OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can itbe? 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.
ORIGINlate 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!
Вы говорите по-русски? 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.
2 June 2020
Introduction
Will visit the bird hide at Wat Tham Prathun and I will stop at Laem Chabang International Country Club on the way. My friend picked me up quarter past 6 and 10 minutes later it started to rain. It was pouring down and I was disappointed. But we were lucky, it stopped to rain before we arrived to Laem Chabang International Country Club. We had gorgeous weather while birding around the golf course.
1) Laem Chabang International Country Club
2) Wat Tham Prathun
To skip the information and to go straight to the TRIP REPORT clickHERE
Guide
I usually don't use any bird watching Guide in / around Bangkok. But could be a good idea to have a Guide to help me identify all the birds I see. As it is now my eBird checklists are not very impressive as I can only ID half of the birds I see.
Land transportation
You will need a car and if you don't have your own a taxi is a very convenient way of travelling. Depending on the early morning traffic it will take 90 minutes to reach the area. You rent the taxi for a full day and it will set you back with about 2000-3000 Baht (May 2020) depending on distances etc. And of course, depending on your negotiation skills.
Chonburi have nice roads so it is easy enough to get around. But don't be surprised to find some of the birding areas under water or accessible only through dirt track in very poor condition. So don't be surprised if the taxi driver refuse to enter some roads. Or even to find some roads inaccessible.
Equipment
Canon 5D Mk. III + Canon 5D Mk. IV Canon EF 28-300/3,5-5,6 L IS USM Canon EF 70-200/2,8L IS II USM Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens Canon Speedlite 600EXII-RT flash Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II Panasonic HC-W585 video camera
Sound recorder
ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder
Binocular
Steiner Skyhawk 8x32 (Since May 2020)
Weather / climate
Weather, I don´t know if Bangkok is the hottest capital in the world. But this is what they say and I have no reason to doubt this information because it is darn hot.
Thai National Parks - About the National Parks in ThailandA very good web page -Do you know that there are still wild tigers, elephants, leopards, tapirs, gaurs, bears and many monkey species in many tropical rainforests across Thailand? Do you also know that around 10% of all marine species in the world can be found in Thailand? And the fact that Thailand is the best bird-watching destination in mainland Asia?
National parks are protected areas of land because they have unspoilt landscapes and a diverse number of native plants and animals. There are 127 national parks in Thailand, of them 22 marine national parks. These parks offers a diverse range of flora and fauna, home to important population of endangered species.So now it will be easy to find out if there are any National Park close to you.
Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST)- The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) is one of the oldestorganisations conserving birds and nature in Thailand and is the country partner of BirdLife International. BCST's role to the local community is to spread awareness about urban birds and reconnect people back to nature.
The Logo Dated back to 1986 when BCST was then a loosely-formed “Bangkok Birdwatching Club”, the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), or “Nok Gang Ken Baan” in Thai, has been chosen to represent the organisation.
There are two sites covering Thailand and I have used them many times. These two web pages are actually everything you need for your birding adventures in Thailand. All the information you need about all the birding spots. Click on the map and then select your spot and you will have maps and everything you need to know about the areas. They have put a lot of jobs in to their web pages, North Thailand Birding and thaibirding.com A must to visit before you go bird watching in Thailand.
thaibirding.com- Nick Upton's one stop only for all your birding in Thailand.
Use both www.thaibirding.com and www.norththailandbirding.com and you have a winner. Some of the maps on www.norththailandbirding.com are way better than Nick Upton´s, while some of Nick's maps are much more detailed. So I have found that if I use both the web pages for information, well, nothing else needed.
PBase/Peter Ericson- Peter Ericson, a guy I thought was from USA because of his family name. I met him at Lat Krabang Paddies in May 2020 and turned out that he was Swedish. Anyway, I have used his excellent page PBase since 2016 as help to ID birds by the help from his beautiful bird pictures.
Here you can also find information about birding tours.
Bangkok City Birding- A lot of interesting birding stories and information on this bird watching blog by David Gandy. Bangkok-based patch-worker in Suan Rot Fai, a large park close to the city's famous weekend market. He have recorded 150 species on his patch since 2008. As one of the only big green spaces in the city, “SRF” acts as a real magnet for migrants during spring and autumn, and holds a healthy selection of "sibes" during the winter months.
The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership- The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership is a network of partners within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) aims to protect migratory waterbirds, their habitat and the livelihoods of people dependent upon them.
The Flyway is one of 9 major migratory routes recognised globally. Partners include National Governments, Inter-Governmental Organisations, International
Non-governmental Organisations, and International Private Enterprise, which agree to endorse the text and support the objectives and actions under this Partnership.
www.tideschart.comGET THE LATEST TIDES IN THAILAND AND AROUND THE WORLD - A must to check out times for HIGH and LOW water when going to look for waders / shorebirds.
ebird- Find birding hotspots with bird checklists from all over the world
Avibase- is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 25 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information for 12,000 regions, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages
www.oiseaux.netThis web page is also excellent for identifying birds. There is information and range maps for many many birds from all over the world. This page is almost guaranteed to give you any answer you have about any bird in the world.
Cloudbirders- Read birding trip reports from all over the world
Fatbirder- Linking birders worldwide... Wildlife Travellers see their sister site:WAND
Fatbirder is a fantastic web page with information from, I think every country in the world. My first stop when I plan for my bird watching trips. There is information about locations and guides, well, pretty much everything you need to know. Sometimes this is the only place I need to visit to plan my trip.
And the web page you cannot live without. I have been around the world looking for birds. I usually have a Guide, but sometimes it is not possible to find a Guide. So, well, I have lost count on how many times I have had help to ID birds at BirdForum. Joining this forum have been very very good for my bird watching experience.
ClimaTemps.comis the place to learn about the worlds climates with more than 4000 locations documented. Each aspect of the climate is represented using colour enhanced tables and professional graphs so that data can easily be compared by switching between locations in different tabs in your browser.
“A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson”
A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson. New edition updated with 76 species since previous edition “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig” Nick Upton at www.thaibirding.com wrote “This quite excellent book is packed full of quality illustrations and written information on 1251 species recorded in Southeast Asia”
I bought this book for bird watching in Thailand, but it goes for all over SE Asia
I have been very happy with the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” But I had a fire in my condo 2019 and I needed to buy a new book. I was looking for the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” as I liked the book. But this book is not available anymore so I had to buy the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand” by Craig Robson.
What a disappointment this was, using the pictures in the book didn't helped to ID any birds.
“Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij
I met Peter Ericson, a famous bird watcher and he recommended the “Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij. I bought the book as soon as the book stores opened after the Wuhan virus. And I am very happy with the book and I have managed to ID some birds using the book.
This new field guide will help you identify all 1049 species to have been recorded in the country to date, including the 20 species endemic or near-endemic to Thailand.
-Taxonomy follows the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World.
-Detailed texts covering status, habitat and behaviour, age, sex and geographical variation, voice, and confusion species.
-Almost 2200 illustrations covering all species and distinctive subspecies, birds in flight, males and females, juveniles and non-breeding plumages, where appropriate.
-QR code for each species, linking to the Internet Bird Collection gallery of photos, videos and sounds.
-More than 1025 full-colour range maps for all species other than vagrants.
-Well-marked subspecies groups receive full accounts, and the distributions of subspecies breeding in the region are clearly mapped.
-Local species name and local conservation status included.
I like the book, but I miss the picture index.
Places to visit
Chonburi
eBird hotspots in Chonburi
Chonburi (ชลบุรี) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (changwat) lies in eastern Thailand. Its capital is Chonburi. To the west is the Gulf of Thailand. The province's population has grown rapidly, with some 1.7 million residents. The registered population as of 31 December 2018 was 1.535 million.
About 128 km from the Sukhumvit / Asoke intersection in DOWN TOWN Bangkok
Scan for map to Laem Chabang International Country Club
Or show the driver a map. ClickHEREfor a map to Laem Chabang International Country Club
Get on the Bangkok - Chonburi Motorway in Bangkok / Route #7 and leave route #7 south of Chonburi at the Laem Chabang exit. Get up on road #3701 and run south next to the motorway on the Motorway 7 Frontage Road for about 8km.
When you reach the intersection with road #3009 you turn left and drive for about 5 km and it is impossible to miss the entrance to Laem Chabang International Country Club on your right hand side.
Taking left at first intersection driving along the golf course
Walking towards the buildings
Walking along the golf course
Walking along the golf course
Enter the gate and you soon have an option, go straight or turn left. Turning left and you drive along the golf course. There are ponds and lakes along the way. You are soon reaching a T junction. To the left you have building. Walk down towards the buildings and you walk over the water on bridges.
I spotted Kingfishers and Barbets in this area.
If you choose to go straight the road you are better off walking. There is a track along the golf course and you walk next to the water and it is a very beautiful area.
If you go straight at the first intersection when coming inside the gate you reach the Club House / Hotel. And there is a lot of birds. I spotted 10 Hoopoes on the lawns next to the road. It is a huge area and you are only allowed to be on the roads.
Golf Cart
I had an idea, to rent a golf cart to go around the golf court looking for birds.
I asked at the golf club if it was possible to rent a golf cart but it was not possible. And I was only allowed to take pictures from the road as it was a private area.
So now you don't need to waste your time asking to rent a golf cart
If you drive past the Club House / Hotel you end up at a lake that you can drive around and you will see Storks and birds associated with water. In the grass and trees along the road you have plenty birds.
If you choose to turn right towards west before reaching the Club House / Hotel you will end up at the eBird hotspot: “Nong Klang Dong Reservoir” after having been driving along the gold course with many birds. Just to stop the eBird app and restart the app using the hotspot “Nong Klang Dong Reservoir”
About 135 km from the Sukhumvit / Asoke intersection in DOWN TOWN Bangkok
You will need a car and if you don't have your own a taxi is a very convenient way of travelling. Depending on the early morning traffic it will take 90 minutes to reach the area. You rent the taxi for a full day and it will set you back with about 2000-3000 Baht (May 2020) depending on distances etc. And of course, depending on your negotiation skills.
To make sure that the driver understand you can show the below Thai Script:
Get up on the Bangkok - Chonburi Motorway in Bangkok and follow route 7. The motorway will change to Chonburi - Pattaya Highway in Chonburi but it is still Route #7. When you come to the huge junction west of Pattaya you exit to road #36 and follow route #36 towards SE for about 2 km when you turn left in to road #3240. After about 3km you turn left in to a very small road and you will be at the temple after a few minutes
Follow road #3240 and turn left at the sign วัดถ้ำประทุน (Wat Tham Prathun)
Turn of road #3240 and follow the small road to the temple
Take off road #3240 and follow the small road to the temple
You reach the gate
Keep right coming in to the temple
You reach a gate and you keep right after passing through the gate and turn right at the very small road, I think the third, 2 two first roads were closed by booms. There are not much parking space, but never mind, there is not much space in the hide, 6 to 8 people only, so if you cannot park you are better off leaving the place and go birding somewhere else.
Park the car and walk down to the right
Walk for 50 meters
You have a building on the left hand side
At the bird hide
The bird hide
I don't know, but the Wat Tham Prathun is known for nothing I have heard off. Searching the internet and it is most about birds. One guy asked the temple if he could build a bird hide at the temple overlooking the forest. He made a bird bath and the birds come here to bath. And I was here both during wet and dry condition.
Arriving the day after heavy rain and there is water all over the area and I didn't see any birds at the hide. No rain and there was plenty birds bathing.
Of course, you should be here at the height of the day when it is hot. There is a small hose (Grey coloured April and May 2020) going out to the birth bath. Open the valve to fill up the bath and the sound of water helps to attract the birds.
Keep the water on or turn it off if you want, the water is coming down from above so it can be in the way for the birds when taking pictures of the birds bathing.
View from the bird hide
And after visiting here I ordered a “Walkstool Comfort” Sturdy built in Sweden and I used on sitting in the tent during nights back in 2019 when I was in Sweden to look for the Western Capercaillie lek. Anyway, after having been in the bird hide here at Wat Tham Prathun I decided to buy a sturdy stool for my bird watching.
There are plastic chairs in the hide, but they are not comfortable at all. And the “Walkstool Comfort” is easy to bring and it can come in handy while birding.
Bird checklist
I never use any bird lists, but since I try to make it in toCloudbirders. A very helpful site when planning your birding trips. But they ask for a bird checklist, and if I use their service, of course I want to contribute as well. My two first bird watching trip reports was rejected by Cloudbirders.
So I started to take ideas from the reports I found on Cloudbirders. So I have started to use bird lists, eBird generate one for me and I can post it on Cloudbirders. I will post my birds on eBird and on my different “BIRDS THAT I HAVE OBSERVED” pages.
Full Thai list updated to the taxonomy, nomenclature and sequence of the IOU/IOC World Bird List. The complete checklist, including Thai names and synonyms, can be downloaded in Excel format -Thailand Bird Checklist.- Version 8.2 (2018) - found atwww.norththailandbirding.com
Check lists can come in handy to find out the local name of the bird etc. And Avibase have a list with pictures and sounds, excellent!
So I will post bird checklists here and if my Guides provide me with checklists I will also post them here.
Chonburi bird checklist from Avibase, clickHERE- eBird version 2019 taxonomy
Avibaseis providing you with bird checklists from all over the world. And I´m impressed by their web page. Select country and area and you get the bird checklist. Like the PDF files I got from Avibase on the links above. You also get the checklist with pictures and sounds.
The best part is that you get the local names of the birds and the online checklist gives the names in English plus the language you have selected. But it seems like the PDF cannot handle some alphabet.
For example the Japanese language so it is blank in the PDF checklist. But it worked excellent with Swedish. But you get them in the local language on the online version.
Bird list
I only list birds I have got on picture on my list of OBSERVED BIRDS. But since I started using eBird I have changed a bit. I list all the birds on the eBird checklist. See the DAY TO DAY report in the itinerary below.
2 June 2020and we left my condo around 6 thirty. The original plan was for my friend to pick me up at 7, then he called to say that he would be here at 06:15. He called and told me that he was stuck in traffic and he would be 10 minutes late.
The team is here to pick me up
We left and it was soon raining. It was poring down all the way until we left the motorway. It was dry and the sun was shining so we were very happy when we reached Laem Chabang International Country Club. We enter the gate and they check our temp to try to detect any Wuhan Virus.
We spot a couple of hopes after a few hundred meters. And my friend was happy as he like the Hoopoe very much. And I was happy as I managed to get a few pictures I was happy with. We continue and we are passing one Green Bee-eater sitting on a branch hunting for insects.
Taking off catching an insect and back to the branch to look for more food.
Eurasian Hoopoe / นกกะรางหัวขวาน
Eurasian Hoopoe / นกกะรางหัวขวาน
Eurasian Hoopoe / นกกะรางหัวขวาน
Ashy Woodswallow - นกแอ่นพง
Green Bee-eater / นกจาบคาเล็ก
Green Bee-eater / นกจาบคาเล็ก
Green Bee-eater / นกจาบคาเล็ก
Chestnut-headed Bee-eater / นกจาบคาหัวสีส้ม
Chestnut-headed Bee-eater / นกจาบคาหัวสีส้ม
There were a lot of birds in the NE corner. Ashy Woodswallow, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Indian Rollers and Barbets. I really tried to get a picture of the barbet, most likely a Lineated, but as I was not sure I never reported the bird. We drove towards the lake behind the club house and this time we approached from East.
There were many Green Bee-eaters and I also spotted a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
We made a U-turn when we reached the lake and we drove back again and we spotted Scaly-breasted Munias and strangely enough, I managed to get some pictures of the very shy bird.
Scaly-breasted Munia / นกกระติ๊ดขี้หมู
Scaly-breasted Munia / นกกระติ๊ดขี้หมู
Scaly-breasted Munia / นกกระติ๊ดขี้หมู
Scaly-breasted Munia / นกกระติ๊ดขี้หมู
Indochinese Bush Lark / นกจาบฝนปีกแดง
Indochinese Bush Lark / นกจาบฝนปีกแดง
Indochinese Bush Lark / นกจาบฝนปีกแดง
The area is full of Indochinese Bush Larks and we passed one sitting on a pole singing very loud. Against the light so the pictures was not any good and that’s even though the bird was sitting there for a very long time.
But the bird took off by the time I had my bird song recorder ready, darn! We continued towards the club house and we passed another Hoopoe. I didn't see many Common Mynas today, but there was at least 50 Great Mynas. Not easy to get pictures of the mynas but I managed to get a few pictures when we had passed the club house towards the lake.
Reaching the lake and I spot two Lesser Coucals and I managed to ID the bird with a picture, black eye and it is a Lesser Coucal. Red eye and it is a Greater Coucal. But the picture was very poor, just enough for ID.
Eurasian Hoopoe / นกกะรางหัวขวาน
Great Myna / นกเอี้ยงหงอน
Great Myna / นกเอี้ยงหงอน
Great Myna / นกเอี้ยงหงอน
Very bad picture, to be used for ID only - Lesser Coucal with black eye
Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity
5 birds sitting on a wire, in the end we hear the noisy bird taking off
We spotted one Little Cormorant and a few Asian Openbills. We reached the place where we did the U-turn earlier and we made a U-turn again. We passed the club house again and we drove towards west and we made a U-turn reaching the west end of the golf course.
Driving back to see if I could make a recording of the Indochinese Bush Lark. The Bush Larks was not there and we turned around to go back to the lake. And it started to rain on the way back to the gate. We spotted a White-breasted Waterhen crossing the road.
And as a bonus, we got to see a couple of Greater Racket-tailed Drongos sitting in the trees above the waterhen.
White-breasted Waterhen / นกกวัก crossing the road
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
We left Laem Chabang International Country Club and we stopped for some tea and cake before continuing to the bird hide at Wat Tham Prathun. I was surprised to see another bird watcher arriving with us to the parking lot at the bird hide. It had been raining and I didn't expect anyone to be in the bird hide. And yet another birder arrived 10 minutes later.
Walking from the car and I spotted one White-rumped Shama sitting in the bamboo forest. The bird took off and I looked for the bird. I discovered the bird next to my left foot. The bird stared at my foot print, and suddenly! The bird attacked my foot print finding an insect.
I was instantly thinking about the North Island Robin on New Zealand. The bird was following me walking in the forest jumping from tree to tree looking at my feet for insects.
Scratching the ground with the foot and the bird dived down to look for insects where I had scratched the ground. So the White-rumped Shama is not shy, they are happy to come up close. And I have been scared many times almost stepping on them not seeing them and they take off suddenly.
Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity
White-rumped Shama / นกกางเขนดง
White-rumped Shama / นกกางเขนดง
White-rumped Shama / นกกางเขนดง
White-rumped Shama / นกกางเขนดง
This date goes down the history books as the first time I use my new Walk Stool® I sat up my stool and it was very comfortable to sit in the hide looking for birds. I had company by two Thai bird watches and we were chatting while waiting for the birds.
I received the Walk Stool® a very few days ago and I am really eager to get to the bird hide to try out the new Walk Stool®
My parcel arrived
Two new Walk Stool®
Light weight Walk Stool®
Looks comfy
It is comfy
The sun was showing up and the expectations was high. The light was good as long as it was sunshine. But it was soon getting gloomy and grey with a drizzle and it was too dark for any pictures and I left the hide.
A new friend
Racket-tailed Treepie / นกกาแวน
Racket-tailed Treepie / นกกาแวน
Racket-tailed Treepie / นกกาแวน
Puff-throated Babbler / นกจาบดินอกลาย
Puff-throated Babbler / นกจาบดินอกลาย
Puff-throated Babbler / นกจาบดินอกลาย
Puff-throated Babbler / นกจาบดินอกลาย
Leaving the hide and we walk down to check out the monk dwelling. One White-crested Laughingthrush and a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. We meet a monk and the Blue-winged Pitta had been there yesterday. So the Pitta is still in the area and I might give it one more try this year.
eBird Report
Wat Tham Prathun (Tham Prathun Temple), Chon Buri, TH Jun 2, 2020 12:06 - 14:10 Protocol: Stationary 6 species
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
We drove back to Bangkok and I will see where to go next time it is time for bird watching. I think I will make a trip to Phetchaburi Ricefields. But now the rainy season have started so it might be cancelled. I changed my plan as I had seen that someone had reported a Tiger Shrike at Mahachai on eBird. So my next birding will be in the Mahachai. ClickHEREto see if I find the Tiger Shrike