Still some more photos from my trip to Kaeng Krachan during May 27-28. Apart from the spectacular broadbills in the earlier post, there were lots of other interesting birds. I even got 2 lifers! The first lifer being a shy and scarce Ratchet-tailed Treepie (Temnurus temnurus). Kaeng Krachan National Park is the only place where you can find this bird in Thailand. It has a really strange and interesting distribution, being found in southern China and Vietnam, then skips the whole eastern and central parts of Thailand and just pops up in the westernmost part of the country. It was one of the most surprising discovery when the bird was first sighted several decades ago at Pha Noen Thung summit.
The elusive Ratchet-tailed Treepie
Those are really unique tail feathers.
Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher
Another lifer of mine was the extremely colourful Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca erithaca), formerly split as Black-backed Kingfisher. Even though it is not a difficult bird, I've always somehow missed it. This time, I got information from other birders that a lone kingfisher often came to take bath at the second stream close to the place where I took photos of the Black-naped Monarches. Late evening of May 28, I went to the specific spot where the kingfisher was found and after about 15 minutes of waiting, a tiny orange ball came diving into the stream making a big splash and rapidly flew back into the bush. There it was, finally, my first ever Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. Even though the lighting was horrible and I had to push ISO up to 3200, it was still memorable.
Parking near the third stream
Kaeng Krachan NP is also well-known for butterflies.
Black Giant Squirrel visiting fruiting tree
One of the many Blue-throated Barbets
Subadult Ashy Bulbul
At Pha Noeun Thung summit, there was a big fruiting tree right in front of the restaurant. I enjoyed watching a good variety of birds that came visiting the tree. Most of them were bulbuls; Black-crested, Mountain, Grey-eyed and Ashy. There were lots of Blue-throated Barbets, as well as few Great Barbets. Asian Fairy Bluebirds, Greater Green Leafbirds and Blue-winged Leafbirds also occasionally showed up. But all these were too difficult to photograph as the leaves were so thick and the light was not good.
Back at the second stream where I photographed a pair of Silver-breasted Broadbills, some photographers were enjoying taking photos of a pair of Greater Flamebacks (Chrysocolaptes lucidus guttacristatus). They were lured down to feed on a large fallen log by the roadside. The female did put up a really nice show, but the male was just too shy. It kept staying close to the ground behind the log, so I couldn't get any photo of it. Anyway, the female is colourful enough!
Female Greater Flameback
I like the pattern on its underparts.
As the name implies, its lower back and rump are bright scarlet.
A short video clip of the female bird while feeding on the log
I got a chance to visit Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petchaburi Province during late May with few of my birding friends. It's been more than 5 years since my last visit to this famous birding site. Located almost in the centre of the country, it is where birds of northern Thailand meet birds of the south. Total number of species recorded within the park has already exceeded 420 species out of roughly 1,000 species recorded in Thailand. No further point is needed to prove that it is one of the best places for birding. April-May is probably the best month for birding at Kaeng Krachan as well, as it is breeding season for most birds. One of the star bird families at Kaeng Krachan is the extremely delightful Broadbills. Kaeng Krachan offers the highest variety of broadbill species in Thailand. The easy ones
which can be found really easily during the nesting season are Silver-breasted Broadbill (Serilophus lunatus) and Long-tailed Broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousiae).
Long-tailed Broadbill
Male
Silver-breasted Broadbill
Female
Silver-breasted Broadbill
Aren't these birds amazing? They're like harlequins of the forest. All broadbills have stunning appearance, either the colours or patterns. It is guaranteed that you wouldn't miss at least the Silver-breasted Broadbill, if you're visiting Kaeng Krachan during the breeding season. Their nests can be found constantly hanging above the road even right after you passed the entrance. They nest all the way from the gate up to the 3rd stream. After that, it's the even more striking Long-tailed Broadbill's turn. The Long-tailed relative prefers higher altitude, building nests along the road up to Pha Noeun Thung summit.
Male Silver-breasted Broadbill
A cute curious look
Another curious look
A video showing both the male and female bird
Silver-breasted Broadbills with Great Orange Tip
Banded Broadbill fledgling
There was a pair of Silver-breasted Broadbill which were nesting right on the roadside. The nest was built hanging from a lower bush even lower than eye-level. The chicks seemed to hatch very recently, since parent birds were still not very actively feeding. Just about a hundred metres away, there's also another nest hanging right above the road. This nest was much more active. Probably the chicks will fledge very soon. I observed parent birds bringing back different kinds of preys including a large and colourful Great Orange Tip butterfly. While I was busyily taking photos of the Silver-breasted Broadbills, a loud and alarming call came from the canopy. I was happy to see that it was a pair of the more canopy-dwelling Banded Broadbills (Eurylaimus javanicus). After a while, I realised that they were calling for their chick. A fledgling was sitting quietly right above my head. Even though it was not as colourful as the adults, it was extremely cute.
Notice the yellow ear tufts
Occasionally cocks its tail when alarmed (?)
Bringing back nesting materials
Profile shot
Click to see how cute it is!
Nesting right above the road
This nest actually fell from the original branch and was tied back to the lower branch by birders.
Amazing how the birds were still using it!
On our way to Pha Noen Thung summit, we observed 2 active Long-tailed Broadbill nests and several more probably abandoned nests just along the road. It is probably my favourite species of broadbills. It is very cartoonish with a black helmet-like pattern on its head, provoking the nick name 'The Helmet' among Thai birders. As you can see from the photos above, the nests were built really close to the road. I believe that these birds intended to use the openness of the road and noises from the passing cars as protections from natural predators which most likely prefer to stay away from human. The nest in the lowest photo actually fell from the original branch, probably by the rain storm, and was tied up to the lower branch by some birders. Quite incredibly, the birds still came back and used it!
This is going to be the last post for waders photos that I took during my short visit to the Gulf of Thailand in early April. I only had few hours in the morning for birding at Laem Pak Bia. The only target for my last day was the beautiful Red-necked Phalarope which is a scarce bird in Thailand. You can see photos of them here. However, I didn't only take photos of the phalaropes but I also took lots of photos of other waders that were feeding nearby. I really had fun taking photos of them in the nice early morning light. The most numerous species in that area was the smart Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis). They really do look better in breeding plumage.
Marsh Sandpiper in breeding plumage
There was quite a good number of them.
Some birds still hadn't gone through much of the moult.
The morning started as I spotted few Javan Pond Herons in stunning breeding plumage perching by the roadside. I took few photos of them, then I spotted another pond heron hiding in the bush nearby. I was a bit surprised to find that it's an Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii), a scarce but occasionally found bird at Laem Pak Bia. The bird was still going through a moult from non-breeding to breeding plumage.
Indian Pond Heron moulting into breeding plumage
Male Black-winged Stilt
Female Black-winged Stilt
Note the brown mantle of the female
Flock of Painted Storks with few Cattle Egrets
Apart from the Red-necked Phalarope and the Indian Pond Heron, there was nothing quite special. But I did enjoy taking photos of common birds a lot, as the lighting and the weather were extremely fine. It was so relaxing to sit there taking photos of small birds that were walking all over the place in front of me. I even enjoyed taking photos of the abundant Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus), a species I'd never thought that I'd take photos of them seriously until I went to Japan. Most of them were moving in pairs. Male bird has completely slightly glossy black wings with completely clean white head, while the female has black wings with brownish mantle and greyish mottle on the head and hind neck.
Non-breeding Marsh Sandpiper
Love it when it fluffs up its feathers.
Feeding on the same kind of artemia as the phalaropes
I really like its spotted breeding plumage.
There were few other species of waders apart from the Marsh Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope that were feeding within the same area. These were a single Sanderling in non-breeding plumage, few Common and Spotted Redshanks, a Common Greenshank and some Curlew Sandpipers. The Sanderling was my favourite. It kept frightfully running towards me. Probably it wanted to forage near the place where I was sitting but it was also afraid of my existence. Anyway, it eventually came foraging right in front of me. Its tiny body almost completely filled the frame.
The unusually tame Sanderling
Shame it was still in non-breeding plumage.
Common Greenshank moulting into breeding plumage
Common Redshank in non-breeding plumage
Another shot of the Black-winged Stilts (male in front with female in the background)
Curlew Sandpiper starting to moult into breeding plumage
