Daily Itinerary

3^rd July Arrived very early in Bangkok where Klaus from the Khao Yai Garden Lodge met us. From there we were driven by Klaus to Khao Yai whilst birding along the way. This turned out to be very worthwhile as we saw a number of species that we did not see again. On the outskirts of Ayutthaya we found an area of waterlogged agricultural land with large numbers (up to 400) of Asian Openbills plus Oriental Pratincole, Red-wattled Lapwing, Javan Pond-heron, Darter (now a rare species in Thailand) and so on. After a revitalising afternoon nap in our very comfortable but reasonably priced room at the lodge we headed off to the national park, first to see a few million Wrinkle-lipped Bats exiting a cave near the entrance and then for some spotlighting in the park proper. Most interesting birds were a Peregrine Falcon looking for a bit of a feed and a Blue Whistling-thrush hunting insects inside the cave. Spotlighting revealed plenty of Sambar and Barking Deer and a Large Indian Civet plus a green python and red-and-black striped Elapid snake. Unfortunately, the ‘compulsory’ rangers are less than interested in their jobs so consequently didn’t think it was worth the effort of stopping for the other punters to have a look at the civet!

Birding highlights: As above plus Long-tailed Shrike, White-throated Kingfisher, Indian Roller

Asian Openbill photo by Chris Lester

4^th July Early start in order to be in the park at dawn. The only accommodation within the park is a couple of vermin-infested bungalows and a couple of camp sites, thus we were forced to make the long drive of about 30 km every morning which became a bit wearisome after the fourth day. We were erroneously informed on more than one occasion that nobody camps in Thailand – this is NOT true! If we had known how good the camping is in Thailand’s national parks we would have simply hired a car for three weeks and taken our tents. Easy! Anyway, back to the birding. Walked the treacherous concrete loop trail behind the headquarters – very quiet. I say treacherous because after it was laid, the concrete obviously very quickly became covered in algae and slime and is now as slippery as hell – BEWARE! Returned to HQ for an excellent breakfast of curried pork and rice then headed north down the main road to trail 7 as far as the river which was uncrossable. A Grey Wagtail on the river was an early arrival to Thailand. Leeches everywhere. Then walked the loop from trail 9, past the salt lick lookout to trail 6 back to headquarters. Bought the best map I have seen for KY, contained within a brilliant little book on the mammals of Khao Yai, at the ‘souvenir’ shop – highly recommended. Hitched a ride back to the lodge.

Birding highlights: Oriental Pied Hornbill, Grey Wagtail, Chinese Francolin, White-crowned Forktail, Orange-breasted Trogon, Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Black-crested Bulbul (race johnsoni)

5^th July Another early start, this time foiled by a very large fallen tree, which totally blocked the road and brought down powerlines. So we walked up from about km 10 for a couple of hours. The highlight of the walk was a family group of three White-handed Gibbons feeding in a very tall emergent tree with four Great Hornbills. A tiny baby gibbon was playing in the branches about 50 metres above the ground with his mother’s foot protectively wrapped around his waist. Magic! A couple of mixed flocks added further to our list. Mid morning we eventually arrived at the camp ground on the Haew Suwat Road (km 45~50) from where we walked along the road then returned via trail 4. Hitched back to HQ then birded the excellent trail 6 again.

Birding highlights: Long-tailed Broadbill, Puff-throated Babbler, Large Woodshrike, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Moustached Barbet

6^th July On the way to the park stopped to look at a flock of Red-breasted Parakeets which habitually roost in a dead tree opposite a small service station. Again birded along Haew Suwat Road - very quiet. Overall, we found the birding rather slower than expected no doubt due to the time of year. It appears that we were again slightly unlucky as far as weather conditions were concerned - the Bangkok Post reported that Thailand was in the grips of a heat wave! After breakfast, walked trail 3 from the camp ground through excellent forest to trail 1 and the HQ. A long and very difficult trail to follow with plenty of voracious leeches.

Birding highlights: Silver Pheasant, Green-billed Malkoha, Laced Woodpecker, Banded Kingfisher

7^th July Drove with Klaus to Wat Tampraphrosit in search of Limestone Wren-babbler. Did the return walk up the trail/river to the orchard area in search of Limestone Wren-babblers and Blue-winged Pittas. Dipped on the babblers but got lucky with the pitta! The temple itself is a rather gaudy modern job but the setting amongst vertical limestone cliffs is out of this world.

Spotlighting without a ranger is not allowed in Khao Yai, so that evening we tried the road to the bat cave, which is outside the park. No luck with owls but a Slow Loris more than made up for that! Incidentally, Slow Loris has the brightest eye-shine I have ever seen.

Birding highlights: Blue-winged Pitta - 2 birds, one in the stream bed, one perched high in a tree, Golden-fronted Leafbird

8^th July Travelled from Pak Chong to Khon Kaen by train. Cheap and excellent! Stayed at the very average but cheap Sasawad Hotel, arranged hire car and walked around the city. Not much to see!

Birding highlights: Watercock - in a paddy field, seen from train

9^th July Picked up hire car and drove to Nam Nao National Park. Driving was a lot easier and less frenetic than we expected – a pleasant surprise. Arrived at Nam Nao after a pleasant 3 hour drive through paddy fields then forest covered mountains. Luckily for us a bungalow was available for one night (when it rained seriously all night) after this we hired a tent. Nam Nao turned out to be arguably the best place we visited with heaps of birds and beautiful forest. The entrance road travels through sparse pine forest with a grassy understorey that was rich in avifauna at the time of our visit. Further down past the headquarters, the trails take you through stands of superb old-growth rainforest with some of the largest dipterocarps I’ve seen. Similar in some respects to Khao Yai but in others very different, certainly well worth a visit. In the afternoon we birded around the picnic area and a short trail leading off from here. Spotlit in evening along road, found Giant Red Flying Squirrel and Barking Deer. Our efforts were unfortunately curtailed by rain.

Birding highlights: White-crowned Forktail - near picnic ground, Ashy Drongo

10^th July Walked the entrance road in the morning, plenty of mixed flocks and other birdlife. After lunch at one of four eating places at the headquarters, birded a long loop around the river and ridge trails. (We found the lack of an adequate map at Nam Nao to be a minor disadvantage). Came across a gathering of six Silver-breasted Broadbills, which seemed rather unusual. That night we camped – no rain but very noisy neighbours. At dusk another Flying Squirrel glided approximately 100 m across the campground – very large and impressive!

Birding highlights: Yellow-eyed Babbler, White-hooded Babbler, Eurasian Jay, Asian Barred Owlet, Great Barbet, Grey-capped Woodpecker, White-browed Piculet, Blue-eared Barbet, Brown Prinia

11^th July Concentrated on river trail in A.M. Dusky Leaf-monkeys seemed quite common. In the P.M. we drove to a cave 10-km west of park entrance, not worth the effort. Giant Black Squirrel seen near headquarters and on river trail.

Birding highlights: Red-billed Scimitar Babbler, Orange-headed Thrush – on river trail in a small gully, Violet Cuckoo, Small Minivet, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Sultan Tit

12^th July Walked the first few kilometres along trail to the salt lick near entrance. Totally dead! Departed for Khon Kaen via Nam Phong National Park. This park looked very interesting but unfortunately we could not find any way of gaining entry. We found later that it has been newly declared so probably hasn’t been set up for visitors yet. In the future I’m sure it would be well worth a look as it forms a contiguous band of forest with a couple of other parks to the south.

Caught overnight bus to Chiang Mai – 12 hours of unadulterated discomfort and terror…

Birding highlights: Golden-crested Myna - two on entrance road

13^th July Arrived Chiang Mai at 0700, picked up hire car and drove to Doi Suthep then up to Doi Inthanon. Stayed in the very spartan park bungalows in lovely pine forest surrounds. A tip – take your own bedding if you plan to stay in bungalows. Birded along the main road and dropped into Mr. Daeng’s to read logbook. It seems that nobody comes to Thailand at this time of year!

Birding highlights: Great Tit, Green Magpie

14^th July Stopped to look at Black-tailed Crake feeding on an area of open grass beside the swamp at the camp ground (only seemed to come out after rain). Birded Summit and Km 37 jeep trail near checkpoint. The summit was very slow, no sign of supposedly common Rufous-throated Partridges. We found the jeep trail to be the most interesting area of relatively intact rainforest.

Birding highlights: Burmese Shrike – about km 37, White-browed Shortwing - common on summit trail, Chestnut-capped Laughing-thrush, Chestnut-tailed Minla, Rufous-winged Fulvetta, Slaty-backed Forktail - in stream at end of jeep trail

15^th July Birded km 13 trail south of bridge, which was extremely quiet, then along the trail that follows the creek north of the bridge. At this altitude the forest is very different; the dry dipterocarp that has been significantly altered by the actions of humans over the years. If this was a good spot for Black-backed Forktail it isn’t any more! It seems to have been totally destroyed by the hill tribe’s slash and burn farming techniques. The creek was empty of water, which seemed very strange considering the time of year and excellent water flow in all the other waterbeds. I think it's been diverted for agricultural purposes. Additionally, it was full of cow shit and hoof prints. The amount of human activity in this ‘national park’ has to be seen to be believed. There is a constant stream of people on mopeds leaving the park with large baskets full of mushrooms and other products of the forest. Fires are burning everywhere and we found some of the animals, particularly leaf-monkeys, to be extremely wary of humans.

Walked the summit and jeep trails again in the afternoon. Encountered a Siberian Weasel climbing down a tree at the entrance to the summit track.

Birding highlights: Rufous-winged Buzzard - at km 27 in a clearing, Brown-throated Treecreeper, Speckled Piculet, Rufous-backed Sibia, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch – all in a mixed flock on the jeep track.

16^th July Walked Mae Chom road and jeep trail in the morning, then ventured down in to the gully off Mae Chom road. A trail leading down to the gully can be found approximately 300 m from the start of the road just opposite a concrete rubbish bin near two road signs. Had an exciting encounter with a Yellow-throated Martin on the jeep track – what a superb animal! In the afternoon we made the rather long and arduous climb to the Bin Huong caves. To our chagrin we found a couple of local fellows stuffing what appeared to be bats into sacks. When we saw their guns (& how unfriendly they looked) we decided not to take the risk and were forced to retrace our steps without seeing the inside of what appeared to be a very interesting cave that purportedly harbours at least three species of bat. You can imagine how we felt, especially considering we were within the boundaries of a national park.

Birding highlights: Eyebrowed Wren-babbler, Pygmy Wren-babbler, Streaked Spiderhunter, Slaty-bellied Tesia - all off the Mae Chom road

17^th July After a last ditch effort to see Blue Magpie (ending in disappointment) we headed back to Chiang Mai, booked our train ticket to Bangkok then headed up to Doi Ang Khang for three days. Doi Ang Khang is an area about 150 km north of Chiang Mai that has been dubbed ‘Thailand’s little Switzerland’ due to it’s pleasant climate and stunning scenery amid high mountains right on the Burmese border. A number of Himalayan species that are difficult to observe elsewhere in Thailand can be found here. Birded along bitumen road on ridge on entrance road to Ban Khom. Observed a single Giant Nuthatch in a pine tree just off this on a donkey trail.

Birding highlights: Red-faced Liocichla, Giant Nuthatch, Crested Finchbill - quite common

18^th July Birded along bitumen road below checkpoint, then the traditional Giant Nuthatch spot in the morning, in the afternoon along another road north of the village. The nuthatch site is now a base for the Thai border patrol and as far as we could tell, most of the pine stands have been wiped out for a helicopter pad and to allow them to spot the enemy as they approach! We had an interesting experience here. We pulled up to the rickety old gate, braved the rather vicious-looking barking dogs, yelled out to a couple of unfriendly-looking blokes that we wanted to look at birds (nok). They seemed to know what we were on about and called over another guy, who looked like he might have been the commander (no-one was in uniform). This guy spoke a tiny bit of English and managed to communicate to us that we could walk down the steep hill and go through the gate to the ridge where the nuthatch is supposed to occur. We headed off but a moment later he came chasing after us waving a pair of binoculars and came along for the walk with us. There were no birds to be seen, but we did get an education regarding Thai-Myanmar relationships. He gesticulated over to a chain of very high forest-clad mountains and said ‘Khun Sa’ a number of times then ‘guns’, ‘hiding’ etc. At the helipad we were told we couldn’t go any further and anyway we were starting to feel a bit like sitting ducks, so we decided it was time to give up on the ridge and get outa there! Not that we were ever in any danger (?) but disconcerting none-the-less.

Birding highlights: White-browed Laughingthrush, Mountain Bamboo-partridge - common but more often heard than seen, we flushed 8 or 9 from an orchard, saw another by waiting very patiently for it to cross a narrow path to get to it's mate.

19^th July Walked a few of the donkey trails. Later in the afternoon we actually went right up to the border further north at Nor Lae and waved to the Burmese border guards!

Birding highlights: Asian Emerald Cuckoo

20^th July Birded around Doi Ang Khang in the morning then headed back to Chiang Mai down a new road that follows the Myanmar border for a couple of hundred kilometres.

Birding highlights: Grey Treepie, Cinnamon Bittern - a number flying across the road and in ditches

21^st July Looked around Chiang Mai, a very pleasant city built around an old wall dating from the Ayutthaya dynasty era. Took the overnight train to Bangkok.

Birding highlights: Little Green Bee-eater - many seen from train

22^nd July Arrived in Bangkok at 0600, took taxi to Southern bus terminal, bus to Phetburi then tuktuk to Kaeng Krachan National Park. To our disappointment we found that the park was too far away to visit that afternoon. Organised a car for the following morning.

Birding highlights: Black Bittern, Greater Necklaced Laughing-thrush, Hair-crested Drongo - in grounds of headquarters

23^rd July Departed from HQ at 0500, stopped for driver to eat breakfast (very unimpressed) then drove and drove, at last reaching the park at about 0700. A ridiculous situation having the HQ some 30 km from the actual park. If only we’d taken our tent…The park is magnificent, it is the largest in Thailand and has only one road through it. Unfortunately, for some reason – again probably bad timing – it was almost devoid of birds. The birding logbook at HQ was full of amazing lists from other times of the year making the situation doubly disappointing. That said, we did some very interesting species – unfortunately, not the Ratchet-tailed Treepie (though possibly heard).

Birding highlights: Dusky Broadbill, Black-throated Laughingthrush

24^th July Another early start to get into the park before the heat forced the birds underground. Birded from km 25 back down to 18. Returned to Bangkok by bus in the afternoon then spent 3 hours in a Bangkok traffic jam trying to get to our hotel. Joy!

Birding highlights: Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, Brown-backed Needletail, Yellow-vented Pigeon, Grey-faced Buzzard

25^th July A bit of shopping in Bangkok.

26^th July Departed Bangkok 0600, arrived Melbourne in evening.