Having read about this site in Tony Ball’s blog and having made a brief and rainy visit a few days previous, I decided to make the most of the good weather on 3/2/08 to explore Huay Tueng Tao. This site is quite well-known amongst the locals of Chiang Mai and all the tuktuk drivers seem to know it. It is quite a distance from the town centre and I paid 180 baht which I didn’t haggle over so I am sure I could have got it cheaper, but it seemed a fair price to me. If you cant communicate with the tuktuk drivers where you want to go the Thai script on this photo may help you.

Walking around the whole site is quite tiring as it is fairly large, but obviously, walking turns up more birds than driving. The first good birds I saw were a group of Red-billed Blue Magpies flying around noisily but I quickly added Little Heron, Ashy Woodswallow, Common Kingfisher and Common Moorhen around the lake. Towards the end of the lake is an area of farmland and in a tree here I first heard, and then saw a Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker. This was followed by the strange call of a Bright-headed Cisticola which I found quite easily.

Scanning around lots of Green Bee-eaters were making the most of the morning sun and Spotted Doves were confusingly abundant. There were so many bee-eaters loafing around and catching insects that I decided to try a few pictures – out of about 40 I got just 4 half decent ones.

The morning chorus was still in full swing and the twittering of Purple Sunbirds was everywhere and lots of these little birds were easily found in flowering trees. White-crested Laughingthrush was calling from some bushes but the morning crowing of Chinese Francolins proved more of an attractive force for me. I was practically standin gon one bird but still couldn’t see it in the undergrowth when, fortunately for me, another Chinese Francolin flew across the dry stubbles, landed and ran into some thorny bushes.

I began to have to work quite hrd for birds and in general my visit was a slow one. However, with persistence I eventually saw lots of nice stuff although every other bird was Spotted Dove, Purple Sunbird or Sooty-headed Bulbul.

Thick-billed and Yellow-streaked Warblers were nice and moving into some woodland I picked up Great Iora, Green-billed Malkoha, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker and Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher but it was back on the farmland that a real treat awaited; 2 Rufous-winged Buzzards perched in a tree. I watched these until one flew off and was attacked in the air by a Grey Heron!!!

Things were getting a bit hot and slow by this time so I gradually moved out with a couple of Lineated Barbets on the way. Getting out of this site without transport proved very difficult and I ended up walking miles in an effort to obtain a ride – not something I would recommend. The best policy is to arrange a pickup time with the tuktuk driver who brings you to the site – something my driver was keen to do but I foolishly didn’t arrange.

Still, my prolonged walk resulted in a couple of nice birds that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen: Rufous Treepie and Burmese Shrike. 61 species seen for a morning’s birdwatching in Thailand wasn’t bad!

birds, birding, thailand, nature, national parks