting shorebirds in the past and arrived just before the tide was far enough out for birds to feed on the shore. Species such as Lesser Sand Plover, Common Greenshank, Red-necked Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Kentish Plover were expected but a big surprise was a small group of Small Pratincoles with at least one recently fledged chick.

Small Pratincole

The sad thing was that the pratincoles were using an area that was clearly being prepared to be built upon and with huge roadworks in progress alongside it is almost certain that most of the habitat in this area will get covered in factories in the near future. Also nesting in the same area were a few pairs of Little Terns too.

Little Tern

Scanning the skies revealed 2 Spot-billed Pelicans and Brahminy Kite while a group of Painted Storks arrived as well as small numbers of Brown-headed Gulls. On my way out I checked out a bank of mangroves where a couple of Swinhoe’s White-eyes, Collared Kingfishers and Golden-bellied Gerygones were active.

Golden-bellied Gerygone

Here is the full list of birds seen at the Salt Pans at Chachoengsao.

For my last stop I visited Wat Hong Thong, a curious temple built over the mudflats. On my way in there were a large number of Black-tailed Godwits feeding in a pool next to the access road but the walkway to the temple itself allowed a view over the mudflats. There were not a great number of birds on the mud here, presumably due to the human disturbance and sense of enclosure that th temple buildings give. However, a group of Asian Openbills were feeding as were Pacific Golden Plover, Common Greenshank and a Whimbrel, the final new bird for my Chachoengsao day list.

Wat Hong Thong

After this I left Chachoengsao province having seen over 100 species. While these locations are not prime birding sites it was nice to visit a variety of different places and see a lot of interesting birds.