THAILAND TRIP
JANUARY 2000
Introduction
Last January, six intrepid birders (John Barkla, Diana Bryant, Gabrielle
Harrison, Ross Mulholland, Richard Nowotny and I) and one wife (Rosemary Lester)
travelled around non-peninsular Thailand visiting various birding hotspots and
experiencing some of the Thai culture. For some of us, it was a first serious
foray into overseas birding and the selection of Thailand promised a most
interesting start, both in terms of the potential for exotic birds and the Asian
experience of a foreign culture and language.
Why did we pick Thailand? Some of the birds in the Birds of Thailand looked
terrific. We knew several people who had been there and they (particularly
Susan Myers - thanks a lot) helped plan an exciting itinerary. To them,
Thailand had proved to be a tourist-friendly country, with good basic
infrastructure in the form of accommodation, roads and food places. We were
told that the people were friendly and many of them spoke English. The former
trouble spots in the country (recent events notwithstanding) were now very safe
and accessible.
We decided to concentrate in Northern Thailand and around Bangkok, with longer
stays in a few locations rather than attempting to cover the whole country in a
more cursory manner. We have left peninsular Thailand for another visit.
Sites, Species and Experiences
Around Chiang Mai
Four of us (John, Gabrielle, Ross and I) flew to Chiang Mai (via Bangkok) on 2
January arriving at 9.25 am after nearly 11 hours in the air and a short stop in
Bangkok. It was easy to pick up our hire car, follow the map to our hotel, book
in and tidy up and get out north of Chiang Mai to start birding. Just after 11,
we had started our list on the Chiang Mai plains. Some of the first day
?s
highlights were Little Grebe, Pin-tailed and Common Snipe, Green Bee-eater,
Indian Roller, Citrine and White Wagtail, Purple Sunbird, Wire-tailed Swallow,
Yellow-eyed Babbler and Siberian Rubythroat.
While we were pleasantly surprised about the road conditions and the ease of
getting around by hire car, we were not prepared for the suicidal tactics of
some Thai drivers. On the highways, traffic mostly travelled relatively slowly
at 60-80 km/hr. The two-lane roads generally have four lanes of traffic, with
one lane of cars each way and a lane of motor bikes on each verge. However,
very regularly, vehicles would just pull out and pass even if there was traffic
coming the other way, creating a fifth lane. The Thais seemed used to it as the
cars all moved to the left to accommodate the extra vehicle and the bikes slowed
dramatically and got out of the way. We decided to use extra discretion,
particularly as the Thai road toll is already very high and increasing and we
didn?t want to join it.
Day two was spent at Doi Suthep, a mountain just west of Chiang Mai. The
birding was much slower, but included Great Barbet, Eurasian Jay, Grey Treepie,
Black-throated Sunbird, White-browed Shrike-babbler, Long-tailed Sibia and Grey
Bushchat. It was terrific looking at these birds with exotic names and from
families new to us. And this day, we were doing it in the vicinity of the ruins
of a Thai wat (temple) that dated from the 13th Century.
Doi Inthanon
"Doi" means mountain and, at 2590 metres, Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain
in Thailand. We spent four days birding the different habitats at the different
elevations. At the time, this leg of the trip seemed to go pretty well and, in
retrospect, it was the birding highlight. We spent time at the summit at the
famous bog (Eurasian Woodcock, Slaty-bellied Tesia, Chestnut-crowned
Laughingthrush, Chestnut and Dark-throated Thrushes, Orange-flanked Bush-Robin
and Chestnut-rumped Minla), along several tracks at the higher elevations
(Speckled Pigeon, Stripe-breasted and Bay Woodpeckers, Maroon Oriole,
Brown-throated Tree-Creeper and Eye-browed Wren-Babbler), at the lower
elevations (Green-billed Malkoha, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Blue Magpie)
and along the streams that flow down the mountain (Black-tailed Crake, Plumbeous
Redstart and Black-backed and Slaty-backed Forktails). It took us some time to
get to grips with the new families and species, but we gradually accumulated a
terrific list of species. Other observations included Rufous-winged Buzzard,
Golden-throated Barbet, Speckled Piculet Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Green
Magpie, Racket-tailed Treepie, Blue-winged, Golden-fronted and Orange-bellied
Leafbirds, Goulds and Green-tailed Sunbirds, Black and White-headed Bulbuls,
Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Silver-eared Mesia and Spectacled Barwing.
Birding in the Thai forests was quite slow at times. We only encountered the
occasional bird-waves and, initially, we were not skilled enough to observe and
identify all the birds in the flocks. As our identification skills improved,
this became less of a problem with the bird waves providing feverish activity
for half an hour or so. In Thailand, the afternoon birding was reputed to be
slow while the birds were resting. However, we found that birding the roads
from a slow-moving vehicle was very rewarding as we kept encountering
mini-bird-waves. We would jump out of the car and spend the next thirty
minutes, or even an hour, watching the passing parade.
Doi Inthanon was the only place we were not able to organise our accommodation
from Australia. We were unsuccessful in getting into the Park cabins as they
were being renovated. Eventually, we were offered lodgings in the house of the
local Christian minister in the predominantly Buddhist hill-tribe village near
Park headquarters. The house was being completed and we had to sleep on the
floor, but it provided the ideal base well up the mountain. We provided some
entertainment for the locals, who found the four westerners among them a bit
strange.
Thai food is fantastic. And, eating out in Mr Daeng?s (apparently, he is an
institution) open-air restaurant in the cool of the evening was special. We
were a bit concerned at the price though, as a large meal for the four of us was
costing about 400 Baht - about $4 each, including beer and soft-drink.
Much too quickly, the first leg of our trip was over and we returned to Chiang
Mai to pick up the other three in our party, who were flying in on the 8th to
join us. We had a spare afternoon to bird around Chiang Mai to let the
newcomers acclimatise. We tried to visit Doi Chiang Dao to the north, but
couldn?t find the way in. We contented ourselves with birding in the general
area of Chiang Dao caves.
Doi Ang Khang
Doi Ang Khang was supposed to be special with higher elevation species that
occurred nowhere else in Thailand. It used to be difficult to get there, with a
25 km jeep track climbing up the steep mountain. No longer. There is a two
lane bitumen road right to the top with an international hotel at the top to
stay in. Quite a contrast with Doi Inthanon.
The habitat was a contrast as well. There is hardly any left. The Thai
Government has been encouraging the local hill-tribes to plant commercial fruit
crops instead of the more traditional opium poppies - this area was one of the
strongholds for the opium trade - with the result that large tracts of quite
steep mountain top are nearly completely cleared. The environmental effect has
been devastating.
Many of the specialties are now extremely difficult to find or have disappeared
completely. We saw some nice birds, but the birding was always slow with the
daily totals only about 40 species (compared with 50-60 at Doi Inthanon). The
better sightings were Crested Serpent-Eagle, Grey-faced Buzzard, Asian Emerald
Cuckoo, Collared Scops-Owl, Blue-throated Barbet, Common Rosefinch, Crested
Bunting, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Crested Finchbill, White-browed
Laughingthrush, Large and Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler, Streaked Wren-Babbler
and Spot-breasted Parrotbill.
Many people go to Doi Ang Khang to see Giant Nuthatch. We visited one of the
traditional spots, climbing a steep hill to search in the isolated pines at the
top that they were reputed to like. We couldn?t find much up there and returned
a little disheartened. However, soon after, we were fortunate to see a pair
along the road quite near our parked cars. Nearby, one of us, Diana, saw a
Red-faced Liocichla. Despite much searching over several days, we could not
locate this bird, much to our disappointment.
Richard befriended some of the local dogs, particularly a mongrel we called Rex.
One night, there was tremendous, high volume barking at 2 am from near our
units. Thinking Richards? dog pack had treed an unlucky cat or similar
creature, I ventured out to see all the local males "serenading" a bitch in heat
right next to John and Gabrielle?s unit. To his credit, Richard chased his dogs
away from our units and we eventually got back to sleep.
One of the highlights was seeing the Burmese border. The border crossing at Nor
Lae village is closed - the Thai and Burmese Governments are in dispute about
border control in this area. But the border guards are quite relaxed and we
were able to walk along the border "fence" - a row of sticks - and look across
to the Burmese guards casually resting, I mean, guarding their side of the
border.
Doi Ang Khang was where the young Australian birdwatcher was killed in February
soon after we returned to Australia. He must have been extremely unfortunate as
we saw little sign of potential trouble. That is not to say it isn?t there. It
is quite likely that drug-running is commonplace as the border is actually wide
open away from the border crossing.
Around Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle
Leaving Doi Ang Khang after three nights, we travelled to Chiang Rai via Tha
Ton. Until recently, this road did not exist and you had to return to Chiang
Mai. The pace of development in the north appears to have been considerable
over the last 5-10 years as the infrastructure is very good. Chiang Rai seems
to be booming with many new resorts, no doubt helped by its reputation as the
biggest drug funnel from the Golden Triangle to the West. However, again, none
of this was visible.
We birded at one of the few wetlands we could find in the north, a lake near
Chiang Saen. We saw some good birds here, including Gadwall, Eurasian Widgeon,
Garganey, Green Sandpiper, Temminck?s Stint and Pheasant-tailed Jacana. Between
Chiang Rai and Mae Sai, we saw Pied and Eastern Marsh Harrier, Jack Snipe,
Eurasian Wryneck, White-browed Piculet, Little Bunting and White-rumped Sharma
in a variety of habitats. However, again, the habitats were poor and mostly
cleared. We could not find the supposed "remnant lowland forest patches" along
this border area.
Chiang Saen is on the Mekong River, which forms the border between Thailand and
Laos. At a place called Golden Triangle, we took a boat trip upstream on the
Mekong, which was another major highlight of our trip. We saw some great birds
such as River Lapwing, Small Pratincole, Asian Barred Owlet and Pied Kingfisher.
As we were boating between Burma and Laos (with Thailand well downstream), this
gave me an opportunity to add to my Burma list and start one for Laos. It was
fantastic to be birding on an island in the middle of the Mekong looking at
waders with Burma to the west, Laos to the east, China only a few kilometres
upstream and Thailand downstream.
With regard to accommodation, the Dusit Island Resort in Chiang Rai provided a
great contrast with our minister?s house at Doi Inthanon. A five star resort
did not appeal as a better alternative even though the comfort levels were much
higher.
Part 2 to follow
Chris
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