18-20th of July 2016

With Pete Mooney from New Jersey

Pete is a herpetologist but has an interest in birds and so asked me to help out for a few days before he would join a couple of friends in Bali for some herping.
We agreed to a plan as follow.

Day 1. Fields of Petchaburi in the morning and outskirts of Kaengkrachan National Park in the afternoon.

Day 2. All day at the lower levels of Kaengkrachan.

Day 3. Lower levels till noon and some fields on the way back to Bangkok in the afternoon

Day 1. We got to the fields around 7 am. A lot less birds then in the dry season but still birdy enough to keep the interest. The 3 species of Weavers were still at it being busy in their breeding colonies. Asian Golden seemed to be the most common this time.

Some fields were full of Egrets and Openbills. A nice surprise was a Stork-billed Kingfisher that flew over our heads after it sang in some nearby trees for a bit. White-throated Kingfisher wasn’t far away either so both these two colorful birds showed well.

At WatKhaotakrow there were 12 Spot-billed Pelicans. These are much easier in the wet season and often missed in the dry.

Not many wader around but atleast we got on to some Oriental Pratincoles both in flight and on the ground.

Pulling in to Baan Maka, our resort, gave us almost instantly a Blue-winged Pitta as it hopped around on the resort grounds in search of worms for its hungry chicks.

After a delicious dinner the night fell. Almost instantly the call of Collared Scops Owl started out. I got on to it quickly but it flew off just to call deeper inside the vegetation. We followed it with our headlights on. Suddenly, I spotted a Reticulated Python in front of me. Pete got very enthusiastic as this was a new snake for him. Funny how the Almighty seem to reward people according to their individual desires. I normally don’t look for snakes to be honest but in this case it was high on Pete's wish list.

Day 2. We entered the park around 6:30. Thankfully we never encountered any rain during our 3 days inspite of dark skies and lingering rain. It was a lot quieter then normal to be honest but enough new impressions to keep Pete happy. I mean, how can you not be anything but appreciative when you are visiting a tropical forest you have never been to before.

The best birds of the day were the Broadbills with Silver-breasted, Black-red and Banded leading the way! A pair of Great Hornbills finally showed in the late afternoon and will not be forgotten.
After having walked a trail in the afternoon we were back on the road walking towards the car when suddenly Pete spotted another snake. This time a Monocled Cobra. I let Pete examine it while I kept safely away. I do appreciate these beings but have a healthy fear of getting too close. I suppose it being the wet season had something to do with seeing two species in 2 days? Either way, it was a major highlite for this snake man who has worked with snakes on a professional level for many many years.

Day 3. Back in the park to pick up a few more things. We finally added some woodpeckers to the list but the definite highlite was an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher next to the road.

Pete happily shared his experiences with herping from primarily Central and South America and time seemed to quickly go by.