Thaibirds and more

This year the Black-tailed Crake has been showing very well at Doi Inthanon. A bit before dusk a pair will come out of the reedbed and see if there has been any rice/bread put out for them. They have been habituated this way and one can view the birds from close range. Besides this site there are only one or two sites with these birds in Northern Thailand so watching a rarity like this is quite special.

I recently had the honor of spending 12 days with Bob and Ann Walton in Central and Northern Thailand. They have birded 50 some years and seen over 8000 species so it was a challenge to find lifers for them. This Red-billed Scimitar Babbler was to be the last of the lifers with me which tallied up to 32 for the 12 days we had together. Dave Sargeant had tipped me off to a place at Doi Lang where he had previously seen these birds. Sure enough, a pair of them came in to playback and stayed around for some time. This was only my 2nd encounter of these birds in Thailand so I was very pleased. I haven't been able to find many pix of the birds online so I suppose it isn't that common anywhere in it's range.

Kaengkrachan National Park is a seriously amazing place with a long long list of quality birds waiting to be seen. As all of you know, reality is a bit different and many of these birds simply don't show that easy. The best 'weapon' we have in finding our birds are our ears. So, simply listening helps a lot and also connects the mental picture one already have of the bird calling. The Grey Peacock Pheasant is one such skulker. It is readily heard in the forest and sometimes at quite close range at that. However, trying to see one or let alone get an image is a major event. One morning I was on my way up to Panern Thung with Martin Lindop from Birmingham, England. Martin was on his way to the Philippines for a tour with BirdtoursAsia but wanted a few days of photography in Thailand. As we approached higher ground I suddenly heard the loud contact call of the Pheasant. I looked to my left and there on a branch in the dark stood a female GPP. Needles to say, the image I got w