When leading bird watching trips it can sometimes be difficult for the leader to get quality observations of many species because they are busy making sure that everyone in the group is able to see the birds. This is the situation in which I sometimes find myself so when the opportunity does arise to get really good views or see something unusual, those moments become even more special than they would normally otherwise be. Of course, getting photographs of a bird is often the ultimate in getting a good view of a bird and on a recent trip in Thailand that I was leading for Oriolebirding it was nice to be able to get some photographs of some great birds, as well as some nice photos of some more common species. For me exceptional views of Grey Nightjar, a surprise Oriental Plover, a long-staying Crab Plover and a seldom-seen Von Schrenck’s Bittern were birds that will live on a long time in my memory along with several others. Read more »
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 [...]
Black-crowned Night Herons at Wat Phuttabucha – Thailand Birding
April 24th, 2018 
Nick Black-crowned Night Heron is not exactly a rare bird, in fact it is extremely widespread worldwide, but in Western Bangkok there is an amazing spectacle featuring these birds at the rear of Wat Phuttabucha, a little known temple, to the west of the Chao Praya river. At the rear of the temple is a canal with large overhanging trees where dozens of these birds gather on wires, posts and branches waiting to catch fish. Lots of people come to feed fish and pigeons with loaves of bread and huge shoals of fish thrash around as they are fed, although most of them are far too big for the Night Herons to eat. Instead it seems that they sit and wait for smaller prey to be forced to the surface by the commotion. Read more »
Taman Negara – Malaysia Birding
March 25th, 2018 Nick Taman Negara, in Peninsula Malaysia, is one of the most legendary birding locations in Southeast Asia. With primary lowland rainforest covering much of the park it is home to many species which are hard to see as well as many that have become very scarce due to habitat destruction making any visit here highly-anticipated. Taman Negara also has a reputation as an extremely difficult location for birding too with high biodiversity but low abundance and observation being tough due to thick vegetation and high canopy. Well, the recent tour I alongside Lee Kok Chung experienced both facets of this amazing forest with birding requiring extreme patience and persistence but with the rewards being superb birds such as Garnet Pitta, Rail Babbler, Helemeted Hornbill, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Large Frogmouth, Rufous-collared Kingfisher, Orange-backed Woodpecker, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Black-and-red Broadbill, Green Broadbill, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Malaysian Eared Nightjar, Checker-throated Woodpecker, Red-naped Trogon, Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler, Crested Jay and much more. Read more »
Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia Birding
March 13th, 2018 Nick What to do with an afternoon in Kuala Lumpur? Perhaps visit the Petronas Twin Towers or the Kuala Lumpur Tower. Well, it is possible to do both and do a little birding along the way at Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve Park right in the middle of the city. Although the temperature and humidity were sky high that is exactly what I did this afternoon as I wait to meet my group for the Peninsula Malaysia tour beginning tomorrow. I am always interested and amazed how many birds are able to survive in big cities and here I found a few that surprised me but equally it was a surprise to find a canopy walkway right in the middle of a capital city. Read more »
North & Central Thailand Birding Tour – Thailand Birding
March 10th, 2018 Nick For the second year in a row I recorded over 500 species while leading a North & Central Thailand birding tour. Over the course of 17 days we visited most of the best birding sites in Northern and Central Thailand with a short incursion into the Northeastern region and the only reason we were not able to record more species were the time constraints at each site. As usual members of the group were surprised at how many species we saw, how many great birds we found and how many of those were really high quality observations; it exceeded the expectations of most participants. We had many successes in finding top birds including Mrs Hume’s Pheasant, male Scarlet Finch, 6 species of Broadbill, Austen’s Brown Hornbill & Tickell’s Brown Hornbill, Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo, Siberian Rubythroat, Giant Nuthatch, Grey-headed Parrotbill, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, Grey Peacock Pheasant, Great Hornbill, Milky Stork, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Himalayan Cutia, Chestnut Thrush, Rufous-throated Partridge, Pygmy Wren Babbler, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Nordmann’s Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Pied Harrier, Blue Pitta, Silver Pheasant, Yellow-breasted Bunting, yellow-vented Green Pigeon, 4 species of Nightjar, 7 species of Kingfisher, Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Limestone Wren Babbler, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Chinese Egret, Scaly Thrush and Crested Bunting. Of course there were also a few misses as there are with any birding trip, but only a very few and we did not let that bother us and instead enjoyed the many great birds that we did see. Read more »
Collared Myna – Birding in Myanmar
February 17th, 2018 Nick One of the birds I was targeting in Myanmar was Collared Myna. This range-restricted species occurs only in Myanmar as well as a small part of Southwest China and Northeast India and has been challenging for some other birders to find in the areas we were visiting at some times of the year. We need not have worried about any trouble finding this species as a short distance out of Heho airport we spotted clusters of flowering trees where we were to see good numbers of this species feeding on the nectar. Looking at illustrations in field guides it seemed that it should be an easy bird to pick out from flocks of other similar coloured Mynas but in reality from many angles the white collar was barely visible and on juveniles it was almost invisible making spotting the birds among White-vented and Jungle Mynas a tricky task at distance and at close range, looking up at the birds, the most obvious feature was the barred undertail coverts. Read more »
Four Days at Mt Victoria – Birding in Myanmar
February 15th, 2018 Nick Natma Taung National Park is more widely known as Mount Victoria, and this mountain, in the Chin Hills in Western Myanmar was one that we focused upon as a location which would turn up a lot of exciting, range-restricted species as well as a few endemics. Well, it certainly did not disappoint us with a vast area for birding along a mostly quiet dirt road which took us through a variety of beautiful forest types and never stopped giving with its prolific birdlife. There were only two down sides to our stay at Mount Victoria; the cold at night and the fact that we could have easily enjoyed further days birding on the mountain. Highlights included White-browed Nuthatch, Mt. Victoria Babax, Burmese Bushtit, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Assam Laughingthrush, Black-bibbed Tit, Red-faced Liocichla, Chin Hills Wren Babbler, Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, Striped Laughingthrush and many more. Mount Victoria proved to be the right location to build a birding tour of Myanmar around. Read more »
