Thailand; Day 10 - Fang & Chiang Saen

   We started the day by birding the rice fields on the drive between Fang and Chiang Saen, which is one of the main sites for us to encounter common lowland and wetland species on this trip. We arrived a little late in the morning, at 08:30, but we got stuck in and we had a very enjoyable morning seeing more than 50 species before 11:00 when it just got too hot to carry on being out in such an exposed area.

  The birding started fantastically well with a wet area full of Chinese Pond Herons, with our first Black-winged Kite of the trip hovering behind. We then started walking around the paddies, and quickly picked up common species, before we switched our attention to checking out the overgrown ditches and scrubby areas for passage and wintering species. This got us a fantastic Thick-billed Warbler, as well as a nice handful of Dusky Warblers. The ditches were full of seeding grasses, and these proved popular with Scaly-breasted Munia and Plain-backed Sparrows. Afterwards our attention turned to the sky, and raptors passing overhead. A displaying pair of Shikra were nice, as was a flyover Crested Honey Buzzard, but the highlight was two distant Black Baza circling.

  But we also had our first real Thai rarity of the trip early on in the morning when scanning through the flocks of Chinese Pond Herons. Out of the vegetation walked a rail, almost identical to Water Rail from the UK, which meant that the bird could only be a Brown-cheeked Rail. Seeing such an elusive species out in the open would be bonus enough, but to know that it was quite a notable rarity on a local level added an extra level of excitement to the bird.

  We then drove the two hours to Chiang Saen, where we had a lovely lunch on the banks of the Mekong River. Early afternoon we headed to what promised to be one of the highlights of the whole trip, the Pied Harrier roost at the Wiang Nong Lom wetlands. While waiting for the harriers to come we had some time for birding, and we made the most of this with a brilliantly showy Plaintive Cuckoo, a few Bronze-winged Cuckoo and excellent numbers of common species such as Barn Swallow, Baya Weaver and White Wagtail. Probably the standout species from the evening also came once darkness had nearly set in, when a Cinnamon Bittern flew out of the reeds and began feeding on the bank close to us. A real bonus species for our trip.

  The harrier roost was excellent, but not quite what we anticipated. The first Eastern Marsh Harrier started to arrive not long after we started, but they did not stop where they were supposed to and instead carried on flying over the distant hill. The watchtower was broken so we couldn’t get a proper view of the landscape, but we could clearly see the birds were not stopping. The first Pied Harriers finally arrived at 18:15 and they came regularly after this until dark, but they continued to fly over the hill and out of sight. In total we managed 20 Eastern Marsh Harriers and 23 Pied Harriers, and while it was excellent to see, it was a little disappointing that they did not stop in the marsh close to us, as we expected. 

Species List:
Huai Mafueang Rice Paddies: Lesser Whistling Duck, Feral Pigeon, Red Collared Dove, Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, Greater Coucal, Asian Koel, Brown-cheeked Rail, Common Moorhen, White-breasted Waterhen, Little Ringed Plover, Pin-tailed Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Little Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Eastern Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Medium Egret, Grey Heron, Black-winged Kite, Crested Honey Buzzard, Black Baza, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Shikra, Black Kite, Asian Barred Owlet, Common Kingfisher, White-throated Kingfisher, Common Kestrel, Ashy Woodswallow, Black Drongo, Brown Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, Eastern Jungle Crow, Common Tailorbird, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Plain Prinia, Thick-billed Warbler, Barn Swallow, Streak-eared Bulbul, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Yellow-browed Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Black-collared Starling, Common Myna, Great Myna, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Taiga Flycatcher, Amur Stonechat, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Scaly-breasted Munia, Plain-backed Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail, White Wagtail, Richard's Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit,
Harrier Roost Watchtower: Lesser Whistling Duck, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Spotted Dove, Zebra Dove, Greater Coucal, Asian Koel, Plaintive Cuckoo, Common Moorhen, Grey-headed Swamphen, Bronze-winged Jacana, Wood Sandpiper, Asian Openbill, Little Cormorant, Cinnamon Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Eastern Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Medium Egret, Purple Heron, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Pied Harrier, Asian Barred Owlet, Eurasian Hoopoe, White-throated Kingfisher, Ashy Woodswallow, Black Drongo, Brown Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, Barn Swallow, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Black-collared Starling, Great Myna, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Purple Sunbird, Baya Weaver, Scaly-breasted Munia, Citrine Wagtail, White Wagtail,