A few days ago I made an afternoon, followed by a morning, visit to Oare Marshes, near Faversham, Kent with Shuki Raviv from Israel.In mid July Oare is usually a good place to see a variety of the first migrating waders in breeding plumage as they head south from their breeding grounds and we were not disappointed with large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits displaying a wide variety of plumages for us to study at close range. I had read reports of Spotted Redshank recently seen at Oare and after observing many other species we found a single Spotted Redshank in almost complete breeding plumage – excellent. Other waders seen were large numbers of Pied Avocet, 10 Dunlin, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Whimbrel, 20-30 Eurasian Curlew, large numbers of Common Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Green Sandpipers, 40+ Northern Lapwing and several Ruff in partial breeding plumage. 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 [...]
Lung Sin Waterhole in June: Thailand Birding
July 6th, 2015 
Nick Lung Sin Waterhole and other similar sites, near Kaeng Krachan National Park, are well known for the number and variety of birds that visit them in order to bathe and drink, offering many fantastic photo opportunities of common and scarce birds. These waterholes tend to be at their best in the driest of weather, usually the middle to end of the dry season when the forest is very dry and the waterhole is the only water source for some distance, but there are a few excellent birds that are regular visitors in the wet season too and one of these, Red-legged Crake, was the target bird of an afternoon there with some visiting birders. Read more »
Petchaburi Wetlands in June – Thailand Birding
July 3rd, 2015 Nick The wetlands of Petchaburi include freshwater rice fields and fish ponds, salt farms and mudflats all of which attract huge numbers of migratory birds in the months October to April. With large numbers of birds, including the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, come large numbers of bird watchers but very few people visit the area in the wet season. Certainly in the months of May to August the large congregations of shorebirds are absent but the region still has some species of interest which make the area worth a visit at any time of the year as I was able to show some visitors recently.
Spending a day in the Petchaburi wetlands we were able to make some interesting observations, including some resident species in breeding plumage as well as good numbers of large waterbirds and a few rare species.
Rainy Season Birding; Kaeng Krachan – Thailand Birding
July 2nd, 2015 Nick Pittas are perhaps the most sought-after group of birds in Thailand by visiting and resident birders alike. Their combination of intricate plumage and difficulty to see make them very desirable but they are at their easiest to see in the wet season, when they are breeding, and at a time when few birders visit Thailand. However, I recently escorted three visiting bird watchers on a tour put together in order to find Pittas and other breeding birds and at Kaeng Krachan we were successful in getting multiple sightings of three species – Blue-winged, Blue and Hooded Pittas.
Although heavy rain and winds a few days before our arrival had destroyed many known nests of Broadbills we were still successful in finding 6 species of these fantastic birds; Dusky, Long-tailed, Silver-breasted, Black-and-red, Black-and-yellow and Banded Broadbills. Broadbills are a favourite of mine so I was very pleased to be able to share these birds with those accompanying me. While unusual weather conditions made birding hard at times we were lucky enough to see some really good birds, something which tends to be always true at this time of year at Kaeng Krachan.
Rainy Season Birding; Khao Yai – Thailand Birding
June 25th, 2015 Nick The rainy season this year should perhaps be renamed the “grey skies & windy season” after the experience of the last few days birding at Khao Yai. However, there were some sunny spells and the weather certainly did not stop us from finding some great birds, although it took a fair amount of patience from the group.
Top of everyone’s expectations were Pittas; so hard to find outside of the breeding season and still not an easy proposition when the birds are breeding. So, finding two species – Blue Pitta & Hooded Pitta – in two days was very pleasing. The Hooded Pitta showed itself with the minimum of fuss at a regular site for the bird. On the other hand finding Blue Pitta required a large effort and lots of searching before finding one just an hour before dusk on our last day. Our forest birding resulted in quite a few other good sightings too. Read more »
Increasing Great Knot Numbers: Thailand Birding
June 5th, 2015 Nick Recently, Phil Round alerted me to a short paper “Steep Upward Trajectory of Great Knot Numbers at sites in Southeast Asia” published in “Tattler, Newsletter for the Asia Pacific Flyways & Australian Shorebirds 2020 Project, No 35” by the Australian Wader Studies Group.
This article documents and attempts to explain the ever-increasing numbers of Great Knot that are seen in the Gulf of Thailand and other sites in Southeast Asia. I can remember submitting a sighting of a group of 5 Great Knot at Krabi back in the late 1990s which was reported in a “Latest sightings” round up, which seems ridiculous now when flocks of thousands can be seen at sites such as Laem Pak Bia and Pak Thale. Read more »
A Morning at Bueng Boraphet: Thailand Birding
May 25th, 2015 Nick A few weeks ago I found myself in the town of Nakorn Sawan with a morning free to spend birding at nearby Bueng Boraphet (1st May). Rather than take a boat trip, I decided to go to the northeastern side of the lake and drive/walk around the area known as Pramong Panich where there is a variety of wetland habitats – rice fields, fish ponds, lakeside scrub, ditches and open water.
I arrived at first light (around 5.45am) and as expected it became very hot, very quickly having worked up quite a sweat by 7.15am! However, this did not stop me from seeing very large numbers of birds including several interesting species and obtaining some nice photographs of a few of them. Read more »
