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 the opportunity to see a wide variety of fantastic birds in this interesting country. With high quality species such as Siamese Fireback, Blue-rumped Pitta, Vietnamese Cutia, Rusty-naped Pitta, Silver Pheasant, Spotted Forktail, Grey-crowned Crocias, Green Peafowl, Pale-headed Woodpecker, Black-crowned Barwing, Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush and Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler all being seen but not making this list it is clear that this Vietnam birding tour provided some exceptional birds.

Join me to see the best birds of Vietnam on next year’s trip - Vietnam Birding Tour.

At the end of this successful trip I asked all members of the group and our local guide, Tai, for their birds of the trip. Using the order in which they ranked their favourite species I allocated points and constructed this list of the top five birds of this Vietnam birding tour.

1. Red-tailed Laughingthrush Trochalopteron milnei

Sometimes birds are great for their sheer visual impact and this is certainly true of Red-tailed Laughingthrush. This was a much-anticipated bird by many of us and when they first emerged from the thick forest foliage I don’t think any of us were quite prepared for the intensity of the red plumage; it was as if someone had switched on some illuminations. The fact that we had to wait until the end of our trip for this bird certainly added to the anticipation and although we knew it was a regular visitor to a hide, we also knew that it did not turn up on every occasion so there was an element of jeopardy when we began our final full day of birding in Vietnam.

After a long drive to Ngoc Linh Reserve we walked through some stunningly beautiful forest with ferny, moss-covered boughs on every tree and a suitably slippery and steeply undulating trail to ensure that we felt that we earned our birds. Having  negotiated the trail, some of us more effectively than others, we settled down in a small hide overlooking a tiny clearing in the forest where food was then provided for the birds.  At first a few of the commoner birds of the forest entertained us but the anticipation for something more spectacular could be felt with the fidgeting and exhalations of air. However, all of a sudden the lights were switched on and flashes of red blinded us as a garrulous gang of three Red-tailed Laughingthrushes were jumping around to our delight. Happily, they decided to repeatedly come back for more throughout the period of our wait in the hide ensuring that we went away fully satisfied with this amazing bird.

2. Indochinese Green Magpie Cissa hypoleuca

Normally this outrageous bird would easily be number one on this list but it lost out by the very narrowest of margins to Red-tailed Laughingthrush to leave it at number two. Indochinese Green Magpie has a very small global range and its population has been greatly reduced by trapping making it very hard to locate in many places. We knew that Indochinese Green Magpie was often seen at hides along our route but also that they did not always perform as desired, after all these are wild birds, so it was with a huge amount of expectation that we began our vigil at Di Linh. A few Orange-headed Thrushes provided us with a colourful warm-up act but the main attraction, thankfully, did not make us wait very long and its appearance immediately drew our eyes like a magnet.

Undoubtedly the incredible plumage of this wonderful bird is striking but coupled with its strident call and crazy crest, which it repeatedly flexed as we watched, this is a bird of the highest quality that provided some of the most memorable moments of the tour. We were lucky enough to see Indochinese Green Magpie quite early in our bird watching tour to Vietnam and one which we repeatedly talked about for the remainder of our time in the country. No doubt we will all be talking about it for a long time yet.

3.  Bar-bellied Pitta Hydrornis elliotii

It is only right that such a jewel of a bird should feature on this list and it is testament to the quality of the birds and observations that we enjoyed on this Vietnam birding tour that Bar-bellied Pitta is not number one on this list. Pittas are always high on the wish list of birders visiting the regions in which they occur and of the species that we had a chance of seeing on this Vietnam birding tour, Bar-bellied Pitta was undoubtedly the most anticipated due to its colourful plumage and highly restricted global range. In actuality, Bar-bellied Pitta is fairly abundant in the right habitat and I had personally seen it before when birding at Cat Tien national park in southern Vietnam in the past and when leading the Calidris Birding Tours Cambodia 2023, but this did not take anything away from the moment when first the female and then the male emerged from the dense undergrowth to give us a performance that will never be forgotten.

In the setting of the dark lowland forest Bar-bellied Pitta is another bird that is like a glowing light as it hops around, foraging for invertebrates in the leaf litter and we were able to enjoy this pair on not one but two occasions due to the no-show of number four on our list, Germain’s Peacock Pheasant, which meant that we returned to the hide where Bar-bellied Pitta proved to be reliable; watching this superb bird for a second time was hardly a chore.

4. Germain’s Peacock Pheasant Polyplectron germaini

Germain’s Peacock Pheasant is another one of those regional endemics that is at its most accessible in Vietnam which makes it one of the top target birds of any Vietnam birding tour. Germain’s Peacock Pheasant has a very small global range in dense forest in southern Vietnam and far eastern Cambodia. This is a fantastic bird in its own right, given its scarcity and localised range, but on this birding trip we had quite a story attached to obtaining the view in the photograph above.

Our first effort at seeing Germain’s Peacock Pheasant was to sit in a hide at Cat Tien national park in the later afternoon in the full expectancy of seeing this incredible bird. Whilst the hide gave us some wonderful birds, including our Bar-bellied Pittas at number three on this list, and incredibly close views of Black-and-red Broadbill, we sat until dusk with Germain’s Peacock Pheasant being a no-show. A little disappointing but we decided that if we returned in the morning probability decreed that we would see our target. As it was so revealed the improbable occured and once again we were treated to the stunning absence of Germain’s Peacock Pheasant. Having spent the best part of the morning waiting for the bird we left a little shell shocked but as we were all experienced birders we knew that things like this happen from time to time, so we made the best of the remaining time before lunch.

We mentally put Germain’s Peacock Pheasant to one side for our late afternoon birding session and spent our time in the grassland and woodland edge habitat within Cat Tien national park. Having enjoyed Black-and-buff Woodpecker and Rufous Woodpecker we heard the distinctive call of a Germain’s Peacock Pheasant a short distance away in some dense forest. The sheer density of the vegetation made it seem unlikely that we could see the bird unless it came out into the open. An area of short grass was adjacent to the forest patch from which the call was emanating but it seemed just as unlikely that the bird would come out onto that. However, that was the only chance so I put my speaker in the grassy field and played the call. Incredibly, Germain’s Peacock Pheasant emerged from the forest and walked out into the open! The rush of adrenaline and relief washed through all of us as we enjoyed watching this regional endemic for several minutes before it returned to the forest. While I did take some nice photos of this encounter, this is not the photo above; that was taken on the next afternoon from a different hide from the previous attempts, giving us plenty of time to relax and enjoy the show.

5. Scaly Thrush Zoothera dauma

Out of the five birds on this list, I think that Scaly Thrush was the biggest surprise to everyone in the group. This bird is quite widespread in Asia but certainly never a common one. Because of its cryptic and shy nature it is usually hard to observe and any good sighting is to be celebrated. For most of our group this was a new birds but also one that had gone under the radar when looking forward to the myriad of exciting birds before travelling to Vietnam as it is neither a Vietnamese nor regional endemic. However, when waiting for other species in a dark area of forest we first enjoyed a pair of superb Blue-rumped Pittas before this stunner arrived and gave us the sort of views that can usually only be dreamed about.

Scaly Thrush is quite a big thrush and its size combined with its incredible plumage made it quite a spectacle, especially at such close range and as it foraged in the dappled light it resembled leaves on the forest floor moving around; which f course is exactly how it has evolved for camouflage. Most of the members of our group may never see a Scaly Thrush again but even those of us who will, may never see one as well as this again.

So, these were our top five birds of our Vietnam birding tour March/April 2025. On this occasion all of our highlight species were birds that were high on the “most-wanted” list before the tour began. This is not always the case but on this trip we were treated to high-quality views of a large number of birds so, inevitably, some of these would be pre-trip target birds.  In all five cases the visual impact, scarcity and quality of views contributed to these five species forming this list.

If you would like to join me on a birding trip to Vietnam take a look at the dates, itinerary and all the details of my next tour – Vietnam Birding Tour.