The dreary weather in Thailand continues and we had to deal with drizzle, mist and low cloud today at Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia where one would normally expect blue skies and intense sun. Trying to spot shorebirds in these poor viewing conditions was not easy but at least we did not have to deal with heat haze! However, we did not let this stop us from finding 3 Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Pak Thale within 10 seconds of beginning our search! Read more »
Wetland Birding in Khorat | Birding in Thailand
Thailand is full of Birds Thailand is an extremely popular birding destination because of a number of top-quality sites around the country that provide the opportunity to see a wide variety and number of species, including many that are hard to see elsewhere or have very limited global ranges. Many species of birds are more [...]
North Sulawesi Highlight Species | Birding in Indonesia
After leading the highly successful 2026 edition of the Calidris Birding Tours North and Central Thailand tour, I had some time to spare and decided on a return to Indonesia. previously, in 2024 to focus on North Sulawesi’s endemic species. This trip report covers top sites on Sulawesi’s Minahasa peninsula — Gunung Mahawu, Dumoga-Bone and [...]
Gull Feeding Frenzy at Samut Sakhon | Birding in Thailand
A beautiful sunrise, thousands of birds, the sound of the sea; all the ingredients for one of the world’s birding hotspots, but in reality this is the atmosphere I was able to enjoy on a short morning excursion from Bangkok when visiting the “Red Bridge” coastal boardwalk in neighbouring Samut Sakhon province. Rather than being [...]
Birds in a Park in Bukhara | Birding in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is one of those countries that is great for birding and at the same time extremely interesting in touristic terms too; an ideal place to travel with a non-birding partner and then to find time to go birding in locations near the tourist spots and to visit some really spectacular scenery. In late April [...]
Top 5 Birds of Vietnam Birding Tour 2025 | Birding in Vietnam
ietnam is the country in mainland Southeast Asia with the highest number of endemic species and the best place to see a number of regional endemics too as well as a fantastic supporting cast of more widespread birds. Leading the Calidris Birding Tours trip to Southern and Central Vietnam in March/April 2025 gave all participants [...]
Thailand Birding: A Few Days At Khao Yai
January 29th, 2013 
Nick From 27th to 29th January I spent time at Khao Yai national park with a group of birders from UK. Fresh from a very successful northern leg of our trip expectations were high for some great birds at Khao Yai. When we arrived to absolutely awful weather conditions with unseasonal persistent rain and very poor visibility things did not look very promising. However, with patience and good planning we managed to find a lot of highly sought-after birds. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Some Sightings On Doi Inthanon’s Summit
January 26th, 2013 Nick The summit of Thailand’s highest mountain, Doi Inthanon, is always a lovely place, with its mossy, fern-covered trees and fantastic, colorful birds. On 24th and 25th January I made a couple of visits to the summit where it was really quite cold in the early morning and late afternoon. What this meant was that as soon as the sun reached the forest, bird activity was quite high and over the course of two visits a lot of nice birds were seen including some scarce migrants. Read more »
Doi Lang: Thailand Birding
January 23rd, 2013 Nick I have just spent three days at Doi Lang in Chiang Mai province and thought others would like to know of some of the amazing sightings from the location. Now that the breach in the road has been repaired and that the mountain is accessible from Fang, there is even better birding on the mountain than before. On the road up from the Fang side there is a lot of great pine forest and we saw Mrs Hume’s Pheasant and Giant Nuthatch on the way up. This forest is good for flycatchers and we found Ultramarine, Sapphire, Pale Blue and Slaty-backed Flycatchers. However, it is the photographic stakeouts that make for a really spectacular visit. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Boat Trip at Bueng Boraphet
January 3rd, 2013 Nick Last week I took a boat trip on the lake at Bueng Boraphet to see the large numbers of waterbirds that occur there. At the “Nok Nam Park” on the southern side of the lake Mr Phanom has been taking birders and photographers out for many years and he always knows what is to be seen on the lake.
Our trip was spent mainly taking photographs of the commoner waterbirds; I have been out on the lake many times but it is always a beautiful sight to see so many birds among the colorful water lilies and lotus flowers. Read more »
Thailand Birding: 2012 Year List
January 2nd, 2013 Nick Every year I like to keep a record of the number of bird species I see; I don’t go chasing birds for my year list but it is interesting to record what I see from year to year and provides me with a way to keep enjoying seeing birds that I have seen many times before. In 2012 I ended up with a total of 743 species having spent 3.5 months in UK and the rest of the time in Thailand. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Eared Pitta at Khao Yai
December 31st, 2012 Nick Eared Pitta is one of the most sought-after birds in Thailand and also a very tough one to find. It does not seem to call very often and I find it mostly unresponsive to call playback; one of the best ways to find it is to walk quietly through the forest and listen for it foraging in the leaf litter, with luck one can detect it by ear and walk close enough to get a view as it seems to be fairly tolerant of human activity. Read more »
