Cambodia August 2013, Angkor Wat and Tonle Sap

Unfortunately I spent only four days in this lovely country and my time here was mostly spent more or less twitching Angkor Wat. I did not do much birding, but still visited two sites of interest and maybe this post will still be useful to somebody.

We did two days of sightseeing in Angkor, visiting a large array of temples. Around the temples we still saw some birds as the complex is located in decent dry dipterocarp forest. Birds observed included Cotton Pygmy Goose, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Red-breasted Parakeet and Bronze-winged Jacana. The best area for birdwatching within the Angkor Wat boundaries is however the small patch of good dry dipterocarp forest at Kbal Spean. Unfortunately we visited this area during the middle of the day saw therefore few birds, amongst them: Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Black-naped Monarch, Great Iora and Pin-striped Tit-babbler. This area could prove productive for Neglected Nuthatch has been sighted here.

On the last day we did a boat ride to the "flooded forest" at Tonle Sap. At first we wanted to visit Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary but according to http://www.samveasna.org/ are the key species (Greater Adjutant, Lesser Adjutant, Spot-billed Pelican and Milky Stork) not around during this time of year. Thus we refrained from the expensive boat ride ($110 per person) and made a cheaper boat ride. This still resulted in a distant sighting of several Spot-billed Pelicans, many Black Bitterns, Oriental Pratincoles, some Darters and Painted Storks and a single Black-headed Ibis. 

"Flooded forest" at Tonle Sap. Picture made by Anna van der Kaaden

Like I said, my "twitch" of Angkor Wat did not do this country justice birdingwise and I would love to come back and do a proper trip to see all specialities.