Singapore March 2014, Chinese Gardens

After having found out that the first ever record of Band-bellied Crake for Singapore that was found a week earlier, was still lingering in the Zodiac Garden of the Chinese Garden, the choice for the next birding site in Singapore was easily made. The Chinese gardens don´t have authentic mangroves like Pasir Ris or any other authentic habitat but there is hardly any authentic nature left in Singapore anyway. Luckily they are also easy to visit using the public transport. Just take the East-West MRT line (the green one) to the MRT station "Chinese Gardens". Similar to Pasir Ris you don´t need to pay entrance fees to the park, but at least during te week there are a lot of school groups visiting the gardens.

It took some time before we found the Zodiac Garden, but once we found them it took little time before we located the Band-bellied Crake in the little stream running through the garden. It was not shy at all and even approached us up to two meters at a certain moment. Of course we looked at other birds as well. We observed similar resident birds as in Pasir Ris, but also got some good looks at several escapees from the Singapores zoo´s: Milky and Painted Storks and Spot-billed Pelicans as they were flying over. Again, as in Paser Ris, we also saw a fair share of migrants in the Chinese Gardens (next to the Crake of course). They included a possible Pin-tailed Snipe, a possible Swinhoe´s Snipe (for pictures of these two identification challenges see below. The suggestion which one is which is based on the length of the tail, the long-tailed one being the Swinhoe´s and the short-tailed one being the Pin-tailed. Common Snipe could be excluded because of the head-pattern, barred greater wing-coverts and the lack of a broad white trailing-edge), Asian Brown Flycatcher, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Brown Shrike amongst others. In total we saw more than 40 species in the Chinese Gardens.

Band-bellied Crake (Porzana paykullii)

Possible Swinhoe´s Snipe (Gallinago megala) 

Possible Swinhoe´s Snipe (Gallinago megala) 

Possible Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura) 

Possible Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura) 

Singapore March 2014, Pasir Ris

After two months in Borneo we had to get a new visa for Indonesia and with Singapore being the closest, the choice was easily made. So we stayed a week in this tiny, weird country and did some birding next to the visa arrangements as well. Our first day of birding in Singapore was in the Pasir Ris Park. I was inspired by this post by Redgannet to visit the park. Pasir Ris is very easily reached by the public transport. Just take the East-West MRT line (the green one on all maps) to the last station, which is aptly named "Pasir Ris". From the MRT station just take the B exit and walk towards the east. Five minutes later you will find yourself inside the park (no entry fees). I don´t know whether the weekends are more calm, but when visiting this park during the week, expect a lot of noisy school groups visiting this park for educational purposes.

Because of the post by Redgannet, I made the Spotted Wood Owls and the Mangrove Pitta in the park my main targets. In the end I only found one of the two targets, but I´m very pleased with the results of our seven hour stay in this park. The birding was very entertaining with new birds showing up all the time. In the end we saw more than 50 species in the park. Amongst them where many local residents like Asian Glossy Starling, Black-naped Oriole, Collared, Stork-billed, Common and White-throated Kingfisher, Laced and Banded Woodpecker, Common Flameback, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Pied Thriller, Changeable Hawk-eagle (which attacked the local Grey Heron colony several times!) and Oriental Pied Hornbill. The best amongst the resident birds however were the two Spotted Wood-owls roosting in the high trees just to the West of the concrete viewing hill.

One of the two Spotted Wood-owls (Strix seloputo) inhabiting the large trees near the vieuwing hill

The stars of the day however were the migrants. I was surprised how many species of migratory birds I recorded on this day. Of course the Asian Koels, Blue-throated Bee-eaters and Asian Brown Flycatchers were present, but there were also some more unexpected findings like Ashy Minivet, Grey-streaked Flycatcher (long primary projection, heavy streaking on the underparts and unmarked undertail coverts gave this species away), Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, "Swintail" Snipe and last but not least a female Von Schrenck´s Bittern sneaking through the mangroves!

Chestnut-winged Cuckoo (Clamator coromandus)

A female Von Schrenck´s Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythymus) made my day!

Other animals can also be observed in this park, especially in the mangroves. we had good views of several Plaintain Squirrels, Monitor Lizards, Giant Mudskippers, Archer Fish and other mangrove inhabitants, however we did not have the same luck as Redgannet on that day and did not see any Otters.

Giant Mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri) peering uit of its muddy hole

Kalimantan January – March 2014, Ulu Barito

Similar to our stay in Mauritius in 2013, our stay in Borneo was aided by a conservation organisation and this time it was the Bornean Orang-utan Survival Foundation (BOSF). And similar to the blog posts from Mauritius, most blog posts from Borneo will be of limited use to “normal” birders visiting this beautiful island, however they are still interesting and therefore I will keep you posted.

From January to March we were based non-stop in the North of Central Kalimantan in an area called Batikap Protection Forest, which is located within the Ulu Barito IBA and is roughly 200.000 square hectares. This area is situated just east of West Kalimantan and just South of the Mueller Range of which the roughly 1.600 MASL high Bukit Batikap is a part of. The GPS coordinates of the field station we stayed in (200 MASL) are N 0.04141; E 113.49924, for those who want to have an exact idea of the location. The area is drained by several rivers, which also are the main travel routes for our work. The river network is rather complicated, but to give you an idea: the field station is located at the Posu River, which joins with the Joloi River. Before that Joloi River is joined by Tajoi Besar River and Tajoi Kecil River. Further downstream the Joloi River is joined by the Mohot River and later by the Tohan River. This is as far as our working area goes. After this the Joloi River is joined by Naan River and finally drains into the mighty Barito. The forest until the Mohot River is still in pristine condition. Most of the forest in the Batikap area is primary lowland dipterocarp forest, but on top of most hills the forest is dominated by kerangas, whose peat colours the rivers dark brown.

Most of the time we helped with the monitoring and radio-tracking of reintroduced Orang-utans. The area currently holds 99 mature Orang-utans. 14 of those were released just last February and we were fortunate enough to be able to help with this release. Next to this I went out to do some birding of course, especially because of the fact that this area has NEVER been birded by any other Western birder before. So far the results were not disappointing and almost 200 species have been recorded by us in the seven weeks we stayed here. I don´t want to discuss every species individually, but some species deserve some more words.

Endemics and near-endemics:
Of the more than 50 Bornean endemics I so far recorded ten endemics and one near-endemic in the Batikap Protection Forest, some of them being really good species that are hard or impossible to find on the standard Sabah tour most birders do when visiting the island. The endemics I recorded here are Bulwer´s Pheasant (heard-only), Bornean Peacock-pheasant (heard-only), Blue-headed Pitta, Blue-banded Pitta (heard-only), Bornean Black Magpie, Bornean Bristlehead, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Bornean Spiderhunter, Bornean Blue-flycatcher and Bornean Wren-babbler, Some of them giving exceptional views. The only near-endemic I recorded was Dusky Munia.

A male Blue-headed Pitta (Pitta baudii) photographed by Joy

(Bornean) Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus (arterrimus))

Female Bornean Blue-flycatcher (Cyornis superbus)

Phasanidae:
The family that frustrated me more than any other family during my stay here. To give you an example of a week in Batikap: Missed a male Bulwer´s Pheasant foraging on the banks of Joloi River because I was ordered to stay on standby in a flying camp for Orang-utan monitoring; Missed a female Bornean Peacock-pheasant crossing our helipad because I was facing the other way, while my co-worker saw it crossing the helipad just a couple of meters in front of him as he was coming to join me; Missed a male Black Partridge singing because I was staring into the wrong opening between the bushes as it showed itself for a couple of seconds. On top of that I also missed a Storm´s Stork flying over in the distance because I was watching in awe as two Helmeted Hornbills flew over rather close. Not my best week ever… In the end I managed to record six species of the Phasanidae family of which I saw just two. The rest remained heard-only.
For Bulwer´s Pheasant I visited a lekking site, locally known as “sempidan helipet” (pheasant helipad). We were lucky enough to hear one or two females calling to invite males to the lek (unfortunately my gear, including recorder was still in Palangkaraya), unfortunately no males or females actually showed up at the helipad. Another try at this site was postponed until the very last day by extremely low river levels due to a prolonged period of drought. The second attempt also yielded no Bulwer´s Pheasant, but this time none were heard as well.
Bornean Peacock-pheasant also remained heard-only, even though I once heard a male calling from our kitchen. Despite long searches or long sit-and-wait sessions I haven´t caught a glimpse of this mega yet. The closest I´ve ever come to seeing one was hearing a pheasant taking off through the forest from a place where I heard a male Bornean Peacock-pheasant before without actually seeing anything…
Nothing of that however is comparable to the frustration and confusion Black Partridge has caused me. In my first week I heard a call I didn´t know and Joy (a keen, young colleague of mine with incredibly sharp eyes and very good knowledge of the local fauna) ascribed it to “Puyuh Hitam” and after asking he assured me the bird did not have a crest, so we went after it. After an hour of badly imitating the sound three birds crossed the path, but I was checking the other side of the path and when I turned around the birds were gone. The same thing happened some weeks later. Later when my gear arrived I recorded the presumed Black Partridge song and it turned out to be incredibly similar to the song of Black-throated Babbler, something which the locals confirmed. Now I hear the call everywhere and every time I invested time (a couple of occasions every day) to find out what its source was I saw either nothing (Black Partridge?) or a group of Black-throated Babblers… According to Myers (2010) the call of Black Partridge is poorly known, so it might as well be this call, but I definitely want to find out whether this call is actually produced by Black Partridge or not. I will keep you updated.

Night birds:
A species group that always has fascinated me, but it took some time before the first results of my nightly searches paid off. In the end we found five Owl species, one Nightjar species and one Frogmouth species here. The Frogmouth was found during the day on its tiny nest hanging over the Muara River and it turned out to be a Large Frogmouth! Not a bad find at all. The next day two more were found roosting rather close to the field station. Strange that they never responded to my playback… The same goes for the other night birds. During my nightly searches I never saw a night bird, just heard them and they would never react to playback, however every now and then I found them roosting during the day. In the end I managed to see all four of the five Owls, the Frogmouth and the Nightjar.

Brown Hawk-owl (Ninox scutulata)

Large Frogmouth (Batrachostomus auritus)

Apodidae:
But because I spend so much time traveling on rivers, I got a lot of time to look at Swifts dipping in the water, which aids their complicated identification. In the end I managed to identify five Swiftlets, two Needletails and two Treeswifts. The best species was Waterfall (or Giant) Swift(let), which was observed twice. It is a truly gigantic Swift and has a rather different way of flying, smooth and direct without the fast wing beats that are typical of the smaller species. However I did not see the white margins on the undertail coverts nor did I manage to take a picture (who could on a moving cis/klotok/prahu), but I´m sure of the identification. 

Bucerotidae:
Probably the most enigmatic species group of Borneo. In Batikap seven of the eight hornbill species of Borneo occur. Strangely the most common Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, which can be seen simply in the city of Palangkaraya, is missing in this forest. Maybe it gets outcompeted by the other, larger species? The most common Hornbill in Batikap is Black Hornbill; the rarest is White-crowned Hornbill. Helmeted Hornbill is heard reasonably often, but seeing this Pterodactyl-like bird is a different thing. The others are fairly common.

Wreathed Hornbills (Aceros undulatus)

Rhinoceros Hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros)

Pittidae:
An all-time favourite of families. In Batikap I recorded five species and I suspect three more to be present. Surprisingly I saw four of the five species well and that without using playback. Unfortunately the Fairy Pitta that chose the area around the field station as wintering ground (it was found by Adhy, field station manager and keen birdwatcher from Java, and it is probably the second record for Central Kalimantan) seems not to have returned this year and I had to console myself with “just” two wintering Blue-winged Pittas.

Blue-winged Pitta (Pitta moluccensis)

Rare lowland specialist species:
Quite a lot of lowland specialists that are rare or gone elsewhere are still quite numerous in this area. Examples of species like this are: Large Green Pigeon (their goofy calls can be heard every single morning from my bed and some roosting trees hold more than 40 individuals!), Short-toed Coucal, Great Slaty Woodpecker (we even found a group of six birds!), Blue-banded Kingfisher (on some boat rides the Blue-banded Kingfisher – Blue-eared Kingfisher ratio was 1:1!), Straw-headed Bulbul, Blue-headed Pitta, Bornean Wren-babbler and Long-billed Blue-flycatcher (it took some time to find this species, but when I found them they turned up regularly at different sites). At is a pleasure to be in a place where so many endangered species occur so numerously.

A crappy flight shot of a Blue-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo euryzona)

An even more crappy record shot of a Large Green Pigeon (Treron capellei)

Unexpected findings:
Of course when birding a blank spot on the map like Batikap, some strange things pop up. An example of an unexpected record is a Dark-sided Flycatcher taking a shower in the rain, after Adhy had found another one just a couple of days earlier on a different location. There are very few records for Central Kalimantan of this species. There are no photographs of my sighting, but luckily there are of Adhy´s record. According to Myers (2010) there are no records in Central Kalimantan of this species. However according to Mann (2008) there is one old record from Barito Ulu in 1969. These statistics make our sightings sound very special, but I think this migrant is very under recorded in Central Kalimantan as this species was also found during the Murung Raya expedition by Martin Holland. Another unexpected finding was a female Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker with a just fledged chick, while Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker is common in this forest. Myers (2010) states that both species are not known to occur together… I´m sure more discoveries such as these will follow!

Dark-sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica) photographed by Adhy Maruly

Batikap Protection Forest is also a good site for other animals. Besides the reintroduced Orang-utans and their wild born babies, Southern Bornean Gibbons (and possibly Agile Gibbons, as Batikap is part of the hybridization zone between the two), Maroon Langur, Silvered Langur, Pig-tailed and Long-tailed Macaque can be seen here. Other mammals we have recorded are Sambar, Greater Mouse-deer, Bornean Red Muntjak, Bearded Pig and a large variety of squirrels including Tufted Ground, Sunda Giant, Prevost´s, Ear-spot, Horse-tailed, Black-eared Pygmy and Plain Pygmy Squirrel. We got very close to seeing some other, rarer mammals, but in the end we did not see them. We saw the bushes moving as a Bornean Yellow Muntjak spurted away, we saw trees moving as a Clouded Leopard was moving through them (not a single glimpse of the animal!) and we found tracks of Otters, small felids and other mammals. We also recorded a large array of reptiles of which we identified some including Reticulated Python, Malaysian Flat-shelled Turtle, Frilly Gecko, Ornate Shrub-lizard, (this record is one of the few records from Central Kalimantan of this species) and three species of the flying genus of Draco, which are in my opinion another one of the many wonders of the Bornean heart of darkness. 

A very cute Least Pygmy Squirrel (Exiliscuiris exilis)

A baby Reticulated Python (Python reticulata) slept in our camp (photograph made by Anna van der Kaaden)

Ornate Shrub Lizard (Aphaniotis ornata) (Picture made by Ike)

Frilly Gecko (Hemidactylus craspedotus)

Hopefully a second blog post about this marvellous piece of forest will follow in a couple of weeks. Keep checking, for there are many exciting plans like trekking two days through the forest to reach a saltpan, where apparently thousands of birds and mammals come together to drink and feast on the minerals.  Of course the Bulwer´s Pheasant lek will be visited again and my searches for Bornean Peacock-pheasant and Black Partridge will continue!

Vietnam August - October 2013, Ho Chi Minh City

Since we were more or less stuck for quite some time in Ho Chi Minh City I started to do some birding within the city. Especially after seeing some posts on http://vietnambirdnews.blogspot.com/ about migrants in Hanoi, I wanted to give the zoo in Ho Chi Minh city a try. It has quite a lot of large trees and might prove interesting for birds that are not in a cage. The zoo is located in district one and therefore very easy to access above all the entry fee is only 8.000 VND. We birded the zoo for three hours accumulating over four Ashy Minivets, 30 Asian Brown Flycatchers, two leucogenis Ashy Drongos and over 20 Yellow-browed Warblers, but unfortunately no other migrants.

1 ky Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica)

It was clear that the migration in the south had not yet reached the same magnitude as in Hanoi. Other birds included Green-billed Malkoha, Black Drongo, Collared, Common and White-throated Kingfisher, Lesser Necklaced and White-crested Laughingthrush and Coppersmith Barbet. The zoo looks good for migrants, but will probably prove to be more productive later in the year.

Vietnam August - October 2013, Ngoc Linh

After seeing the first endemic of the Kontum plateau (Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush) we set out with Bao to do some exploring, in the hope of becoming the first birding crew to complete the Kontum trio. Recently a new road has been built along the southern slopes of mount Ngoc Linh, where the mythical Golden-winged Laughingthrush is found. The laughingthrush was reported to occur between 2.000 and 2.200 MASL on Ngoc Linh, but also occurs on Ngoc Boc to south of Ngoc Linh and that mountain is only 1.800 MASL. The new road,which starts at Tumorong and will lead in the future all the way to Quang Ngai province, only reaches an elevation of just above 1.500 MASL. However, the road passes through some really good quality high montane forest, which looked exactly the same as the the forest on Ngoc Linh on higher elevations.

Satellite picture of the new road leading to the southern slopes of Ngoc Linh

We set out to check out the forest and the area on the first day, so we could decide our strategy. After all this area has probably never been birded before. Unfortunately on our first exploration drive we got stuck in a mud hole in the road, whose quality ranges from Dubai highway to virtually non-existent. The car was so stuck that a truck could not pull it out and after five to six hours of trying, we had to abandon car for the night. After a very interesting night at a local house we went back to the car with a bigger truck and managed to pull it out of the swamp. However lady luck was still not on our side as it rained all day (apparently it had rained here for a month non-stop). We explored one trail which produced not much, but an unidentified laugher flying over the trail, but unwilling to show itself was enough to keep our spirits high. Furthermore we recorded Pygmy Cupwing, Plumbeous Water Redstart and White-crowned Forktail.

Luckily the next day it was beautiful weather and we enjoyed stunning scenery and good birding. We tried both roadside birding and checking out forest trails up to 1.670 MASL, but in the end we were not successfull in locating a Golden-winged Laugher. The highlight of the day was a Black-crowned Barwing that was found in a patch of degraded forest along the roadside. This sighting might prove to be quite important as it is only the second area where this species is found (the first being the northern slopes of Ngoc Linh including the Lo Xo pass). Other highlights included several Red-tailed Laughingthrushes and White-winged Magpies. Mixed species flocks where diverse and entertaining. They held Clicking and Green Shrike Babblers, Red-tailed Minla. Rufous-winged Fulvetta (of the endemic stepanyani subspecies), Fork-tailed Sunbird, Large Niltava, Yellow-billed Nuthatch, Grey-crowned Tit, Grey-crowned, Grey-cheeked and Chestnut-crowned Warbler and Annam Barbet amongst others. While the sky prooved good for Black Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Shikra, Oriental Honey Buzzard and Silver-backed Needletail. Stangely enough we only recorded one mammal, which was an unidentified squirrel.

The highlight of our visit to Ngoc Linh: discovering a new site for Black-crowned Barwing (Actinodura sodangorum)

Red-tailed Laughingthrush (Garrulax milnei)

White-winged Magpie (Urocissa whiteheadi)

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

Black eagles (Ictinaetus malayensis) are always cool to see

I really think that this area might hold some Golden-winged Laughingthrushes, but obviously one day in the wet season, without local knowledge is not enough to locate it. Apparently it is only dry here between March and May, so another try in that time of the year might prove more fruitful. The forest is still very nice and exciting things are just waiting to be found. The locals for example recognised Crested Argus and Cutia in the book. However the site is still very remote and more or less a restricted area for foreigners, although they seem to be less strict about it here then on the northern slopes of the mountain, for we had barely any trouble. We were only advised by locals to turn around at the altitude of 1.670 MASL for we might get problems with the authorities. So when visiting this site please be careful and do not bring the locals in jeopardy. Furthermore, I think visiting this site without a guide is unwise, because nobody speaks any english and you might want a translator if you get into trouble with the authorities. Regarding the accomodation, there is a small hotel in Tumorong which is only 30 km from the forest, that offers very decent rooms, but the locals might also be willing to invite you into their homes. Concluding, I highly recommend this site, but with the right consideration and preparation.

Vietnam August - October 2013, Mang Den

Just like the previous site, Mang Canh was visited by us together with my dear friend Bao from Vietnam Birdwatching. The main reason for our visit to this site is the rare, localised and endemic Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush, that was found here by Bao a couple of years ago. The only other site for this bird is Mount Kon Ka Kinh that is off limits for foreigners and moreover it has not been seen there for a while. Because we reached this site by private transport I have no idea how to reach this site by public transport. It should be possible to reach the town of Mang den, where the closed accomodation to Mang Canh is found, by bus from Kontum and take a motorbike to Mang Canh forest (which is a 45 minutes drive from the town).

We stayed in the area for three nights, but had limited time to do good birding due to heavy rains. Even though we managed to get brilliant views of the Chestnut-eared Laugher on our second day in the midst of heavy rains! We had to work hard to get views and had about ten non-cooperating individuals before we finally saw some feathers! But the area holds more goodies and we recorded Bar-backed Partridge, Besra, Annam Barbet, Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, Silver-backed Needletail, White-winged Magpie, Indochinese Green Magpie, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, White-capped Water Redstart, Yellow-billed Nuthatch, Sultan Tit (ssp. gayeti) Rufous-faced Warbler, Grey-crowned Tit, Grey-headed Parrotbill and Black-hooded Laughingthrush.

Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea gayeti)

Grey-headed Parrotbill (Paradoxornis gularis)

Silver-backed Needletail (Hirundapus cochinchinensis) zooming overhead

We also enjoyed some first migrants like Asian Brown Flycatcher, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pale-legged Leaf Warbler and Arctic Warbler. We missed Pale-capped Pigeon and Northern Brown Hornbill, but that was probably because our birding time was rather limited, for both species are rare in the area and it is more a matter of luck of finding them. Mammals recorded included Cambodian Striped and Black Giant Squirrel.

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus tenellipes)

Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis)

Vietnam August - October 2013, Yok Don National Park

This national park is rarely visited by birders, for the area that holds the real goodies like Masked Finfoot, Giant Ibis, White-shouldered Ibis, Red-headed Vulture and White-headed vulture is completely off limits for foreigners. The area that can be visited holds species that can also be seen in Cambodia. The main highlights are Mekong Wagtail, White-rumped Pygmy Falcon and Neglected Nuthatch. We visited this site on a Birdwatching Vietnam Tour with my friend Bao, so I don´t know much about the accessibility of this site by public transport, but it shouldn´t be too difficult.

We only spent one afternoon and one morning in the park, for we were mostly just passing through on our way to Mang Den (see next post). On the afternoon we saw Mekong Wagtail and Stork-billed Kingfisher in the Ban Don tourist area. In the evening we did some owling around the Ban Don lodge, where we spent the night, which resulted in some glimpses of a Brown Boobook. Owling here can be very productive as Oriental Scops Owl, Brown Fish Owl and Savannah Nightjar can all be seen here.

Male Mekong Wagtail (Motacilla samveasnae)

The next morning we birded the dry dipterocarp forest around the Ban Don lodge and observed Black-hooded Woodpecker (very common), Greater Yellownape, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker,Oriental Pied Hornbill, Asian Barred Owlet, Green Imperial Pigeon, Collared Falconet, Black-hooded Oriole, Spangled Drongo, White-browed Fantail and Grey-faced Tit-babbler amongst others. Unfortunately we missed the Pygmy Falcon and the Nuthatch. 

Black-headed Woodpecker (Picus erythropygius)

When travelling over the inland road, I highly recommend a stop at this site, but maybe not for longer than one or two nights, for the area that is accessible is not that big and the birding might get boring. 

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.