Dartford Waffler

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

Vietnam 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 [...]

A Day Birding in Qatar | Birding in Qatar

My annual migration between Thailand and UK has not only seen the cost of direct flights rise dramatically but I have grown very tired of sitting on a plane for twelve hours, if only I was able to make the journey under self-powered flight like a Bar-tailed Godwit! Indirect flights are, of course, a solution [...]

Parakeets & Peafowl | Birding in Thailand

One thing I have learned over the years that I have been bird watching is that there are many different ways for people to enjoy birds. I started birding by going on long country walks in England with birds being perhaps the most accessible category of wildlife to enjoy along the way. Friends of mine [...]

Birding & Hiking near Shymbulak | Kazakhstan Birding

May 17th, 2019

Nick

I have just finished a three-night stay in Ile-Alatau National Park in the snow-capped Tien Shan mountains just outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan. I wanted to spend some time walking in the mountains and taking some photos of birds, not really being fussy about which species I saw, just enjoying the scenery and clean air. I booked three nights at Namaste Shalle 2000M Hotel, close to the Shymbulak ski resort and with fantastic views of the snowy peaks a little further up the valley as well as access to riverside woodland and hiking into the mountains where I saw a really nice selection of species and was able to achieve my target of obtaining some nice photos, particularly of the cute Azure Tit which I saw every day in the garden of Namaste Shalle.

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

May 9th, 2019

Nick

Woodpeckers are one of my favourite groups of birds so I was very happy to see six species of them on the 2019 winter tour of South Korea in January, particularly as two of them were among my favourites; the friendly Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and the impressive Black Woodpecker.

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker is widespread and quite numerous throughout the Korean peninsula, not endemic to Japan as the name might suggest, and is always a highlight of trips to South Korea for me. We also enjoyed excellent views of White-backed Woodpecker, Grey-faced Woodpecker, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker as well as two prolonged flight views of Black Woodpecker. I am already looking forward to the next winter tour next year.

Details of the next trip can be seen here - South Korea Winter Birding Tour.

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Birding When Not Birding – Thailand Birding

April 1st, 2019

Nick

For the vast majority of tourists to Thailand the primary focus of the trip will not be birding. Even for many birders a holiday to Thailand is a non-birding, family holiday which locates them away from prime bird watching sites and over the last few days I have found myself in that situation taking a short break with my wife at Karon beach in Phuket. The good news for birders traveling with non-birding partners in these situations is that good numbers of birds can be found in all sorts of scraps of habitat and even though these are not locations that would normally get included in a birding tour of the country, by visiting a few of them in early mornings, a fairly decent list of species can be seen. Over the last couple of mornings I have spent a little time just loafing around fragments of habitat around the hotel I am staying in and have seen a nice variety of species given the situation. I have stayed at In on the Beach a few times and it is a pleasant, quiet hotel on the beach with just about enough to keep a birder interested for an hour or so in the mornings. Read more »

Migrants, Heat & Humidity – Thailand Birding

March 17th, 2019

Nick

Heavy rain yesterday morning foiled my attempt to go birding at Sri Nakorn Kuean Khan Park but today the skies were clear and I got a taxi from home to the park, arriving at 6.45am. Getting out of the air-conditioned taxi I was immediately hit with high temperatures and even higher humidity – the previous day’s rain along with the lush vegetation was responsible for this. Sweating at 6.45am made me wonder how long this birding session would last but a number of interesting migrant birds throughout the morning, along with good views of a number of resident species, meant that I had a good morning of birding with sightings including Asian Emerald Cuckoo, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Sakhalin Leaf Warbler, Vinous-breasted Starling and Crow-billed Drongo. Read more »

A Morning at Fang Hot Springs – Thailand Birding

March 16th, 2019

Nick

I often visit Fang Hot Springs very briefly, stopping to see the Spot-winged Grosbeaks and then leaving but recently while leading a Thailand birding tour I was able to enjoy a longer session of birding at this pleasant location. In the early morning there is always a lot of bird activity and staying nearby at Tangerine Ville Hotel we were able to arrive at a time to experience a lot of activity and low levels of human disturbance, finding some really good birds including the biggest flock of Pin-tailed Green Pigeons I have ever seen. Read more »

Lung Sin Waterhole; Besra Alert – Thailand Birding

February 26th, 2019

Nick

Sometimes things do not go quite according to plan.

Hides around Kaeng Krachan national park provide birders with a lot of superb sightings of both common and scarce birds. Right now there are a number of hides where good birds can be seen but one of the most consistently good experiences can be had at Lung Sin Waterhole which I have visited and written about on numerous occasions. However, a recent visit ended up being not quite what we hoped for, with hours of waiting and seeing nothing apart from a few insects, in the hot, sweaty hides. Eventually, in the very late afternoon some good birds arrived but most of the afternoon had been very tedious indeed due to the presence of a Besra. Read more »

Birding at Mae Ping National Park | Thailand Birding

February 26th, 2019

Nick

As part of a recent birding tour I led in January/February we made a visit to Mae Ping National Park in Lamphun province, Thailand. This site consists mainly of dry dipterocarp woodland which has little variation within it, with only a few pine trees and damp gullies providing any other vegetation types, meaning that avian biodiversity is quite low compared to other habitats in the region, however, it does contain a good number of habitat specialists including a good range of woodpeckers.

Although the birding was a little slower than expected we ended our time at Mae Ping having enjoyed some really stunning birds including a pair of White-rumped Falcons, Collared Falconet, White-bellied Woodpecker, Burmese Nuthatch, Black-headed Woodpecker, Rufous Woodpecker, White-crested Laughingthrush and Red-billed Blue Magpie. Read more »