Khao Yai and Nam Nao, 11-15th of May, 2022.


I was very happy that Kai Spratt contacted me for some birding. Kai has lived in Thailand for a few years but her work has seen her travel in Asia a lot and she hasn’t had all that much time to pursue her interest in birds.

With retirement coming up Kai wanted to visit some places she had her eyes on before returning to the US.

Day 1. Khao Yai

We met up at 5 am and set off for Khao Yai National Park.

Khao Yai provides a variety of areas suitable for birding and we worked our way through one after the other. The lifers kept coming for Kai, too many to mention here. There were a fair amount of people in the park for being a weekday but that did not affect our birding.
The weather was cloudy and interspersed with rain.

Before we entered the park we stopped to view the Red-breasted Parakeets that roost in the area. Two Crested Treeswifts were a big surprise and new birds for me for the area. Amazing!

The view point by the fire station is always good and it gave us views of some good but common birds in the park. We moved on and kept adding things to the list.

If you have not visited the park it can be tricky to know where to stop but with a little help it can be very productive.

Lunch was at headquarter and as usual not the best. Ha! Do not get the precooked food at Khao Yai headquarter area but rather the made to order food in the indoor restaurant by the bridge.

We visited Haew Suwat waterfall and managed to get views of Slaty-backed Forktail.
Up at the top of Khao Kaew there were some interesting things as well as rain and temperate weather. Quite nice for people used to the heat of Bangkok. It had rained the night before and that had brought out many moths.

Click on the link below for a day list.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S109529125

Day 2. Khao Yai

We stayed at a nice hotel (Duang Porn resort) and dined authentic Thai food at the hotel.

The park opens at 6 am and that is when we knocked on the door. Another day of going through the park with a variety of stops and walks. Lunch was better today as we went to the restaurant where they actually cooked the food upon request and also had freshly brewed coffee available.

Today we got good views of Long-tailed Broadbill, Orange-headed Trogon, Moustached Barbet, Green-eared Barbet, Bar-winged Flcatcher-Shrike, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and many others. We had better light so the views were generally better.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S109628130

The night at the same resort. Dinner elsewhere and even better with some really good local food. Kai was not a big eater but sure liked the local cuisine.

Day 3. Wat Praputtabaht Noi, Saraburi - Poo Tup Berk, Lomsak, Petchabun

We had to get up early again as we wanted to go to Wat Praphutabaht Noi in Saraburi province to see Rufous Wren Babbler, an endemic bird. The drive took a little over an hour. The temple was well kept this time and the many dogs were not as loud as usual. Was that because of the caretaker? He said he had taught Thai boxing for 20 years. A nice man!

It took a bit to get on to the Babblers but persistence paid off and in the end we had good views of two pairs as they moved about the boulders.

We also had great views of a Blue-winged Pitta in flight mode as it crossed our path.
The many Long-tailed Macaques did not bother us as they were happily feeding on fruit and grains put out by the monks.

The limestone outcrops are amazing and that coupled with the monks, the temple, the dogs, the monkeys and the Babblers made for a memorable morning.

Then we set out for a long drive towards Lom Sak in the province of Phetchaburi, some 5 hours North.

There is a rather tall mountain not far from Lom Sak. We decided to explore the steep road up to the entrance of Poo Hin Rong Khla National park. The road is winding and is dotted with small resorts overlooking the lowlands below. Up here there are local produce (vegetables and fruit) sold at small stalls. Poo Tup Berk is the name of the area.

It was late in the day and not much point to go inside the park (besides, for some reason they seem it fair to charge foreigners a 500 Baht entry fee).

Birding wise there are 2 major birds to look for in winter: Jerdon’s Bushchat and the abundant Nepal House Martin. We were too late for both but we got to see Pied Bushchat, Grey-breasted Prinias and flocks of Red-rumped Swallows.

The evening saw us at another great Thai restaurant. Look for where the locals eat and you can’t go wrong. Then lodged at a nice hotel with good AC, hot water and clean rooms.

Day 4. Nam Nao National Park

An hour away one of my favorite National Parks is found: Nam Nao National Park.
The park has extensive areas of dry dipterocarp forest but also stands of pine as well as more wet broadleaved forest next to a stream. It is popular with campers and even now with the rains there were still quite a few around.

We clocked in 18.000 steps for the day which meant we walked a lot along dirt roads and trails.

The hope was for woodpeckers and though we did see Grey-capped Pygmy, Greater Yellownape and Common Flameback the haul was a bit thin.

But we did see many Red-billed Blue Mapies roaming about the campground along with groups of White-crested Laughingthrushes. We had grey skies all day long but managed to escape rain.

It was a good day with many new birds for Kai in an area she had never visited.


https://ebird.org/checklist/S109845278

Day 5. Tat Mok National Park

Today we needed to head back to Bangkok so we decided to explore a park none of us had ever been to: Tat Mok National Park about an hour South of Lom Sak.

The park is not visited much by birders so we were not really sure of what to expect.

I think they must have been isolated a little too long as they wanted to see vaccine passports at the entry point. Ha! This has not been asked for at any of the many parks I have visited of late.
Khao Yai, Kaengkrachan, Doi Inthanon and in stark contrast to the National Park on Ko Pangngan etc etc. Well, after much hassle they said I could take an ATK test which of course was fine and produced a negative result. We barely met a person in the park after that so I am not sure if their worry was for us to contract something from thin air or if they thought we somehow were transmitting things to the wild animals? Like the Japanese survivor that was found in the jungle 20 years after the war had ended they seemed to live in a world of their own.

The 2 lane road from entry point leads to a carpark 19 kilometers in. It was green and lush all the way. Headquarter and visitor center seemed new and well kept. A lady at the entry had told us the waterfall area was closed off due to the risk of flash floods but the ranger at the 2nd checkpoint said it was fine to visit.

So, we drove to the end and back tracked about 500m while birding. Very interesting mix of birds. Wreathed and Pied Hornbill, Long-tailed Broadbills, Slaty-backed Forktail, Buff-breasted Babbler, Crimson Sunbird, Grey-headed Parakeets, Blue Pitta, Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Fairy Bluebirds and a lot more.

A big surprise was to hear a Rufous-throated Fulvetta. This bird I have only seen in one location.
Poo Suan Sai, Loei province.

The trail was hard to walk as it was rocky, wet and not many birds about. We only did the trail briefly as there was a further 2 km to the actual waterfall.

The potential of this park seem big and probably much to be discovered.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S109954875

The rest of the day involved driving and conversing.
It had been a good 5 days.

Peter

A few sample photos below.