Overview

Dates: Weather: Localities:

1- 12 May 2011. Hot and dry at Laem Phak Bia/Pak Thale. Very wet in the east. Laem Phak Bia, Pak Thale, Khok Kham, Khao Soi Dao, Khao Yai and Wat Phra Phutthabat Noi.

1 May. This trip, planned with Ian Dugdale and Games Punjapa Phetsri Phetsri, was mainly aimed at the exploration of Khao Soi Dao. The scope was extended to include a couple of days in the Phetchaburi area. Left Chiang Mai at 06:00 with most of the day was spent driving to Laem Phak Bia. On arrival at Hat Chao Samran the intention had been to stay at one of the local resorts, but being a holiday on 2nd May all resorts here were full. The last hour of light was spent scanning some of the salt pans near Chao Samran where a small group of Spot-billed Pelican and eleven Pied Avocet were the highlights. At dusk returned to Phetchaburi where a small resort was found easily - everyone was staying on the beach!

Milky Stork with Painted Stork

2 May – Early morning spent at the same pans as the previous evening with roughly the same species present, so moved to check the mangroves and ponds at the nearby King’s project. All the usual suspects were present but a pair of Greater Painted-snipe were noteworthy. The main intention of visiting this area was to look for the Milky Storks that had been reported on and off in the area for a while, so the rest of the morning was spent slowly driving northward toward Pak Thale and scanning through any Painted Stork found. This was rewarded with two Milky Storks located just north of the oil storage depot in the heat of the day. Unfortunately views were distant and they took off shortly after.

Driving back to Chao Samran met up with Ian and Games from Phuket and following lunch resumed the search for both Spot-billed Pelican and the Milky Stork, locating both is the same areas as previously that morning. Overnight at the same resort in Phetchaburi.

Asian Dowitcher with Black-tailed Godwit

3 May – Another early start in an attempt to photograph the Spot-billed Pelican and Milky Stork, with mixed success.  A further session at the King’s project produced few new birds, so we decided to head up the coast to Khok Kham, as the tide should be good for waders in the late afternoon. With a high tide at around 19:00 our timing at around 15:00 was just right and we were able to get some shots of Asian Dowitcher flying past. A nearby local resort for the night.

4 May – As tide times are decidedly odd along this Inner Gulf coast the next high tide was at 04:00 this morning, so we were back at the mangrove study area at first light to catch the waders flying out again. Surprisingly not as successful as yesterday with a smaller selection of species, though some nicely plumaged Asian Dowitcher and Curlew Sandpiper.  Left Khok Kham in good time for the drive to Khao Soi Dao in Chanthaburi, which was the be the main focus for the next week or so. On arrival at Khao Soi Dao our attempts to contact park staff were not that successful as being a government holiday key staff not present. The last couple of hours of light were spent along the road to the waterfall with Dusky Broadbill a highlight. Overnight at the Wang Pla Soi Dao Resort, just outside the sanctuary which for 350 baht, including aircon and hot water, was pretty good value.

Dusky Broadbill

5 May. Early birding along the road to waterfall whist waiting for the park HQ office to open at 08:00. The first task was to seek permission from the head man to be able to climb up either or both of the Khao Soi Dao mountains (north and south). At his suggestion, our request to have a ranger to accompany us up Khao Soi Dao Nua was turned into having two rangers and two porters and to spend a night camped high above the falls. This seemed like a fine idea so arranged an 07:00 departure for the following morning, giving us, and them, a day to prepare equipment and food.

Late afternoon walked the Loop Trail, but lacking maintenance this proved more an exercise in jungle orientation than birding. We did finally make the loop after three hours but saw few birds in the process. Birding at Khao Soi Dao was proving really difficult. Another night at Wang Pla Soi Dao Resort.

6 May. Arrived as agreed at 07:00 but were not surprised to find we were the only people to turn up. At 07:30 one ranger arrived and looked very surprised that we’d actually brought camping equipment as no porters had been asked for. Hmm. After a further hour of faffing around the head man announced that no rangers and porters were available due to them having “normal work” to do, so ended up with a single ranger as we started a day trip up the waterfall trail to see how high we could go. We’d hoped to be able to at least see some of the area’s speciality species but after a two hours slog arrived at the top (level-16) of the waterfall at only 620 m where the trail seemed to die out and our ranger informed us he’d never gone higher and didn't know the trail. To make matters worse rain started in earnest.  Needless to say we were not very impressed with the way the day had panned out so decided to cut our losses and walk down. Rain most of the afternoon, so we made do with some more birding along the road to the waterfall. Although the forest looked good, finding birds was proving a real struggle. Another night at Wang Pla Soi Dao Resort.

7 May. As we felt we could walk the Loop Trail without getting lost we decided to hit it early. Certainly there was a better selection of species than in the heat of the day but still none of the region's specialities could be found. In the afternoon headed south to Pong Nam Ron to meet Khun Dia who acts as the local organiser for trips to climb Khao Soi Dao Dai. This meeting went much better than expected and we made arrangements for guide and porters to climb the mountain starting Monday. In the late afternoon visited the captive breeding centre just outside town, where there were certainly large captive populations of Silver Pheasant and Green Peafowl. Overnight at the Iyara Resort which had pleasant views and a negotiated piece of 700 baht/night for two nights. Low cloud and rain didn't look good for climbing mountains.

8 May. Returned to the water fall trail early on. However, rain started 07:30 and continued on/off all day. The afternoon spent around the HQ  watching the occasional needletails, and were eventually rewarded with good but brief views of Silver-backed Needletail.  Returned to Pong Nam Rong and checking the weather forecast were not optimistic for climbing the mountain as two days heavy rainfall was expected. Overnight again at Iyara Resort.

Black-throated Laughingthush

9 May. We met up with Khun Dai at 06:00, and as expected he expressed concerns about the weather, especially the possibilities of high winds bringng down trees. Two days camping in heavy rain and potentially high river crossings meant we had to abandon the climb. Opted to leave the area and head up to Khao Yai National Park in an attempt to look for Eared Pitta. Here we started on the Gully Trails 5, 6 and 7 and the Nature Trail behind the HQ, but other than leeches and rain didn't see a lot. A visit to the radar station was cool and foggy but on the lookout Trail we saw Common Green Magpie and Black-throated Laughingthrush. Overnight at some cheap and cheerful backpacker’s resort a couple of kilometres outside the park, which would not be recommended.

10 May.  An early session on the Nature Tail with more leeches than ever previously seen, before again back on 5, 6, and 7 trails – this time completing the loop to Mo Sing as well as getting caught in very heavy rain. Afternoon on Nong Phak Chi Nature Trail but little seen. Overnight as yesterday.

11 May. Much better weather today as it didn't even look like rain! Early morning on Nong Phak Chi Nature Trail where the best bird found was Golden-headed Myna. After lunch at the Khao Yai restaurant headed to Wat Phra Phutthabat Noi near Saraburi. Overnight in a small guesthouse nearby.

12 May. Early morning at the wat where we tried for Rufous Limestone Babbler at the traditional areas around the temple complex, failing completely. For a change of tactic we tried the areas to the right of the school nearer some small temple buildings and were eventually rewarded with brief views of a pair of Rufous Limestone Babbler. Around 10:00 headed back to Chiang Mai.

Species List

	Laem Phak Bia, Pak Thale	Count		Khok Kham	Count
	Little Egret	200		Little Egret	200
	Spot-billed Pelican	25		Little Grebe	2
	Lesser Whistling Duck	50		Striated Heron	4
	Little Grebe	1		Chinese Pond Heron	2
	Milky Stork	2		Javan Pond Heron	200
	Painted Stork	215		Eastern Cattle Egret	10
	Black-crowned Night Heron	10		Grey Heron	10
	Striated Heron	4		Purple Heron	1
	Javan Pond Heron	50		Eastern Great Egret	50
	Eastern Cattle Egret	10		Little Cormorant	100
	Grey Heron	20		Indian Cormorant	4
	Eastern Great Egret	100		Brahminy Kite	2
	Medium Egret	2		Black-winged Stilt	200
	Little Cormorant	100		Pacific Golden Plover	100
	Indian Cormorant	25		Tibetan Sand Plover	3000
	Brahminy Kite	10		Asian Dowitcher	30
	Ruddy-breasted Crake	2		Black-tailed Godwit	250
	Black-winged Stilt	300		Common Sandpiper	2
	Pied Avocet	14		Red-necked Stint	200
	Red-wattled Lapwing	10		Curlew Sandpiper	100
	Pacific Golden Plover	10		Brown-headed Gull	2
	Grey Plover	4		Gull-billed Tern	2
	Tibetan Sand Plover	100		Caspian Tern	5
	Greater Sand Plover	5		Little Tern	20
	Greater Painted-snipe	2		Eurasian Curlew	4
	Black-tailed Godwit	16		Spotted Redshank	40
	Common Sandpiper	10		Common Redshank	20
	Red-necked Stint	2		Marsh Sandpiper	4
	Long-toed Stint	2		Common Greenshank	20
	Ruff	2		Greater Coucal	2
	Oriental Pratincole	1		Plaintive Cuckoo	3
	Brown-headed Gull	40		Edible-nest Swiftlet	4
	Gull-billed Tern	10		Asian Palm Swift	20
	Caspian Tern	50		Collared Kingfisher	3
	Little Tern	20		Golden-bellied Gerygone	20
	Whiskered Tern	400		Black Drongo	2
	White-winged Tern	20		Malaysian Pied Fantail	10
	Rock Dove	30		Barn Swallow	20
	Eurasian Whimbrel	2		Dusky Warbler	1
	Spotted Redshank	10		Siamese Pied Myna	20
	Common Redshank	5		Oriental Magpie-Robin	10
	Common Greenshank	20		Brown-throated Sunbird	1
	Wood Sandpiper	1		Eurasian Tree Sparrow	20
	Red Collared Dove	20
	Greater Coucal	4		Khao Yai	Count
	Plaintive Cuckoo	3		Little Egret	1
	Edible-nest Swiftlet	10		Green-legged Partridge	10
	Asian Palm Swift	20		Red Junglefowl	12
	White-throated Kingfisher	4		Siamese Fireback	2
	Asian Green Bee-eater	10		Rufous-bellied Eagle	1
	Blue-tailed Bee-eater	20		Barred Buttonquail	2
	Golden-bellied Gerygone	50		Red-wattled Lapwing	4
	Common Iora	10		Orange-breasted Trogon	2
	Brown Shrike	2		Red-headed Trogon	4
	Black Drongo	10		Indochinese Roller	2
	Malaysian Pied Fantail	6		Oriental Dollarbird	3
	Indochinese Bush Lark	6		Greater Flameback	2
	Barn Swallow	20		Spotted Dove	4
	Dusky Warbler	2		Barred Cuckoo-Dove	2
	Oriental Reed Warbler	10		Common Emerald Dove	4
	Black-browed Reed Warbler	10		Zebra Dove	2
	Zitting Cisticola	10		Thick-billed Green Pigeon	4
	Common Tailorbird	2		Mountain Imperial Pigeon	6
	Great Myna	400		Vernal Hanging Parrot	1
	Common Myna	100		Greater Coucal	4
	Siamese Pied Myna	40		Green-billed Malkoha	5
	Oriental Magpie-Robin	4		Asian Koel	2
	Plain-backed Sparrow	4		Brown-backed Needletail	10
	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	40		Asian Palm Swift	20
	Baya Weaver	20		House Swift	10
	Scaly-breasted Munia	4		Oriental Pied Hornbill	1
	Eastern Yellow Wagtail	1		Great Hornbill	5
				Wreathed Hornbill	10
	Khao Soi Dao	Count		Lineated Barbet	2
	Green-legged Partridge	6		Coppersmith Barbet	1
	Red Junglefowl	10		Lesser Yellownape	1
	Black Baza	1		Laced Woodpecker	3
	Crested Serpent Eagle	2		Common Flameback	1
	Changeable Hawk-Eagle	3		Long-tailed Broadbill	3
	Red-wattled Lapwing	4		Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike	1
	Rock Dove	50		Common Iora	2
	Orange-breasted Trogon	4		Scarlet Minivet	2
	Indochinese Roller	1		Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	4
	Banded Kingfisher	3		Common Green Magpie	2
	Greater Flameback	2		Eastern Jungle Crow	1
	Black-headed Bulbul	4		Black-crested Bulbul	4
	Red Collared Dove	10		Stripe-throated Bulbul	4
	Spotted Dove	4		Puff-throated Bulbul	20
	Barred Cuckoo-Dove	1		Grey-eyed Bulbul	3
	Common Emerald Dove	4		Ashy Bulbul	2
	Zebra Dove	10		Barn Swallow	200
	Thick-billed Green Pigeon	20		Golden-headed Cisticola	4
	Greater Coucal	4		Grey-breasted Prinia	2
	Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo	1		Dark-necked Tailorbird	10
	Green-billed Malkoha	10		White-browed Scimitar Babbler	3
	Asian Koel	2		Rufous-fronted Babbler	4
	Violet Cuckoo	2		Pin-striped Tit-Babbler	30
	Banded Bay Cuckoo	2		Abbott's Babbler	1
	Plaintive Cuckoo	2		Puff-throated Babbler	2
	Collared Scops Owl	1		Black-throated Laughingthrush	6
	Asian Barred Owlet	10		Hume's White-eye	20
	Crested Treeswift	2		Golden-crested Myna	1
	Edible-nest Swiftlet	5		Common Hill Myna	15
	Silver-backed Needletail	2		Common Myna	1
	Brown-backed Needletail	7		Oriental Magpie-Robin	4
	Asian Palm Swift	20		Northern White-crowned Forktail	2
	House Swift	20		Hill Blue Flycatcher	3
	Blue-eared Kingfisher	1		Blue-winged Leafbird	2
	Blue-bearded Bee-eater	1		Plain Flowerpecker	10
	Oriental Pied Hornbill	5		Cambodian Flowerpecker	2
	Great Hornbill	2		Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker	2
	Green-eared Barbet	30		Black-throated Sunbird	1
	Moustached Barbet	1		Little Spiderhunter	2
	Blue-eared Barbet	100		Plain-backed Sparrow	2
	Laced Woodpecker	5		Eurasian Tree Sparrow	10
	Banded Broadbill	4		Paddyfield Pipit	2
	Dusky Broadbill	5
	Western Hooded Pitta	4		Wat Phra Phutthabat Noi	Count
	Blue-winged Pitta	4		Red Junglefowl	3
	Ashy Woodswallow	10		Lesser Whistling Duck	20
	Common Iora	3		Asian Openbill	20
	Scarlet Minivet	2		Greater Coucal	3
	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	40		Green-billed Malkoha	2
	Black-naped Monarch	2		Asian Palm Swift	10
	Black-crested Bulbul	20		White-throated Kingfisher	2
	Sooty-headed Bulbul	5		Lineated Barbet	5
	Stripe-throated Bulbul	20		Coppersmith Barbet	1
	Streak-eared Bulbul	3		Common Iora	3
	Ochraceous Bulbul	20		Hair-crested Drongo	1
	Grey-eyed Bulbul	10		Racket-tailed Treepie	1
	Barn Swallow	30		Black-crested Bulbul	4
	Asian House Martin	10		Rufous Limestone Babbler	3
	Eastern Red-rumped Swallow	200		Puff-throated Babbler	2
	Grey-breasted Prinia	2		Common Myna	10
	Common Tailorbird	2		Oriental Magpie-Robin	2
	Dark-necked Tailorbird	10		White-rumped Shama	3
	Pin-striped Tit-Babbler	40
	Puff-throated Babbler	1
	Asian Fairy-bluebird	10
	Great Myna	4
	Common Myna	30
	Black-collared Starling	10
	Oriental Magpie-Robin	10
	White-rumped Shama	10
	Blue-winged Leafbird	4
	Yellow-vented Flowerpecker	2
	Plain Flowerpecker	1
	Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker	1
	Ruby-cheeked Sunbird	10
	Crimson Sunbird	2
	Little Spiderhunter	2
	House Sparrow	3
	Plain-backed Sparrow	5
	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	20
	White-rumped Munia	2
	Scaly-breasted Munia	4