Thaibirds and more

My apologies for not posting since mid Feb. I have simply not had the time. Been out quite a bit in the field and busy while at home. Currently on a trip to the South with family for work and visiting friends. Will try to post asap. Waders are changing into breeding plumage. Here is a Curlew Sandpiper. Also a Long-toed Stint in breeding plumage And here is a rare Little Stint from Thailand. A Little Stint in full breeding plumage. See the differences between Little Stint and this Red-necked Stint?

This was to be my 3rd trip to Northern Thailand with Daniel Martin. This year the target birds were obviously fewer which made it all the more exciting. Day 1. We met up in the early morning at Chiang Mai airport. The airport is only a few minutes from the city center and our 4WD pick-up truck from Northwheels was waiting for us. After a little discussion we decided to head strait for Doi Angkhang some 170km North of CM. The reason being a good number of rare Turdus Thrushes had taken to the backside of the main restaurant inside the Royal Project at Bahn Khom, the main village at Doi Angkhang. We took the more direct route via Fang as opposed to the more scenic route that has a turn off to the left shortly North of Chiang Dao. The 3liter engine worked very well and scaling up the steep mountain was a breeze. Sure enough, the Thrushes were still there and Martin was able to tick off both Grey-sided as well as Black-breasted. Quite some treat! Also Eye-browed and Scaly Thrush were pres

< Douglas Witt with wife and friends had toured Thailand and asked me to help them to get to Kaengkrachan. It worked out with my schedule and so off we went. Got to Lampakbia in the late afternoon, low tide and hardly any waders around. As usual though, the mangrove research station had good birds. The 20 some Ruffs seen here seem to not bother feeding at the mudflats and are ever present. Lovely birds with great variety in plumage between the sexes. Kaengkrachan was a bit on the quiet side but a morning on the upper parts is always impressive. Dough was interested in details in all that he saw but the others had a more leisurely approach. In other words, there was something for everyone. We did see two species of Hornbills, one Trogon, Necklaced Laughingthrushes, White-hooded Babblers a party of 4 Great Slaty Woodpeckers (quite some sight all working on the same branch) plus a lot of common birds. On the way home I dropped by Lampakbia again and this time it was high tide with resu

border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5029793468829871906" /> I had a fun time in the North with Peter Stahl and spouse who came in from cold Canada for sometime in the sun. Peter is a keen photographer with a wealth of high quality photographs at his webpages http://www.pbase.com/decor We set out to visit nearby fields on our first day. Seeing the sun rise over the paddies and hearing all the birds come alive was an uplifting event. Some neat looking Wire-tailed Swallows were the best attraction. Then we proceeded to drive along the scenic route to Doi Angkhang. Once there we were able to visit River Chat, Plembous Redstart and a male Black-breasted Thrush at Bahn Luang resort. The latter was a lifer for me. A Streaked Wren Babbler also showed at the resort's pitoresque waterfall. After a local meal of fresh veggies it was time to visit the Royal agricultural project. Behind the restaurant's kitchen quite a number of Thrushes had gathered to f

Kaengkrachan 14-15/1 It finally worked out for me to bring my wife, kids and fellow co-worker to Panernthung, Kaenkrachan National Park for an overnight stay. The cooler weather and promised sea of cloud formed in the early morning enveloping the forest and surrounding peaks was what determined this trip. First stop after a rather lengthy drive was the 2nd stream at km 16. It isn't really butterfly season yet but there were enough dancing flowers around to excite little eyes! The transparent fish in the stream were very happy for a handout of bread crumps. Kids asked: 'How did the fish get up here?' 'They stayed on the mountain after Noah's ark was stranded in the Flood and the waters receded, is what the Bible teaches us' was my reply. Seeing it was Sunday the campground at Panernthung was not crowded. We chose our spot with some great views overlooking the rolling mountains leading into Myanmar. Up here one can sense the vastness of Creation and how it was mea

What an unusual way to end the old year and to begin the new! Birding at Lampakbia and Kaengkrachan. Kim Chua, an oldtime friend from Singapore whom I initially met at the mangroves of Pasiris park, came up with his family. Both of our families agreed to let us go, God bless them! Target bird for Kim was Nordmann’s Greenshank, Giant Pitta, Bar-backed Partridge and a few odds and ends. Lampakbia was a delight as usual. Full of waders of all sorts as well as open country birds. In a flock of 300 Great Knots with some Red mixed in we found a few Nordmann’s. These are such neat looking birds and once learned not really to be confused with Common. After a couple of hours in the area getting our heart’s content we had a sumptuous meal by the beach. Kaengkrachan was totally packed out with New Year’s revelers and we were denied entry to the park. Instead of giving up we went to the first checkpoint from where one can pay the entry fee as well. Same story, entry denied. Waited awhile

9th of January Got a call from Philip Round in the afternoon on the 8th. 7 Grey-legged Geese had been seen at Beung Borapet, Nakorn Sawan since the 6th. Obtained permission from home to go along. Got to the place in the evening and stayed at the research station for waterfowl. Simple lodging. Up early with a couple of people from the station who took us to where the birds had been seen. Unfortunately there were quite a number of farmers in the area and no matter how hard or long we tried we failed to find the geese. Instead we saw huge flocks of ducks in the air. About 3000. Pintailed Duck, 3000 Gargeneys, small number of Eurasian Wigeon (2), Northern Shoveler (3), Common Teal (2) and presumably 1 Ferruginous Duck. There were literally hundreds of Grey Herons around the lake. Maybe 4-500. Purple Herons were common, Purple Swamphen (100), 20000 Lesser Whistling Ducks flew up from floating vegetation as we drove by in a boat. Quite some site. Cotton Pygmy Geese were inbetween the Whistli