Thailand Naturetrek - part 1
Naturetrek Bargain Birdwatching Tour
Thailand - February 2006
Thailand - February 2006
We assembled at the Bangkok International Airport at noon on the 17th February 2006. Our party was made up of 7 arriving direct from London Heathrow - Colin Underhill from Essex; Christopher Moore from Gloucestershire; Philip and Veronica Barden from Devon; Leslie Cuthbert from Norfolk and Eric and Barbara Pilcher from Sussex. In addition, others had made their own way to Bangkok on earlier flights: Peter and Hilary Smith from Nottinghamshire; John Eyre from Hampshire; Michael Shaw from Northumberland and Keith Wills from Hampshire. These latter three had in fact been to southern Thailand ahead of the main trip - mainly for the purpose of seeing Gurney's Pitta Pitta gurneyi. Two others arrived from the USA, Ed and Dale Sickles and, of course, I came in from Sydney overnight on the 16th.
The following account is a joint effort by Eric Pilcher and myself. We have freely used information from the comprehensive briefing dossier distributed by Naturetrek well before the start of this tour. We did not keep detailed acounts of daily activites so the narrative is based, rather, on our recollections of events. The daily log was, of course, maintained in the traditional manner these things are done with groups of birders. When possible the list was run through as an important prelude to the evening meal. On most days this was possible but on a few ocasions it had to be postponed until the following day because we simply had no time to do it before the meal and most participants were too exhausted to be bothered to do it after we had dined.
The Naturetrek dossier tells us: "Thailand's many natural history attributes have made it one of the most popular Far Eastern destinations for European birders. This exciting Naturetrek tour visits Khao Yai, one of Thailand's best known national parks, and the montane forests surrounding the northern capital, Chiang Mai. Here we can hope to find many of the wintering species from Siberia which send pulses racing when they occur as vagrants in Britain; birds such as Eyebrowed Thrush, Scaly (White's) Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat, and Radde's Warbler. The exotic residents of Khao Yai's evergreen forests and grasslands include trogons, pittas, broadbills, hornbills and other characteristic birds of south- east Asia, but admixed with these are more winter visitors from the north including Thick-billed Warblers and Brown Flycatchers.
As a contrast to the time spent in Thailand's magnificent forests, tour participants may wish to consider extending the holiday by a few days to visit areas of wetland in the vicinity of Bangkok. Principal amongst these is Khok Kham where the attractions include Brown-headed Gull, Black-capped Kingfisher, Red-necked and Long-toed Stints and Spoon-billed Sandpipers.
Climate
The weather should be pleasantly warm or hot by day. It can feel humid in Bangkok and at Khao Yai although evenings are usually cooler at the latter. In the northern hills it will be generally cooler, when it may become particularly cold at night around Doi Inthenon. Precipitation is unlikely."
DAY 1 Saturday Khao Yai
The tour dossier gave the following information; our comments added in brackets: “We will be met on arrival at Bangkok by our guide, Kamol and then drive 200 kilometres to our accommodation near Khao Yai National Park, where we stay for three nights."
My arrival in Bangkok had been delayed by a late departure of my Emirates flight from Sydney. I arrived in the early hours of 17th but then had to find an hotel room. A hastily arranged booking was organized through an airport tourist representative who remarkably was still on duty at this absurb hour of the night. The arrangement I was able to negotiate involved a cheap room not too far from the airport and a taxi fare with an assurance that the taxi driver would return the following morning to take me back to the airport lounge. I paid a few Baht and wondered if the taxi would indeed return! My room had the remarkable distinction of having no windows to the outside world! It was a large room, clean and there was a good en suite bathroom so I needed no more. The taxi driver in fact returned promptly, at the time arranged, and I was back at the airport well ahead of time after a few hours sleep and a freshening shower.
Once the party had been gathered together, introducvtions sorted out we set off with our guides in two minibuses for the drive to the Juldis KhaoYai Resort. Our leader was Kamol Kamolphalin assisted by two other guides and two drivers. The Resort was situated not far from a main entrance to the Khao Yai National Park. Few birds are to be seen in the city of Bangkok except Feral (rock) Pigeons Columba livia (100+) and it takes some time to clear the sprawling metropolis but eventually we did see some birds along the way from the bus windows - including numbers of Asian Openbills Anastomus oscitans (40), Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia (12), avan Pond-Heron Ardeola speciosa (7) and Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis (5). At a short 'comfort-stop' we picked up a few passerines: A couple of Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica; some Common Tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius; numbers of Eurasian Tree-Sparrow Passer montanus and some Scaly-breasted Munia Lonchura punculatus, as I recall. Arriving at our hotel we used the last light of the day to do a bit of birding in the resort grounds and surrounding fields before settling in to our rooms and then quickly heading down to the dining room for our first evening meal. In this time we saw numbers of Asian Palm Swifts Cypsiurus balasiensis (12+), Ashy Minivet Pericrocotus divaricatus (30), Common Myna Acridotheres tristis (10), White-vented Myna A. grandis (30+), Steak-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus blandfordi (5) and Olive-backed Sunbird Nectarinia jugularis. Other notable numbers for the day were Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis (10+), Red collared Dove S. tranquebarica (10+), Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica (50), Red-rumped Swallow H. daurica (12), Plain Prinia Prinia inornata (6), Plain-backed Sparrow Passer flaveolus (20+) and Eurasian Tree Sparrow P. montanus (15+). I shared a room with Leslie Cuthbert both here and at our base in the north near Chang Mai.
Some of the party:
