Thailand Nov-Dec 08: 27-29th Nov - Doi Inthanon

I last visited Doi Inthanon in January this year, and I took the family back to see old friends for a few days, courtesy of the protests at Sivarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, which delayed my wife's return to Malaysia by 4 days.





































It was great to be back at Mr Daeng's again - so cool in fact! Business is obviously good for Mr Daeng, as he had upgraded the Purple and Green Cochoa rooms completely since my last visit, and they are now complete with TV, hot showers and a selection of interesting foreign birding magazines to browse!

The superb bird photos are still there, though possibly a little more covered in cobwebs. My favourite is an amazing shot of one of the Black-tailed Crakes at the campsite marsh, and I spent many hours there again this trip - two evenings and one dawn - with the same results as last visit. At least the birds were vocalizing this time, uttering their loud Little Grebe-like whinny, but they remained resolutely invisible.



Black-tailed Crake site at dawn. I believe the sign on the right says, "Black-tailed Crakes live here - honest!"



Old friends weren't confined to people - I was amazed to find what must be the very same Siberian Blue Robin that I photographed in January was still a welcome visitor at Mr Daeng's restaurant. Just amazing that this bird migrates all the way to Siberia to breed and then finds it way back to this little spot to feed from Mrs Daeng's hand each winter!



This photo, taken without flash, illustrates the natural colours more accurately. At 1/5th of a second, the head is sharp, but the camera can't freeze the ever shivering tail!



Mr and Mrs Daeng, without their robin!




At the Second Checkpoint I met another 'old friend', surely the same male Rufous-bellied Niltava I photographed in January, but this time minus the fog.



The few times is wasn't sitting in full view it could be found perched on a wire inside the park rangers' car shed!





Along with a pair of Large Niltavas!



This Silver-eared Laughingthrush, a fairly recent split from Chestnut-crowned, was another loiterer behind the shed.



As was a noisy group of Grey-cheeked Fulvettas.






But it was the Rufous-bellied Niltava that seemed to want to grab all the attention!



A short walk along the jeep track at km 37 just above the checkpoint produced several vocal Slaty-bellied Tesias - my second lifer of the trip. Seeing them was another matter though!



This is presumably the newly discovered 'chiangmaiensis' race of Slaty-bellied Tesia reported in the September 2008 edition of The Babbler (page 47)



This picture is a bit of a cheat, as I stuck the head of the previous photo onto another showing just the rear end of the same bird - but at least I'm an honest cheat!

A couple of birds seen from the road:



A Hair-crested Drongo...



...and a juvenile Black-eared Kite (recently split from Black Kite and distinguished by larger pale under-primary patches, broader pale streaks and a darker mask).

The Summit Trail at the weekend resembled a marketplace rather than a nature trail, so we birded the road and saw a few common species, as well as an Orange-flanked Bush Robin (or Red-flanked Bluetail if you prefer!).



Ashy-throated Warblers were abundant but usually high in the trees.




Flavescent Bulbuls were here and there in small numbers.





God must have been in a more than usually happy mood when he painted the male Green-tailed Sunbird!



The female's colours are a little more circumspect.























Siriphum Waterfall and its beautifully laid-out Botanical Gardens was a place that the whole family could enjoy.



It was also a good place to photograph aerial feeders, like this Asian Palm Swift...



...and the Cecropis swallows. These seemed much less streaked beneath than the birds at Mae Hia, with apparently unstreaked underwing coverts.




The nape looks dark on this picture, though a pale nuchal collar could easily be concealed at this angle. The rump looks unstreaked, and the birds apparently lacked the dark thigh mark of the Mae Hia birds. They also seemed to have more rufous on the upper ear coverts and supercilium behind the eye. So perhaps these were migratory Red-rumped rather than Striated??



A couple of visits to the famous km13 trail produced no falconets, White-rumped Falcons or Black-headed Woodpeckers - in fact very very few birds were seen at all.



A stake-out at the bridge finally produced a Black-backed Forktail at 5.30 in the late afternoon in the gathering gloom, my third lifer of the trip, and a good bird to conclude our visit to the mountain with.

Thailand Nov-Dec 08: 18-25 Nov - Chiang Mai and environs

Just under three weeks in northern Thailand was mainly a family holiday, and chance for my parents and children to spend some time together, but we did manage to squeeze in a bit of birding - mainly early mornings when the non-birders were still in bed!

Here is a place-by-place report, rather than a day-by-day account.

The first week was spent in and around Chiang Mai, and my Dad and I birded Mae Hia Agricultural College, Phuping Palace and around the Night Safari area (by day!).




I couldn't resist taking a snap of this notice on the Malaysian-Thai border - worth the price of a train ticket alone. If you're thinking of visiting Thailand, make sure you click on this pic so you can read this first! Fortunately I'd just had a haircut!



Our first evening in Chiang Mai we took a drive west to Samoeng to take in a spectacular sunset.



These seed pods were set on fire by the setting sun.



A view over one of the lakes at Mae Hia Agricultural College.

Mae Hia is a short way south-west of the city of Chiang Mai. Details of how to find it and what to expect there are on Nick Upton's excellent website, Thaibirding.



Red-whiskered Bulbul is one of three common bulbul species seen in open areas.



White-vented Mynas are another commonplace species.




Ashy Woodswallows can be seen in almost any open area, and their distinctive nasal calls quickly become a familiar sound. Compared to the birds I saw here in January, these were duller below, lacking obvious vermiculations on the vent, so were presumably in more worn plumage.



There were more Paddyfield Pipits around than in January, but there was less fallow land, giving fewer opportunities to observe pipits on the ground.



One or two Richard's about too, but they were wary and difficult to approach.



Most of my views were in flight like this! I did notice that, when flushed, Paddyfield would tend to keep quite low and fly only a short distance, whereas Richard's more often tended to fly up to a greater height and to fly further before settling, rather like the difference between Common and Pintail Snipes. Call, size and structure were the easiest ways to tell them apart.



Birds in general were wary at Mae Hia, and I heard shooting in the area, suggesting that there may be some hunting going on. I caught this Indochinese Bushlark slinking quail-like into the longer grass.



Several Dusky Warblers fed in the vegetated lake fringes, chacking nervously at my approach.



Burmese Shrikes, including one singing bird, seemed more widespread than Long-tailed.



Siberian Stonechats were commoner than Pied Bushchats during these visits.



We watched this Common Kingfisher hunting successfully for freshwater shrimps.



A pair of Black-collared Starlings displaying to one another. I couldn't decide whether the intentions were amorous or aggressive!



A pair of Coppersmith Barbets allowed close approach on some overhead wires.



Plain-backed Sparrows are always good to see, being quite a scarce and localized species in Malaysia.



Red-rumped/Striated Swallows have been a puzzle to me ever since I realized that Red-rumped can show a dark nape and no paler nuchal collar(see here). Anyway, there were plenty at Mae Hia, well-streaked on the underbody and underwing coverts, and showing dark thigh-patches, which Robson (2000 edition) mentions as being a diagnostic feature of the vernayi race of Striated.



Look Ma, no head! No #43 in my series of photos you probably shouldn't make a drawing from!






















A pair of Wire-tailed Swallows were in exactly the same spot that I saw them in January, but they were so, so shy!



Not at Mae Hia! But I couldn't resist including this one of one of the white tigers at the Night Safari, where, incidentally, I saw my only Yellow-streaked Warbler of the trip.

11th and 13th November 2008: Tanjung Tokong

The last couple of visits to Tanjung Tokong have been somewhat frustrating! On 11th I set up my hide on the sandspit, only to find that the birds were roosting on a newly-formed sandbar some distance away. So I got no pictures from the hide at all for my troubles.

Then today, I set up my hide on the new sandbar 3 hours before high tide, and the birds roosted on the sandspit! So in 3 hours of roasting heat I managed about 20 shots of 2 birds - a Little Egret and a Common Sandpiper! Here are the best of slim pickings.



3 Bar-tailed Godwits on the 11th. Bar-tailed Godwits are one species where the size and bill length difference between the sexes is really noticeable. The huge, long-billed bird in front is a female, the two behind are males.



A Common Sandpiper in typical stiff-winged flight on the 11th.



A few Little Ringed Plovers have started feeding on the mudflats. They are the only common Charadrius plover to lack a clear wingbar in flight.



Since my last visit the number of Kentish and White-faced Plovers has also increased - to 11 and 6 respectively. I couldn't get close to them on either of my visits, but here's a useful comparison of the two.






















A Pacific Swallow on its favourite perch.




A Little Egret, still with most of its breeding plumes.



Here it is in full 'rouse'. Rousing is the term given to what birds do when they raise all their feathers, often after a preen. It's supposed to be a sign of well-being. I suppose it puts all the feathers in place.



Walking past the hide.



A Common Sandpiper having a bit of a rouse too!



The fruits of my 3 hour wait!




What happens when you get the tide wrong!

Sandakan Bird Fair

This is a plug for the Sandakan Bird Fair. I met some of the main guys organizing this at the recent KK Wader Workshop. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this year, but if anyone is visiting Sabah around the end of November, do go along and give it your support!