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.

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.

Myanmar July – August 2013, Hlawga Park

This site, situated 90 minutes drive from Yangon, is the easiest place in the world to see the davisoni race of Stripe-throated Bulbul which has a high split potential. If split, it will be a new endemic for the country. It also used to be a site for Pale-capped Pigeon, but I don´t know of any recent records. We visited this site as a daytrip from Yangon by taxi. We paid K 30.000 for going to the park from Yangon, one drive through the park and back to the Hotel, stopping at a WWII memorial, because we had to see the nice flowers according to our driver. The entrance fee is K 800 per person and K 1.000 per vehicle.

The park was one of the weirdest places I´ve ever birded. The only interesting bird I´ve seen here was a male Green Peafowl that was walking around the entrance gate and allowed ridiculous close-up views, giving a rather zoo-like feeling. Apparently this species was re-introduced 12 years ago, so not countable for the purist, but if you can count Pink Pigeons and Mauritius Fodies on Iles Aux Aigrettes, than you can count these Peafowls. As soon as we were in the park we were surrounded by hundreds of Rhesus Macaques who were jumping up and down to be fed, which the locals do very regularly. This resulted in a rather hurried drive through the park, trying to get rid of the monkeys. At last I made a small walk that yielded White-throated Kingfisher, Common Iora and Olive-backed Sunbird and to my astonishment two wing-clipped Spot-billed Pelicans! After fifteen minutes however the macaques returned and I went back into the car, for I hate half-tame monkeys. During the rest of the drive through the park we saw nothing special, but more (re)introduced species like Gaur, Sambar and Hogdeer.

A very wild male Green Peacock (Pavo muticus)

Obviously we did not see any Pale-capped Pigeons or Stripe-throated Bulbuls and I wonder how Birdquest manages to see them (the bulbuls) and get them into a scope without dozens of macaques bothering them. I would not recommend going to this site for it is basically somewhat of a badly managed safari park with a lot partying youth in it as well in the afternoon.

Myanmar Juy – August 2013, Kyaiktiyo Wildlife Sanctuary

Just like our visit to the Moeyungyi Weetlends, our visit to Kyaiktiyo Wildlife Sanctuary was mostly insired by the http://birding.sstmyanmar.com/kyaikhtiyo-wildlife-sanctuary. Mount Kyaiktiyo is mostly famous for its Golden Rock Pagoda at its top, but there are apparently some reasonable forests on the mountain. We based ourselves at Kinpun Base Camp, from which we walked up the mountain on the first day towards the Maha Myaing Paya. First you pass through a lot of cleared forest and later through crappy secondary forest. Here we only found a Black-necked Laugher and some Crested Treeswifts.

The next day we took one of the trucks taking the pilgrims up the mountain in the hope to find better forest at higher altitude. We decided to walk down from the Golden Rock back to Kinpun. First you pass countless vendors, but later there are some patches of secondary forest which contained amongst others Vernal Hanging Parrot, Green-billed Malkoha, Blue-winged Leafbird, Crested Goshawk, Buff-breasted, Puff-throated and Striped Tit Babbler, Lesser Necklaced Laugher, Little Spiderhunter and Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbill.

Even though we saw some interesting species, I don´t understand why this is a “wildlife sanctuary”. Maybe we did not find the right trails and birded in the wrong places, maybe the time of the year was not right, but in my opinion the human pressure on the forests here seems just too much. It still is an interesting site from a cultural perspective, but the fact that foreigners have to eat and sleep at specially selected places and are completely separated from the local people creates a weird atmosphere.  

Ridiculously large butterfly (Attacus atlas)

Myanmar July – August 2013, Moeyungyi Wetland Sanctuary

Since the main birding spot of the country, Mount Victoria, is unreachable in the rainy season (roads are apparently impassable) and it is extremely costly to arrange a visit (around $800 per person), we had to find some other destinations in Myanmar to fill the 28 days we had planned here. First we had planned to go to Myitkyina and to do a boat trip down the Ayeyarwaddy River, but after seeing the completely full river in Bagan, we let this idea go, for it would have been, birding wise, a rather boring four to six days.

Therefore we resorted to other birding areas off the standard tour itineraries. One of them is the Moeyungyi Wetland Sanctuary near Bago. I found on http://birding.sstmyanmar.com/moeyungyi-wetland-bird-sanctuary that this is a reliable site for Sarus Crane, a species I missed at Inle Lake. So we arranged a motorbike for 12.000 MKK in Bago to go to the wetlands and then we paid $25 for four canoes to go on the lake. We saw barely any birds during this boat trip, for the wetland areas were completely flooded. Most interestingly were four Painted Storks and some Asian Golden Weavers. We showed a picture of Sarus Crane to some local farmers and they knew the bird very well, but they only saw them in the dry season here. Other birds that can be observed here include Cotton Pygmy Goose, Grey-headed Swamphen, Bronze-winged Jacana and Oriental Pratincole (according to SST Tourism). I think for this site it makes a huge difference whether you visit it in the wet or the dry season and I advise checking this site out in the dry season, for it sounds definitely interesting. 

Flooded area as far as the eye reaches... No birds at all... (picture made by Janne de Hoop)

Myanmar July – August 2013, Kalaw

Famous amongst birders for being the best place in the world to see Burmese Yuhina, Kalaw is on the itinary of most birding crews visiting this country. Besides this it is also possible to see the very rarely observed Olive Bulbul. Mostly they stay here only one or two days, but we decided to give the forest some more time. First we did a two day trek into the lush evergreen forest surrounding Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir. We organised this trek through the Golden Lily Guesthouse, who can arrange a lot for everyone, but I would not recommend them, for they pay their guides less than the minimum wage… We first wanted a bird guide (Ko Pan, based in Kalaw. kopanornithologist15@gmail.com), but apparently he asked $100 per day per person (or so we were told by the Golden Lily Guesthouse). Therefore we hired Sunny (sunnypanday@gmail.com, if this doesn´t work try his sister´s e-mail address: vidiyarpanday@gmail.com), a regular but very enthusiastic young guide, with excellent knowledge of the forest paths.

We birded the forests around Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir, mainly on smaller tracks, for two full days and this resulted in a reasonable 70 or 80 species including Long-tailed and Silver-breasted Broadbill, Cook´s Swift, Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Red-headed Trogon, Greater Yellow-nape, Greater Flameback, Common Green Magpie, Dark-backed Sibia, Yunnan Fulvetta, Puff-throated Babbler, Chinese Francolin, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Spectacled Barwing and Large Hawk Cuckoo. Unfortunately we did not find the much wanted Burmese Yuhina or the Olive Bulbul.

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopus canicapillus)

Spectacled Barwing (Actinodura ramsayi)

Greater Flameback (Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus)

Scarlet-faced Liocichla (Liocichla ripponi)

Male Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus)

Therefore we did another one-day hike to the reservoir and focused only on the jeep track leading to the reservoir and not on the small paths, for it is much easier birding, less muddy and very good forest here. This proved to be an outstanding idea, for after an hour we were rewarded with quick views of a pair of Olive Bulbuls. Seeing Burmese Yuhina took more effort, but after five hours of searching we finally found a pair, which unfortunately disappeared just as quickly as the Olive Bulbuls. We found that most birds in Myanmar are rather furtive and hard to observe or approach. Other species observed along the jeep track included Grey-headed Parrotbill, White-crowned Forktail, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Hill Blue Flycatcher, Asian Emerald Cuckoo and Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, White-browed Shortwing, Rufous-necked Laughingthrush and White-tailed Robin.

I liked birding the forests around Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir a lot, but Palearctic winter is definitely a better time. When going in Palearctic summer you miss a lot of migrants and you should expect (very) muddy conditions and leaches, although the jeep track is ok. However, if you just go for the Yuhina and the Bulbul you might as well go in summer, for it is perfectly possible to see them.

Myanmar July – August 2013, Inle Lake

This site is another major touristic attraction that is also on the birding radar. Access to the gate-way town of the lake, Nyaung Shwe, is vere easy. Here accommodation can be found for every budget. We stayed in the Four Sisters Guest House, which can highly recommend for its cheap, but nice rooms, with views over the rice paddies that might yield Sarus Cranes. However best of all are the reliable and very tame Collared Scops Owls which show up in the tiny garden everyday around 20:00. For birders this site is known for its healthy population of Jerdon´s Bushchat and for being a reliable site for Collared Myna. In 2012 two other key species were added in the form of Sarus Crane and Chinese Grass Babbler, which were discovered in the North-eastern edge of the lake. Chinese Grass Babbler is the striata subspecies and a potential split form the Rufous-rumped Grass Babbler complex (formerly Rufous-rumped Grassbird). If being split, Inle Lake would be the sole place to see this species!

Collared Scops Owl (Otus lettia)

We first did the standard touristic boat ride every tourist does on the lake, visiting local shops and monasteries with the thought: what birds can we see on this tour? This turned out to be a good idea for we managed to see two male Jerdon´s Bushchats on the eastern side of the main channel connecting Nyaung Shwe with the lake and around ten Collared Myna´s on the floating gardens in the middle of the lake! Other interesting birds included Yellow and Cinnamon Bittern, many Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Striated and Wire-tailed Swallow, Yellow-bellied Prinia and Clamorous Reed Warbler.

The next day we walked into the fields and marshes South-east of Nyaung Shwe, mainly in search for Sarus Crane. We did not the cranes, but we did find a pair of Jerdon´s Bushchats with juveniles east of the side channels of the main channel. More surprisingly and excitingly: we found two Chinese Grass Babblers a bit north of this site. This species was only seen from boat rides before! Other good birds included Lineated Barbet, Plaintive Cuckoo, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Chestnut-capped and Yellow-eyed Babbler, Paddyfield Pipit, Crested Bunting and Black-tailed Crake.

Female Jerdon´s Bushcat  (Saxicola jerdoni)

Male Jerdon´s Bushcat (Saxicola jerdoni)

Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) 

Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus)

Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris)

Although this is a highly touristic site, visited heavily by birders and non-birders, there is still a lot to be discovered. Therefore I recommend looking on different spots than just the main spots the birding tours always visit (Bushchat site on the main channel and the “birding platform”). We did not go to any of these and still saw almost all key species. 

Myanmar July – August 2013, Bagan

Bagan is The place in the world to see the four dry zone endemics of Myanmar (Burma). There are some less well known alternative sites like Mount Popa, but why skip this site when it can be combined with one of the finest archaeological wonders of Southeast Asia? The site can be easily accessed by bus from Yangon and most of them are even air-conditioned! In Bagan accommodation can be found in Nyaung U, Old Bagan and New Bagan. Nyaung U offers the budget choices, but we stayed in New Bagan, for Nyaung U is more than 15 km away from the best bird watching site. When staying in New Bagan however, it is only a ten minute bicycle ride. The best spot for bird watching is located South of New Bagan. The fields around the Sitsana Pagoda and especially the area around the small temple complex North of the Sitsana Pagoda can be very productive. It is good idea to buy a map (1.000 Kyat) to make sure you find this site.

We birded this area for one afternoon and two consecutive mornings. Two of the four endemics, White-throated Babbler and Burmese Bush Lark, are common and easy to find. They can be seen at most places in Bagan. The reasons for going to the Sitsana Pagoda area are the other two endemics: Jerdon´s Minivet and Hooded Treepie. I found the Minivet a lot easier than the Treepie and scored around 20 individuals in the fields directly around the Sitsana Pagoda. The Treepie however is a bitch and it took me three days to find a single one in the fields around the small temple complex North of the Sitsana Pagoda. Other birds of interest observed around the Sitsana Pagoda included: Laggar Falcon, Rain Quail (heard only), Barred Buttonquail, Plain-backed Sparrow, Streaked Weaver, Collared Dove (ssp. xanthocyclus which is almost definitely its own species and thus an endemic), Indian Nightjar (three flushed individuals from the rubbish dump north of the Sitsana Pagoda), Vinous-breasted Starling (ssp. burmannicus), Common Iora, Pied Stonechat and Spotted Owlet. Mammals observed around here were several Irrawaddy Squirrels and a single Burmese Hare next to many unidentified Free-tailed Bats.
  

Indian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus)

Spotted Owlet (Athene brama)

White-throated Babbler (Turdoides gularis)

Jerdon´s Minivet (Pericrocotus albifrons)

The distinctive xanthocyclus subspecies of Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) that is most likely its own species

Burmese Bushlark (Mirafra microptera)

Another key birding area is an island in the Irrawaddy river, which holds White-tailed Stonechats. We tried to get to the island, but failed completely due to a lack of local knowledge and a boatman familiar with the site. We did not try again, for the river was very high and therefor rather uninteresting from a birding perspective. We did not even see a single Small Pratincole even though we were on the river for more than an hour!

The rest of the time was spent enjoying the magnificent stupa´s and pagoda´s around Old and New Bagan which are an archaeological spectacle. Our bike tours to various temples even resulted in a White-eyed Buzzard next to many White-throated Babblers and Burmese Bush Larks. It is rare that such a touristic attraction can be combined so easily with high quality birding. So I think that Bagan for the birding and the pagoda´s is an experience not to be missed.

Blue-crested Lizard (Calotes mystaceus)

Thailand July 2013, Bangkok

Before heading to Myanmar we spent a few days in the Thai capital, Bangkok, because we had to arrange our visas for Myanmar here. This posed no problems at all and we had the visas within a few days. The necessary information on the visa business can be found here. While we were waiting for the visas we did a small amount of birding within the city. We focused on some small parks (mainly the Lumbini Park) within the city. We did not see anything special, as the migratory season had not started yet, but the resident Shikra's, Plaintive Cuckoos, Asian Koels, Streak-eared Bulbuls, Common Ioras, Malaysian Pied Fantails, Black-collared Starlings, Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers and Olive-backed Sunbirds were entertaining. The herpetofauna of Bangkok is also rather interesting, as we observed several turtles, including Yellow-headed Temple-turtle, next to the ever present Water Monitors in the ponds and Channels of Bangkok. However I guess most or all of these are escaped or released pets.

On our we from and to the airport we also saw several Asian Openbills amongst more common herons, while the airport itself proved good for some Black-winged Stilts and Red-wattled Lapwings. Obviously this is all not very spectacular, but during the migratory season a fair amount of good birds can be observed just within the city. For more information on birding in Bangkok see this excellent blog by David Gandy.