thailand3

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 3

Order of the evening before was to be at breakfast for 6am, leave in the van at 6.30, which became 6.45, and then sit on our backsides for the whole of the morning. Welcome to the world of lazy birding. We drove about 15 minutes to be deposited in a hide at a "birding centre" on the edge of the forest, where a small clearing had been excavated, with two small pools and what was possibly a lashing of bird food on the floor. The promise had been the presence of Silver Pheasant (which didn't turn up) and Green-legged Partridge (which did turn up) at 7am promptly. They obviously didn't check their timepieces, since the latter appeared after about an hour. This could not detract from the excellent birds which did show through the portals in the camouflaged netting. Most obvious and common were the two species of Necklaced Laughingthrushes, which came and went noisily and regularly, and various Bulbuls in the form of Black-crested, Streak-eared & Stripe-throated. Perhaps the star of the show was the male of a pair of Siberian Blue Robins, not just for the colours, but also the general shape and behaviour. Flycatchers were thin on the ground, apart from a pair of Tickell's Blue & single Taiga. Most cheeky bird had to be a male White-rumped Shama, which not only sang from a few metres away, and almost in the back of the open hide, but even flew past my ear and through the slit in the hide. Surprise appearance must surely have been a Slaty-legged Crake, which is apparently a very rare passage bird here, and totally unusual in a forest clearing. A couple of Red Junglefowl always posed the usual captivity or wild poser, but the cock in particular kept to the forest and seemed quite timid. Mammals made the occasional visit to the clearing, in the form of Grey-bellied & Plantain Squirrel, and Northern Treeshrew. A fourth, Western Striped Squirrel, was the same species as seen the previous afternoon at the park reception, but this time eating bananas on a hook. An occasional leg stretch outside of the hide produced Black-hooded Oriole, Common Iora, and Asian Brown Flycatcher.


Small pools clearing (morning)	Inside the hide	Black-crested Bulbul


Black-naped Monarch	Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush	Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush


Grey-bellied Squirrel	Oriental Magpie-robin	Plantain Squirrel


Siberian Blue Robin	Slaty-legged Crake	Spotted Dove


Streak-eared Bulbul	Taiga Flycatcher	Yellow-bellied Erpornis

The afternoon followed the same pattern as the morning - another full session sat in hides overlooking a clearing with a small pool of water as an attraction. We were supposed to set off for this second site, which had on offer some different species to the first, 15 minutes later than we did, due to a call from the morning location that the Silver Pheasants were showing again. Of course, they had departed the scene when we arrived, so we headed on to the second location, which was set somewhat deeper in the forest than the first. The mammals were in the ascendency this time, with all 3 Squirrels and the Treeshrew in good numbers, but this one or more species were on show at almost any time. A fifth mammal of the day was added to this - a pair of delicate Mouse Deer put in sporadic visits. A fair few of the species seen in the morning were also here, such as both Laughingthrushes, Black-naped Monarch, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, and Streak-eared & Stripe-throated Bulbuls. Critically though, a Silver Pheasant strolled in mid way through the session. It was a bit confusing with pinkish legs, when we had expected them to be grey, but apparently this is well known in this area. A pair of Green-legged Partridges also put in a quick visit, not staying too long. We had had poor views of a couple of Large Scimitar Babblers in the morning, but a singleton this afternoon was much more obliging, bathing and preening for adequate periods of time. Other new species here was in the shape of Racket-tailed Treepie, with a group coming to the pool on a couple of occasions early on. As the light began to fade, some of the species which we had seen at the hides at the lodge came out - Abbott's & Puff-throated Babbler being the most notable. The latter even showed why they are so called, puffing out their white throats to brighten up the lowering light.