Bucks Birders in Thailand: Other Sites

19th March 2017
Wat Praphuttabaht Noi
We left Kaeng Krachen early morning and headed to Khao Yai National Park. On route we stopped off at Wat Praphuttabaht Noi for one particular bird.

This site is a disused Limestone quarry and now holds a temple, a school and various other buildings. The steep sides of the quarry are impressive and the areas around the perimeter of the quarry provides the home of a very scarce species which is confined to this habitat, the Rusty-chested Limestone Babbler. We remained in the quarry for perhaps a couple of hours and managed reasonably good of the Babbler along with a good number of Hoopoe, Blue Rock Thrush, Lineated Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet and various other species.

Rusty-chested Limestone Babbler The reason for our visit to this site was this very local and rare species.
The bird inhabits the rocky and scrubby areas at the bottom of deep limestone quarries.

Coppersmith Babbler - A pair were breeding in a dead tree in the bottom of the quarry.

Red-breasted Parakeet - After leaving the quarry we visited the front of some large office buildings, where a number of tall trees held a colony of these Parakeets.

21st March

Pak Pli Rice Fields

An early morning visit to the rice fields was aimed at seeing a large roost of Black and Black-eared Kites, along with various other species of open farmland. There were plenty of water filled ditches which attracted further species.

After a couple of hours or so we headed to Bangkok airport for the flight south to Phuket.

An impressive Black/Black-eared Kite roost over a fairly large area. Just after dawn and undisturbed.

Black Kite and Black-eared Kite roost site. We saw several hundred Kites in all.

Striated Grassbird - One or two were seen.

Pied Harrier - A stunning male drifted past.

Eurasian Thick-knee - This was a surprise find in this habitat

Spotted Redshank

Oriental Pratincole

22nd March

Laem Pakarang

Having flown to Phuket the previous day and now staying in Phang Nga, we had spent the morning birding the mangroves. In the afternoon we switched to a coastal wader habitat at Laem Pakarang.

One of the reasons to visit this particular site was to see a Beach Thick-knee, which had been at the site for several weeks. While this species breeds on one or two Thai islands which are well offshore, this is a really rare bird for mainland Thailand and had apparently attracted quite a few birders during it's stay.

When we arrived we could see the bird on a low lying shingle island and few hundred metres offshore. We could also see a photographer on the island who was gradually moving closer to the bird. We were concerned that he would flush the bird and it would leave the area. There was not much we could do so we walked along the peninsula to view the wading birds that were out there.

A short while later we saw the photographer get too close to the Thick-knee and it flew, fortunately straight at where we were and it landed just in front of us on the beach. So our now hero, the unknown photographer, packed up his gear and left the island. We however managed to get some great photos of this impressive bird. 😊

The Beach Thick-knee flying towards us.

It landed directly in front of us.

and gradually walked along the beach.

Short video clip of Beach Thick-knee

Above and below - Lots of other waders on the peninsula at Laem Pakarang including Turnstone, Pacific Golden Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper and Great Knot.

Yellow-vented Bulbul - A bonus bird at Laem Pakarang

22nd March 2017

Thai Muang

On the way to Laem Pakarang we stopped off at a site for Spotted Wood Owl. This site was an area of very tall trees that had been planted in a park like environment close to the sea. We were told the Owl/s roosted high in the trees somewhere in the wooded area. To find any owls would be no mean feat!

We split up and searched for about and hour with no sign whatsoever. We started to gather to sit on a fallen tree before leaving the site when Jackie said "what are those two eyes up there"! Sure enough there was a Spotted Wood Owl staring down at us! It could only be seen from a certain place, so we were very fortunate to see it at all.We moved to a better location to obtain the photos below. Before we left another birding group arrived to look for the bird, so we pointed it out to them. Our good deed for the day.

Spotted Wood Owl - sat very high in trees and extremely difficult to locate.

23rd March

Sri Phang Nga National Park

The main reason for visiting this park was to see the stunning Malayan Banded Pitta, along with a few other special birds. We arrived before the gates to the forest opened and picked up a few new species included Banded Woodpecker. When 8am arrived we headed into the forest and to the Pitta stake out. There we waited and waited but no Pitta. A White-rumped Shama, Abbot's Babbler and a Skink provided some entertainment.

After a couple of hours we gave up and decided to give up and leave the stake out, so we started to find our way back along the trail. At one point Jim caught a glimpse of bright orange in the brown and green forest. Nick went into the undergrowth and sure enough he located the Malayan Banded Pitta, which we all manged to see. Unfortunately it was in thick undergrowth and not photographable. So much for a reliable stake out!

We also added Hodgson's Hawk Eagle, Cream-vented Bulbul, Chestnut-winged Babbler and Purple-naped Sunbird to our trip list.

White-rumped Shama - male

White-rumped Shama - female

Abbot's Babbler

Skink Sp

23rd March

Takua Pa River

After leaving Sri Phang Nga National Park we had to head back to Bangkok, via Phuket airport. On route we stopped off at a site where a bridge crossed a wide river. Here we saw the scarce River Lapwing along with several species we had seen previously.