Vietnam August – October 2013, Bach Ma National Park

This site, known for several range restricted specialities, is not for the easily frustrated. Most birds are shy, elusive and hard to see.  Moreover the logistics within the park are not ideal for birdwatchers.  The park is situated 45 km south of Hue and the gateway town to the park, Cau Hai can be easily reached by public transport. 4 km further are the headquarters of the park, where apparently accommodation is available, but requesting this was most bewildering to the staff so we stayed at the “villa” at KM 17. There is only one road within in the park and all trails start from here. This area can be divided into three areas: low, mid and high altitude forest, of which the first and the last are the most interesting for birdwatchers.

We birded four days in Bach Ma, or at least we tried, but lady luck was not on our side. Most of the  time the weather was dominated by dense fog and heavy rains for a typhoon was raging on the South Chinese Sea... The consequence was that only one day was invested in birding the lower elevations and the rest of the time we birded at higher elevations. The biggest speciality at higher elevations is the range-restricted and near-threatened Indochinese Wren-babbler (formerly called Short-tailed Scimitar-babbler), which was seen twice (one pair at KM 18 and one pair on the Rhododendron trail). The main road between KM 16 and KM 19 is good for huge mixed species flocks which held Sultan Tit (ssp. gayeti), Indochinese Yuhina (formerly part of the Striated Yuhina complex), Ratchet-tailed Treepie (once), Indochinese Green Magpie (once), Black-throated and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, White-browed Scimitar-babbler, Fork-tailed Sunbird, Silver-eared Mesia, Orange-bellied and Blue-winged Leafbird and Red-headed Trogon. Huge flocks (>200) of Pin-tailed Parrotfinches were also observed. Around the “villa” Blue-rumped Pitta, Red-collared Woodpecker and Rufous-throated Partridge remained heard-only. This area can also provide productive night birding, for we heard Hodgon´s Frogmouth, Mountain Scops Owl and Brown Wood Owl. Black Eagle and Mountain Hawk Eagle were observed soaring overhead, whilst Crested Serpent Eagle could join the ever growing list species that remained heard only. Interesting mammals included the rare Red-shanked Douc Langur, Southern White-cheeked Gibbon, Pallas´ Squirrel and Maritime Striped Squirrel. The park also hosts the rare and recently discovered Saola, but chances of seeing this beautiful antelope are equal to seeing a unicorn...

Indochinese Wren-babbler (Jabouilleia danjoui)

Ratchet-tailed Treepie (Temnurus temnurus)

Part of a huge Pin-tailed Parrotfinch (Erythrura prasina) flock

Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malayensis)

Mountain Hawk Eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis)

On the last day the weather was more friendly and I drove down with Nhan, the parks only bird guide (0914052575), on a motorbike (350.000 VND). The Pheasant trail is the only trail giving acces to the lower elevations, which hosts a whole bag of goodies. However the trail is situated at KM 8, thus 9  km from the “villa” and 5 km from the park headquarters. Obviously one day was not enough to hear Crested Argus (I don´t know of any Western birder that has seen this gigantic, but elusive bird). Strangely enough it was three years ago Nhan heard Crested Argus… Are they getting even more rare? One day was also not enough to see or hear the endemic Annam Partridge (keep in mind that this taxon may prove not to be a valid species after all). However just two Sultan Tits (ssp. gayeti), one Blue-rumped Pitta sighting and another calling individual appeared to be not a good catch to me. The Bar-bellied Pitta´s didn´t give a peep! We also did not walk all the way to the river at the end of the trail, for Nhan said this area to be not good birding-wise, but later I learned that this area might yield Blyth´s Kingfisher. Furthermore we were lucky enough to stumble upon a Sun Bear in the afternoon so we got the hell out of there before the afternoon activity kicked in… Red-shanked Douc Langurs were also observed along the Pheasant trail. The Trees around the entrance gate used to be a reliable spot for Brown Fish Owls, but the trees were cut so we also missed this species. Apparently one can still see them in the evening around the headquarters, but we were not there at that time of the day.
 

A crappy record shot of the endemic gayeti subspecies of Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea) which might be elevated to species levels

My advice for this park: Do not go in this time of year, invest much time in the Pheasant trail, particularly in the early hours of the day, but do not forget the higher elevations and bring your own transport.

Vietnam August - Oktober 2013, Con Dao National Park

Situated in azure waters and clad in primairy evergreen and mangrove forests, Con Dao is a pristine tropical archipelago that is barely visited by Western tourists and even less by birders. However it hosts some specialities that only breed here within Vietnam like Pied Imperial Pigeon, Nicobar Pigeon and Brown Booby. Apart from the birds it is also an important breeding ground for sea turtles, making it highly interesting as an ecotourism destination. The island can be reached by a one hour flight from Saigon (70$) or by boat from Vung Tau.

We spent three nights on the biggest island, Con Son, and one on Bai Canh island. Accomodation on Con Son is widely available but on Bai Canh you can only sleep at the field station of the conservation workers. We arranged our visit to Bai Canh island at the national park office for 1,645,000 VND per person including boat, food, drinks, snorkeling equipment and a hammock at the field station. The main reason to go here is to see sea turtles, who come here between April and November to lay their eggs. At the field station there is also a big hatchery where you can see the little ones hatching. At high tide (between 23:00 and 04:00) you go to the beach to see the female turtle laying eggs. We saw this phenomenon once, but with luck more turtles can be observed. Two species of turtles nest here. The vast majority are Green turtles but occasionally a Hawksbill Turtle is seen as well. It is also possible to see the Dodo´s closest living relative, the Nicobar Pigeon, on Bai Canh, but make sure to state that you want to walk from the field station through the forest to the lighthouse to get a chance to see this species. Otherwise it is a turtle-only trip. We didn´t do the hike and therefore saw not many birds on Bai Canh apart from some Roseate Terns, Whimbrels and Pacific Reef Egrets along the shore and some White-rumped Shama´s and Stripe-throated Bulbuls in the mangroves.

Video of hatching Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas). Made by Anna van der Kaaden

Juvenile White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus)

On Con Son are also sites where Nicobar Pigeons can be seen, so we spent a lot of time searching for the elusive birds, but in the end with no luck. We first walked to Bang Beach so we could also have a look at Thre Nho Island which apparently hosts Brown Boobies, but none were around. The next day we walked through So Ray forest which is indeed of very good quality but again no Nicobar Pigeons. Later we walked to Ong Dung Beach  with the same result. Pied Imperial Pigeons however can hardly be missed and were seen constantly flying from one mountain to the other and were even observed flying over the village. Other birds of interest included: Edible-nest Swiftlet, Ermerald Dove, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Forest Wagtail and White-bellied Sea-eagle. The most surprising observation was however a calling Blue-rumped pitta next to the path to Bang Beach. Unfortunately it did not want to play and remaind heard-only.

Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor)

Dark-sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica)

For mammal and reptile enthousiasts the archipelago offers some specialities like the endemic Pulocondore Bow-fingered Gecko and the endemic subspecies of Black Giant Squirrel and Long-tailed Macaque. We also observed loads of Finlayson´s Squirrel, Northern Three Shrew and some unidentified bats. Dugongs are occasionally observed in the waters, especially in March and April. Apart from the endemic gecko and the sea turtles we also observed Tokkay Gecko and Ornated Garden Lizard.

Pulocondore Bow-fingered Gecko (Cyrtodactylus condorenis)

The endemic condorensis subspecies of Black Giant Squirrel (ratufa bicolor)

Northern Tree Shrew (Tupaia belangeri)

Unidentified insectivorous bat

Con Dao was an awesome place to be and the turtle watching was quite an experience. However birding here is not that exciting as the forest are empty even though they are of good quality and birding is there for rather slow.