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 [...]

Searching for Short-tailed Parrotbill at Pu Suan Sai National Park: Thailand Birding

May 17th, 2015

Nick

Short-tailed Parrotbill is a species which, in Thailand, is restricted to a small corner of the country with the most sightings being made at Pu Suan Sai National Park in Loei province. I made one short trip there a few years ago and was unsuccessful in my search for the Parrotbill although many others have visited the site and seen this species with a number of very nice photos being posted on facebook. With this in mind I recently (May 12-13) made another short visit in order to try and find these birds.

As can be seen from the photograph here, I did manage to see Short-tailed Parrotbill this time; in fact I was able to watch a pair collecting nest material for quite some time; but my best effort to photograph it certainly will not be making any bird photographers jealous. However, finding these birds was not easy due to their inconspicuousness and the conflicting information I had about where to see them Read more »

Migrant Watching at Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park: Thailand Birding

April 26th, 2015

Nick

Each year I look forward to late March and April when I usually have time to make several visits to Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park, which is not far from where I live in Bangkok, in order to see which interesting passage migrants I can find. So far in 2015 I have made six visits and although I have seen quite a few interesting species, I have not quite had a morning yet where I find large numbers of migrants or large numbers of species as I have usually done in previous years.

However, this morning was quite productive with Large Hawk Cuckoo, Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Dark-sided Flycatcher and Arctic Warbler being the highlights and as I walked around the park I wondered if the weather conditions had not been right this year for really good falls of migrants or whether I had just been unlucky and not visited the park on the right days. Read more »

Some Great Birding at Kaeng Krachan: Thailand Birding

April 22nd, 2015

Nick

Over the last month I have made several visits to Kaeng Krachan National Park where the birding has been getting better and better and I have found many colourful resident species consistently; 6 species of Broadbill on each of my last three visits has been particularly enjoyable and something that is practically impossible to achieve during the months November-February when most bird watchers visit Thailand.

Woodpeckers are another group of birds that I am particularly fond of and these species have been performing well too recently, and I have seen normally scarce birds such as Great Slaty Woodpecker, Black-andbuff Woodpecker, Buff-rumped Woodpecker, Banded Woodpecker and Crimson-winged Woodpecker on a regular basis since mid March. Read more »

Gull Identification Problems | Thailand Birding

March 5th, 2015

Nick

On 17th February I took a boat trip onto the sand spit at Laem Pak Bia accompanied by six British birders and Mr Daeng to look for White-faced Plover. On arriving at the sand spit a number of large gulls drew our attention including 5 Pallas’s Gulls and a Black-tailed Gull. Whilst watching these several apparent Heuglin’s Gulls arrived to confuse us. While I am not a gull expert, I am quite adept at spotting something that is different from the crowd and one of the new arrivals was fairly obviously different.

2 adult a at least 3 subadult apparent Heuglin’s Gulls all shared the same structure with a heavy bill and bulky head with heavy brows and large eyes but one bird in the group was noticed by myself, Mr Daeng and several of the group to be of a slightly smaller size and different structure, with a smaller head proportional to the body, a more slender bill, deeper yellow legs with almost orange feet and much smaller, dark, eye. I took a number of photos to attempt to identify the bird properly later on with the aid of Olsen & Larsson’s Gulls of Europe, Asia & North America.

Read more »

Bird Watching at Khao Yai – Thailand Birding

February 16th, 2015

Nick

Khao Yai national park has long been a favourite place for birders to visit, but birding there can be a bit hit and miss; at its best there can be plenty of sightings of colourful and enigmatic forest species; on other days it can be hard to see anything much at all, particularly with the increased amount of disturbance with large numbers of visitors in recent years. However, my recent visit with a group of 6 birders resulted in a surprisingly peaceful forest, with few people around and many excellent birds from 14-16th February. We were lucky to see Khao Yai at its best and to enjoy some great birding. Read more »

A Morning at Suan Rot Fai: Thailand Birding

February 12th, 2015

Nick

Yesterday morning I found myself with some free time in which I decided to head into town and visit Suan Rot Fai where a Hartert’s Leaf Warbler has been in residence for a few weeks. The information I had been given by others who had already seen the bird was that it had been occupying an area near the toilets close to the butterfly and insect house, so that is where I headed to, arriving around 7am.

Other information that I had read online suggested that the bird had been loosely associated with a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher which was easy to locate due to its frequent vocalization. Within a few minutes I had located the Flycatcher as well as a Taiga Flycatcher and a pair of Black-naped Monarchs. It did not take long for the Hartert’s Leaf Warbler to follow in their trail and I was able to observe it several times as it foraged for insects. Each time the small flock disappeared it was easily relocated by the noisy Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher. Excellent, the target bird was located and seen well very quickly but there were to be some problems. Read more »

Lung Sin Waterhole – Thailand Birding

January 1st, 2015

Nick

Last week I made a visit to Lung Sin waterhole at Kaeng Krachan national park. As ever it was a popular place with birders and photographers and it was essential to book a place in the hide; the staff at Ban Maka did this for me.

There has been no rain for many weeks in the area and the forest in which the waterhole is sited was very dry, meaning that birds and mammals have few other options for water in the area. Although many birds came to drink and bathe at the waterhole, the level of activity was not as high as I have seen at other times; I think that this was mainly due to the cool weather and breezes.

We saw many species of birds in our afternoon at Lung Sin waterhole, with the most exciting bird being this Slaty-legged Crake. Read more »