Before setting out for the day, I had a quick walk around the neighbourhood we had been staying in in the early morning light. Despite being suburban and arable, there were some nice birds to see with Oriental Reed Warbler, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Brown-throated Sunbird both being new for me. A Yellow Bittern was feeing on the back of the river beside our rented house, and I got my first Water Monitor of the trip, which was swimming in the middle of one of the estate ponds. A lively start to our morning.
The first destination
was the rice fields to the north of the town of Petchaburi itself. The fields were
almost totally dry, with evidence of recent burning present all over. Our main
target here was the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting, which we hoped
to find around the site. Although we were prepared for a search, we found our
first individuals as soon as we got out of the car and they were an everpresent
feature of the morning. However, seeing them perched up proved a challenge and
generally flight views were all that we were afforded. Still, a few individuals
perched up, including a stunning male.
Although the bulk of
the birds present were common species, there were a few excellent standouts. A
immature Cinnamon Bittern was probably the highlight of the morning, as it
watched me from the bush it perched up into. Asian Golden Weaver and Black-browed
Reed Warbler were both lifers, as was Pink-necked Green Pigeon, finally the
first Green Pigeon of the trip. Overhead we spent time scanning for raptors and
were rewarded with two Greater Spotted Eagles, as well as throngs of Brahminy
Kites and Black Kite.
In the afternoon we
drove to the Kraeng Katchan national park, our finally birding destination of
the trip. Although not our lodging, we called off at Ban Maka Lodge for lunch,
as we needed to arrange access to the birding hides for the following days. But
as luck would have it, the most popular hide of Dab Toon was available that
afternoon, so that is where we decided to spend our afternoon. We arrived
around 15:00 but the activity did not pick up until after the first hour had passed.
The birding in the
hide was brilliant, with five different species of gamebird in total, including
three Partridges. The first was Green-legged Partridge, which came and went
throughout the morning. Followed by Bar-backed Partridge, which came out immediately
into the open and fed for a short while, before it scarpered before finally a
pair of Ferruginous Partridge came out at the end of the afternoon, feeding
right out in the open. Additionally there was a stunning Kaliji Pheasant male
with a striking tail, and a constant convayabelt of Red Junglefowl feeding away
in the background, including at least two adult males.
Additionally to
gamebirds we had a few boisterous groups of Greater and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes
coming and going, showing well and picking off various bits around the feeding
site. There were less small birds than at other feeding sites we had visited,
but we still had our first Indochinese Flycatchers and Abbot’s Babblers, as
well as Siberian Blue Robin. Sadly neither of the two Siberian Blue Robins we
saw were adults.
Despite the
brilliant birding, the highlight was arguably the mammals. In addition to the SQUIRRELS
and TREE SHREWS, we were hopeful to see the MOUSE DEER that is known to visit
and about two hours into our vigil it did indeed come down. And it was
extremely comical, stuffing fruits into its face that were far too big for it
to swallow, only to force it down after about a minute, taking a break and then
doing it again. It stayed out in the open for about 15 minutes in total,
happily struggling to eat fruits and providing excellent entertainment of an
animal we probably wouldn’t even see otherwise.
We were also
extremely lucky to have a pair of Yellow-throated Marten visit us on three occasions.
These mammals were spectacular, almost a meter and a half in length including
the tail with beautiful markings of the dark head contrasting with the yellow body
and breast. Again another secretive animal that we probably not have seen
outside the hide, but that we got amazing intimate views of. The fact they kept
returning made us cautious that they might prevent the secretive gamebirds from
visiting, but we need not have worried and we left with nearly a full house.
The afternoon simply could not have gone any better.
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