South-East Asia 2025 – Part 6: Birds of South Thailand

 

Grey Peacock-Pheasant

This post follows an account of connecting with sun bears and other mammals during a five-day stay at Baan Maka Lodge in South Thailand, featuring visits to the nearby Kaeng Krachan National Park and the Bird Hide, where mammals and birds are fed. Travelling south from Bangkok towards our destinations we stopped at the Ton Maparo Paddies, 80km north of Hua Hin (where we had a few days before visiting Baan Maka). At Ton Maparo I finally caught up with Asian Golden Weaver. This was a bird I'd inexplicably missed on multiple past trips. Males were in stunning breeding plumage and small colonies were nesting along the paddyfield canals.

Asian Golden Weaver

Glenn and I spent our first morning in Kaeng Krachan watching bears and other mammals. For the next two mornings I hired a guide, Nuy, who knew where to go for some of the handful of targets I needed from the area. Foremost among those was White-fronted Scops-Owl. It rained heavily the night before and there was no sign of the owls at their usual daytime roost. A Black-backed Kingfisher at its nest was a consolation prize. A few of the targets eventually emerged, the first of them a drab Olive Bulbul located by its distinctive call.

Guide Nuy

Olive Bulbul

Then a party of 3 Tickell's Brown Hornbills flew over, followed an hour later by a second group of 10 hornbills which landed in a large tree, offering good but brief views before flying off. Another much-wanted bird missed on previous trips, Dusky Broadbill, was finally in the bag with a noisy group chasing each other in the canopy above the road. These sightings were between small streams a short way west of the Ban Krang campgrouynd.

Dusky Broadbill

The second morning was more successful with the owl. A pair of adult White-fronted Scops-Owl together with a well-fledged immature bird, roosting in the fronds of a palm tree, were a sight for sore eyes.

White-fronted Scops-Owl adult (left) & immature (right)

White-fronted Scops-Owl (2 adults)

We drove further west to the park's second camping ground, Phanoen Thong, higher up at 1000m, but we failed to connect with a couple of potential targets there. Birds about the area included Great Hornbill, Thick-billed Flowerpecker and a smart Red-bearded Bee-eater (below).

Nice views of the forest in the national park (below).

We stopped for a pair of Orange-breasted Trogons on the way back.

Orange-breasted Trogon

Other birds seen during roadside stops included Lineated Barbet and Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler.

Lineated Barbet

Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler

Nuy then showed me the way to the Bird Hide, a hide in secondary forest outside the park where food is put out for some good species, about 12km from Baan Maka. I'd planned to spend the following morning there. We had a quick look inside the hide and were happy to see 2 pairs of Bar-backed Partridges. A Chinese Francolin was seen along the road on the way out.

Bar-backed Partridge

Over several hours at the hide the next morning, the parade of birds and mammals was entertaining and never-ending. As many as 10 Ferruginous Partridges, including several chicks, fed openly. This species is notoriously shy and cryptic; although I'd heard it previously, this was my first sighting.

Ferruginous Partridge (with chicks above)

Bar-backed Partridge was not seen again but a pair of Scaly-breasted Partridges took centre stage for a while amid the plethora of ever-present Red Junglefowl.

Scaly-breasted Partridge

Puff-throated Babbler and Streak-eared Bulbul were among quite a few passerines attracted to the water baths and mealworms.

Puff-throated Babbler

Streak-eared Bulbul

Common Flameback and Greater Yellownape showed well in the clearing.

Common Flameback

Greater Yellownape

As did several Ratchet-tailed Treepies and some showy White-crested Laughingthrushes.

Ratchet-tailed Treepie

White-crested Laughingthrush

A fine male Grey Peacock-Pheasant made an exciting appearance after a couple of hours. It came and went over the next half hour, showing beautifully - another species I'd heard but not seen before.

Grey Peacock-Pheasant

Birds were also plentiful around Baan Maka Lodge, chief among them the lovely Blue-winged Pitta. The pitta is a regular breeding visitor to the lodge grounds and is easily seen and heard there.

Blue-winged Pitta

Other birds about the grounds include Oriental Pied Hornbill, Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Blue Whistling-Thrush and Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. 

Blue Whistling-Thrush

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

The evening beer ritual at Baan Maka

Last day in Thailand

South-East Asia 2025 Part 5 – Sun Bear & other mammals in South Thailand

 

Sun Bear

Following our visit to North Thailand, we picked up another hire car in Bangkok and drove south to the seaside resort town of Hua Hin. We had a few days at this delightful place. The view from the hotel, Ruenkanok Thaihouse Resort, was one of the nicest I've had anywhere.

Hua Hin - view from hotel room above, beach below

Long-tailed Macaques were present on Monkey Hill near our hotel.

Long-tailed Macaque

We moved on to Baan Maka Lodge, an hours drive to the north-west and the gateway to the famed Kaeng Krachan National Park. It's a comfortable lodge with decent food served at sensible times for early critter-watchers, and just a 15-minute drive to the park and bird hides outside the park.

Our Baan Maka Lodge room

Grey-bellied Squirrel is about the lodge grounds in considerable numbers. This post is devoted to mammals; birds to follow next.

Grey-bellied Squirrel

On our first morning we drove into the park and on to Ban Krang camping ground, 15km further west. Sun Bear has for years been a visitor to the area behind the camp restaurant here although appearances are patchy, and animals can be absent for long periods. I knew they were currently reliable, however, and after a 2-hour wait, a healthy looking Sun Bear emerged from its forest lair to forage for food scraps at a small dump behind the restaurant.

Sun Bear subadult (foreground) with adult (background)

Sun Bear foraging for food scraps

It was soon joined by a subadult male bear for about 20 minutes. Neither demonstrated the slightest sign of aggression towards – or interest in - human onlookers. The first bear hung around for the 2 hours we were there. It was particularly keen on a wire-netted open area at the back of the kitchen where food is prepared, its behaviour indicating that restaurant workers pass on the odd morsel. Sun bears are removed from similar situations in some countries as they are considered potentially dangerous. For us the encounter was pure pleasure.

Sun Bear below restaurant window (above and below)_

The mammal fun didn't stop with bears. Dusky Leaf-Monkey (below) was common in the camping ground with several juveniles present.

A group of White-handed Gibbons was howling loudly nearby. The gibbons entered the camping ground periphery, giving a fine demonstration of aerobatic mastery. Gibbons were heard frequently over the next couple of days of visiting the park. A couple of Pallas's Squirrels were seen in the forest. On the way back from the camping ground we briefly saw a small black phase Leopard by the road, most likely a large cub. Kaeng Krachan is known as a hotspot for black phase leopards for some obscure reason.

White-handed Gibbon

I visited the aptly named Bird Hide, 12km from Baan Maka, where food is left out in an open area in the forest for an array of birds and mammals, attracting photographers from around the world.

Baan Maka Bird Hide 

Preparing the feeding area at the hide

A Lesser Indo-Malaysian Mouse-Deer would occasionally enter the open area, incongruously feeding among the ever present cluster of Red Junglefowl.

Lesser Indo-Malaysian Mouse-Deer 

Grey-bellied Squirrel was again here, sharing the spoils with the junglefowl.

Grey-bellied Squirrel & Red Junglefowl

Northern Tree-Shrew was another regular in the feeding area and a couple of Common Tree-Shrews, noticably larger, were seen.

Northern Tree-Shrew

An Indo-Chinese Ground-Squirrel joined feeding Ferruginous Partridges (below).

Small numbers of the Himalayan (Western) Striped Squirrel darted about the place. A Javan (Small Asian) Mongoose crossed the road as I returned from the hide to Baan Maka.

Himalayan Striped Squirrel