Overview
Date: |
12 August 2011. |
Since late July the weather had been exceptionally wet in the north, and having spent best part of the month inside working on the website, it was time to be damned with the weather and get some air and see some birds. August, of course, is not the best month for a variety of birds, but at least it was good to be outside again. Conditions were damp, with it having rained the previous night - all night, but at least this morning it was actually dry.
Arrived at Huay Tueng Tao to find it packed with people, having forgotten that 12 August was a holiday - The Queen's Birthday. Not that it mattered much anyway, as visitors rarely stray away from the paved road.
Discovered that the new attraction here is now zip-lines constructed through the surrounding forests. Great; another nail in the coffin for the habitat and fauna of the area.
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A short walk through the forest trials did produce a few usual butterflies (yellows, archduke, bushbrowns, lascars plus a less common Common Snow Flat) but after an hour heavy rain put a damper on things, so had a run for shelter down by the lake. Heavy clouds moving off Doi Suthep didn't look very enticing, but an hour later the rain stopped. Whilst waiting for the rain to cease a Cinnamon Bittern flew by, which turned out to be the ornithological highlight of the day. Walking back through the forest the rain came again and this time was totally caught out, arriving back at the vehicle in a heavy downpour. At this point decided to cut short the trip as clearly was going to be a wet day. The very poor species list reflects the short time and poor weather. |
Species List
| Common Name | Count | |
| Cinnamon Bittern | 1 | |
| Chinese Pond Heron | 2 | |
| White-breasted Waterhen | 1 | |
| Red-wattled Lapwing | 3 | |
| Spotted Dove | 5 | |
| Asian Palm Swift | 4 | |
| House Swift | 2 | |
| Coppersmith Barbet | 1 | |
| Ashy Woodswallow | 4 | |
| Common Iora | 2 | |
| Sooty-headed Bulbul | 2 | |
| Barn Swallow | 1 | |
| Wire-tailed Swallow | 1 | |
| Eastern Red-rumped Swallow | 2 | |
| Great Myna | 2 | |
| Common Myna | 10 | |
| Black-collared Starling | 2 | |
| Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker | 3 | |
| Ruby-cheeked Sunbird | 2 |