YCN in Thailand: Part 1 - Doi Lang

Mon 13th Jan, 2014

For me the best and most rewarding natural history experiences come from knowing a place or habitat really well. To quote a birding friend ‘I need to drink it in’. In today’s world of fast and furious UK birding we no longer have time to stop and sip, never mind drink it in!

To this end I am spending two months in Thailand with my wife Gaynor, exploring the forests of the north on the border with Myanmar (Burma). This is the first time in my life I have had an opportunity to return to a country I have previously only rushed around.

We started the trip on Thailand’s second highest mountain, Doi Lang. Cloaked in dense forest and with few visitors apart from Thai and foreign birders, this is paradise - if you like huge areas of habitat and very challenging birding that is!

Thai and ex-pat birders travel here to see and photograph some of the rarest birds in Thailand. Wintering Siberian and Himalayan passerines abound, mixing with resident jungle species. I have been blown away by the diversity of flycatchers, chats and warblers. A dazzling array of stunners includes Ultramarine Flycatcher, Sapphire Flycatcher, White-gorgeted Flycatcher, Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Golden Bush Robin, Himalayan Bush Robin, Claudia’s and Davison’s Warblers and many more, all amongst familiar species such as Pallas’s Warblers and Olive-backed Pipits.

Time and patience are needed for the best views of these and many other species which are hidden in the undergrowth or flitting from shade to light. It can be frustrating birding, but surrounded by wild jungle I have not only been drinking it in but getting drunk on diversity!

Check back next week for the next YCN blog posting from the jungle!