Introduction
With just eight days in Thailand (16-23 Feb 2008), I chose
to hire a 4WD pickup truck (Vigo) and stick to the central
locations. I was very pleased with the three locations, all
offering something different. I did not see anything particularly
unexpected but with this trip report I hope to provide some
up-to-date information on where to find the birds to other
independent birders who are not familiar with these sites.
Thailand is an easy country to travel around. Navigation
can be a bit difficult, due to the language barrier, although
many road signs now include English as well, which is very
useful.
I hired my vigo from QCars, which was a lot cheaper than
an international car hire place from the airport. For information
I mostly relied on thaibirding.com
which is an excellent site. I also gleaned some information
from trip reports and by asking questions on BirdForum.
Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale
I spent about a day and a half at Laem
Pak Bia and Pak Thale, which is well worth visiting. The
number and variety of waders is really impressive. It took
me a few hours to work out the lie of the land, however, and
got quite lost at the beginning. My advice on finding the
place is as follows:
Head into the centre of Phetchaburi, and you should soon
pick up a sign for Ban Laem. Once in Ban Laem it is easy to
pick up the coastal road heading towards Had Chao Samran,
which passes Pak Thale and the other sites of interest. On
this road you soon start to enter salt pan territory.
Pak Thale is the first place you come to, where the two Spoon-billed
Sandpipers were to be found. First you pass a place with a
sign in English saying "Bak Pak Thale Nok" - this
is not Pak Thale, but seemed to be the start of good wader
territory. Pak Thale is soon afterwards, indicated by large
local government buildings with bright blue roofs on the left.
You should take the second road on the left, which goes along
side the SE side of the village, with salt pans on your right.
Take the first proper track on the right, which leads straight
through the salt pans to a little parking place surrounded
by bamboo wind shield. From here, walk about 100m NE along
little mud banks alongside the salt pans, and the two Spoonbilled
Sandpipers were feeding alone (not with stints) in the middle
of a large pan. Also a lot of waders and terns in this area,
plus some mangroves closer to the sea.
See Figure 1, my attempt of a map of Pak Thale area. The
signs for Pak Thale are only in Thai script, so I've included
a copy of the Thai script for Pak Thale in the bottom left
of the picture, which I hope is right and should help spot
the right sign.
Black-faced Spoonbills were to be found near the harbour
- see the map on thaibirding.com. Some 1.8km south of the
harbour, there is a dirt track to the right of the main road
which leads to a large, derelict building that appears to
be missing its front and back walls and was clearly never
completed in construction. Behind this building is a large
pan, and the two BH Spoonbills were roosting with about 6
Grey Herons. Also Richards Pipit here.
See Figure 2, outlining this area.
"White-faced Plover" the newly discovered species/subspecies(?),
was present at the end of the sand spit at Laem Pak Bia, accessable
by boat from the harbour. Towards the end of the buildings
on the harbour (south side of river) is a hut with pictures
of White-faced Plovers on the wall. The woman here speaks
English and she sent me out with the boatman (speaks no English)
who took me to see the bird. I wish I had taken my scope,
but we got good views in the end. Also Malaysian Plover, both
Sand Plovers and both Crested Terns here. Well worth doing.
Takes about 1.5 hours and they charged 500 baht, which might
be haggleable - I didn't try.
Khao Yai NP
Khao Yai is a
beautiful place, but certainly not an undiscovered place.
I stayed at the Pa Gluay Mai campsite, where all the birds
are. It was good to be staying in the middle of the birding
action, but dont expect peace and quiet here - it was more
like Glastonbury festival than wilderness. And also surprisingly
cold at night.
There is a new stakeout for Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo. It
is behind the shower block on the left hand side as you enter
the campsite, i.e. on the other side from the restaurant.
Behind the block there is a small path that enters the forest,
and just 5 metres into the forest one can sit down and quietly
watch down into a damp gully where the bird turns up. While
I was there it seemed to turn up early in the morning (before
10am) and in the late afternoon (after 3-4pm). Also a beautiful
male Blue Pitta and Siberian Blue Robin at exactly the same
spot.
See Figure 3 for details.
Also many other birds around the campsite, including White-throated
Rock Thrush, many sunbirds and flowerpeckers and minivets
and Chestnut-throated Shrike Babbler. Someone else had Siamese
Flameback just up the road towards the waterfall. I had Red-headed
Trogon along Upton's Trail A just on from the campsite.
I saw little else along trails and roads away from the campsite.
The campsite was definitely the most productive place during
my 2.5 day stay.
Kaeng Krachan NP
Kaeng Krachan is a beautiful park and much more like real
wilderness than Khao Yai. Outside of the weekend, there is
hardly anyone there, apart from a few birders. The forest
is full of birds and there is a distinct difference between
the birds of the lower Ban Krang camp area and those of the
higher Paneon Tong campsite.
There is a wealth of info on Kaeng
Krachan on thaibirding.com and on trip reports. All I
can suggest is:
- Hire a 4WD so you can go up to Paneon Tong campsite. Actually
you dont need 4WD as such, just decent ground clearance, as
there are streams to cross and the road is pretty rough and
steep.
- Others I spoke to had Black and Red Broadbill from the path
that starts just before Ban Krang campsite (HQ side) and crosses
the stream. Black and Yellow Broadbill found around the first
stream to the west (other side).
- There are Long-tailed Broadbills to be found about 1km down
from the KM27 car park. Listen out for their calls.
- There is a fruiting tree near KM27 which is good for birds
Wat Prabuddhabaht Noi
Limestone Wren Babbler is easily found at this temple near
Saraburi, on the way to Khao Yai NP. About 11km north of Saraburi
on the highway 1, there is the Pu Kae junction where Highway
21 splits off from Highway 1. Follow Highway 1 to the left,
but then do a U-turn after 500m at the special U-turn lane,
and return back through the junction. Turn left after 200m
from the junction on to a small tarmacked road labelled route
1002 (although signs only visible once you are on this road).
Follow this road for 10.6km, then turn left when the 1002
turns right, and then take the second right into the temple.
The birds were easily found on the path that leads around
the big impressive limestone rock to the right of the parking
area. The nuns were very friendly and dont seem to mind birdwatchers
turning up unannounced. Well worth visiting.
John Raven |
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