Southern Thailand birding trip report January 2007

Story by Dave Williams

Trip organized by Olga Clarke, Travel Director for the Los Angeles Audubon Society

Thai Muang – January 27th

Our journey started with a visit to a marsh and secondary growth area called Thai Muang. We didn’t get to started until after lunch as the Los Angeles Audubon Society group didn’t arrive until midday.

This area is beside a golf course. Some littoral zone plant life is being mowed over in the area and there have been mist nets in the region lately too. Still, this is a great place for spotting species that aren’t easily seen elsewhere.

We got out of the van and immediately spotted Black Drongos, Little Egrets, a Great Egret, Intermediate Egrets and a flock of Oriental Pratincoles. A Black-shouldered Kite flew down to the ground very near to where we were standing. Its wings were held almost vertically and it swooped down on some probably unsuspecting prey. We couldn’t see where it landed.

Shortly after that, we spotted some Red-wattled Lapwings. They are always in this area, as are Grey-headed and River Lapwings. We strolled over to a lagoon that’s just inside the sea shore. A pair of River Lapwings were standing in the shade of some trees. A Common Sandpiper was spotted across the water. Pacific Swallows zipped by from time to time.

We walked back to the marsh area and spent quite some time trying to determine whether we were looking at a couple of Paddyfield Pipets or a Richard’s Pipets. We voted for Paddyfield Pipets. Birders can practice democracy too.

Before we moved on, we saw quite a few other birds; all in all, we spotted 32 species. A couple of them were life birds for some of these seasoned birders.

1. Little Heron... Butorides striatus
2. Great Egret... Egretta albus
3. Little Egret... Egretta garzetta
4. Cattle Egret... Bubulcus ibis
5. Brahmiy Kite... Haliastur Indus
6. Black-Shouldered Kite... Elanus caeruleus
7. Crested Serpent-Eagle... Spilornis cheela
8. Peregrine Falcon... Falco peregrinus
9. Purple Swamphen... Porphyrio porphyrio
10. Red-wattled Lapwing... Vanellus indicus
11. River Lapwing... Vanellus duvaucelii
12. Common Sandpiper... Actitis hypoleucos
13. Oriental Pratincole... Glareola maldivarum
14. Spotted Dove... Streptopelia chinensis
15. Plaintive Cuckoo... Cacomantis merulinus
16. Greater Coucal... Centropus sinensis
17. Common Kingfisher... Alcedo atthis
18. White-throated Kingfisher... Halcyon smyrnensis
19. Black-capped Kingfisher... Halcyon pileata
20. Blue-tailed Bee-eater... Merops philippinus
21. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater... Merops leschenaulti
22. Asian Palm Swift... Cypsiurus balasiensis
23. Pacific Swallow... Hirundo tahitica
24. Paddyfield Pipit... Anthus rufulus
25. Forest Wagtail... Dendronanthus indicus
26. Yellow-vented Bulbul... Pycnonotus goiavier
27. Black Drongo... Dicrurus macrocercus
28. Bronzed Drongo... Dicrurus aeneus
29. Brown Shrike... Lanius cristatus
30. Common Myna... Acridotheres tristis
31. Olive-backed Sunbird... Nectarinia jugularis
32. Eurasian Tree Sparrow... Passer montanus

We drove over to the mangrove walkway near Phang Nga Town. This place can be absolutely magical or completely dead. Unfortunately, this time it was almost dead. A Forest Wagtail was spotted, but that was it as far as birds go. This was, however, a life bird for some of these birders. Not everyone saw it though. They would later in Khao Nor Chuchi.

We checked in to the Phang Nga Inn, one of the nicer places to stay in the region. Dinner was at a riverside restaurant. The food was incredible of course. It was then that I revealed the truth about this trip. “This is an eating tour! We only go birding to kill time between meals!” Heads nodded.

Ton Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuary – January 28th

We parked the van and walked less than 100 meters to one of my favorite birding spots. It’s dead easy to spot birds from this location. There are a couple of dead trees in the area that provide great perching opportunities for many species.

The little Dark-sided Flycatcher sentry was right where he is normally located. The first tick of the morning. Also as usual, some Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers showed up.

Vernal Hanging Parrots are common here and we saw several go by from time to time. Swifts and swallows are always present. Silver-rumped Swifts are almost always seen. We saw them.

A lone Buff-rumped Woodpecker made a appearance. It was out in the open for a few seconds; just enough time to make a positive ID.

A bird landed in a tree very near to all of us. We all looked at it for a long time. The bird was very helpful. It turned a couple of times. Thumbing through both Robson’s book and Round’s, we voted on it being a Little Niltava, but as this is most likely not possibly in this area, it was probably a Hainan Blue Flycatcher. There wasn’t anything else it could be really.

A Mugimaki Flycatcher came by and stopped long enough for us all to enjoy it.

Ton Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuary is a great place for bulbuls. We saw several Black-headed Bulbuls, Black-crested Bulbuls, a couple of Scaly-breasted Bulbuls, many Stripe-throated Bulbuls and a noisy Ochraceous Bulbul.

This place is also wonderful for minivets. This time we saw three species, the Ashy Minivet, Scarlet Minivet (male only) and a male Fiery Minivet.

In the afternoon, we headed to Krabi. I don’t like Krabi as I lived there in the early 90s and it saddens me to see that it turned out to be just another over-developed mess with nothing unique to add to the traveler’s experience. Still, there are birds there.

Olga was itching to see a Brown-winged Kingfisher. We went to Krabi town to visit the mangrove that’s across from the busy town. With scopes scanning the flats and the forest, we didn’t see a Brown-winged, but we did spot a Collared Kingfisher and a Black-capped Kingfisher. A Great Egret sat high up in a mangrove tree, while a Water Monitor Lizard slithered around in the mangled roots. As is typical of Krabi, two longtail touts hassled us to take a ride in their longtails and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. All we could do was walk away.

We boarded our van, went a bought some wine, then headed to Khao Nor Chuchi. Along the way, while still in town, a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles were seen jousting in the air. I’ve seen hundreds of them. I didn’t really stop to think that these could be lifers for some in the group. I was soon enlightened.

We saw 36 species in total this day.

1. Grey-faced Buzzard... Butastur indicus
2. White-bellied Sea-Eagle... Haliaeetus leucogaster
3. Rock Pigeon... Columba livia
4. Vernal Hanging Parrot... Loriculus vernalis
5. Collared Kingfisher... Todiramphus chloris
6. Black-capped Kingfisher... Halcyon pileata
7. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater... Merops leschenaultia
8. Buff-rumped Woodpecker... Meiglyptes tristis
9. Asian Palm Swift... Cypsiurus balasiensis
10. Silver-rumped Swift... Rhaphidura leucopygialis
11. Pacific Swallow... Hirundo tahitica
12. Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike... Hemipus picatus
13. Greater Green Leafbird... Chloropsis sonnerati
14. Ashy Minivet... Pericrocotus divaricatus
15. Fiery Minivet... Pericrocotus igneus
16. Scarlet Minivet... Pericrocotus flammeus
17. Black-headed Bulbul... Pycnonotus atriceps
18. Black-crested Bulbul... Pycnonotus melanicterus
19. Scaly-breasted Bulbul... Pycnonotus squamatus
20. Stripe-throated Bulbul... Pycnonotus finlaysoni
21. Ochraceous Bulbul... Alophoixus ochraceus
22. Ashy Drongo... Dicrurus leucophaeus
23. Asian Fairy-Bluebird... Irena puella
24. Blue Rock Thrush... Monticola solitarius
25. Blue Whistling Thrush... Myophonus caeruleus
26. Dark-sided Flycatcher... Muscicapa sibirica
27. Asian Brown Flycatcher... Muscicapa dauurica
28. Mugimaki Flycatcher... Ficedula mugimaki (lifer for me!)
29. Small Niltava... Niltava macrogrigoriae (another lifer for me!)
30. Crimson Sunbird... Aethopyga siparaja
31. Little Spiderhunter... Arachnothera longirostra
32. Grey-breasted Spiderhunter... Arachnothera affinis
33. Yellow-vented Flowerpecker... Dicaeum chrysorrheum
34. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker... Dicaeum trigonostigma
35. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker... Dicaeum cruentatum
36. Oriental White-eye... Zosterops palpebrosus

Khao Nor Chuchi—January 29th

We my Khao Nor Chuchi guide, Khun Yotin, to show us around. Having a guide is a wonderful experience. Yotin was born and raise and lived his entire life in this unique area. He is the master at finding birds here and targeting certain species is his forte.

Guess what we went after first? Yep, the Gurney’s Pitta. We saw a lovely male right after sunrise. An Orange-headed Thrush was also in the same area. A female Siberian Blue Robin hopped around for a bit.

A Red-bearded Bee-eater was on one side of the trail calling. It flew to another tree, called some more, then flew across the trail. We got a brief though confirming view. The call was enough, but we weren’t going to tick it unless we saw it. I got a brief look at a Black-capped Babbler. I think someone else got a brief glimpse too.

Yotin took us up the trail further (armed with his awesome Swarovski scope), stopping when he heard something. He spotted a male Green Broadbill. Everyone was thrilled, me too, even though I’ve seen them quite a few times. This is one of my favorite birds. I can’t get enough of that weird call.

A small flock of Ashy Minivets flew by.

Yotin took us past the Emerald Pool and into the beautiful jungle. Just before entering the high canopy jungle, he spotted a Banded Bay Cuckoo. We all got a nice view of it.

Once in the jungle and past the Red-necked Keelback snake with the frog in its mouth, we came upon a fig tree in fruit. There were loads of birds feeding. Uncountable numbers of Orange-headed Thrushes flying back and forth. They were coming in groups of three and four at a time. Thick-billed Green Pigeons were also feeding.

We could hear an Orange-breasted Trogon in the area too, but failed to spot it.

Night Birding at Khao Nor Chuchi

We went on an evening excursion to see the White-fronted Scops Owl and other night birds. Yotin has put a lot of time and energy into finding this place and an unscrupulous birder who went with him to find this spot has now posted a map to the place! That’s stealing in my book.

Anyway, Yotin took us to the place and had us stand around while he went out to find it. We heard a Great-eared Nightjar nearby. Yotin came back and said that it wasn’t calling so he couldn’t find it. We drove over to another area to try our luck with frogmouths and other owls.

Again, Yotin had us wait until he found it. The wait wasn’t long and what he was about to show us would have been worth a long time waiting.

He motioned for us to come over. To our amazement, there was a Javan Frogmouth (male) perched on a wire within about 15 or so meters from us. We even got to see it in the scope! What an incredible bird. I’ve had them on my life list for a long time as I used to see them when I lived in Krabi. But back then all I was going on was hearing the call and seeing the dark object fly by. Sure, it was a sighting, but this was a viewing of a whole other level.

We also heard a Bay Owl, but couldn’t see it.

Yotin got a call. The White-fronted Scops Owl was calling where we were before. Yotin includes some of the locals in his business. One of them was asked to keep him informed about the owl. We headed back.

We parked the van and headed off across a recently plowed field. The going was tough. We came to the thick jungle and carefully walked in. We could hear a Large-tailed Nightjar as we approached.

We could hear the owl from far away even though the call was soft and light. Yotin broke out the scope. This was it! We were about to see a White-fronted Scops Owl! There it was, sitting in the ‘V’ of a tree and calling. It wasn’t easy to spot. Some of us didn’t see it right away. The owl was gorgeous. Its hooked predatory bill, its big round eyes gathering all of the ambient light. I could stand there and watch it forever.

We headed back to the Morakot Resort for a well-earned night’s sleep.

Khao Nor Chuchi – January 30th

This day started off with a walk down a trail where Yotin had spotted a Rufous-collared Kingfisher a couple days earlier. We didn’t see the kingfisher unfortunately, but we did manage to see a Moustache Hawk-Cuckoo. Though not a wonderful consolation prize, it was sure nice getting to see one fairly close up. We also got to see a Chestnut-breasted Malkoha.

We saw a few other birds, but it was fairly slow. We came across a Swedish couple (birders) who asked us if we’d see the Gurney’s. We said yes. Then they asked Yotin if he’d ever seen one. He smiled and nodded… we giggled.

On our afternoon journey, Yotin took us to a watering hole where he said birds would come to drink and bathe. I thought to myself that this sounds a bit strange. There’s plenty of water in the area. Why would this place be anything special? Wow, was I in for a surprise. Make that ‘we’ were in for a surprise.

We came to a creek and Yotin told us to all sit down. Well, we looked at each other and followed orders. Hmm, this is interesting.

Within minutes, birds started arriving… and not just easy-to-see birds, but some really nice one. A Grey-bellied Bulbul was one of the first to arrive. We couldn’t have been more than 5 to 8 meters from the water. We witnessed several bulbuls drinking and bathing, including Puff-backed Bulbuls, Stripe-throated Bulbuls, Olive-winged Bulbuls, Streak-eared Bulbuls, Red-eyed Bulbuls and Streaked Bulbuls. Add Black-naped Monarchs, Puff-throated Babblers, Abbott’s Babblers, Chestnut-rumped Babblers, Striped Tit-babblers and some others and you’ve got one awesome way to spend an afternoon! I think I’ll bring my video camera next time.

Here’s a list of everything we saw on our two days in Khao Nor Chuchi:

1. Chinese Goshawk…Accipiter soloensis
2. Crested Serpent-Eagle…Spilornis cheela
3. Thick-billed Green Pigeon…Treron curvirostra
4. Vernal Hanging Parrot…Loriculus vernalis
5. Moustache Hawk-Cuckoo…Cuculus vegans
6. Banded Bay Cuckoo…Cacomantis sonneratii
7. Chestnut-breasted Malkoha…Phaenicophaeus curvirostris
8. White-fronted Scops-Owl…Otus sagittatus (Lifer!)
9. Javan Frogmouth…Batrachostomus javensis
10. Dollarbird…Eurystomus orientalis
11. Black-and-Yellow Broadbill…Eurylaimus ochromalus (mlae and female together)
12. Green Broadbill…Calyptomena viridis
13. Gurney's Pitta…Pitta gurneyi
14. Germain’s Swiftlet (Edible Nest)…Collacalis germani
15. Brown-backed Needletail…Hirundapus giganteus
16. Grey-rumped Treeswift…Hemiprocne longipennis (male incubating egg on nest)
17. Forest Wagtail…Dendronanthus indicus
18. Green Iora…Aegithina viridissima
19. Black-headed Bulbul…Pycnonotus atriceps
20. Grey-bellied Bulbul…Pycnonotus cyaniventris
21. Puff-backed Bulbul…Pycnonotus eutilotus
22. Stripe-throated Bulbul…Pycnonotus finlaysoni
23. Yellow-vented Bulbul…Pycnonotus goiavier
24. Olive-winged Bulbul…Pycnonotus plumosus
25. Streak-eared Bulbul…Pycnonotus blanfordi
26. Red-eyed Bulbul…Pycnonotus brunneus
27. Streaked Bulbul…Ixos malaccensis
28. Ochraceous Bulbul…Alophoixus ochraceus
29. Puff-throated Babbler…Pellorneum ruficeps
30. Black-capped Babbler…Pellorneum capistatum
31. Abbott’s Babbler…Trichastoma abbotti
32. Rufous-crowned Babbler…Malacopteron magnum
33. Chestnut-rumped Babbler…Stachyris maculata
34. Chestnut-winged Babbler…Stachyris erythroptera
35. Striped Tit Babbler…Macronous gularis
36. Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler…Phylloscopus tenellipes
37. Arctic Warbler…Phylloscopus borealis
38. Inornate Warbler (yellow-browed)…Phylloscopus inornatus
39. Ashy Tailorbird…Orthotomus ruficeps
40. Siberian Blue Robin…Luscinia cyane
41. Oriental Magpie Robin…Copsychus saularis
42. Orange-headed Thrush…Zoothera citrine
43. Asian Brown Flycatcher…Muscicapa dauurica
44. Brown-streaked Flycatcher…Musicapa williamsoni
45. Brown-throated Sunbird…Anthreptes malacensis
46. Purple-throated Sunbird…Nectarinia sperata
47. Little Spiderhunter…Arachnothera longirostra
48. Thick-billed Spiderhunter…Arachnothera crassirostris
49. Grey-breasted Spiderhunter…Arachnothera affinis
50. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker…Dicaeum trigonostigma
51. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker…Dicaeum cruentatum
52. White-rumped Munia…Lonchura striata
53. Scaly-breasted Munia…Lonchura punctulata

Klong Thom, Krabi Mangrove and Secret Places—January 31st

We spent the night in a small hotel in Klong Thom. We woke late… after the sun had risen. Yes, no need to say it, I know, but we were a bit tired. Besides being able to sleep in a bit, we were treated to a very nice variety of birds right beside our hotel. Let’s start with some Orange-breasted Green-Pigeons, a Lesser Coucal out in the open for a long time, a couple of Coppersmith Barbets, Banded Woodpecker, some Zebra Doves (Peaceful Dove) and some Black-naped Orioles.

We were told that there were Jungle Mynas in the area. Dexter saw one, but no one else did. We trust him. We saw a few more birds, then headed to Krabi to check out a new mangrove walkway.

Wow, some nice work went into this new attraction. I sure hope it doesn’t fall apart anytime soon. We were after a Brown-winged Kingfisher for Olga. But first, I spotted a Slaty-breasted Rail. Unfortunately, no one else had the pleasure. As usual, it was creeping around in the undergrowth and it disappeared within seconds. I got a wonderful look before it left the scene.

We started seeing lot of Pied Fantails… lot of ‘em. Then, out of nowhere, a Brown-winged Kingfisher zipped by. “Olga!’ I said, “Did you see that?” “No… where?” she replied. Crickey! She missed it. I felt bad for her. She was disappointed. Suddenly, “come here… quick”, I said to the group. There it was, a beautiful Brown-winged Kingfisher sitting in a tree. It stayed there long enough to get the scope on it. Everyone, including Olga, got a eye-full of this gorgeous creature.

But wait, it gets better. Not a minute later I spotted a Black-and-red Broadbill. Most saw it, but some didn’t… right away at least. The bird moved around a bit, making it difficult to see. But by the time it left the area we all got a decent look. Ah, the wonders of looking for birds in the mangrove forest.

Our last stop was a place that Yotin recommended we visit to see the Spectacled Spiderhunter. We arrived, stepped out of the van, looked up and there it was.

My van driver told me to follow him. He pointed up in a very tall tree. To my delight, there was a Coluga! I’ve only seen this crepuscular animal a few times. This was the best sighting I ever had. Everyone got to see this lovely doe-eyed gliding animal from the order– Dermoptera. This order contains the Coluga and flying lemurs. Lemurs are only in Madagascar. The coluga is not a lemur.

Here’s what we saw on our last day:

1. Chinese Pond Heron…Ardeola bacchus
2. Little Heron…Butorides striatus
3. Great Egret…Egretta albus
4. Little Egret…Egretta garzetta
5. Cattle Egret…Bubulcus ibis
6. Brahmiy Kite…Haliastur Indus
7. Slaty-breasted Rail…Gallirallus striatus
8. Common Sandpiper…Actitis hypoleucos
9. Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon…Treron bicincta
10. Zebra Dove (Peaceful) …Geopelia striata
11. Lesser Coucal…Centropus bengalensis
12. Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopacea
13. Brown-winged Kingfisher…Halcyon amauroptera
14. White-throated Kingfisher…Halcyon smyrnensis
15. Indian Roller…Coracias benghalensis
16. Coppersmith Barbet…Megalaima haemacephala
17. Banded Woodpecker…Picus mineaceus
18. Black-and-Red Broadbill…Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos
19. Pacific Swallow…Hirundo tahitica
20. Common Iora…Aegithina tiphia
21. Black-headed Bulbul…Pycnonotus atriceps
22. Yellow-vented Bulbul…Pycnonotus goiavier
23. Olive-winged Bulbul…Pycnonotus plumosus
24. Streak-eared Bulbul…Pycnonotus blanfordi
25. Black-naped Oriole…Oriolus chinensis
26. Arctic Warbler…Phylloscopus borealis
27. Dark-necked Tailorbird…Orthotomus atrogularis
28. Ashy Tailorbird…Orthotomus ruficeps
29. Oriental Magpie Robin…Copsychus saularis
30. Pied Fantail…Rhipidura javanica
31. Common Myna…Acridotheres tristis
32. White-vented Myna… Acridotheres grandis
33. Jungle Myna…Acridotheres fuscus
34. Ruby-cheeked Sunbird…Anthreptes singalensis
35. Olive-backed sunbird…Nectarinia jugularis
36. Spectacled Spiderhunter…Arachnothera flavigaster
37. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker…Dicaeum cruentatum

Although not everyone in the group got to see every bird, they did see the majority of them. My bird count was 143 species.

The Audubon Society gang... look out birds, here we come!