In October migration is in full swing and with resident forest birds very quiet probably the best birding in this month is to find migrant hotspots and search for what has been forced to land in search of food and to rest. Parks within Bangkok are good for this as are copses/wooded areas close to the coast but, on 15th October, I decided to go to the large park of Phuttamonthon, just outside of Bangkok, which can provide birders with a decent morning of migrants as it sort of forms a wooded island with an area of farmland and, increasingly, suburban sprawl.

Finding migrants in this huge park is not exactly easy as much of the area has a canopy of trees and birds can disperse among them and remain hidden. However, by focusing on a few areas which are less manicured than others, with an understorey of vegetation, I was able to find a number of interesting migrant species as well as plenty of resident birds; a total of 60 species for the morning was quite a good tally. Read more »

I the morning of 11th October birding in Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park and although the weather was mostly gloomy with some heavy showers I saw exactly 50 species between 7 and 11,30am. I saw some of the regular, resident species which always amaze me that they occur this close to central Bangkok including Stork-billed Kingfisher, a female Laced Woodpecker, Lineated Barbet, Vinous-breasted Starling, Green-billed Malkoha, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and, of course, plenty of Pink-necked Green Pigeons.  My main aim, though, was to look for migrant species and although there was not an abundance of birds passing through I did find a total of 13 migratory species including four species of Phylloscopus; Arctic Warbler, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Sakhalin Leaf Warbler and a single Kamchatka Leaf Warbler which I located and identified on call. Read more »