Dartford Waffler

Independent Birding at Zaamin National Park | Birding in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is a surprising country with a wide variety of landscapes, ancient historical monuments, some interesting food and drink as well as good infratructure that makes the country easy to travel in independently. However, my wife and I pushed this a little further than most travelers to the country by visiting Zaamin National Park where [...]

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 [...]

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 »

Birding at Mae Ping National Park | Thailand Birding

February 26th, 2019

Nick

As part of a recent birding tour I led in January/February we made a visit to Mae Ping National Park in Lamphun province, Thailand. This site consists mainly of dry dipterocarp woodland which has little variation within it, with only a few pine trees and damp gullies providing any other vegetation types, meaning that avian biodiversity is quite low compared to other habitats in the region, however, it does contain a good number of habitat specialists including a good range of woodpeckers.

Although the birding was a little slower than expected we ended our time at Mae Ping having enjoyed some really stunning birds including a pair of White-rumped Falcons, Collared Falconet, White-bellied Woodpecker, Burmese Nuthatch, Black-headed Woodpecker, Rufous Woodpecker, White-crested Laughingthrush and Red-billed Blue Magpie. Read more »

Becoming a Gull-Watcher in Winter | South Korea Birding

January 23rd, 2019

Nick

To say that gull watching is an acquired taste would be to ignore the fact that many birders never do acquire the taste. However, on two consecutive tours to South Korea many of those accompanying me have started out as skeptics but have quickly found watching large numbers of gulls and a wide variety of species, not to mention a large variety of plumages, enjoyable, not withstanding that the main reason to visit are birds such as Steller’s Sea Eagle, Red-crowned Crane, White-naped Crane & Scaly-sided Merganser. This owes no small amount to the fact that there are a couple of globally rare species to be seen in Relict Gull and Saunders’s Gull but also because they can be observed at close proximity and in numbers that can be quite spectacular. However, this in itself has certainly not been the only reason for the group enjoying studying gulls, a large portion of the enjoyment has been learning from an expert who is extremely knowledgeable and patient in Nial Moores who is able to pass on his knowledge in an interesting way. For those that are photographers the gulls present an excellent series of opportunities throughout the tour as you will see from the following set of photos.

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

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Winter Wildfowl | South Korea Birding

January 18th, 2019

Nick

Having recently returned from leading my third winter birding tour to South Korea I have some time to reflect on different aspects of this excellent trip. While the big draw is to see large numbers of Red-crowned, Hooded & White-naped Cranes, Steller’s Sea Eagle, Relict Gull, Oriental Stork and many other rare and range-restricted East Asian species another feature is the large numbers and wide variety of wildfowl throughout the tour. Indeed several of these are also key target birds, Scaly-sided Merganser, Swan Goose, Stejneger’s Scoter and Baikal Teal for example, but it is also impressive just how many species can be seen, including close-up views of many species that most northern hemisphere birders are familiar with but seldom see in such abundance. From Taiga Bean Goose to Mandarin Duck, Harlequin and Smew it is fantastic to be able to enjoy such a range of wildfowl in big numbers that create a spectacle both in flock size and appearance. Big numbers, lots of species and close-up views make the wildfowl just another highlight of winter birding in South Korea.

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

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Birding Highlights of 2018

January 3rd, 2019

Nick

Happy New Year! I am looking forward to what I have planned ahead in 2019 with a birding trip starting in South Korea tomorrow but over the last few days I have also been thinking about some of my birding highlights in 2018. As usual I did a lot of birding in Thailand, which always produces lots of memorable sightings and a few “Thai ticks” as well as a couple of “Lifers” were obvious highlights but I was also lucky enough to have some amazing experiences with birds in Myanmar in the early part of the year, Malaysia in Spring, United Kingdom in Summer and early Autumn as well as a memorable road trip around Europe with some good birding in Austria and Hungary in September. In November/December 2018 I traveled to Southeast China where large waterbirds were our main target and then I finished the year with some top quality shorebird watching in Thailand. With so many locations came a lot of good birds but there are some which stand out for various reasons including the always spectacular nesting seabirds in the Farne Islands, half the world population of Siberian Cranes at Poyang Lake, China, a long-awaited Crab Plover in Southern Thailand, dancing Chin Hills Wren Babbler in Myanmar, Rail Babbler and Garnet Pitta in Malaysia and my annual appointment with Corn Buntings near my home town of Dartford. You can read about some of my birding highlights of 2018 here. Read more »

Doi Lang East Photography Day Trip – Thailand Birding

December 26th, 2018

Nick

Although I am in Northern Thailand as part of a non-birding trip, I wanted to make time to look for a few rare species on the east side of Doi Lang along with it being a great place to get to grips with a new camera, blessed as it is with several species that are always suitable models. Although I was not trying to see a long list of birds I ended up seeing more than 70 species throughout the day and this was achieved by being in no particular hurry, in fact most of the time I just stood around and took photos of whatever birds were in the area. Over the course of the day I saw some good birds including Slaty-bellied Tesia, Chestnut Bunting, Crested Finchbill, White-tailed Robin, Amur Falcon and, one of my target birds, Spotted Elachura. Read more »

Birding from Shanghai – China Birding

December 13th, 2018

Nick

I recently returned from leading an enjoyable and bird-filled tour to Southeast China where we were able to observe many of Asia’s rarest migratory waterbirds. Our trip consisted of three distinct sections, the first of which took us to coastal wetlands and farmland to the north and Southeast of our starting point, Shanghai, where we visited sites near Dongtai, Yangchen and Nahui finding a wide variety of species that included migratory Buntings, Wildfowl, Gulls, Shorebirds and plenty of interesting passerines both migratory and resident.

The undoubted highlight on this part of our trip were the flocks of Red-crowned Cranes that were seen at increasingly close quarters during our stay although the supporting cast of Oriental Stork, Chinese Grey Shrike, Relict Gull, Japanese Reed Bunting, Baikal Teal, Reed Parrotbill, Hooded Crane, Saunders’s Gull, Chinese Penduline Tit, Pallas’s Reed Bunting, Marsh Grassbird, Yellow-bellied Tit and Silver-throated Bushtit were extremely exciting too. Read more »