6am as ususal and up the mountain. At the viewpoint between km24 and 25 I heard the familiar loud sound of a Great Hornbill. We parked the car and right above us we saw the great bird jumping around. This viewpoint is one of the most beautiful and an excellent place for photography of the big birds in flight. If they show up that is.

I put the camera up in position and was hoping something would came flying by and Pairaow was walking down the road. Quite soon about 20 Great Hornbills was flying in to a tree far below in the valley. This was bringing hope to my idea of capturing them in flight, though they were not yet in range.

While keeping an eye on the Great Hornbills I saw two large birds flying in to a tree and I had a look at them through the camera. It was a pair of Rusty-cheeked Hornbills! First time I see these rather uncommon hornbills. After a while they took flight and I got a good look at them flying over the valley almost at my level, just beautiful. It wasn't enough light for any flight pictures yet but I got some pix through the fog when they perched in another tree. They then continued further into the valley right to the area where my wife should be now. I radioed her on the walkie-talkie and the birds had landed right above her and she was very frustated about having them so close without being able to photograph them.

After that treat I was hoping to see the Great ones coming the same way and some 20 min later 4 of them was flying into a tree not too far away. In that same tree we also had Black Giant Squirells and Dusky Leaf Monkeys and some confrontations were inevitable. On of the Great Hornbills chased away a squirrel and then had a stare-off with the monkeys but they decided not to fight and stayed on each side of the tree. My wife now arrived an watched the birds jump around in the tree for a while and then took flight right in front of us. A truly magnificent sight seeing the King of The Forest in the air with its loud wings and hugh size. We got some pix but really, the experience can't beat the pictures nowhere near.

At 8am we went up to the top where we spent some time at the fruiting fig tree. Got another glimpse of the Siberian Thrush, still not able to photograph him though. Orange-headed Thrush and the pigeons was also around. Many White-rumped Munias in the bamboo but no Parrotfinches to be seen.

After lunch we went back to the fig tree and after a while a Great Hornbill comes flying in and starts eating figs right infront of me! What a surprise, we haven't seen any hornbills in this tree. My lens was just way too long, I could take off the extender though but that would take a minute so I decided to just take some close-ups. Unfortunately I had spot-metering set which is just useless for birds like this and the pictures didn't come out that good. Anyway it was amazing to see this Great bird eating fig so up close. I shot a video too which came out quite good because the exposure mode in video is always evaluative which is way better than spot-metering in this case. After removing the extender the bird had moved inside the tree and it wasn't possible to get any more pictures. After all I did the right decision but next time I will know what to do, rip of that extender and have the lens caps ready in your pocket.

At around 4pm the rain was moving in as usual but before that a remarkable bird was seen in the dry vegetation next to the big blue water barrels on the top. It was a lone Purple-backed Starling which my wife managed to get some pictures of. This bird is usually seen in the lowlands in Thailand during migration.

After driving down the mountain the rain had stopped and at the Ban Krang campsite some kind of insects were swarming and the birds of course took advantage. Chinese Sparrowhawks, Dollarbirds and Hill Mynas all flew around the area having an easy meal. Not much light available for photography though. At one moment a Greater Yellownape and a Blue-beared Bee-eater came in to the same tree where two sparrowhawks already was perched eating their catch. Around them Dollarbirds and Hill Mynas circled creating a spectacular scene.

After capturing an insect the sparrowhawks just sat down in the nearest tree and ate it. Then they took flight and immediately captured another one and straight to the nearest tree again, repeating this over and over again.