Phuket
Birding
On April 8th, my guest Mark and I started off
at the small park where we usually start. The
first bird we saw was a Red-throated Barbet
(female). An Intermediate Egret
and a male Chinese Pond Heron
were fishing side-by-side in the stream. A Forest
Wagtail made its usual appearance.
The usual bulbuls, flowerpeckers and sunbirds
came by, but the Black Bazas that have been around
for the past few months were not seen.
Actually, on the way to the jungle we saw a couple
of Greater Coucals. As we’d
soon see, this was going to be the day of the
Coucal. We lost count of exactly how many we saw.
We visited a small former rice paddy and picked
up a Cinnamon Bittern. It flew
around and gave us a lot of time to appreciate
its color. Usually, these guys go up and down
so fast that if you’re not looking at the
right place you’ll miss it.
The next stop was a farm area. The first birds
we saw were Grey-rumped Treeswifts
and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters perched
on a power line. Next, a Grey-capped Woodpecker
was spotted in the top of a tree. More Greater
Coucals. We saw a couple of White-throated
Kingfishers. Mark loved the wing color
and I’ll be honest, I never get tired of
seeing these lovely birds. I’ve seen hundreds
of them, but man, they are pretty.
Next, we stopped and had brunch. There’s
a nice little family-own restaurant that serves
traditional Thai breakfast for most of the day.
It’s always a hit getting to try such interesting
food.
Our next stop was a rice field / battlefield
area near Thalang town. In addition to the usuals,
we saw some Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters
and a few Asian Koels. A Yellow
Bittern made an appearance… well,
they always do in this area. This one, however,
flew around a bit so we could get a nice long
look.
Mark really enjoyed seeing some Scaly-breasted
Munias. They are little cuties.
We headed to the area where the Asian
Openbilled Storks have been hanging out.
The last time we went there we counted 82 birds.
A Thai businessman was in the process of filling
in the wetland. We called the cops and the land
department. Neither cared and both said he could
do whatever he wanted… it wasn’t recognized
wetland. The birds didn’t know that. There
were only two birds left.
The big wheel said he wasn’t going to fill
in the very much of the wetland. He lied. He filled
in twice as much as he said he planned on filling.
Next, while whatever he’s going to build
is being built, all of the trash will certainly
end up in the water and the laborers, most of
whom are Burmese these days as they work for next
to no money, will likely hunt birds for food.
We did get a nice long look at a big Yellow
Bittern.
Next, we headed to a freshwater pond. We saw
a bunch of Pintailed Snipes,
a pair of Purple Swamphens, Black-naped
Orioles, Koels, Moorhens
and others.
Thai
Muang Birding
Thai Muang was our next stop. Right off the
bat we saw Red-wattled Lapwings,
more White-throated Kingfishers,
Greater Coucals, a Lesser
Coulcal, Oriental Pratincoles
and a River Lapwing. A huge Brahminy
Kite swooped down and grabbed a fish
off of the water. A few Purple Swamphens
were spotted. A Common Kingfisher
let us watch him for a while.
We watched a White-throated Kingfisher
go into a hole in a dirt mound. That was probably
the nesting site. That was nice to see.
Phang Nga Province Mangrove Walkway
and Park
We hopped back on the road and headed to the
mangrove walkway in Phang Nga Province. The water
was high and we didn’t see much… no
Mangrove Pitta.
We slipped across the road to a small park and
saw some Blue Whistling Thrushes.
Mark had good time watching the local Longtail
Macaques scramble around on the limestone rock
cliffs. Dusky Crag Martins put
on an aerial show as a Coppersmith Barbet ‘hooped’
in the background.
Ton Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuary
On day two, we headed up to the top of Ton Pariwat
Wildlife Sanctuary. Initially, things started
off a bit slow. The usual trees that hold so many
birds were empty except for a few Chestnut-headed
Bee-eaters and some Large Wood-shrikes.
Walking down the hill a bit, we started seeing
lot of birds. A bit further down, Mark spotted
a Brown Barbet and the resident
Chestnut-breasted Malkoha. Our
necks sore from looking up in the trees, we sat
on the guard rail. Mark spotted a hole in a big
dead tree. Suddenly, a huge green bird flew into
it! Holy Cow! What was that? With scope and binoculars
focused on the hole we waited. “There’s
a face,” One of us said. “What is
it?” It turned out to be a Yellow-whiskered
Barbet. We spent the next 20 to 30 minutes
of the morning trying to get a good photo. It
was rather far away, but we sure enjoyed sitting
there and the ever-busy parent flew back and forth
from the tree and wherever the bugs were.
Our next destination was lunch… followed
by another crack at the Mangrove Pitta.
This time, we saw one! We also heard a Ruddy
Kingfisher, but didn’t get a look.
A family of Ashy Tailorbirds entertained
us for a bit.
Wat
Bangriang
Our next birding destination was Wat Bangriang,
a delightful mountain-top temple. We were in search
of the Giant Black Squirrel. We saw it. This squirrel
is over a meter long! We also saw a Common
Iora and a few Thick-billed Pigeons.
The
Cave Temple
Our final destination was a cave temple in Phang
Nga Province. We were hoping to see an owl that
we’ve seen there before. It wasn’t
around. What was there was an Oriental
Hobby. It flew to a tree at about eye-level
and posed for us. Then, it flew over to a cliff
face and posed some more. I’ve seen plenty
of Oriental Hobbies in my days, but this was the
best sighting ever.
Click here to see a Phang
Nga image gallery courtest
of Mr. Mark Gutchen.
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Oriental Hobby 
Thousands
of dogs and cats are thrown away at temples
each year. Many live of a life of pain and misery
with no one to love them.
