Thaibirds and more

 I am not quite sure how or when to begin this story. Back in the day when all I had was the birds in my garden and the fantastic illustrations of magical birds found in the field guide I could only dream of one day seeing them in real life. My life was restricted and very little opportunity to set out in pursuit of ‘imaginary birds’! Ha! Well, a long story cut short. Things changed and slowly I started to lay my eyes on the real things I had only seen drawn in literature. I remember my first Pitta, the Blue-winged, on an excursion to a waterfall with some rumbunctious kids but it didn’t stop me from seeing one crossing the pathway. (as a note, the late Jon Hornbuckle, who eventually saw all recognized Pittas of his day, told me his last one was the Blue-winged. Just goes to show how this rather ‘easy’ to see bird is not very easy unless you are in the right area at the right time.) So, here in Thailand we have a lot of Pittas. Some are regular, none are easy, and som

Daytrips out of Bangkok The following are a few sites that I regularly take visiting birders to. I often do one site in the morning and another in the afternoon and sometimes even fit in one midday.  Depending on the time of year number of birds seen will vary. Most migrants are here from September – April yet there are others that only visit in May-August.  I find it very fulfilling for people on business or others with limited time circumstances to invest in a guided trip with someone that not only knows the birds but also how to get around and has years of experience living in Thailand. Fields of Latkrabang, Bangkok: My local patch and a gem in the city concrete with still rice fields and scrub present. The roar of the traffic in the background and airplanes lifting to the sky is subdued a bit and the birds present are clearly heard. Many a good wetland birds as well as warblers and other birds have been recorded. On a normal morning I average 70-80 species. Pe

 Pelagic day trip 5th of Feb, 2022. Seabirding in the upper inner Gulf of Thailand is not something I do very often due to the scarcity of birds at sea. But the times I have done it I have been rewarded in many ways. The norm is to join one of the regular whale watching trips that mostly draw the general public who want to see both whales and dolphins. But there are some trips that cater specifically to birders and targeting some rarities when they do show up. This was such a trip. Jirayu Ekkul the man behind https://www.facebook.com/wildencounterthailand contacted me and I quickly decided it would be a trip for me. As the boat did not have to go very far out to sea in pursuit of whales the time of departure was later then normal. We did not leave until 10:15 and during our time at sea never lost sight of the shore. It did not take long to get on to a pair of Arctic Jaegers which was my personal target bird as I previously hadn’t seen it in Thailand. We were informed that the Arctic Ja