Lung Sin Waterhole and other similar sites, near Kaeng Krachan National Park, are well known for the number and variety of birds that visit them in order to bathe and drink, offering many fantastic photo opportunities of common and scarce birds. These waterholes tend to be at their best in the driest of weather, usually the middle to end of the dry season when the forest is very dry and the waterhole is the only water source for some distance, but there are a few excellent birds that are regular visitors in the wet season too and one of these, Red-legged Crake, was the target bird of an afternoon there with some visiting birders.

In fact we were lucky enough to watch 2 different Red-legged Crakes come to the waterhole and bathe and creep around in the viewing area. However, I was surprised, given the amount of rain there had been, at how many other species we were able to see at the waterhole. Apart from the Crake, the other stand-out bird of the session at the water hole was Scaly-breasted Partridge, a pair of which visited on a couple of occasions but there were also repeated visits by Racket-tailed Treepie, Lesser & Greater Necklaced Laughingthrushes, Black-naped Monarch and a stunning male Crimson Sunbird for us to enjoy.

Many commoner species are regular at this waterhole, but in previous wet season visits many of them had not shown but we also had Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Streak-eared Bulbul, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Black-crested Bulbul, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher as constant companions, including this highly manicured Puff-throated Babbler.

At one point during our visit there were so many Red Junglefowl feeding in front of us that I felt like we were in a chicken farm and a couple of quick visits by Abbott’s Babbler were also entertaining. Anyone considering visiting the waterholes near Kaeng Krachan during the wet season should not be deterred by the possibility of bird numbers, the sight of a Red-legged Crake just a few metres away is reason enough to go but there may just be more birds than might be expected. The only real problem are the light levels for photography, but by using a tripod even this problem can be minimized.