Hoping to avoid the crowds, I headed downhill to the dry forest at km 13. The river and forest here is reminiscent of parts of Australia and very beautiful. The area is a site for specialities such as White-rumped Falcon, Black-headed Woodpecker and Black-backed Forktail, though I didn't see any of them (and later found that I'd been looking in the 'wrong' place!) Still, there were lots of birds about.
A female Blue Rock Thrush feeding on a rather attractive rock formation (if you look carefully!)
A slightly closer view!
A female Rosy Minivet ...
...and a male.
And in the same flock, a female Small Minivet, with a Common Woodshrike.
And a very fine male Small Minivet.
Further up the mountain, at km 34, the common minivet species is Short-billed. Here's a female.
Also at this point I finally caught sight of a barbet! Barbets call incessantly throughout the day, yet, despite their bright colours, they are surprisingly difficult to locate. Their green body is exactly the same colour as the leaves, and the yellow and red bits blend perfectly with the fruits they feed on. This one is a Golden-throated Barbet, a montane specialist.
One of several stunning waterfalls on the mountain.
Even the children are colourful! School assembly was never this much fun in my day!
A mystery to finish off with. This blue flycatcher was at the campsite, where I kept vigil most evenings in the (forlorn) hope of seeing a Black-tailed Crake. I was puzzled by this flycatcher, and eventually put it down as a Tickell's, even though it doesn't look much like the ones I see in Malaysia.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI just want to share a comment on the flycatcher because I've been birding in Chiangmai for almost 7 years, I think it's a male Slaty-backed Flycatcher, a fairly common winter visitor to hill evergreen forests.
Very nice blog!
Ayuwat