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 [...]

Increasing Great Knot Numbers: Thailand Birding

June 5th, 2015

Nick

Recently, Phil Round alerted me to a short paper “Steep Upward Trajectory of Great Knot Numbers at sites in Southeast Asia” published in “Tattler, Newsletter for the Asia Pacific Flyways & Australian Shorebirds 2020 Project, No 35” by the Australian Wader Studies Group.

This article documents and attempts to explain the ever-increasing numbers of Great Knot that are seen in the Gulf of Thailand and other sites in Southeast Asia. I can remember submitting a sighting of a group of 5 Great Knot at Krabi back in the late 1990s which was reported in a “Latest sightings” round up, which seems ridiculous now when flocks of thousands can be seen at sites such as Laem Pak Bia and Pak Thale. Read more »

A Morning at Bueng Boraphet: Thailand Birding

May 25th, 2015

Nick

A few weeks ago I found myself in the town of Nakorn Sawan with a morning free to spend birding at nearby Bueng Boraphet (1st May). Rather than take a boat trip, I decided to go to the northeastern side of the lake and drive/walk around the area known as Pramong Panich where there is a variety of wetland habitats – rice fields, fish ponds, lakeside scrub, ditches and open water.

I arrived at first light (around 5.45am) and as expected it became very hot, very quickly having worked up quite a sweat by 7.15am! However, this did not stop me from seeing very large numbers of birds including several interesting species and obtaining some nice photographs of a few of them. Read more »

Searching for Short-tailed Parrotbill at Pu Suan Sai National Park: Thailand Birding

May 17th, 2015

Nick

Short-tailed Parrotbill is a species which, in Thailand, is restricted to a small corner of the country with the most sightings being made at Pu Suan Sai National Park in Loei province. I made one short trip there a few years ago and was unsuccessful in my search for the Parrotbill although many others have visited the site and seen this species with a number of very nice photos being posted on facebook. With this in mind I recently (May 12-13) made another short visit in order to try and find these birds.

As can be seen from the photograph here, I did manage to see Short-tailed Parrotbill this time; in fact I was able to watch a pair collecting nest material for quite some time; but my best effort to photograph it certainly will not be making any bird photographers jealous. However, finding these birds was not easy due to their inconspicuousness and the conflicting information I had about where to see them Read more »

Migrant Watching at Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park: Thailand Birding

April 26th, 2015

Nick

Each year I look forward to late March and April when I usually have time to make several visits to Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park, which is not far from where I live in Bangkok, in order to see which interesting passage migrants I can find. So far in 2015 I have made six visits and although I have seen quite a few interesting species, I have not quite had a morning yet where I find large numbers of migrants or large numbers of species as I have usually done in previous years.

However, this morning was quite productive with Large Hawk Cuckoo, Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Dark-sided Flycatcher and Arctic Warbler being the highlights and as I walked around the park I wondered if the weather conditions had not been right this year for really good falls of migrants or whether I had just been unlucky and not visited the park on the right days. Read more »

Some Great Birding at Kaeng Krachan: Thailand Birding

April 22nd, 2015

Nick

Over the last month I have made several visits to Kaeng Krachan National Park where the birding has been getting better and better and I have found many colourful resident species consistently; 6 species of Broadbill on each of my last three visits has been particularly enjoyable and something that is practically impossible to achieve during the months November-February when most bird watchers visit Thailand.

Woodpeckers are another group of birds that I am particularly fond of and these species have been performing well too recently, and I have seen normally scarce birds such as Great Slaty Woodpecker, Black-andbuff Woodpecker, Buff-rumped Woodpecker, Banded Woodpecker and Crimson-winged Woodpecker on a regular basis since mid March. Read more »

Gull Identification Problems | Thailand Birding

March 5th, 2015

Nick

On 17th February I took a boat trip onto the sand spit at Laem Pak Bia accompanied by six British birders and Mr Daeng to look for White-faced Plover. On arriving at the sand spit a number of large gulls drew our attention including 5 Pallas’s Gulls and a Black-tailed Gull. Whilst watching these several apparent Heuglin’s Gulls arrived to confuse us. While I am not a gull expert, I am quite adept at spotting something that is different from the crowd and one of the new arrivals was fairly obviously different.

2 adult a at least 3 subadult apparent Heuglin’s Gulls all shared the same structure with a heavy bill and bulky head with heavy brows and large eyes but one bird in the group was noticed by myself, Mr Daeng and several of the group to be of a slightly smaller size and different structure, with a smaller head proportional to the body, a more slender bill, deeper yellow legs with almost orange feet and much smaller, dark, eye. I took a number of photos to attempt to identify the bird properly later on with the aid of Olsen & Larsson’s Gulls of Europe, Asia & North America.

Read more »

Bird Watching at Khao Yai – Thailand Birding

February 16th, 2015

Nick

Khao Yai national park has long been a favourite place for birders to visit, but birding there can be a bit hit and miss; at its best there can be plenty of sightings of colourful and enigmatic forest species; on other days it can be hard to see anything much at all, particularly with the increased amount of disturbance with large numbers of visitors in recent years. However, my recent visit with a group of 6 birders resulted in a surprisingly peaceful forest, with few people around and many excellent birds from 14-16th February. We were lucky to see Khao Yai at its best and to enjoy some great birding. Read more »