Thailand Trip Report

This winter between late-January and early-March I was in Thailand for some personal birding sandwiched between a couple of stints leading tours for Birding Ecotours.

My first tour was three-weeks and visited Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale Area, Kaeng Krachan NP, Khao Yai NP, Doi Inthanon NP, Mae Ping NP, Doi Chiang Dao NP,  Doi Pha Hom Pok (Doi Lang) NP, and Chiang Saen Lake. We saw some amazing birds: Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank, Long-billed Dowitcher (rarity), Baer's Pochard, Mrs Hume's Pheasant, Great Hornbill, Rusty-naped, Eared and Blue Pittas, Himalayan Cutia, Siberian Rubythroat, and so much more! Asian Elephant and White-handed Gibbons were also rather pleasing. Trip Report here: http://birdingecotours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Thailand-Custom-Tour-Trip-Report-February-2016.pdf

My second tour was a one-week photography tour and visited Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale Area, Nong Pla Lai, and Kaeng Krachan and again connected with some amazing birds: 6 Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank, Red-headed and Orange-breasted Trogons, Great Hornbill, Red-bearded and Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, Great Slaty Woodpecker, and many Broadbills! Here we also had one of the craziest 20 minutes of wildlife viewing I've ever had - Indian Rock Python, Asian Elephant, Indochinese (Black) Leopard, and Sunbear!!! Trip Report here: http://birdingecotours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Thailand-Custom-Tour-Trip-Report-Feb-Mar-2016.pdf

A more detailed summary of my tours can be found here: http://birdingecotours.com/birding-thailand/ with some photos and information on some of the key species seen.

During my free time I got to see some great birds, including Firethroat and Spotted Bush-Warbler, a couple of really rare Thai birds. I also got to visit a banding station where I got to release a stunning male Siberian Rubythroat (photo below!)....

If any of this interests you please check out the 2017 itinerary here, and come and join me there with Birding Ecotours!

Some highlights below...

Spoon-billed Sandpiper - 1 of at least 7 birds seen while I was there. A post on this bird here.

Drake Baer's Pochard (IPhone-scoped)

Rusty-naped Pitta (one of a pair seen at close-range)

Firethroat - the returning bird, Thailand's second record (first was this bird last year!)

Great Hornbill - simply stunning! 

Green Magpie - a bit of a looker,

Himalayan Cutia (IPhone-scoped)

Long-billed Dowitcher (IPhone-scoped) - a rarity we found on the tour

Mrs Hume's Pheasant - a real beauty

Siberian Rubythroat

Getting to release a Siberian Rubythroat! 

Spoon-billed Sandpipers Galore!

I've been having some great encounters with a few different Spoon-billed Sandpipers over the last few days during a Birding Ecotours customized tour of Thailand. After my India trip, and Baer's Pochard twitch I decided to go to Pak Thale before my tour to check out the area and see what the birds were doing this year. Once there I found at least two un-ringed/un-flagged Spoon-billed Sandpipers, and got some good views of both birds. I was pleased as managed to get some better phone-scoped shots than my previous visits to the site.

Fast forward to the back end of this week (after an exciting few days in Kaeng Krachan - more on that later) when the tour arrived in the Pak Thale/Laem Pak Bia area for a couple of days looking for waders such as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and other goodies like Nordmann's Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher etc. We were not disappointed on out first day with very good views of a fairly close Spoon-billed Sandpiper. It gave close views as it preened on a little mud island on one of the salt pans. Very satisfying views.

Then yesterday we went back to try for them again on our way through to Bangkok, time of day was not ideal and it was blowing a gale but I managed to find two birds together, one of these was leg-flagged and the other was 'clean'. It was clear that one of these birds was fast approaching our position so we all got into the dirt and lay in wait for it to come closer. Amazingly the bird came and fed within 12ft of us! This was my best view to date and it finally allowed me to get some photos with my camera rather than relying on phone-scoping it!

Needless to say we were all mighty happy with this view! Some photos below followed by some info on the ringed bird.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper U6

Spoon-billed Sandpiper U6

Spoon-billed Sandpiper U6

Spoon-billed Sandpiper - un-ringed bird (IPhone-scoped Swarovski ATX95 and IPhone 6s)

A quick search about the ringed bird photographed above - U6 - shows that it is a 'head-started' bird.

• Born in July 2015. It was cared for in its early days until fledging and left its natal area of Chukotka, Far East Russia on 5th August 2015.
• It was seen and photographed at Yuboo Island, South Korea on 28th September 2015 where it was present until 28th October 2015 (also in the presence of several other birds). 
• It was next seen and photographed at Pak Thale, Thailand on 29th November and I saw it there yesterday, 6th February 2016!

More details of the incredibly important conservation effort to save the Spoon-billed Sandpiper can be found on the Saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper website here.

If you want to come and look for these stunning waders and a load more amazing birds why not join me on a Birding Ecotours trip in 2017? The shear number of waders in this area is simply staggering and is made up by over 40 species, including some globally threatened species!