Birding/ Bird watching in Kaeng Krachan National Park

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

Saturday 20 ^th of February 2016 and I woke up at 4 o'clock and my nose was blocked. I could feel that I had a cold coming my way yesterday and it hit me yesterday evening. I went to bed at 10 in order to be full of vim at 5 o'clock.

I had been lucky to wake up, I had asked them to call me at 5 o'clock. And as no surprise there were never any wake-up call. Evergreen Boutique Hotel, I will never come back here even though it has become better since I changed room. Now I have internet and AC. They are not very service minded around here, that is for sure.
- The internet is not good here
- Then you have to say that on the hotel booking site!!
- You have to move in to a 5 star hotel.

Yes, we understand their view of service. The AC was not working, I had 29°C and 99% humidity in my room after having had the AC on for one hour. I called them for the third time and she started to explain for me how a AC was working and how to operate the AC
- DON'T YOU DARE TELLING ME HOW TO OPERATE AN AC!!!!

She told me that I should move to a 5 star hotel, yeah, I was baffled over the attitude. I called the booking site to change the hotel, but it was OK after changing my room. Now I have internetand AC. Still no coffee shop, but never mind.

Anyway, I had half of the cheese and ham that I bought yesterday with a bottle of juice and I was on the street 20 minutes past 5 in the morning. And my new birding pal arrived a few minutes after 5 thirty and we were soon on our way to Kaeng Krachan National Park.

Arriving to the gate to Kaeng Krachan National Park

Arriving to the gate to Kaeng Krachan National Park

Paying the tickets, of course, foreigner price

He check our tickets and we're inside the park

It took us about an hour to drive to the park from the hotel and it didn't take long to buy the tickets and we were inside Kaeng Krachan National Park. After a few minutes we saw a car parkedon the road side and a group of people looking at something. So we stopped and we went to check out what was going on.

It was a couple from Hong Kong with their Guide looking at some birds in a tree. Too far away for any pictures. I borrow a binocular from my birding pal. A very small binocular but darn, this is what I need. A small binocular and easy to carry with me. But more expensive than expected, 34000 Baht.

I walked after the couple from Hong Kong and they were soon stopping again, this time it was a wood pecker and a Dollar bird in a dead tree. I told them that there were 3 Woodpeckers in the tree. My bird pal came up to us and he told us that there were Oriental Pied Hornbills where he had parked the car. So we all left the Woodpeckers to go have a look at the hornbills.

3 Woodpeckers

Racket-tailed Drongo

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

Black-crested Bulbul / นกปรอดเหลืองหัวจุก

The Oriental Pied Hornbill was too far away for any good pictures. But it was close enough to see how beautiful the bird was when flying between the trees. There was a Dollarbird in the top of one of the dead trees, and the Dollar bird was way too far away for any pictures.

But there was a tree next to the road and the tree was full of Black-crested Bulbuls. I took a few pictures, well, I took plenty pictures and it was not easy when the birds was in the tree jumping around all the time.

I started to walk along the road and we saw the Oriental Pied Hornbill and I could see the hornbill land in a tree next to the road and I walked over there. While approaching the tree I could see that there were several oriental pied Hornbills in the tree.

The road under the tree was full of some kind of stones from a fruit that the hornbill was eating. And I could hear the stones falling down the tree all the time. The hornbills was busy eating in the tree and I had the opportunity to take a few pictures.

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

Oriental Pied Hornbill - นกแก๊ก, นกแกง

It was a big bird, but not as big as the Great Hornbill. I saw one Greta Hornbill, but the bird wastoo far away when flying by.

My birding pal was shouting at me pointing to the sky
- Black-naped orioles

I took a few pictures that never turned out any good,but better than nothing. I might get the chance again, but even if the pictures of the Black-naped Orioles it have been a beautiful morning. I had not been in the Kaeng Krachan National Park before I had decided to come back here again. So many beautiful birds and a gorgeous nature.

And I have seen 2 different Hornbills, and I think they have the Brown Hornbill here as well, and this is a bird Iwant to see. I continued my constitutionalalong the road. I saw another Black-naped oriole and I tried to see where the bird landed. While looking for the bird I discovered a green bird. What was that?

I took a few pictures but the green bird was too far away to get any good pictures. I was on the road looking down in the valley and I could see at least three of the green birds flying around. DARN!

A beautiful bird I would like to have on picture. I was hanging around for several minutes and I could not believe my luck. One of the birds flew up towards me and the bird landed in a tree next to me. Igot some pictures and my birding pal came driving with his car.

I asked him what bird it was and he told me that it was a Blue-winged Leafbird, yes, the day had really been good.

Hundred meters up the road we had another couple and they were obviously looking at an interesting bird as they had their cameras on tripods pointing up a tree. My birding pal went over to have a chat with them and I stayed behind to see if I could spot the Blue-winged Leafbird again. I never saw the Blue-winged Leafbird again and Icontinued towards the cameras pointing up a tree to see what was going on.

Turned out that they had discovered Dollarbirds in the tree. The Dollarbird we had seen this morning was too far away and I could only see a spot. Now the bird was closer, but not close enough for any good pictures.

But close enough so I could see a beautiful blueish bird with red bill.

Blue-winged Leafbird - นกเขียวก้านตองปีกสีฟ้า

Blue-winged Leafbird - นกเขียวก้านตองปีกสีฟ้า

Blue-winged Leafbird - นกเขียวก้านตองปีกสีฟ้า

Dollarbird - นกตะขาบดง

Dollarbird - นกตะขาบดง

It is a beautiful park

Green-eared Barbet - นกโพระดกหูเขียว

Oriental Pied Hornbill flying over us

I was starting to get thirsty, my birding pal had water in the car. But he had talked about lunch in the park and I asked about the place. There was a cantina and we took off towards the cantinaat the camping area. They had a camping in the park with a park office and a cantina.

And on the way we passed elephant tracks on the road. They have wild elephants in the park, but they are mostly moving during the night time and there are warning signs at the camping.

A girl was killed by an elephant here not long ago so it is dangerous in the park.

We reached the parking place and there were a few Thai photographers and they were all excited when we arrived. They told us that there was a bear.

I didn't understood, a bear, here??!! My birding pal told me that they had have a Leopard walking through the camping 7 years ago. And it was this only time they had seen a Leopard.

And my birding pal have been doing bird watching here for 7 years and he had never heard about any bears. Obviously not the Thai either as they were very excited. This was a once in a lifetime event and I stepped right in to it on my first visit.

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun bear

The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is a bear found in tropical forest habitats of Southeast Asia. It is classified as Vulnerable by IUCN as the large-scale deforestation that has occurred throughout Southeast Asia over the past three decades has dramatically reduced suitable habitat for the sun bear. The global population is thought to have declined by more than 30% over the past three bear generations.

The Malayan sun bear is also known as the "honey bear", which refers to its voracious appetite for honeycombs and honey. However, "honey bear" can also refer to a kinkajou, which is an unrelated member of the Procyonidae.

The sun bear's fur is usually jet-black, short, and sleek with some under-wool; some individual sun bears are reddish or grey. Two whirls occur on the shoulders, from where the hair radiates in all directions. A crest is seen on the sides of the neck and a whorl occurs in the centre of the breast patch. Always, a more or less crescent-shaped pale patch is found on the breast that varies individually in colour ranging from buff, cream, or dirty white to ochreous.

The skin is naked on the upper lip. The tongue is long and protrusible. The ears are small and round, broad at the base, and capable of very little movement. The front legs are somewhat bowed with the paws turned inwards, and the claws are cream.

The sun bear is the smallest of the bears. Adults are about 120–150 cm long and weigh 27–80 kg. Males are 10–20% larger than females. The muzzle is short and light coloured, and in most cases the white area extends above the eyes. The paws are large, and the soles are naked, which is thought to be an adaptation for climbing trees. The claws are large, curved, and pointed. They are sickle-shaped; the front paw claws are long and heavy. The tail is 30–70 mm long.

During feeding, the sun bear can extend the exceptionally long tongue 20–25 cm to extract insects and honey. It has very large teeth, especially canines, and high bite forces in relation to its body size, which are not well understood, but could be related to its frequent opening of tropical hardwood trees (with its powerful jaws and claws) in pursuit of insects, larvae, or honey.

The entire head is also large, broad, and heavy in proportion to the body, and the palate is wide in proportion to the skull. The overall morphology of this bear (inward turned front feet, ventrally flattened chest, powerful forelimbs with large claws) indicates adaptation for extensive climbing.

Sun bears are found in the tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia ranging from north-eastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam to southern Yunnan Province in China, and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They now occur very patchily through much of their former range, and have been extirpated from many areas, especially in mainland Southeast Asia. Their current distribution in eastern Myanmar and most of Yunnan is unknown. The bear’s habitat is associated with tropical evergreen forests

Sun bear range
(brown – extant, black – former, dark grey – presence uncertain)

Conservation status

Vulnerable

International Union for Conservation of Nature. Version 2012.2.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Sun Bear was beautiful and we enjoyed the short time we could see the bear before he disappeared in the forest. We were all thrilled over the experience. This morning when I met my birding pal he told me about a giant squirrel and I thought he was crazy. I had never heard about any giant squirrel.

We were walking around on the camping and we had monkeys climbing the trees. I was lucky to see a Crimson Sunbird, but the bird was very hard to take pictures of and I never got any good pictures. And it was a beautiful bird

I saw an animal in a tree and I was wondering what the duck it was. It looked like a squirrel, and it was a darn big squirrel. He was far away but I almost got scared when I saw the squirrel

Black giant squirrel

Black giant squirrel

The black giant squirrel or Malayan giant squirrel (Ratufa bicolor) is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa native to the Indomalayan zootope. It is found in forests from northern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan, southern China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and western Indonesia.

Head and body length varies from 35 to 58 centimetres in length, and the tail is up to 60 centimetres long, with an overall length of up to 118 centimetres. The back, ears and bushy tail are deep brown to black with a lighter buff-colored belly.

Black giant squirrel range

Conservation status

Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)

International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 6 January 2009

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crimson Sunbird - นกกินปลีคอแดง

Monkey climbing a tree with a baby

Monkey climbing a tree with a baby

Monkey climbing a tree with a baby

Red insect

Of course, all bird pictures available on my Thailand
bird checklist of bird I have seen by clicking HERE

Leopards, elephants and bears. And there are most likely tigers here as well. And we have been walking around looking for birds with no worries. Imagine us walking along the road exploring our nostrils scratching our asses when attacked by a bear, elephant or leopard. For sure more adventure than I'm asking for. And people have got killed by elephants in Kaeng Krachan before.

I have (almost) been attacked by tigers before so I was not worried about the tigers, and I have heard that there are new sightings of tigers in the national park.

Anyway, we left the camping and we drove/ walked up to the third stream and we turned around and drove back to Hua Hin. It was getting hot and I had seen much more than expected. Of course, the bear was the prize winner. I was very lucky, we had professional photographers at thecamp and they had never seen any bear before and that is even though they spend a whole lot of time in the park.

My birding pal was also very excited when we left so yes, it had been a very good day.

I was very tired as I had been up since 4 o'clock in the morning. I decided to cancel lunch at the French restaurant. My birding pal would drop me at the restaurant, but I changed my mind and we stopped at Family Mart for some bread and strawberry milk. I was very hungry, yes, I bought cheese and ham for breakfast. I had my breakfast with a bottle of orange juice. But this was almost 10 hours ago. I was tired and I felt asleep in the car. So a quick piece of bread and some strawberry milk and I would have an hour of power nap back in my room.

There had been an accident

There had been an accident

I had my power nap in the afternoon. 1 hour and I was still tired when my alarm went off, but if I didn't get out of bed it will be impossible to fall asleep to night. And I need to fall asleep early as my alarm is set for 5 o'clock tomorrow morning.

I continued the work with my pictures and I left my room around 6 o'clock or so to go for my dinner. It take some 15 minutes to get down to the French restaurant. But today it took a weebit longer as I stopped for a haircut. And then I discovered a Swedish bakery with semlor in the window.

And darn! Was I lucky, they had sold out their tea so I left again without eating any Semla. I had asked them for 3 semlor and a pot of tea. But as they didn't had any tealeft I decided to skip the world famous pastries. I walked down to theFrench restaurant for my dinner

I started with a plate of avocado and smoked salmon. It was so good I asked for two more of these, but I asked them to put it on one plate only as there were no reason to annoy the other guests.

I had steak as main course and I skipped the dessert. They really have good food at the restaurant and if I ever come back to Hua Hin I will for sure visit them again.

Mums filli foocking baba

Mums filli foocking baba

I walked back to my hotel, well, hotel or whatever to call it. I was in bed quite early and I'm looking forward to the early morning bird watching in the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. Anyway, if you're having any interest in finding out what we find you just have to click HERE

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