Dartford Waffler

City Park Bird Abundance | Birding in Thailand

For those of us lucky enough to travel internationally to see birds it quickly becomes apparent that in some countries birds are abundant while in others birders have to work harder to see a wide range of species. This was brought home to me most recently spending a morning at Sri Nakorn Kuean Khan Park [...]

Touristing & Birding at Petra | Birding in Jordan

For those of us who travel with non-birding partners it can sometimes be tricky to balance enjoying time together somewhere interesting and the craving to maximise the opportunity to see new birds in new places. Personally, having a good holiday with my wife is the most important thing when planning trips together but doing some [...]

Rainy Season Birding at Pathum Thani Rice Research Centre | Birding in Thailand

There can be times of the year when bird watching hits a trough because a lack of activity, unhelpful weather or overfamiliarity with a smaller selection of species than at other times. In Thailand these factors are all true in the rainy season with a large number of species absent, on their breeding grounds further [...]

Mountain Birding from Chimgan | Birding in Uzbekistan

I have always loved immersing myself in mountain landscapes but over recent years my opportunity to do so has been limited with much of my time spent in tropical forests and wetlands in Thailand so when the opportunity presented itself to spend some time birding in mountain habitats in Uzbekistan I took it without having [...]

Jakarta Boat Trip Birding | Birding Indonesia

Where can you see Christmas Island Frigatebird, Sunda Teal, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Milky Stork, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Cerulean Kingfisher, Clamorous Reed Warbler and a wide range of other species in an urban setting? On a boat trip from Jakarta, Indonesia! The island of Java is one of the most densely populated areas of the world [...]

Birding the Steppe near Astana | Kazakhstan Birding

June 1st, 2019

Nick

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Almaty, looking back on the last few days of the recent Kazakhstan birding tour that I have just finished leading. Our trip ended in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Nur Sultan (recently renamed from Astana), where we spent a few days birding in steppe and wetlands, enjoying some excellent birding, in fact it was in these last few days that we experienced the highest abundance of birds of the whole tour – a great way to finish. The undoubted highlights were the sighting of 6 critically endangered Sociable Lapwings, large numbers of spectacular Black Larks, watching White-winged Larks in song flight, huge numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes and a nesting colony of Pallas’s Gulls. However, it was not just about connecting with key birds, we just enjoyed a lot of top-quality birding and lots of excellent views of a wide variety of species.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Kazakhstan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Central Asia Birding Tour.

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Birding & Hiking near Shymbulak | Kazakhstan Birding

May 17th, 2019

Nick

I have just finished a three-night stay in Ile-Alatau National Park in the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains just outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan. I wanted to spend some time walking in the mountains and taking some photos of birds, not really being fussy about which species I saw, just enjoying the scenery and clean air. I booked three nights at Namaste Shalle 2000M Hotel, close to the Shymbulak ski resort and with fantastic views of the snowy peaks a little further up the valley as well as access to riverside woodland and hiking into the mountains where I saw a really nice selection of species and was able to achieve my target of obtaining some nice photos, particularly of the cute Azure Tit which I saw every day in the garden of Namaste Shalle.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Kazakhstan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Central Asia Birding Tour.
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Winter Woodpeckers of Korea – South Korea Birding

May 9th, 2019

Nick

Woodpeckers are one of my favourite groups of birds so I was very happy to see six species of them on the 2019 winter tour of South Korea in January, particularly as two of them were among my favourites; the friendly Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and the impressive Black Woodpecker.

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker is widespread and quite numerous throughout the Korean peninsula, not endemic to Japan as the name might suggest, and is always a highlight of trips to South Korea for me. We also enjoyed excellent views of White-backed Woodpecker, Grey-faced Woodpecker, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker as well as two prolonged flight views of Black Woodpecker. I am already looking forward to the next winter tour next year.

Details of the next trip can be seen here - South Korea Winter Birding Tour.

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Birding When Not Birding – Thailand Birding

April 1st, 2019

Nick

For the vast majority of tourists to Thailand the primary focus of the trip will not be birding. Even for many birders a holiday to Thailand is a non-birding, family holiday which locates them away from prime bird watching sites and over the last few days I have found myself in that situation taking a short break with my wife at Karon beach in Phuket. The good news for birders traveling with non-birding partners in these situations is that good numbers of birds can be found in all sorts of scraps of habitat and even though these are not locations that would normally get included in a birding tour of the country, by visiting a few of them in early mornings, a fairly decent list of species can be seen. Over the last couple of mornings I have spent a little time just loafing around fragments of habitat around the hotel I am staying in and have seen a nice variety of species given the situation. I have stayed at In on the Beach a few times and it is a pleasant, quiet hotel on the beach with just about enough to keep a birder interested for an hour or so in the mornings. Read more »

Migrants, Heat & Humidity – Thailand Birding

March 17th, 2019

Nick

Heavy rain yesterday morning foiled my attempt to go birding at Sri Nakorn Kuean Khan Park but today the skies were clear and I got a taxi from home to the park, arriving at 6.45am. Getting out of the air-conditioned taxi I was immediately hit with high temperatures and even higher humidity – the previous day’s rain along with the lush vegetation was responsible for this. Sweating at 6.45am made me wonder how long this birding session would last but a number of interesting migrant birds throughout the morning, along with good views of a number of resident species, meant that I had a good morning of birding with sightings including Asian Emerald Cuckoo, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Sakhalin Leaf Warbler, Vinous-breasted Starling and Crow-billed Drongo. Read more »

A Morning at Fang Hot Springs – Thailand Birding

March 16th, 2019

Nick

I often visit Fang Hot Springs very briefly, stopping to see the Spot-winged Grosbeaks and then leaving but recently while leading a Thailand birding tour I was able to enjoy a longer session of birding at this pleasant location. In the early morning there is always a lot of bird activity and staying nearby at Tangerine Ville Hotel we were able to arrive at a time to experience a lot of activity and low levels of human disturbance, finding some really good birds including the biggest flock of Pin-tailed Green Pigeons I have ever seen. Read more »

Lung Sin Waterhole; Besra Alert – Thailand Birding

February 26th, 2019

Nick

Sometimes things do not go quite according to plan.

Hides around Kaeng Krachan national park provide birders with a lot of superb sightings of both common and scarce birds. Right now there are a number of hides where good birds can be seen but one of the most consistently good experiences can be had at Lung Sin Waterhole which I have visited and written about on numerous occasions. However, a recent visit ended up being not quite what we hoped for, with hours of waiting and seeing nothing apart from a few insects, in the hot, sweaty hides. Eventually, in the very late afternoon some good birds arrived but most of the afternoon had been very tedious indeed due to the presence of a Besra. Read more »