THAILAND TWITCH
February 2009
by Phil Pope
I
am often accused, by those who don’t know any better, of being a twitcher.
This, I usually strenuously deny and explain the proper meaning of the term and
how I don’t fit into the category (not that I have anything against twitching
I hasten to add). However, this year’s birding trip has made it difficult to
deny the presence of the twitcher in me.
I
basically travelled 6000 miles to see a bird. OK, I was going to see quite a few
other birds as well but the trip was undeniably to see one bird. I can’t
remember how many years ago it was I saw a picture of a Spoon-billed
Sandpiper and thought “I’ve got to see one of those one day!” There
have been few opportunities to see them. Hong Kong used to be the favourite spot
on migration and I know birders who have been there and dipped as the timing
hadn’t been quite right. South Korea held promise but the horrible
‘reclamation’ of the Saemangeum estuary seems to have put paid to that.
Then, about four years ago some ‘Spoonies’ were found wintering on the salt
pans just south of Bangkok. This seems now to be a reliable place to see them,
albeit with only a few birds involved.
There
are now reckoned to be less than 200 of these birds left in the world. At one of
the main breeding sites last year there were 60 nests and all were predated,
either by Arctic Foxes or local dogs. In addition to this the migratory spots on
the western Pacific coast favoured by breeding arctic waders in Siberia are
disappearing fast with development. All of this adds up to a ‘last chance to
see’ situation. (Does Stephen Fry know about them I wonder?) These birds may
well be extinct in a few years time.
So,
when I read about a Wildwings tour geared up to seeing these birds, along with
plenty of other waders, including the almost equally rare Nordmann’s
Greenshank, then I had to go for it.
The
trip was due to fly out on Saturday 7th February. On the morning of
the Friday it snowed heavily and hadn’t stopped by midday. John Brodie-Good of
Wildwings rang and suggested I head for the airport as soon as possible. An
inspection outside revealed that the only vehicles around were four wheel drives
and they were having trouble! There was no way our car was going to make
Stonehouse station. Eventually Anne persuaded a taxi driver to attempt the
journey and I met him in the centre of Dursley with my bags. Once outside the
town the roads weren’t so bad and we made the station in good time. However
the promised train didn’t show for another couple of hours, what a way to
start a holiday!
I
eventually made Heathrow in the early evening and met my friend Phil at the
hotel. WW had booked us in. So we were there promptly for the flight and there
were no more delays. The Thai Airways Airbus 340 was quite comfortable and the
entertainment system was excellent so we arrived at Bangkok airport at 6am
local time raring to go.
We
were met by our guide Mark Andrews and the local crew and, airport formalities
over (very slow, it was some sort of holiday, and they were short staffed) we
were whisked off into the morning Bangkok traffic heading for the saltpans (not
before ticking Asian House Martin over the
airport. We had to get those waders nailed as soon as possible. There had been a
scare with the previous trip the week before because a Peregrine Falcon had
taken up residence around the pans and was creating havoc with the wader flocks.
There was even a suspicion that it may have eaten some of the Spoonies!! This
added an extra edge to the journey; would the birds still be there?
A
stop at a motorway service station gave us our first taste of Thailand’s
birds. Streak-eared Bulbul, Olive-backed
Sunbird, Red-collared Doves and Tree
Sparrows (why are they so common in Asia and so rare at home?). We also
noticed some strange structures some distance from the road, these were
‘apartment blocks’ built especially for the nests of the Edible
Nest Swiftlet. Apparently these nests are so lucrative (bird nest soup,
presumably) the locals construct these blocks and harvest them after the birds
have left.
After
a couple of hours we reached the start of the salt pans and, after innumerable
small roads and dodgy bridges we eventually reached the famous Pak Thale, the
wader capital of the area. We parked the van and walked a short distance between
the pans. A likely looking flock was to our right and I’d only just set up my
scope when someone yells “I’ve got one!” panic ensues, directions are
yelled. I get onto the bird indicated but it is side on and the bill looks just
like all the other stints, I’m unsure and then the bird disappears behind the
sand bank……
In
the meantime Mark has been scouring the pans on the other side and indicates for
us to come over. We all hurry over and set up scopes again. This time the views
are better and unimpeded. It doesn’t take long to settle the scope on a small
pale wader that faces me and shows a beautiful little spoon at the end of its
bill, yes!! I’ve seen one, I’ve seen one. Relief settles in and I can move
the scope around and enjoy the rest of the flock. And what a flock! There were lots of Red-necked Stints,
Curlew Sandpipers and Lesser
Sand Plovers interspersed with smaller numbers of Broad
billed Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers, a Terek
Sandpiper, oh yes and another two Spoon-billed
Sandpipers. This really was wader heaven. Around the edges of the pan
were more species, a spinning Red necked Phalarope
and a Long-toed Stint.
By
now it was time for lunch and we enjoyed a number of sea food dishes in a
pleasant open air restaurant, reflecting on the great start to the trip. Then it
was time for the next venue, the King’s Mangrove Project (Lam Pak Bia). This
is an environmental R&D project initiated by King Bhumibol. On entering the
area we drove past a number of pools with Little
and Great Egrets and lots of Chinese
Pond Herons, one particular heron flew and showed the markings of a Javan
Pond Heron. We also had good views of Zebra Doves.
The
areas of mud around the mangroves were full of waders. Ruff,
Red-wattled Lapwings, Long-toed
Stints, Wood Sandpipers as well as some
unusual visitors, two Grey headed Lapwing. Four
species of Kingfishers are to be found in the area and it wasn’t long before
the impressive Black-headed Kingfisher was seen
perched on a post. During the afternoon both River (our
own species) and White-throated Kingfishers were
seen around the pools. Brahminy Kites were also
seen in flight on several occasions.
The
latter part of the day was spent around some reed beds which had been
artificially created as part of the project. There seemed to be birds
everywhere, Pied Fantails and Asian
Magpie Robins were much in evidence but it was reed dwellers we were most
interested in. Ruddy-breasted Crakes were the
first to show with several birds moving between the taller reeds and shorter
vegetation. A White-breasted Waterhen was visible
for a while at the end of the reed bed. Then a bird that took everyone by
surprise, a rather drab Crake with a greenish bill and noticeably short
primaries, it was a female Baillon's Crake, a
species that I had always wanted to see but which is tricky in Europe. The bird
only showed in a narrow section between vegetation and we had been joined by
another group of birders so things were getting a bit crowded, scopes got
knocked and some tempers frayed. It began to feel like a twitch back home! But
the Crake came out enough times for everyone to enjoy it fully.
The
next bird we were all looking for finally showed itself, a Slaty-breasted
Rail, again showing well for a reasonable time between the vegetation.
Other birds emerged at intervals. A Black-browed Reed
Warbler showed briefly, while a Brown Shrike
was more prominent on top. A Greater Coucal
showed well at the far end. Every so often a Snipe would fly out, mainly Common
Snipes but occasionally one without a white trailing edge would go up, a Pintail
Snipe.
As
the light began to go groups of Starlings and Drongos began to fly in to roost
in the mangroves. Most seemed to be White-shouldered
Starlings but there were also Asian Pied
Starlings and Black Drongos.
We
stayed at a rather impressive looking hotel in the coastal resort of Cha Am. We
were on the 15th floor and had sea views, not that we were there much
in the daylight. Not good for sleepwalkers as the balcony had only a very low
rail separating you from the abyss. There was a good selection of restaurants
around, most fairly basic but with a good selection of dishes. At one point we
were visited by a beggar who brought his elephant into the restaurant! It makes
a change from scruffy mongrels.
9th
February 2009
This
morning we drove slowly towards the King’s Mangrove project, making a few
brief stops on the way to catch up with some of the local birds.
We
duly arrived at the Mangrove project and set out on one of the boardwalks
through the mangroves with the intention of checking the open mud on the shore
for Waders. The local guides had assured us that this would be low tide and that
there should be plenty of exposed mud at this time. However, something was not
right. The mangroves around the boardwalk still had a few feet of water and we
were still some way from the shore. We realised that the full moon at that time
was clearly playing havoc with the usual pattern of the tides. In fact, during
our stay, although the water subsided a little, it never really dropped to a low
tide position. Consequently there was not much exposed mud! And apart from
excellent views of Collared Kingfishers we were
not seeing many birds.
We
stopped the bus regularly for Mark to scan the surrounding pans. Very soon he
spotted some waders a very long way off that appeared to contain some large pale
Tringas. The only solution was for us to walk out towards this flock and try and
obtain some good views without causing any disturbance. We followed the edge of
the pans around until we had reasonable scope views of a widely dispersed spread
of waders. The central group contained around 13 Great
Knot, some of which seemed to be in summer plumage, and there in the
middle were two Nordmann’s Greenshank.
The
previous week a group of over 50 of these birds had been found in the area.
Given that there are thought to be less than 200 in the world then this was
quite remarkable but it looked as if we were going to have to settle for these
two.
Having
had our fill of these birds we moved onto another area known as the ‘Abandoned
building’, probably because it was dominated by a large half built apartment
block that someone had clearly given up on. Here we found a Thailand rarity,
some Avocets feeding along with the usual Black-winged
Stilts.
After
another excellent seafood snack at the same lunchtime venue we set off to visit
the Sandspit at Lam Pak Bia. This involved boarding two small boats which
motored up the river between the mangroves before crossing the open water to the
sandspit itself. Several close views were obtained of Collared
Kingfishers again on the way.
On
reaching the spit it was shoes and socks off to get out of the boat and onto the
beach before beginning to scan around. The first bird to note was the rare Chinese
Egret which showed well on a small island just off the spit. After
walking a short distance along the beach we spotted a female Malaysian
Plover and had good close scope views. A male was seen some distance
away. Then a group of birds was seen flying across the length of the spit before
coming to rest at the far end. Moving closer we were able to examine them
closely. There were two Sanderlings feeding in their
characteristic fashion along the water’s edge, there were also a few obvious Kentish
Plovers, but there was another ‘white faced’ bird that was clearly
more related to the Malaysian or Kentish Plovers. This turned out to be the bird
we were looking for, not yet officially accepted, but known nominally as ‘White-faced
Plover’. It could be seen that the bill was a little heavier than the
other species, more like a Sand Plover perhaps, and the structure of the bird
seemed different but we shall have to wait and see whether this becomes a truly
new species.
Turning
our attention to the small island nearby we could pick out many more small
plovers. There were several Malaysian and Kentish
Plovers as well as another ‘White-faced’
Plover. As we were preparing to leave these birds flew in a group and
landed quite close to us allowing good views.
On
crossing the open water we became aware of a large gull flying away from us. It
had probably gone right past us but we were all looking the wrong way. From its
size it was almost certainly a Pallas’s or
Great Black Headed Gull but no details could be seen. One bus had views
of this species on the fourth day off the coast.
When
we returned to the quay we were treated to a lovely cup of tea and cakes by the
café owner and we were able to look at their collection of bird photos and
their log. Very civilised! While partaking of this I watched a group of male Mudskippers
displaying to a huge female hauled out onto the mud. They were raising and
lowering their fins and pulling themselves around in the mud. Fantastic! I had
always wanted to see these weird creatures. Perhaps these were what our distant
ancestors were like when we first emerged from the seas.
10th
February 2009
The
original advertised trip was to be based just around watching the waders and
allowed plenty of time for chasing up any elusive ones. But after two days we
had seen all of our target species so a day was arranged in the Kaueng Krachen
Forest Reserve. I hadn’t realised this was an option and consequently had done
no homework on the forest species but I had a guidebook and the leader would
hopefully find everything! I’m not usually a great fan of forest birding as I
have found it to be sometimes rather frustrating and the views not great (this
was why I was not too bothered about the forest extension to this trip) but I
got really quite excited at the prospect for the day.
We
were out of the hotel at 5am and drove the hour and a half it took us to reach
the reserve which was situated on the opposite side of the peninsula on the
Burmese (sorry, Myanmar) border. We had to change from our buses into an open
sided vehicle as the clearance of these vehicles was inadequate for the tracks.
After driving for a short while and the light improving all the time we spotted
two Asian Pied Hornbills flying across. We all
piled out and eventually got good views of these impressive birds. There were
quite a few small birds around and my initial fears for the forest birding
seemed realised. They were flitting around too fast and too far away, we
didn’t have scopes and the light wasn’t yet that good. However we moved on a
bit and then got out and walked. The light had now improved and birds were
coming closer. Someone called “Sultan Tit!”,
that is a bird I can remember looking at in the guide and thinking that I’d
really like to see. I struggled to get on it and it disappeared but then there
was another one right in front of me, a real stunner!
Bulbuls
seemed to be very common around us and we quickly worked out the various
species, Black-headed Bulbul and Black-Crested
Bulbul. We stopped at a fairly open area with some small fruiting trees
in front of us and had a procession of amazing birds very close. A Blue-winged
Leafbird, such fantastic colours and then, even better, a Black-naped
Monarch, just feet away, Wow! A
Crimson Sunbird showed the most brilliant red
that you can imagine and this was almost matched by a Scarlet-backed
Flowerpecker. This was
forest birding at its best with the birds showing themselves low down and in the
open.
We
stopped for a much needed breakfast by a pool in the forest. Red
Wattled Lapwings and a White-breasted Waterhen
were seen by the water. Black-naped Orioles were
in the highest trees and several Dollarbirds
showed well, these members of the Roller family often look dark and drab but get
them in the right light and they are impressive.
As
we were about to move on a male Asian Fairy Bluebird
flew in, another stunner. A Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
flew over showing off its amazing tail to full effect. A Chinese
Goshawk was seen overhead and shortly afterwards a Japanese
Sparrowhawk flew over. A White-rumped Shama
skulked very close to us in a nearby ditch.
Mark
suddenly spotted a movement and declared “Orange
breasted Trogon!”. There was quite a scramble as we all tried to get on
it. It moved off and we had to pursue it a short way into the forest before
everyone got views.
The
forest had quietened down by now and we piled back into the truck for the short
distance to the campsite where we unloaded our lunch. There was a comfortable
shaded area where we could eat our food and watch for birds in the surrounding
trees. There was a Forest Wagtail feeding in the
leaf litter and a Blue-throated Flycatcher
darting around. Also a pair of White-rumped Shamas
entertained us.
Fully
refreshed we walked out of the camp on the main track. Although it was hot we
were fairly high up and there wasn’t the humidity that we had on the coast.
Two Black Eagles drifted slowly over us, just
over the top of the trees giving superb views.
We
then came to a stretch of forest that was absolutely full of birds, people
called out species as they were seen but I found that it was easiest to just
work through them myself. There were several Velvet-fronted
Nuthatches (or possibly the same very active individual), Grey-
headed Canary Flycatcher, Sulphur-breasted
Warbler (looking like a very bright Pallas’s) and Eastern
Crowned Warbler. Blyth’s Leaf Warbler
took a little more effort to pin down. Then the Trogon showed well again in the
same area!
We
stopped to rest by a stream crossing the road that had hundreds of spectacular
butterflies coming down. We couldn’t put names to them but they were
fantastic.
A
group of White-handed Gibbons were seen ahead of us up in the trees. These are
Apes rather than Monkeys like the Macaques and seemed much more human-like in
the way they looked and moved.
At
the next stream crossing we searched in vain for Forktails and had to be content
with an Asian Paradise Flycatcher complete with
tail streamers. This was as far as we felt we could get for the day so we
decided to go back to the campsite as quickly as possible and finish up the day
with some birding there. As we were getting out of the truck it was announced
that a couple of other birders were watching a Dusky
Broadbill a short way away. There was almost a stampede but our leader
calmed us down and we made our way quietly across the grass to the appropriate
tree. The bird was showing very well in the open and we had great views of the
massive thick bill of this species, my first of this family. Some Crested
Treeswifts were showing well in a dead tree from the same spot.
After
taking these birds in for a while some of us wandered back to the picnic area to
see if there was anything new around. Almost straight away I spotted a young Siberian
Blue Robin hopping around near some water under a nearby pump. Another
bird that I’d really hoped to see!
We
went back to the open area to try and see if we could find any more Broadbills
but there was only a Blue-eared Barbet singing.
Then another shout went up and everyone was running, some Hornbills had been
seen. We eventually got onto them in a large fruiting tree up on the hillside
and identified them as being more Asian Pied Hornbills.
We
had to be out of the reserve by nightfall so it was time to start moving back
down the track. We hadn’t gone far when three more Hornbills were spotted. Great
Hornbills! The largest of the family. We left the truck and attempted to
get closer but they seemed very shy and moved further away from us.
A
bit further down and we encountered a group of Red
Junglefowl, the original domestic chickens, on the road. Then we heard a
commotion in the trees ahead. It was clear that Elephants were around as we
could see the devastation they had caused to the forest in that area. We sat and
waited, we could see a tree moving, obviously being pulled around by an Elephant
but the animal itself was behind the bushes. I’ll have to put this species
down as ‘heard only’, what a shame.
We
couldn’t afford to wait any longer and had to dash to the park entrance as it
was getting dark. But we weren’t finished yet. We were putting up Nightjars
every few hundred yards along the road. We stopped and examined one in the
headlights which was identified as a Jungle Nightjar.
11th
February 2009
My
last day here! And it felt as if I’d only just arrived. Most people wanted to
go back and spend some more time with the ‘Spoonies’ and another suggestion
was to return to the mangroves at the King’s Project and try and get a view of
the Mangrove Whistler. We had heard this bird
whistling on our previous walks but had been unable to get onto it.
So
we returned to the same boardwalk as our second day and walked along slowly and
very quietly. We soon heard the bird again but as before, it was always just
over the next Mangrove tree. Then suddenly Mark announced that there was one
right in front of us with its back to us, I had a fleeting glimpse before it
disappeared, not the most exciting of birds to look at!
We
also decided we’d like to try and find the larger flock of Nordmann’s
Greenshank which had been seen the previous week. It was felt that the
key to this was to find the large flock of Great Knot
with which they tended to associate.
So
we began scouring the different pans again and soon found a large flock of Great
Knot, several hundred anyway. There was the usual supporting cast of
commoner waders such as Red-necked Stints and Marsh
Sandpipers and even some Common Greenshank
but no Nordmann’s could be found.
A
little disappointed with this we headed back to Pak Thale. On arrival we met a
party of Spanish birders walking back from the edge of the pans. There seemed to
be few waders around that area. On enquiry they told us “they all fly off!”
Could that be because they had approached too closely? We made our way to the
usual feeding pool and indeed, there were few birds there. So we focussed our
attention on the surrounding pans and found a flock of waders some way away,
unfortunately partly against the sun. However, we soon picked out some Spoon-billed
Sandpipers, possibly three of them with Red
necked Stints. As time passed some of these waders came into a channel
quite close to us and at one point we had our closest ‘Spoony’ yet together
with the usual Marsh Sandpipers, Broad-billed
Sandpipers, Lesser Sand Plovers and Curlew Sandpipers.
There were also three Red-necked Phalaropes on
different pans around us. In total we picked out six Spoon-billed
Sandpipers and we were later told that there had been up to nine around,
which is encouraging.
We
adjourned to a different café situated in the Mangroves and looking out at the
sea, with the hope of getting another sighting of Pallas’s
Gull, one guy still needed this bird, but it was not to be. We had
another look at the antics of the Mud Skippers and also a troop of Long-tailed
Macaques who made a real nuisance of themselves at the restaurant by
stealing our driver’s dinner!
At
one point we saw three raptors overhead. Two of them were fairly clearly Brahminy
Kites but the third was the subject of some debate. White-bellied
Sea Eagle was suggested but it was concluded that it was probably another
Kite.
It
was time for the long drive back to the airport. The others were flying off to
Krabi down south for the extension and the chance to look for Pittas, for me it
was the flight home. The third day had given me a bit of a taste for more forest
birding and I was a bit gutted to be leaving so soon, but the decision had been
made and it was too late to change the arrangements now. So I said my farewells
and installed myself with some food and a book to wait for the plane to London.
I
had recorded 149 species of which 63 were lifers. Not a bad tally for such a
short trip.