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 [...]

Rufous-naped Tit Rufous-naped Tit

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 [...]

Stork-billed Kingfisher Stork-billed Kingfisher

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 [...]

Mourning Wheatear Mourning Wheatear

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 [...]

Greater Painted Snipe Greater Painted Snipe

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 [...]

Azure Tit Azure Tit
Rufous-naped Tit

Independent Birding at Zaamin National Park | Birding in Uzbekistan

May 24th, 2025 Nick

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 the Turkestan mountain range forms the border with Tajikstan. The taxi ride from the city of Samarkand took around 4.5 hours and took us through some amazing landscapes, with vast areas of wilderness with snowy peaks as a backdrop for the last two hours of the journey, along some fairly rough, unpaved roads, making for a real sense of adventure. Once in the national park our hotel was situated with an imperious view of the mountains and it didn’t take long, taking a short walk to take some holiday photos, to find birds that included Rufous-naped Tit, Blyth’s Rosefinch, Rock Bunting and Azure Tit. And over the course of the next couple of days there would be plenty more good weather, great views and excellent birds.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip in Uzbekistan take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour to the region – Central Asia Birding Tour.

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Stork-billed Kingfisher

City Park Bird Abundance | Birding in Thailand

April 16th, 2025 Nick

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 within the Bangkok greater area, Thailand, seeing almost sixty species of birds within a few hours on a recent morning; it reminded me of how lucky I am to live in a country where birds are abundant. This came just a few days after returning from leading a birding tour in Vietnam, where we saw a lot of extremely high quality birds but where they came rather more slowly than is typical in Thailand.

Parks in and around Bangkok can always produce a high total of species, so long as birders are out early, before it gets too hot, but at this time of the year the number of species, and the quality of those species, is increased by passage migrants. Stormy weather is usually quite good for grounding migrant species and my morning in the park coincided with this type of weather which brought me some interesting passage migrant species, albeit in small numbers. With birds such as Black Bittern, Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and Crow-billed Drongo it was an interesting morning of birding.

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Mourning Wheatear

Touristing & Birding at Petra | Birding in Jordan

November 14th, 2024 Nick

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 research to discover where interesting birds can be found nearby  is always something I do in order to book hotels close to some likely habitat. When planning for a short trip to Jordan in early October 2024 I was delighted to find that there were a number of new species for me found in and around the famous historical site of Petra that are frequently seen. So, after picking up our hire car and driving from Amman to Wadi Musa I was looking forward to seeing the ancient ruins and some of the birds of the region, including the very range-restricted Sinai Rosefinch.

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Greater Painted Snipe

Rainy Season Birding at Pathum Thani Rice Research Centre | Birding in Thailand

August 16th, 2024 Nick

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 north, and many resident species getting towards the end of their breeding cycle. However, there are a few rainy season specialities, particularly in terms of several species being in breeding plumage, and there are some birding sites that remain interesting through sheer numbers and variety of species that can be found there all year round. One such location is Pathum Thani Rice Research Centre, on the northeastern suburbs of Bangkok, a location where experiments with rice ensure that all growing stages of rice agriculture occur on site at more or less all times, resulting in an abundance of birds. Over the rainy season of 2024 I have made several visits and over the course of this time I have consistently seen a lot of interesting birds.

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Azure Tit

Mountain Birding from Chimgan | Birding in Uzbekistan

July 8th, 2024 Nick

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 to think much about it. Even though the number of potential new birds for me was very low, the cool weather, craggy scenery and an avifauna that I spend little time with made a visit to the village of Chimgan very attractive. Indeed, the scenery turned out to be even more impressive than I had imagined and with birds such as Himalayan Griffon, White-capped Penduline Tit, White-capped Bunting, Azure Tit and, eventually, Rufous-naped Tit, I had a really enjoyable two-night visit filled with some nice birding and wonderful hikes.

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Milky Stork

Jakarta Boat Trip Birding | Birding Indonesia

April 14th, 2024 Nick

Where can you see Christmas Island Frigatebird, Sunda Teal, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Milky Stork, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Cerulean Kingfisher, Clamorous Reed Warbler and a wide range of other species in an urban setting? On a boat trip from Jakarta, Indonesia!

The island of Java is one of the most densely populated areas of the world and the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, situated on Java, is a mega city, sprawling with a huge population so it might not seem like an obvious place to go birding. Indeed, if one wants to go birding in a pristine habitat with clear air and untouched habitats then this type of urban birding might not be the first thing that you think of, but for those who are fascinated in the ability of birds to live alongside humans then a boat trip from the northern suburbs of Jakarta is an interesting excursion with a wide variety of birds including some globally rare species. This boat trip is something I always include when leading Indonesia birding tours that visit Java, providing us with some easy birding from the boat and some great photo opportunities, particularly of Christmas Island Frigatebirds. Read more »

Naumann's Thrush

Pre-Trip Birding Around Incheon | South Korea Birding

June 5th, 2023 Nick

Have you ever started a birding tour by getting off of the plane and rushed into a vehicle, sleep-deprived and confused, spending the remainder of the day birding in extreme weather conditions, seeing some amazing birds but not being able to enjoy them properly due to your body being on the verge of shutdown? Well, when leading the Calidris Birding South Korea Winter Birding Tour in January 2023 I tried to ensure that this did not happen by planning a night in a hotel near Incheon airport. It turned out that all mebers of the group arrived quite early to check in to the hotel and after taking a rest in their rooms everyone was keen to see their first birds in South Korea. Luckily, the hotel, Ocean Park 9 Hotel, was in a good location for birders with a small wooded park very close by, a small harbour, mud flats at low tide and a larger area of scrub and reeds all making for a pleasant birding walk right from the hotel.

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