15th Jan
After an early breakfast, we departed in the bus at 6:45 and drove to a lake north of the town. This was pretty lush compared to the open salt pans which had no vegetation to speak of, and made a pleasant change. It was also very productive and we spent two hours there from sunrise onwards. Overhead there were many Oriental Darters which we assumed were flying from a roost site, plus Germain's Swiftlets, Asian Palm Swifts and a few Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. The first section of the lake was surrounded by reeds and other vegetation and there was a good selection of birds of this habitat such as Yellow Bittern, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Bronze-winged Jacana, Grey-headed Swamphen, Moorhen, White-browed Crake, and one that I only saw a tiny bit of in China, Baillon's Crake, and a Black-winged Stilt was also present. Smaller species comprised Pied Mynah {Asian Pied Starling}, a couple of Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Malaysian Pied Fantail, Black-naped Oriole, Brown Shrike and Pink-necked Green Pigeons. Reed beds are of course the home of various warblers and other small passerines, and careful scanning eventually gave us Black-browed Reed Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler, and the scarce Manchurian Reed Warbler. We also picked out a few non-warbler species including Asian Golden, Streaked and Baya Weavers, a diminutive Plain Prinia, Siberian Stonechat, Chestnut Munia, and Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler. The group also heard Lanceolated Warbler [no chance for me!] and logged Dusky Warbler but I didn't get on to that.
Still the birds kept coming though. Overhead we had several Brahminy Kites, Purple Heron, Whiskered Terns, Grey-headed Lapwing, and a monstrous Stork-billed Kingfisher flew by. Whilst on kingfishers we also logged Common and White-throated. We were lucky to see a Plaintive Cuckoo fly in and land in a tree, and Asian Koel, Yellow-browed Warbler, and Common Mynah were added to the site list. A small pond across the access track gave up a few Little Grebes and a Black-capped Kingfisher, and some more Pink-necked Green Pigeons.
Still the birds kept coming though. Overhead we had several Brahminy Kites, Purple Heron, Whiskered Terns, Grey-headed Lapwing, and a monstrous Stork-billed Kingfisher flew by. Whilst on kingfishers we also logged Common and White-throated. We were lucky to see a Plaintive Cuckoo fly in and land in a tree, and Asian Koel, Yellow-browed Warbler, and Common Mynah were added to the site list. A small pond across the access track gave up a few Little Grebes and a Black-capped Kingfisher, and some more Pink-necked Green Pigeons.
After a superb start to the day, we moved on and noted with interest quite a number of swift 'hotels' - large pretty unattractive concrete buildings with many access holes for swifts, which are used to allow the swifts to nest inside and to allow the owners harvest the edible swift nests, which they are allowed to do in a controlled way. We eventually arrived at a large expanse of wetland - basically flooded fields for aquaculture. There were huge numbers of Great White Egrets, plus slightly lesser numbers of Painted Storks and other egrets, plus large numbers of Indian Cormorants. There was a bit of a feeding frenzy going on in one corner of the flooded area. Scanning the throngs of birds revealed a few Black-headed Ibis, and there were a couple of Spot-billed Pelicans although these were rather distant. There were clearly a lot of wildfowl settled towards the middle of the flooded area but viewing was difficult into the light, so we drove round the raised bund for a better view. There was a large number of Eurasian Wigeon and Paul soon gave a shout that he was on to a Falcated Duck and on scoping it up we discovered there were three [2 ducks and a drake] - a good find of a scarce bird in Thailand. In with the flock there were familiar Pintail and Shoveler, and quite a few Garganey. A few waders were also showing - Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, and Spotted Redshank, plus a carrot-billed Caspian Tern. Last but not least a lone Brown Shrike sat on a lookout post.
The next site was an area of rice fields to the north-west of Petchaburi. A roadside stop to scan, brought us a nice Freckle-breasted Woodpecker in the adjacent trees, plus a Wryneck and Plain-backed Sparrows. Fairly distant in the sky we picked up a [Greater] Spotted Eagle {I've a feeling Anne spotted this} plus some Black {eared} Kites. In the paddy fields there were numerous herons an egrets as you would expect, and these included a few Javan Pond Herons mixed in with the ubiquitous Chinese Pond Herons, the former distinguished by their more orangey-buff head & neck as opposed to the rusty maroon colour of the latter. Waders were thrown in for good measure with Long-toed Stints, Snipe and Little Ringed Plovers present, plus Eastern Yellow Wagtails of the nominate race M.tschutschensis tschuttschensis. We then drove back to the Sun Hotel, noting an Indochinese Roller on roadside wires, and had lunch at the hotel.
After lunch we left Petchaburi and drove west, inland, to our next destination which was the beautiful Baan Maka Nature Resort where we would stay for the last 4 full days of the trip - would have loved to have spent a whole week there! On arrival we relaxed for a while with a refreshing drink in the shade of the large open-sided dining area, and were treated to some decidedly chilled out armchair birding! Quite close to where we were sitting we had superb views of Greater and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes, White-rumped Shama, Streak-throated Bulbul, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Blue Whistling Thrush, and Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, and further away in the grounds, a pair of Kalij Pheasants, a pair of Greater Flamebacks, and a Red Junglefowl.
Now chilled after the road trip we were allocated our cabins then and took a walk in the grounds. On the way to our cabin I spotted a Forest Wagtail on the expanse of lawn. The stand-out birds during the walk was a pair of Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, and to add to the colour we had Black-naped and Black-headed Orioles. On the more subdued side colour-wise were Ashy Drongo, Hair-crested Drongo, Raquet-tailed Treepie, Chestnut-tailed Starling, Taiga Flycatcher, Two-barred Warbler, {Asian} Brown Flycatcher [the 'Asian' is dropped by IOC], and Malaysian Pied Fantail.
The final foray of the day comprised driving a short distance to a nearby location which was a pre-roost site for various starlings. After a sort while Chestnut-tailed Starlings and Pied Mynahs {the IOC name for Asian Pied Starling} came in, eventually joined by the sought after Spot-winged Starlings, seven of them - this is a difficult to get species so we were well chuffed. The evening rounded off with a diminutive Coppersmith Barbet, Plain-backed Sparrows and some Ashy Woodswallows. What a day! Dinner that evening was well earned.
Now chilled after the road trip we were allocated our cabins then and took a walk in the grounds. On the way to our cabin I spotted a Forest Wagtail on the expanse of lawn. The stand-out birds during the walk was a pair of Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, and to add to the colour we had Black-naped and Black-headed Orioles. On the more subdued side colour-wise were Ashy Drongo, Hair-crested Drongo, Raquet-tailed Treepie, Chestnut-tailed Starling, Taiga Flycatcher, Two-barred Warbler, {Asian} Brown Flycatcher [the 'Asian' is dropped by IOC], and Malaysian Pied Fantail.
The final foray of the day comprised driving a short distance to a nearby location which was a pre-roost site for various starlings. After a sort while Chestnut-tailed Starlings and Pied Mynahs {the IOC name for Asian Pied Starling} came in, eventually joined by the sought after Spot-winged Starlings, seven of them - this is a difficult to get species so we were well chuffed. The evening rounded off with a diminutive Coppersmith Barbet, Plain-backed Sparrows and some Ashy Woodswallows. What a day! Dinner that evening was well earned.