Thaing up the loose ends…

Dec13

Thursday morning, Bangkok. We’re back at Neil and Eunice’s place after a fabulous week birding in central Thailand. I realised that there are a few photos, that didn’t make it into my earlier blogs, which probably ought to see the light of day before I conclude the Thailand stage of our Big World Birding Adventure and draw to a close our three month long birding extravaganza.

Having birded seven countries on three continents and seen well over a thousand species, many of them new to one or all of our party, it’s encouraging to note that we were as enthusiastic and committed yesterday, our last day’s birding, as we were on day one in Brazil. True, from time to time, we’ve let our concentration wander or we’ve finished birding occasionally before it got dark and ‘yes’ our vigilance around systematic recording has left something to be desired but fundamentally we remain as keen on day 82 as we were at the start – possibly more so – you can get hooked on the ‘itinerant birder’ life-style! But tonight we fly home and it’s back to the reality of the UK with a bump. As we prepare to leave Bangkok, with the temperature in the ‘high nineties’, we’re unpacking our winter clothing – last used in Ushuaia – jumping off point for Antarctica, in readiness for sub-zero temperatures back at home.

And now those pictures….

Brahminy Kite, the common raptor over the salt pans

Introducing the ‘birds of the wetlands’ section – a rather colourful fishing boat

Red-wattled Lapwing, regular on the marshes and rice fields inland from the salt pans

White-breasted Waterhen

The ‘default’ heron species of the entire area – problem is it could be either Chinese or Javan Pond Heron – you decide!

The spectacular Painted Stork, with a Great Egret for size comparison

Kingfisher species were reasonably common, with Collared being the most obliging

and introducing the ‘land bird’ section – a cow, with a couple of birds for company – Eastern Cattle Egret, White-vented Myna and, on it’s back, Black Drongo

Now when it comes to Sparrows, this one takes the biscuit – Plain-backed, in a mixed flock with House Sparrow

Another Barbet, this one is Blue-throated

The frequently heard but much less seen, Greater Coucal

The delightful Crimson Sunbird

and the even more delightful, Golden-bellied Leafbird

Now for some monkey business….this one is Dusky Langur

and here is a female White Handed Gibbon, with her rather clingy off-spring

…and still under the ‘primates’ section – Neil and Eunice ( in the middle), our fabulous hosts and bird guides! Thank you so much for a truly wonderful birding experience!

and the last word (or photo in this case) goes to a bird – White-throated Kingfisher, sitting on a water jar at dusk

There’s something about birding in the sun that is very uplifting, infectious, addictive – I’ve no doubt it won’t be long before we’re off on our travels again, to ‘who knows where’ – but doubtless there’ll be a blog! Until then you’ll have to content yourselves with more modest offerings from home! Thank you for ‘tuning in’ – it makes the world a smaller and friendlier place knowing that someone, somewhere is sharing it with you!

Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. T

Kaeng Krachan Kaleidoscope

Dec11

Tuesday afternoon, 11th December. Just arrived back at White Beach having spent a fantastic long weekend with Neil and Eunice, up in the hills of the Kaeng Krachan national park. We stayed at the superb Baan Maka lodge, which is just ten minutes from the park entrance and has some great birding ‘on the door step’. We spent two full, 12 hour days, in the park itself and another pottering around the outskirts and saw some superb birds, some of which are featured in the photo kaleidoscope below. We’re off to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon for a last night with our friends before getting ready for the evening flight on Thursday.

But first the pics….

Dawn over the lake ‘at the bottom of our garden’ at Baan Maka

We had numerous Babbler species, this was a particular favourite, Collared (a split from White-hooded)

One of the families well represented at Kaeng Krachan is Hornbill – this one is Oriental Pied

The ‘difficult to see’ Green-billed Malkoha

One of a pair of absolutely lovely roosting White-fronted Scops Owl

Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush drinking at a forest pool

Not to be confused with common or garden chicken – Red Jungle Fowl, the real thing!

Grey-faced Buzzard with a freshly captured squirrel

Asian Barred Owlet roosting in the grounds of Baan Maka

Kalij Pheasant – another deep jungle-dwelling species

Another Kaeng Krachan speciality Ratchet-tailed Treepie, the only place in Thailand it occurs

and another member of the family, Rufous Treepie

A nice male Olive-backed Sunbird

Our only Thai parrot species – Vernal Hanging Parrot. A beauty nonetheless

One of a few Barbets seen – this one, at the entrance to Baan Maka, was Lineated

Just down the road from Baan Maka was an excellent lily pond with a family of Bronze-winged Jacana

Seen crossing the road on our journey back to the lodge – a rather large python!

and a real kaleidoscope of colour – butterflies at a ‘mineral lick’

And to finish with a Great Hornbill – what a monster!

Three Star Waders

Dec7

Friday, 7th Dec., White Beach, Thailand. This place is fantastic! Just a couple of hours from Bangkok, on the gulf coast – a small collection of holiday chalets and a few local restaurants, right in the middle of the most extraordinary wader habitat I’ve ever seen! There are ten miles of salt-pans between Pak Thale and Laem Pak Bia just crawling with birds, including three of the regions most endangered species – Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmans Greenshank and Asian Dowitcher.

Over the past three days we’ve covered what feels like every square metre of the place, often in the ‘heat of the day’, looking for these rare birds and, as I write this blog, I’m delighted to say we’ve seen them all – we’ve also seen a host of superb ‘supporting cast’ birds!

Sign to the recently established Spoon-billed Sandpiper site

The first of the rare wader trilogy – Asian Dowitcher. They’re the shorter, spotty ones – mostly looking right!

Nordmann’s Greenshank

…and the star of the show Spoon-billed Sandpiper. There are thought to be fewer than 200 pairs left in the world and the site at Pak Thale is critical to their survival. Congratulations to the Thai birders and authorities for protecting their habitat!

One of the many ‘bonus birds’ – the bird on the right is Milky Stork – a scarce bird in Thailand.

Sunset over the Wat at Laem Pak Bia

First taste of Thailand

Dec2

Monday 3rd Dec., early morning, Neil & Eunice’s apartment. Spent the day yesterday acclimatising – it’s pretty hot and reasonably humid here, but not unpleasant. Domestic morning catching up on e-mails, Christmas/wedding planning (Joe & Gabi’s wedding blessing actually) and washing. Went out birding in the afternoon to a couple of sites south of Bangkok around Bang Poo, coastal mangrove, fish ponds and wetlands. Excellent locations but under imminent threat of development – the story of wetlands across the world I guess. Saw about 60 species, mostly new stuff but with a bit of overlap with Australia and Britain – weird! In the evening went to a local restaurant for some lovely authentic cuisine – £30 for six, drinks included. No wonder Thailand is such a popular holiday destination.

Just a few bird pics as a warm up. Eastern Black-tailed Godwit with Black-winged Stilt

Golden-bellied Gerygone

A quarrelsome group of White-vented Myna

Asian Openbill flying to roost

Sunset over…an Oriental Reed Warbler!

Touristy things today – trip to the Grand Palace et al so a few ‘holiday snaps’ in due course!

Fur ‘n’ feathers – Australian finale

Dec1

One of the slightly frustrating aspects of our Great World Birding Adventure itinerary has been that, having spent a week around Darwin on the north coast of Australia -well on our way to our final destination of Thailand, we had to fly four hours back to Sydney to pick up our international flight to Bangkok. So yesterday we spent nearly half the nine and a half hour flight flying the breadth of Australia, over Darwin, to Thailand! All this necessitated an over night in Sydney so, having been there before, we knew that the Botanical Gardens (apart from being very beautiful in themselves) were a birding hot spot and a potential location for Powerful Owl.

Thus we were up early for a wholesome breakfast and a good meander around the park. Nothing of great note on our way to the cafe – it was raining quite heavily at the time, just the usual city species like Chestnut-banded Rail, Dusky Moorhen, Little Pied Cormorant. At the cafe I engaged a friendly park ranger in conversation, who informed me that if we went to the trees, close to Government House, there was a fair chance of an ‘owl encounter’. We strolled up to the spot she kindly marked on the map and there, high in the tree was indeed a splendid Powerful Owl – complete with dead Possum in it’s talons! Only problem was that, partly sceptical of the possibility of seeing such a creature in the centre of Sydney and not wanting to look too conspicuous carrying my long lens, I didn’t take my camera! I ‘hot hoof’ back to the hotel for the camera but the result was worth it – hope you agree!

Dawn is just breaking here in Bang Na, the Bangkok suburb where Neil & Eunice have their lovely apartment…got to get the Thai bird list started!

Top End – photo gallery

Nov30

Pictures of a few of the superb birds seen during our six day visit to Darwin and the Top End.

OK, so I know it’s common but it’s still gorgeous – Rainbow Lorikeet

Not so common but equally as gorgeous – Rainbow Pitta. One of five seen in Howard Springs Nature Park

Australian Bustard – seen near Cooinda

Now that’s a pretty pigeon – Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove

One of several new honeyeaters seen on the trip, this one is Red-headed – seen at East Point boardwalk

and this is Banded Honeyeater, near Edith Falls

We had a bit of a finch fest – this is Masked Finch

Long-tailed Finch

and Crimson Finch. All fairly common in the ‘triangle’

A few more of the Yellow Waters specialities. Comb-crested Jacana

Black Bittern – also seen at Edith Falls

Black-necked Stork or Jabiru

‘Guardian of the waters’ – a male White-bellied Sea Eagle

and finally…..another superb, splendid parrot – this time Hooded, seen in the Water Gardens at Pine Creek

Off to Thailand this morning to meet up with Neil and Eunice for a ten day Thai bird fest – or my money back Neil!

Top End is Top Notch….

Nov30

Friday, 30 November. Sitting in Darwin airport, waiting for our flight back to Sydney, having just spent six fabulous days birding around Darwin and the Top End. We hired a camper van and drove the 650k ‘triangle’ between Darwin, Kakadu and Pine Creek, using the Niven McCrie site guide as ‘our bible’, with some excellent supplementary advice from Mick Roderick, Hunter Bird Observers Club. We did most of the main birding sites but were frustrated that a number of them were either closed or had restricted access because of increased croc and snake activity! We did manage to do the Yellow Waters dawn cruise and visit the traditional cultural site at Nuralangie Rocks (Burrunggui & Anbangbang). We saw around 150 species (we’re still sorting through the pictures to decide the id of about thirty!) and in the process topped 300 for the Australian leg of the tour.

First, a couple of scenic shots – Yellow Waters, taken on the dawn boat cruise

Traditional art work on the rocks at Anbangbang

one large rock sat on another…..

and a hungry crocodile…

Pink water lily – Yellow Waters

Due to imminent flight departure I’ll post the bird pictures tonight in a separate gallery. But as an appetiser, try this little beauty!

Azure Kingfisher…..with more to follow!

Major Mitchell’s Mallee Melee

Nov24

Saturday 24th November, Wentworth Falls. Returned to our Blue Mountains base on Thursday evening after a 48 hour dash to mallee country, a particular type of native scrub, around Lake Cargellico, towards the western boundary of NSW – a round trip of just 1250k! But with plenty of potential Aussie ticks on offer it was a ‘must do’. In the event we saw 150 species, many of which were new for various members of the group – even Dan managed to clock up half a dozen new birds! Highlights included Superb Parrot and Red-backed Kingfisher en route, Painted, Pied ,White-fronted and Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Shy Heathwren, Southern Scrub-Robin, Crimson Chat, Crested Bellbird, Spotted Bowerbird, Gilbert’s Whistler, Black-eared Cuckoo, Chestnut- backed Quail-Thrush and Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo. On our way back we called in to Charles Stuart University campus to add a rare NSW species to Dan’s list – a European Greenfinch!

What a superb Superb Parrot

Mistletoebird

One of the ‘difficult to get’ honeyeaters – this is Painted

Masked Woodswallow

A ‘Wedgie’ – Wedge-tailed Eagle

another of the ‘difficult to get’ honeyeaters – this time it’s White-fronted

A real skulker – Chestnut-backed Quail-Thrush

..and an even more difficult species – the aptly named Shy Heathwren (hence the poor photo!)

Gilbert’s Whistler – yet another skulker

A real surprise – Red-backed Kingfisher, found whilst looking for Cockatiels

and the ‘piece de resistance’ – Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo!

We’ve just been enjoying a couple of days chilling with the family, including Rob & Gi, up from Melbourne for the weekend. Tomorrow we’re up early and off to the ‘Top End’ for some intensive birding!

Birding down under….Cook’sing on gas (now with additional photos)

Nov20

Tuesday 20th November. Arrived in Australia last Tuesday afternoon and spent the first three nights at the delightful Old Brush cabins near Mulbring…real ‘bush’ place with an outside dunny and resident spiders! A nice combination of ‘family time’ with Dan, Morgan and the boys – Sam, Jonah & Sol, and a bit of bush birding. By the time we came to head for Port Stephens, our next stop, I’d added five new species to my Australian bird list, including the ‘must see’ Regent Honeyeater.

Port Stephens, on the Tomaree peninsular, was our next stop and the departure point for our next pelagic. Family time on Saturday and then the big boat trip – could it live up to the high expectations created by the very successful Chilean pelagic. The short answer is ‘yes’, with three species of albatross, two storm petrels, three petrels, five shearwaters, three jaegers, two terns and a penguin, it was awesome! Five more additions to the Aussie list.

We’re now in a cabin in the Blue Mountains, with a planned trip ‘out west’ tomorrow and Thursday – meeting up with brother Rob and sis in law Gi for a family weekend, prior to going up to Darwin and the ‘top end’ on Sunday.

The cabin at Old Brush

First new species for Australia – Green Catbird

and now the ‘must see’ Regent Honeyeater – a seriously threatened species!

Chestnut-rumped Heathwren

Painted Snipe – a very difficult bird to find in Australia

and to complete the ‘quintet’ – a Banded Stilt, rare on the east coast. It’s the white bird looking left in the centre of the picture

A shot of our pelagic as it heads towards the ocean

First pelagic species, Arctic Jaeger

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Great-winged Petrel

Black Petrel – similar to White-chinned and Westland Petrel, seen in Chile

Wilson’s Petrel

A lovely White-faced Storm Petrel

The amazing, spectacular, Wandering (Snowy) Albatross

Shy Albatross – rather like Salvin’s, seen in Chile

Flesh-footed Shearwater

..and the ‘jewel in the crown’, Cook’s Petrel – only one seen on average a year in the whole of Australia!

And on the way back, at a distance this bird excited imaginations as possible Spectacled Petrel – turned out to be just an aberrant Wedgie!

That’s all for now, hopefully some more new Aussie birds to blog once we get back from our trip to mallee country.

The (Chilean) Lake District

Nov16

After a few days ‘chilling on Chiloe’ we headed north up Routa 5, the Pan American Highway, for a rondevue in Pucon with the lads, who were heading south for Joe’s stag do. Pucon is in the Chilean Lake District, where the scenery of lake, forest and volcanos is spectacular. Pucon (probably better pronounced ‘puke – on’ from the boys perspective!) was chosen as the stag venue, not so much for the views though as for the casino and adventure activities. It suited us fine because it is in the heart of nothofagus forest country and home to some pretty special birds. Our comfortable cabana was on the edge of town, we stunning views of Volcano Villarrica, which towers over the town. It’s an active volcano and on a good night you can see it glowing! As one of the many adventure activities available, the boys decided to join a guided climb to the top – rather them than me! We settled for more gentle strolls around the foothills, although we did mange a pretty gruelling ten miler in the Huerquehue National Park on one day. We split the remaining journey to Santiago into two days and stayed over night at Salta de Laja, with it’s impressive waterfalls. We arrived back in Santiago on Thursday afternoon, prior to Friday’s wedding and stayed at the well appointed and located Times Apartments in Los Condes.

Volcano Villarrica, on the approach to Pucon.