Birding at Doi Lang, North Thailand Part 2

After coffee break, we continue our birding at this beautiful place.

 What a unusual place...  high up the mountain on the dry branch. This orchid have all the sunlight to itself!

 Can I call this hanging on a thread?

 Took us quite some time to locate this very well camouflage Collared owlet (Glaucidium brodiei).

Mrs. Gould's Sunbird as stunning as usual. Is quite a challenge to take photo of this always on the move bird.

We arrived at this spot at the right time, just in time to watch the bird wave. First was this male short-billed minivet.

 The female follow right after the male appear.

 What a surprise to see Cutia in the bird wave too.

 Large Niltava

 My first seeing this Vivid Niltava.

Not difficult to understand why this bird was called Ultramarine flycatcher! Like the super blue colour!

 Another familiar bird that I saw the last time I visited this place. This must be the usual spot for this Spot-breasted Parrotbill to "hang out"

After several try, finally managed to take a photo of this fast flying Fork-tailed swift. Just didn't get bored coming back to place over and over again.

Birding at Doi Lang, North Thailand

After the cold Doi Inthanon trip, we travel further North to Fang to prepare for visit to Doi Lang the next day.

 The temperature is slightly warmer compare to Doi Inthanon.

 This is one of the best birding site at North Thailand.

 We set off early to wait for our target.

 The first bird that make an appearance is this Olive Backed Pipit.

 It was follow by Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler .

Finally our target appear... Mrs. Hume's pheasant. We know that this pheasant will cross the road early in the morning but not sure when. Is lucky that we get to see it just after about 10 minutes of waiting.

This Mountain Bamboo Partridge is more shy than the pheasant. It just dash through the road without stopping.

Is good to see this Japanese tit aka Oriental tit again after so many years. The last time I saw it was 9 years ago in Japan.

 A rather common Grey Bushchat (female)

 A Male Grey Bushchat.

A Grey-backed Shrike showing his super skill of perching on top of a vertical branch!

I always amaze this tiny bird that can walk up and down a tree trunk. Defy gravity to the max.  :)
Is time for lunch and coffee... to be continued

Doi Inthanon - Birding at Roof of Thailand

The plan for Day 2 of our birding is to the Roof of Thailand - Doi Inthanon. Is the highest spot in Thailand.

I was told that it has been raining for the past week. We really hope to have a good weather for our birding. It started to drizzle the minute we pass the Gate up the Doi Inthanon.

 As we go higher, the rain stopped but was very misty. Visibility dropped to just few meters.

 Saw these nice water droplets on the spider web.

 Wild eggplants can be found at the roadside. Isn't it cute?

The weather get clearer after lunch and saw this Golden Babbler. Taking photo of this bird really challenging, it hardly stop for more than 2 seconds on the same spot.

We stop by a fruiting tree and saw this Yellow Bellied Flowerpecker.

 Also come for the fruits is this Grey Sided Thrush.

 The weather get better as we descent and saw this Collared Falconet.

Weather is so good that the butterfly also come out and play!  :)

Winter Bird Watch at North Thailnd - Day 1

I like to visit North of Thailand during the winter period, cooling weather is one big attraction to get away from the hot & humid weather back in Singapore. This is also the best season of bird watching where we get to see both the resident as well as the migratory birds.

Once we leave airport, we head straight for our lunch. Khao soi is one food that I will not miss whenever come to this part of Thailand as it is only available here.

I have ice-cream waffle as dessert before drive south to Ban Hong for our Day 1 birding.

As soon as we arrived at the car park, this flycatcher perch just on top of us.

There are also quite a number of Ashy Wood Swallow and they fly quite low so I took a flight shot of it.

After waiting about 30 minutes, there are some movement in the bush. Can you see what is moving in the bush?

Yes is Green Peafowl and more of them appear.

Their appearance is just slightly different from the Indian Blue Peafowl that I cam across. Other than their colour, Green Peafowl also have yellow facial that not present in Blue Peafowl.

This Peacock put up a good show. He show his beautiful tail for solid 30 minutes!

After stop for few minutes, the peacock continue is show before disappear in the bush back to the forest.

Black Eared Kite Village

My last leg of oversea birding is the Black Eared Kite Village not far from Khao Yai National Park on our way to the airport to catch our flight home to Singapore.

 Huge statue at the entrance of the village. Will I get to see this endemic kite of Thailand?

 Saw these House Sparrow

 Asian Pied Starling are quite common here.

 Still no sign of the kite but we saw this Pond heron.

 A plaintive cuckoo perched on top pf the sprinkler.

 Plain prinia call out loudly, so not easy to miss.

 Very bright colour Red Avadavat or strawberry finch.

 Purple heron on a very nice background.

  Great Egret is fishing patiently in the paddy field.

 Red-wattled lapwing

 Still no sign of the kite but got this food in mouth shot of the little cormorant

 Finally get to see the Black Eared Kite.

 There are so many of them!

Among all the Black Eared Kites there are Black Kite too! With this beautiful shot, is time to catch our flight. This conclude my oversea birding trip in 2017. Hope for another great birding experience in 2018!