Many local birders visit Soi 119, Bang Poo for good views of freshwater wetland birds. I had never visited this location before so after lunch at Bang Poo I went to take a brief look.

Now, Soi 119 is not to be mistaken for Sukhumvit 119 near Bang Na . It is slightly confusing as the road in Bang Poo area is also Sukhumvit Road, but here there is obvious potential for birding whereas the other 119 is completely built up. The soi 119 for birding is about 5-6 kilometres beyond Bang Poo, on the left hand side of the road as one heads towards Chonburi. It is actually easy to find and it runs through reedy wetlands. It seems easy to view birds from the car and road but birds were not in the same abundance as at Muang Boran Fishponds, although I was only here for a very brief time and may have missed the best spots. The main advantage here is that one does not need to walk any great distance in the heat or avoid barking dogs.

In the very brief time I was along soi 119 I saw a good number of species: Lesser Whistling Duck, Little Grebe, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Greater Coucal, Plaintive Cuckoo, House Swift, Asian Palm Swift, Red Collared Dove, Peaceful Dove, Moorhen, White-breasted Waterhen, Watercock, Red-wattled Lapwing, Whiskered Tern, White-winged Tern, Brahminy Kite, Little Cormorant, Little Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Javan Pond Heron, Cinnamon Bittern, Asian Openbill, Long-tailed Shrike, Brown Shrike, Black Drongo, Pied Fantail, Oriental Magpie Robin, Asian Pied Starling, Common Myna, White-vented Myna, Barn Swallow, Streak-eared Bulbul, Striated Grassbird, Plain Prinia, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Black-browed Reed Warbler, Yellow Wagtail (macronyx) and Scaly-breasted Munia.

 Interesting to note that here, all but one of the Pond Herons were Chinese Pond Herons and at Bang Poo, on the mudflats, all the pond herons were Javan Pond Herons. In Robson’s Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand it says that Javan is found particularly along coasts and Chinese in freshwater wetlands – this may help those who birdwatching in Thailand in January and February and are unable to distinguish the two species from each other in their winter plumage.

Although I only spent a few minutes at soi 119 I will certainly come back although Muang Boran Fishponds seems to have a higher concentration of birds.

birds, birding, thailand, nature