Introduction
After the publication of BirdingAsia
22 the presence of Rufous-headed Parrotbill Paradoxornis
bakeri at Mae Moei National Park, in Tak province, became
common knowledge. Having been informed of a couple of successful
visits by other birders I decided to make the trip out to
Western Thailand to search for this recent addition to the
Thai bird checklist for myself.
Vehicle
I drove a Toyota Vigo from Bangkok, spending a night at Mae
Sot before traveling on to Mae Moei National Park. The road
from Tak to Mae Sot is in good condition but has a large number
of hairpin bends and there are a lot of accidents along it;
driving this road should be done with caution.
From Mae Sot to the turn off for Mae Moei the road (Route
105), again, is in good condition with a couple of small fuel
stations along the way. After leaving the national park I
drove north towards Mae Sariang (Route 105) - this part of
the road was in exceptionally poor condition in places and
there were many road works. There was also nowhere to refuel
until almost reaching Mae Sariang.
The road up to Mae Moei National Park (Route 1267) was sealed
but fairly badly potholed in places both before and after
the HQ; a vehicle with good ground clearance is advisable.
Accommodation
We stayed 2 nights in national park accommodation at the HQ
which was acceptable but only had a cold water shower and
no electricity outlets; so no AC or fan, although it was cool
enough at night for it not to matter.
Food
There was no food available in the national park but a couple
of small restaurants served food at lunch time at the junction
of routes 105 and 1267. We took our own food and cooking equipment
with us.
Notes on Finding Birds
Bird activity levels were exceptionally low at all areas of
the national park visited. Early morning and late afternoon
were particularly frustrating and the only time that birding
was productive was mid morning to early afternoon (9.30am-1pm)
Bird Calls
Bird calls used were downloaded from Xena
Canto; the call I heard the bird making more-or-less matched
this recording - Rufous-headed
Parrotbill.
Black Eagle
Black Baza
Slaty-bellied Tesia
Long-tailed Broadbill
Striated Yuhina
Birding Diary
2nd May: I arrived at the national park headquarters
a little after lunch and arranged some accommodation with
the park staff, who were able to tell me where sightings of
Rufous-headed Parrotbill had been made. They told me that
a number of sightings had been made near Chao Doi waterfall,
just 4.5 km from the park HQ so I began my search in this
area. It was very hot at this time of day and bird activity
was virtually nil, indeed, despite walking up and down the
road for several kilometres and along the trail to the waterfall
there was precious little to see all afternoon. Olive Bulbul
was abundant, a bird which is not often seen by Thai birders,
and in fact it was common in all areas of the national park.
Apart from Olive Bulbul and a pair of Rufous-winged Buzzards
the only birds I saw were very common species such as Pin-striped
Tit Babbler, Black-crested Bulbul, Dark-necked Tailorbird,
Sooty-headed Bulbul and Yellow-bellied Warbler.
After dark Collared Scops Owl and Brown Boobook were both
easily found.
3rd May: First light was a little before 6am and only
a few common birds were calling early on. After a quick breakfast
I returned to the area near the waterfall hoping for more
activity. Unfotunately activity levels were still quite low
but over the next hour or so I managed to see White-crested,
Lesser Necklaced, Greater Necklaced and Black-throated Laughingthrushes
as well as a couple of Black Bazas. Greater Racket-tailed
Drongo was very abundant but the few birds I saw required
a lot of effort to see apart from two very noisy Common Green
Magpies and several species of Bulbul.
Bird
Watching Trips in Thailand:
Regardless of the time of year there is always something
good to see on birding trips in Thailand. Short trips
focusing on a few sites/species can be arranged and
longer tours taking in a wide variety of Thailand's
bird life always turn up a large number of excellent
birds.
Contact me to arrange a birding trip and/or to discuss
the best bird watching options for you: nickupton@thaibirding.com
By 8am it was already uncomfortably hot and apart from Vernal
Hanging Parrot and Common Emerald Dove there continued to
be very little bird activity at all, although a Black Eagle
was nice. I had received information of a previous sighting
of Rufous-headed Parrotbill further up the mountain so I decided
to drive further on to Kilometre 11. The kilometre markers
started at HQ and I was able to read them from 1 to 6, after
that they were covered in moss but I counted them off as I
went.
The habitat at this altitude seemed far better for a Parrotbill
and there seemed rather an increased level of bird noise,
so I was encouraged. However, things were really slow here
too and it was a struggle to find a few birds - Speckled Piculet,
Olive Bulbul, White-throated Bulbul, Hill Blue Flycatcher
and Brown-cheeked Fulvetta. A calling Long-tailed Broadbill
came in to call playback to liven things up and it was interesting
to see how common Striated Yuhina was; certainly not a common
bird in the locations I usually visit.
Having walked up and down hill several times it was time to
move to another spot and a little parking area just after
Km 13 with a trail to a "Buddha footprint". Finally,
there was some level of bird activity in the nice forest along
this trail with a flock containing Velvet-fronted Nuthatch,
Ashy Bulbul, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher and White-browed
Piculet. While photographing this lovely little bird I heard
the call of a Pale Blue Flycatcher and after a little searching
I was able to see this bird too.
At lunchtime I went back to HQ and drove down to the main
road for something to eat, returning to Km 11 again later
in the afternoon.
The afternoon began with promise with more views of Speckled
Piculet, White-throated Bulbul, Olive Bulbul, White-browed
Scimitar Babbler and a Slaty-bellied Tesia but as the day
progressed clouds began to build and the weather became very
oppressive. As normal for these weather conditions, the levels
of bird activity plummeted and I searched in vain for Rufous-headed
Parrotbill. One nice sighting was a Rufous-browed Flycatcher
singing by the side of the road but, again, it was back to
the accommodation without the target species, although I did
add Orange-bellied Leafbird and Flavescent Bulbul to my trip
list at the highest point of the road - a viewpoint at around
Km 14.
4th May: Having become quiet tired of walking up and
down the road and exploring side trails and tracks with very
little reward, I decided that this would be the last morning
at Mae Moei, so expectations of finding Rufous-headed Parrotbill
were high. I returned to Km 11 in the hope that bird activity
would be higher in the early morning. Unfortunately, it was
not. I did get some opportunities to photograph Striated Yuhina,
Olive Bulbul and Speckled Piculet which were nice but although
activity levels were slightly higher than on my previous stops
at this spot it was still hard to see very much at all. Silver-breasted
Broadbill was a notable exception and Streaked Spiderhunter
was my constant companion but after an hour or so of this
I decided to try another spot.
I drove just a little way further up the road to Km 12, stopping
there largely because there was a flat section of road and
I was tired of walking uphill. This area had some nice forest
in some gullies either side of the road but the birding was
still quiet until I found a small flock containing White-bellied
Erpornis, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta
and Yellow-bellied Warbler.
Sometimes sneaking around slowly can be the wrong thing to
do, particularly when there is hardly any bird activity, so
I decided just to walk on and cover some ground. At 10.30am
I was just preparing to turn around and leave when I heard
a call that I did not recognize. I easily mimicked the call
and immediately a bird flew across the road, offering a flash
of its orange head! I repeated the call and another response,
this time with the bird right above me so that I could clearly
identify it as Rufous-headed Parrotbill. Over the course of
the next ten minutes or so it gave me plenty of time to observe
it and I had some opportunities to photograph the bird too.
It was particularly pleasing to get extremely good views of
this Parrotbill, especially given the amount of effort I had
put in to find it, enduring more-or-less nothing but quiet
during the course of my stay. I felt quite lucky to see this
species just at the point that I was about to give up and
leave; was it luck or determination? Well, there is always
quite a degree of luck involved when seeing scarce or rare
birds.
After spending quite some time with the Parrotbill I went
back to the car and quickly investigated a few other spots
a little higher up the mountain, but with the heat building
and noon approaching, predictably, I did not see anything
much more so headed back to HQ where my late checkout was
tolerated by the friendly park staff.
On the way down the mountain, heading back
to the main road I noticed that the habitat changed and there
were areas of dry dipterocarp woodland, so for those spending
more time at Mae Moei quite a large list of birds is probably
possible by visiting the different habitat zones. I hope,
however, that things are not always as deathly quiet as they
were on my visit.
If you are interested in arranging a bird
watching tour you can see some suggested itineraries here
- Birdwatching Trips
- and you can contact me at the above email address to discuss
the best options.
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