Today I saw 1 Spoon-billed Sandpiper at Pak Thale & 2 Nordmann's Greenshank at Laem Pak Bia.

Yesterday 1 Spoon-billed Sandpiper, 1150 Great Knot & 1 Eastern Curlew at Pak Thale



-- Edited by Pete Hines on Saturday 9th of March 2013 03:39:32 PM

There is a Thailand thread on Bird Forum which is regularly used by ex-pat birders and tour leaders. There are other websites although many are geared towards generating business for tour leading / guides for a day and seem to be reluctant to give out too much information useful for the independant traveller, that's where I may be of help, even Nicks website doesn't give everything away.

Spoon-billed Sandpipers are back. One was at Pak Thale yesterday and one was at Kok Kham earlier in the month. There is now a gallery of images from my trip earlier this year in the Out-of-Country Photo Gallery, including a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. The images of White-faced Plover are stills from video clips taken from Laem Pak Bia which is very close to Pak Thale.

Other recent news is a price hike of National Park entrance fees from 200THB to 500THB (about £10) which is paid on each entry. You only pay once if camping inside. So if visiting Kaeng Krachen NP there are campsites at km 15 and km 30, both with restaraunts, where a 2 berth tent with 2 sleeping bags, mattresses and pillows cost 200THB (about £4) per night in total and are all provided on site. The target bird for many here is Ratchet-tailed Treepie which most birders search for along km 27 -29, although I connected on the Orchid trail at Km 30 just below the campsite.

These areas are absolute gems for birding and I was surprised at just how many people simply twitch the Spoon-billed Sand and move on, instead of incorporating a trip to see White-faced Plover or just spend more time birding this vast area of saltpans. Also birders tend to stay outside the Park at eg. Ban Maka, drive the 20 minutes to reach the entrance for 05.30 (as there are set times for traffic going up and down the mountain) and thus pay the entrance fee each day. Camping is a cheaper option and allows more freedom. I think KK does not normally open until November so that the roads can be repaired after the rainy season.

There is a lot of information on Nick Upton's excellent thaibirding.com for site gen, recent sightings, list updates (important as the fields guides are now out of date), White-faced Plover article and links for cheap flights, Thai brides etc.

Anyone going to the 'Land of Smiles' - enjoy! White-faced Plover here

-- Edited by Pete Hines on Wednesday 17th of October 2012 09:43:06 PM

I feel for the folk on the Similan Islands today following todays tsunami warnings for the Andaman Sea after the earthquake and subsquent tremors in Indonesia. This area was hit hard by the 2004 tsunami. Travelling around Khao Lak and Krabi (SW Thailand) evacuation zones and procedures are in place all over, but from I saw on Ko Muang (No 4 island) where the Nicobar Pigeons are you would be a tad exposed. Squeaky bum time !.

Getting to stay on Ko Muang involved getting an open ticket on a snorkelling package via Khao Lak and then you can stay for as long as you like, either camping or in bungalows, the option also available to stay on No8, Ko Similan, but no pigeons there. When I first tried to book there were no boats available for the following day so a stroll down to Nang Thong Beach, Khao Lak, produced 5+ Grey-tailed Tattler among 16+ Terek Sandpiper, 25+ Lesser Sand Plover, 45+ Turnstone, a Curlew and 2 Pacific Reef Egrets all huddled on a small area of exposed rock at high tide. Two subsequent high tide visits produced nothing but the Egrets and a Common sandpiper.