Two main birding highlights of March were a trip to Bang Pra non-hunting area which is near Chonburi and our second visit to Khao Yai. Bang Pra needs to be visited early in the day and we were a bit late but a couple of Chinese Francolin were calling madly and there were some great views of Oriental Reed Warbler and Rufous Treepie. The best bird was a very obliging Yellow-eyed Babbler.
The trip to Khao Yai was fairly easy being about thrre hours north east of Bangna. Traffic was heavy but moving so it was about 7.00 on Friday evening when we arrived. The hotel (Eco Valley Lodge) was a major disappointment being too far out and not very clean. However, the following day we went into the park and had great views of Moustached Barbet. It was noticable that the birding tailed off by 10.00 so being a distance from the park entrance was not helpful.. I think we will camp next time. The park was fairly busy being a weekend but there were still birds to be found. Good views of Slaty-backed Forktail and Oriental Pied Hornbill. In the evening we went to the radar station for a second time to look for Siamese Fireback. No luck with the Fireback but two male and two female Silver Pheasant showed really well.
The following day we managed to get into the park a little earlier and tried the radar station road for a last time and had great views of two male Siamese Firebacks. Eunice took this stunning shot.
We went found some different trails and one ran beside a river. Very beautiful, relaxing and relatively cool. Bangkok is really hot at the moment. Some good birds with Hill Myna, Slaty-backed Forktail, Green-billed Malkoha and Crested Serpent Eagle to name but a few.
On the way to the radar station we found a board wlk that opened out into this spectacular view. A couple of Wreathed Hornbill flew past as we looked over the valley.
