Doi Lang - Part 5

December 11 2010. 26th of November was the last day of my 5 days Northern Thailand Trip, I had till 10 am to do a last round of shooting at the foothill of Doi Lang before heading to the airport. I went back to the Pink Cassia Tree which was discovered by some Thai Photographers on the previous day.

At 7 am I saw some species of Sunbirds, White-eye and Leafbirds came to the tree. I was very excited to see the birds coming. The birds came to feed on the flower nectar. Unfortunately It was windy and foggy. The bad weather condition caused most of my shots blur.

Foggy and windy condition

At 8.30 am, the fog started to clear and the wind slowed down. The golden morning sunlight created a perfect shooting condition.

My first lifer of the day is the colorful Gould's Sunbirds.

The Black-throated Sunbird was also attracted to the pink Cassia tree.

I got 2 species of White-eye from the same tree. There were Chestnut-flanked and Oriental White-eye.

A pair of Orange-bellied Leafbird :

Female

Male

An un-expected visitor also came to the tree, a Female Daurian Redstart :

Female Daurian Redstart

It was a very productive morning. I got 4 species of lifers at the pink Cassia Tree.

Overall my 5 days at Northern Thailand were full of excitement. I enjoyed the beautiful landscape of Northern Thailand and food. I managed to photographed over 30 species of birds. I would like to thank my bird guide, Mr Panuwat Sasirat (whoever interested on his bird guide tour, click the link here: wildbirdeco), who has worked very hard to find many species of birds and also his hospitality during my trip at Chiang Mai.

Thanks for reading.

Doi Lang - Part 4

December 9 2010. On the 25th of November, it was the last full day at Doi Lang. I put in more efforts to look for some other species that I did not manage to photograph the day before. I also spent part of the morning session shooting behind the army kitchen, aiming to get improvement shots of the "tame birds". 

Here are some highlights of the day :

Rufous-winged Fulvetta

A small and fast moving bird

Thanks to Par (my bird guide), he managed to find this fella before we headed back to the foothill.

Yellow-bellied Fantail

Some birds at Doi Lang are quite shy and skittish. It was not easy to get near. Here are some highly cropped photos:

Black Bulbul

White-headed Bulbul

Crested Finchbill

Ashy Drongo

Ashy Bulbul

Yellow-browed Warbler (P.inornata)

I also met a group of very friendly Thai Bird Photographers. We had a group photos before we left the place.

At the foothill, the Thai photographers discovered something un-expected, a blooming pink Cassia tree. The pink Cassia flowers attracted some species of birds to the tree. However, it was getting dark soon thus I decided to come back here early in the morning the next day.

This is the first blooming tree at this area.

I was excited to see many species of birds came to the tree.

To be continued. Thanks for reading.

Doi Lang - Part 3

At the view point.
The far end is the Burmese Border

December 2 2010. I spent two and a half days at Doi Lang. I personally feel that this is the best birding place for my 5 days trip. This place is quite remote thus the habitat here are not disturbed by human activities. There are more species of birds sighted here compared to Doi Ang Khang.

At the Thai Army Camp.

On the first day at Doi Lang, I started the day photographing some "tame" birds behind the Thai Army Champ kitchen. Among the species that frequently come here looking for left-overed foods are Red-faced Liocichla, Black-headed Sibia, Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, Blue-Whistling Thrush and Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher. 

Red-faced Liocichla

Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush

Black-headed Sibia

Blue-whistling Thrush

Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher

By 10 am, it's time to proceed to the summit view point. Along the way, my guide and I stopped over a few places.

Whiskered Yuhina at a fruiting tree

Getting ready for the White-gorgetted Flycatcher

A pair of White-gorgetted Flycatcher came to feed on some worms.

Some scenic views at the view point:

Here is a view of Thai and Burmese border

Shooting landscape with my 70-200 F4 IS

I met a British motor-rider who was embarking a journey from here to Peninsula Malaysia.
I provided him some tips of places of interesting in Malaysia.

By 12, it was time for a lunch break.

Lunch was prepared at the back of the Hilux. I like Thai food.

Bird's activity was slow from 1 pm till 4 pm. There were not much species sighted. By 4 pm, it was time for last round of shooting before we headed to the foothill.

I spotted a Spectacled Barwing not far away from the army camp.

Spectacled Barwing

Flavescent Bulbul

While driving toward the foothill. We saw a lonely Blue-breaded Bee Eater perched high up at a tree. I managed to get some "grab shot".

Thanks for reading.

Doi Ang Khang - Part 2

December 1 2010. I started the second day early.  By 6.30 am my guide and I hit the road to the first location, a patch of pine forest further from the Chinese cemetery. We were looking for the Hume's Pheasant. It was a no show after an hour of waiting. However, I managed to see the Eurasian Jay and photographed the male and female Grey Bushchat.

Male Grey Bushchat

Female Grey Bushchat

After that, I moved on to an open ground near the rubbish dump area. I spotted 3 species of Bulbul at the open ground.

Brown-breasted Bulbul

Brown-breasted Bulbul

Flavescent Bulbul

A small flock of Sooty Headed Bulbul

The excitement of the day was when we saw the Siberian Rubythroat. We decided to play the "tape" trying to lure the fella to a nearer tree. We were excited to see it responded to the call and flew nearer.

Siberian Rubythroat
Easily identified by its red throat

Responded well to our call by perching at tree nearer to our hiding location

Siberian Stonechat

Misty morning.

After lunch, we went to the King Project Garden to check out the Thrush behind the restaurant kitchen. There was very quiet, we realized that our timing was not right, the Thrush would not be here on November, probably some months later.

The natural trail was also very quiet during afternoon. There were no birds sighted except an Brown Shrike.

We decided to head back to the resort to look for the Orange-bellied Niltava. Upon arriving at the car park, we were greeted by a Great Tit.

Great Tit

After an hour of waiting, the Orange-bellied Niltava was no show. We realized that there was a Brown Hawk Owl perched near the stream, that why the Niltava was too afraid to get near to its regular place.

Brown Hawk owl

By 5 pm, we decided to move on to Tha Thorn town. I was a bit disappointed with my trip to Doi Ang Khang. I have seen many beautiful photos of birds by Thai photographers shot here at Doi Ang Khang. All those beautiful photos inspired me to explore here.  Unfortunately I only got a few of the species. Maybe I was here on the wrong timing. For sure I will come back again soon, perhaps after the pink flower bloomed.

On the way to Tha Thorn, a Long-tailed Shrike greeted me "Good Bye"