Slowing Down....no chance

My dear readers if only I could say I was slowing down! I had an eventful trip to Kaeng Krachan this weekend with Soorng Yingtao but missed out on the biggies: the White-fronted Scops Owl and the Brown Wood Owl. Wet and miserable if truth be told, the highlight being a nesting Greater Flameback, a lifer no less. I also missed out on a great opportunity to photograph a Silver-breasted Broadbill. The highlight was watching three Malayan Porcupines and two Brush-tailed Porcupines having a feed on Saturday night.

Soorng took me to Ban Sorng Nok on Sunday afternoon. This is possibly  the best thing to have happened in Thailand in recent years for birders and bird photographers alike. It's a resort and it  has been laid out and is managed in such a way as to encourage birds to come in and hang around. There are excellent viewing areas including hides. I didn't get the name of the nice lady who runs the place but she herself  is a bird nut and she likes looking after peole. While there were no major birds on view yesterday there were plenty of decent photo opportunities and I managed to add a further two lifers: Orange-bellied Flowerpecker and Gold-fronted Leafbird.

I forgot to mention  brief views in Kaeng Krachan of a Black-backed Kingfisher and a stunningly large Mountain Imperial Pigeon which I thought must have been a raptor on account of its size.

Alas I have no internet connection at home at the moment and have no idea when it is going to be fixed. So watch this space......a week without internet is a long time, but I am glad to say normal service has been restored.

Chaloem Phrakiat Thai Phrachan National Park

It's only on checking my blog archive that I realise I haven't been to Chaloem Phrakiat Thai Phrachan National Park since May last year. Then the reservoir was virtually empty and I was troubled by this. I am glad to say it was looking much healthier today though by no means bursting. On the basis of today I can promise you I'll be back much sooner next time.

The Park is about an hour's drive from home heading south for a little and then west towards the Myanmar border. It runs parallel to Kaeng Krachan though is to the north. From what I can gather from the Department of National Park's website the park was once an enclave of communist insurgents and has only been a designated and protected National Park since about 2003. Here is the good bit:  it gets very few visitors.

Of course the mandatory stupidity: I forgot to bring a card for my camera so no pictures! This is particularly galling as a Kalij Pheasant (Lophura leucomelana),  walked out in front of me  and showed  briefly but long enough to have allowed a couple of decent shots. In fact it was so quiet in the bamboo forest that I picked up the pheasant's rustle in the undergrowth before he appeared,  grey blue, a red "comb" and a silvery grey train. This bird's unexpected presence will ensure my return.

Lots of noise and lots of unidentifieds. Two eagles, possibly Greater Spotted, but too high to identify and a lighter coloured smaller raptor. A small, fast, black and dark blue bird simply refused to let me get it in the bins and I reckon I saw this species three or four times in the course of my visit. Definites included a Red-throated Flycatcher, a female, Black-crested Bulbul, Green-billed Malkoha, Greater-Necklaced Laughingthrush, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Common Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and the more common species.

Now there was one good thing about leaving my SD cards at home. It meant I had to write  field descriptions. Now I reckon I wouldn't have got a correct ID on the Red-thoated Flycatcher had I not done this. My notes read:"Like ABF ( Asian Brown Flycatcher) but white tail edges, black tail". That clinched the ID when I got home and looked at the field guides. I believe it is a lifer too along with the Grey Wagtail and the pheasant. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to ID the wagtail either without a field description. I think I need to remember to do this all of the time!

There is one bird that I really wished I had the scope for. It must remain an unidentified but I think it was a woodpecker. Too far away for the binoculars, a small bird with a black mask and at least three white lines on its wing.

Without a doubt this was my most productive visit to this park and as I said above I will head back some time soon. As well as the birds I enjoyed the little bit of a hike I had in the jungle today.