Tales Of A Nomad

A backpackers birding journey through South East Asia.

2nd May to 31st June 2018

 

Thailand 

Common Birds In Bangkok

Open billed Storks are very much in evidence, soaring overhead as are Asian Palm Swift and House Swift.
The most common bird present on the streets is Eurasion Tree Sparrow, a little surprising considering their more urban habitat back home! Only five House Sparrow have been seen, in and around the Grand Palace Gardens but you would struggle to find even that many in a day trip to London.
Black collared Starling and Asian Pied Starling are present everywhere as are Common Myna and White Vented Myna which are always very vocal with a lovely tropical sound. Large Billed Crows represent the Corvids.
I spent a few hours exploring Lumphini Park on 8th May, below is a small selection of the birds seen (in random order). For non birders I will asterix some of the nicer birds which they might want to look up.

LUMPHINI PARK: 

Little Egret common
Chinese Pond Heron
Striated Heron
Spotted Dove
Zebra Dove 
Streak Eared Bulbul 
Oriental Magpie Robin 
Pied Fantail
* Coppersmith Barbet 
* Olive backed Sunbird 

Common Koel 1 at The Grand Palace
Ashy Wood Swallow 1 at Wat Phro

 

AYUTTHAYA BIRDING.

Javan Pond Heron
Red Wattled Lapwing
Little Cormorant
Hoopoe 
Plain Prinia
Indian Roller
Green-billed Malkoha 
Lineated Barbet

CAMBODIA

SIEM REAP.

Highlights so far…Alexandrine Parakeet flocks wheeling over the temples noisily and a Black Baza seen over Angkor Wat, a vision in black and white.
Two Cotton Pygmy Goose were a nice surprise on the large expanse of water beyond the east gate of Banteay Kdei Temple and they were in the company of Little Grebes and Oriental Darter. A small flock of Red Turtle Dove and a Black-crested Bulbul added some colour but my favourite bird had to be a White-Rumped Shama at Banteay Srey, a really spectacular bird.

Black-winged Stilt, Painted Stork, Bezra, Black Baza, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Greater Coucal, Yellow-Vented Bulbul, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Black-crested Bulbul, Night Heron, Little Grebe, Alexandrite Parakeet, Oriental Darter, Thick-billed Flowerpecker, Dark-necked Tailor bird, Red Turtle Dove, Silver backed Needletail, White-rumped Shama.

Dozens of Butterfly and Dragonfly species were also present, I have included pictures of a few below.

 

OTHER FLYING BEASTS

I had a couple of hours spare today so I took a walk out of town to a small patch of scrubby wasteland, always good for some birding.

Scaley-breasted Munia. 
Plain Prinia
*Plain-backed Sparrow. 

 

Battambang (Pronounced Battam-bong).

Common Iora
Sooty-headed Bulbul
Pied Fantail
Rufescant Prinia
Mountain Tailorbird
*Blue Whistling Thrush

Kampot and Kep.

The hostel in Kampot was situated on a river Bank and it rewarded me with excellent views of Collared Kingfishers which perched in the trees around the complex, I was also fortunate enough to see the occasional Cinnamon Bittern flying across the river. On the second evening of my stay I witnessed thousands of Asian Palm Swifts migrating East over the river, birds were streaming by for an hour or more.
Birding in Bokor National Park was a little disappointing for me (probably because I was having so much fun on the scooter). A Black Eagle over the summit was a the best bird of the day and I managed to find Black-headed Bulbul and Stripe-throated Bulbul.

Kep National Park brought better fortune. Crested Serpent Eagles were common and gave excellent views. Puff-throated Babblers were a nice find and I managed to spot my first *Brown-throated Sunbird.
A really exciting find was a *Blue Pitta which gave distant views, standing on the forest path ahead of me, sightings of Pitta species are highly regarded by birders as a highlight of any trip and I couldn’t help giving out a quiet shout of joy. When I reached the spot where the Pitta had disappeared it was nowhere to be seen but there was further compensation when a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo burst from the cover of the trees. Birding doesn’t get much better than that.

 

Phnom Phen.

Peregrine

 

Vietnam

Cat Tien National Park.

This is probably the best birdwatching site in Vietnam so I was very keen to visit and the park did not disappoint, I managed to record 35 new species of bird for the trip over two days as well as Sambar Deer, Parkin Deer, Crab Eating Mongoose and Golden-cheeked Gibbon. Thousands of beautiful butterflies were present, sometimes put up in clouds from the path.
Among the better birds found were a family party of four Oriental Pied Hornbill, Blue-bearded Bee-eater and an Orange-breasted Trogan.

Birdlist – Cat Tien National Park

Ashy Tailorbird
Black Drongo
Large Racket-tailed Drongo
Ashy Drongo
Bronzed Drongo
Chestnut-headed Bee Eater
Blue-bearded Bee Eater
White-throated Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Oriental Pied Hornbill
Red Jungle Fowl (a wild Chicken)
Red-breasted Parakeet
Chestnut-capped Babbler
Black and Red Broadbill
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Lesser Coucal
White-throated Fantail
Common Flameback
Rufous Woodpecker
Heart-spotted Woodpecker
Laced Woodpecker
White-crested Laughing Thrush
Vinous-breasted Starling
Yellow-bellied Prinia
Rufescant Prinia
Large Woodshrike
Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike
Burmese Shrike
Tiger Shrike
Racket-tailed Treepie
Dollarbird
Orange-breasted Trogan
Banded Bay Cuckoo
Violet Cuckoo
Green Imperial Pigeon
Golden-fronted Leafbird
Black-hooded Oriole

Plain-backed Sparrow

Red-breasted Parakeet

….and some of the Butterflies

 

Da Lat.

I didn’t have much of a chance to get out and find some birds during my stay here and much of the good habitat was coniferous forest, so the bird life was pretty specialised. Tits frustrated me with fleeting glimpses amongst the pine needles so I was unable to identify any of them.
The Pond Herons were found in a filthy patch of polluted water in the town, how they eked out an existence there, I will never know.

Black Bulbul
Flavescant Bulbul
Eurasian Jay (certainly different!)
Chestnut Vented Nuthatch
Chinese Pond Heron

HOI AN.

Paddyfield Pipit 

                  A few hours were spent walking around the local rice fields, where birds were abundant, Heron type species were well represented and a host of other birds accompanied them. It was interesting to see that birds followed the cultivating machines around the rice fields much as birds follow tractors on the chalk downland of Wiltshire, Bee Eaters, Mynas and Whiskered Terns were all observed doing this.

Hoi An Rice Fields:

Little Egret
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret
Purple Heron
Cinnamon Bittern
Yellow Bittern
Striated Heron

Lesser Whistling Duck
Purple Swamp Hen
Whiskered Tern
Blue-tailed Bee Eater
Long-tailed Shrike
Baya Weaver
Paddy Field Pipit
Yellow-bellied Prinia

Quite a few Crakes were seen but I couldn’t identify them.

Blue-tailed Bee Eater

An Bahn beach:

Little Tern

 

Dong Hoi.

I struck lucky at Dong Hoi, my hotel room looked out onto some large pools on the edge of the rice fields. One of these pools regularly hosted White-breasted Water Hen, Blue-eared Kingfisher and Eurasian Moorhen, I got quite excited on the final evening of my stay when they were joined by two White-browed Crakes, what a Brucie bonus to get to see such elusive birds!!

Riding the scooter I was able to access areas which it would not have been possible to walk to, some local lakes amongst the surrounding farmland gave me good views of Little-ringed Plover and Sanderling and at the nearby sand dunes I found Australasian Skylarks, Grey-capped Greenfinch and Blue-cheeked Bee Eaters (beautiful birds). A Black Kite was the only raptor identified.

 

TAM COC.

Crimson Sunbird
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black Bittern
Great Tit (Vietnam style)
Oriental White Eye

 

Thailand

 

BANGKOK – King Rama 1X Park.

Malaysian Pied Fantail

This huge Park is well away from the city centre and tourists, walking around its numerous lakes and woodland I found a surprisingly diverse range of birds.

Flying over:

Grey Heron
Asian Open-billed Stork
Asian Palm Swift
House Swift

Around the lake shores:

Black-crowned Night Heron
Chinese Pond Heron
Striated Heron
Little Egret
Yellow Bittern
Indian Cormorant

Common Birds:

Plain Prinia
Malaysian Pied Fantail
Streak-eared Bulbul
Common Myna
Common Iora
Tree Sparrow
Spotted Dove
Zebra Dove
Olive-backed Sunbird
Coppersmith Barbet
Large billed Crow
Banded Bay Cuckoo

New birds:

Oriental Pratincole (a small flock appeared after a downpour, to pick off rising insects)

Pink-necked Pigeon

Asian Koel (First one I managed to set eyes on! Heard in all three countries…everywhere!)

Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo

Small Minivet

 

 

Yellow Bittern