Trip of Northern Thailand - Doi Ang Khang - Part 1

The scenic view of mountain range of Doi Ang Khang. 

November 29 2010. Last week, I had a 5 days birding trip to Northern Thailand. The first birding site was the scenic mountain range of Doi Ang Khang. It is one of the famous bird watching place in Thailand and located about 2 hours drive toward north from Chiang Mai. DAK consists of  mountain range and peaks, some of the areas have excellent habitat for birds.

Bann Lung Resort

After 2 hours drive on the scenic and winding mountain road, I arrived at Bann Lung Resort. My first target at DAK was to look for the White-capped Redstart at a stream behind the resort. I set-up a blind few meter from the stream. After 5 minutes of waiting, I saw a red and black color bird perched at a rock beside the stream. Photographing this active bird under the shade was not easy, I ended up with many blur pictures. Here are some good one:

White-capped Redstart (Riverchat)
Canon EOS 5D mkII EF 800 mm IS ISO 3200 1/50 F5.6

Canon EOS 1D mkIV EF 800 IS
ISO 2000 1/20 F8

I shot about 200 frames of the fella. At about 5 pm, I proceeded to the open land near the Chinese cemetery. As I was walking on a trail leading to the rubbish dump, I saw 4-5 Scimitar-Babbler perched on the dry twig few meter away. I regretted that I left my gear in the car. As I was trying to get back to the car to grab the gears, the small flock of Scimitar-Babbler get alerted and flew away and disappear into the bushes near by.

Twilight view of the mountain range

By 6 pm the sun has disappeared on the horizon. I decided to head back to the resort for dinner and went for bed early to have a good rest for a long day tomorrow.