Recently bird activity has been at its lowest that I can remember during the dry season, making for some frustrating times looking for birds. I think that this is mostly due to the strange weather patterns that have produced late rain and hotter temperatures than normal and which are now followed by wind; these weather conditions make it very difficult to find birds for large parts of the day. 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: Khao Yai Stakeout
December 27th, 2012 
Nick The well-known stakeout behind the toilets at Pha Gluai Mai campsite, Khao Yai, produced a few birds yesterday morning. Most of the Thai photographers are camped out on Doi Lang and Mae Wong these days so there seems to be little feeding of the birds at this stakeout in Khao Yai and consequently birds that have visited in previous years are not performing right now: most notably Blue Pitta and Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo.
Although Phil Round had told me that the Ground Cuckoos had been calling a week earlier (although not seen) we neither heard nor saw this species at the stakeout and these days there are very few sightings at this formerly reliable spot. However, there were still some really nice birds to see there. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Slaty-legged Crake At Lung Sin Hide
December 18th, 2012 Nick Slaty-legged Crake is a bird that is seldom seen in Thailand and its status and movements in the country are poorly known. However, this species has made a number of appearances at the Lung Sin’s waterhole near Kaeng Krachan national park and I was lucky enough to witness this bird’s performance there a few days ago on 16th December.
For those that have not visited this location, Lung Sin’s waterhole is a man-made bird bath and feeding station set in some dry forest outside of Kaeng Krachan national park and is maintained by locals for the benefit of bird watchers, photographers and the birds themselves. It is a great place for seeing birds at close quarters. Read more »
A Rarity at Laem Pak Bia Sand Spit
December 14th, 2012 Nick Today I took a boat trip out to the sand spit at Laem Pak Bia, as Mr Daeng landed his boat on the sand spit a group of gulls and terns took flight and as I looked at them through my binoculars I instantly realized that I could see a first winter Kittiwake. I called to Mr Daeng to take a look before it disappeared but luckily it landed back on the beach allowing us to look at it for more than 15 minutes; Mr Daeng used my camera and telescope to obtain the photograph displayed here. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Fairy Pittas & A Polite Request
June 12th, 2012 Nick Between 9th and 16th April 2012 Philip Round made a trip to Ko Man Nai. in the Gulf of Thailand, in hope of ringing scarce migrants. He was successful in finding Thailand’s second Fairy Pitta as well as at least 13 Japanese Paradise Flycatchers.
The news of this prompted quite a number of people to make the trip to Ko Man Nai in search of these birds and it appears that a few more Fairy Pittas were discovered. However, this influx of birders has caused a problem on the island and Phil Round requests that birdwatchers do not visit the island unless they have first obtained the relevant permission. Read Phil’s request yourself - Please do not visit Ko Man Nai without first obtaining official permission.
This discovery suggests that both Fairy Pitta and Japanese Paradise Flycatcher are more frequent visitors to Thailand than previously thought and these, plus other rare visitors, may be found on similar islands in the Gulf during migratory periods. Migrants such as these that follow a more Eastern flyway than the commoner passage migrants in Thailand usually turn up in the first half of April.
Good luck in finding your own treasure trove of migrants during passage migration times.
Thailand Birding: Sri Nakorn Kuan Khan Park
April 10th, 2012 Nick On 3rd April 2012 I found myself with the rare opportunity to get out for a morning close to home. Having had great success in finding migrant species in April 2011 at Sri Nakorn Kuan Khan park, Bangkok, I decided to see if I could get lucky again.
Arriving at about 7am seemed a bit early as my first walk around revealed little other than a Forest Wagtail, a couple of Spangled (Hair-crested) Drongos and the odd Black-naped Oriole. However, a few nice resident birds included Pink-necked Green Pigeon and Stork-billed Kingfisher, both of which are commoner here than anywhere else I know in Thailand, as well as a male Laced Woodpecker.
On previous visits to Bangkok’s parks, looking for migrants, I have noticed that most of the best observations seem to occur between 9am and midday, so I made another lap of the park. Read more »
Thailand Birding: Raptors At Petchaburi
December 1st, 2011 Nick The rice fields around the town of Petchaburi always play host to a good number and variety of raptors in the dry season. The areas known as Nong Pla Lai and Tung Bang Jak are just a collection of rice fields and other mixed agriculture just a few kilometres north of Petchaburi and can be reached by turning left of the highway just as the temples on the hill in Petchaburi becomes visible – a distance of about 2-3 kilometres north of the town. Read more »
