A guided morning birding at Tonpariwat Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand.

While bird guiding in SE-Asia might be much harder work than many would realize, there’s 1 aspect so important that it would make any guide keep going forever…excitement! Yes, we do visit the same areas repeatedly, I reckon some would get bored, but for myself I believe this adds to the intimidate knowledge one gathers about an area and it is sure that no visit can be the same as the previous one. There’s always something new and different and I strongly believe that there is no such as a bad morning. All right, the pain wake up even before 5am will always be there but then a positive approach and some fresh enthusiasm takes over soon. A new morning is bound to become good, very good or even better. Excitement fills the air, and then sometimes…very sometimes, it becomes so good you would hardly be able to believe it. Even rarer would be for the impossible to happen, I never thought it would be possible…our morning at Tonpariwat.

Scaly-breasted Bulbul is one of those excellent specialities regular at Tonpariwat. It's very scarce anywhere else in South-Thailand .

Tonpariwat Wildlife Sanctuary is a large tract of evergreen forest on steep terrain in southern Thailand. The area is largely inaccessible, that is –for everyday visitors and nature lovers- no proper trails, facilities or even forest guards are a feature in many of the smaller reserves in Thailand. So yes indeed, birding is very limited, but the last stretch of road to the headquarters, just about 500m or so, has some of the highest bird activity anywhere in South-Thailand and it is here some excellent roadside birding can be had. The forest immediately next to the roadsides looks like nothing, just second growth with decent trees far and few in between. Yet, this is a special place, and a variety of seeding and flowering scrubs and small trees usually attracts quite a few birds. I might have been over 15 times by now and to compare each of these visits gives one a good insight in what is possible here in a single morning. I would say about 45 species is a nice average score. Fifty would be good and 55 very good. Sixty would be very hard to ever manage and 70 I would have thought impossible… A single morning birding along a 500m stretch of road, with only a single type of habitat present, yes that is in “slow birding” southern Thailand, and we notched up 73 species…please note that unlimited excitement came to me. Thank you so much!

The Whiskered Treeswift breeds at Tonpariwat.                                    We photographed this superb Red-billed Malkoha                        If you look carefully, you’ll find proof above.                                           on one of our previous visits to the sanctuary.

Seventy-three species simply must include some real goodies and hard to find species! The list is long so will keep myself to a top-ten of favourites. The full morning list can be viewed below.     1) White-throated Rock-Thrush 2) Scaly-breasted Bulbul 3) Red-bearded Bee-eater 4) Green-backed Flycatcher 5) Great Hornbill 6) Banded Kingfisher 7) Dark-throated Oriole 8) Whiskered Treeswift 9) Chestnut-breasted Malkoha 10) Blyth’s Hawk Eagle   Aah, can’t leave it…too good, here’s another half a dozen; Silver-rumped Needletail, Fiery Minivet, Grey-bellied Bulbul, Mugimaki Flycatcher, Yellow-eared Spiderhunter, Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker.

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Coordinates of HQ;  08.36.44 N    98.32.58 E Altitude approx. 1150 feet / 350 meter

Here’s a sound recording I made at Tonpariwat of the superb song of White-handed Gibbon. Usually these can only be heard extremely distant from the birding area. Just once on many visits, on 3 Feb 2010, I was lucky enough to find a single Gibbon right by the entrance. If you didn’t believe me so far on high bird activity in the place, listen, you may recognize the odd 10 bird species in the background. Busy spot! You also may have noticed from the sonogram, our Gibbon goes heavy at the end!

Full bird list for 4 hours birding in the morning of 19 January 2010 at Tonpariwat WS, Thailand.

Oriental Honey-buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus   Crested Serpent-Eagle Spilornis cheela   Blyth's Hawk-Eagle Spizaetus alboniger   Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis   Vernal Hanging-Parrot  Loriculus vernalis   Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii   Chestnut-breasted Malkoha Phaenicophaeus curvirostris   Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis   German's Swiftlet Aerodramus germani   Silver-rumped Needletail Rhaphidura leucopygialis   Asian Palm-Swift Cypsiurus balasiensis   Fork-tailed Swift Apus pacificus   Grey-rumped Treeswift Hemiprocne longipennis   Whiskered Treeswift Hemiprocne comata   Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella   Red-bearded Bee-eater Nyctyornis amictus   Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Merops leschenaulti   Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis   Brown Barbet Calorhamphus fuliginosus   Red-throated Barbet Megalaima mystacophanos   Blue-eared Barbet Megalaima australis   Banded Broadbill Eurylaimus javanicus   Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica   Lesser Cuckoo-shrike Coracina fimbriata   Fiery Minivet Pericrocotus igneus   Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike Hemipus picatus   Black-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus atriceps   Black-crested Bulbul Pycnonotus melanicterus   Scaly-breasted Bulbul Pycnonotus squamatus   Grey-bellied Bulbul Pycnonotus cyaniventris   Stripe-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus finlaysoni   Streak-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus blanfordi   Spectacled Bulbul Pycnonotus erythropthalmos   Ochraceous Bulbul Alophoixus ochraceus   Hairy-backed Bulbul Tricholestes criniger   Grey-eyed Bulbul Iole propinqua   Streaked Bulbul Ixos malaccensis   Blue-winged Leafbird Chloropsis cochinchinensis   Common Iora Aegithina tiphia   Great Iora Aegithina lafresnayei   White-throated Rock-Thrush Monticola gularis   Eyebrowed Thrush Turdus obscurus   Rufescent Prinia Prinia rufescens   Common Tailorbird Orthotomus sutorius   Dark-necked Tailorbird Orthotomus atrogularis   Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus   Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis   Pale-legged Leaf-Warbler Phylloscopus tenellipes   Dark-sided Flycatcher Muscicapa sibirica   Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica   Brown-streaked Flycatcher Muscicapa siamensis   Green-backed Flycatcher Ficedula elisae   Mugimaki Flycatcher Ficedula mugimaki   Verditer Flycatcher Eumyias thalassinus   Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher Culicicapa ceylonensis   White-rumped Shama Copsychus malabaricus   Black-naped Monarch Hypothymis azurea   Puff-throated Babbler Pellorneum ruficeps   Ruby-cheeked Sunbird Chalcoparia singalensis   Plain Sunbird Anthreptes simplex   Plain-throated Sunbird Anthreptes malacensis   Olive-backed Sunbird Cinnyris jugularis   Eastern Crimson Sunbird Aethopyga siparaja   Yellow-eared Spiderhunter Arachnothera chrysogenys   Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker Prionochilus maculatus   Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker Prionochilus percussus   Thick-billed Flowerpecker  Dicaeum agile   Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma   Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker Dicaeum cruentatum   Oriental White-eye Zosterops palpebrosus   Dark-throated Oriole Oriolus xanthonotus   Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis   Asian Fairy-bluebird Irena puella    Total number of birds : 73                           Check it out; Tonpariwat WS bird list -134 bird species-

P.S. Not about Tonpariwat but on exactly that same day we went for lunch in nearby Phang-nga. Restaurant beautifully set by a mangrove lined channel. Nice food, cold drinks, Mangrove Pitta and Brown-winged Kingfisher calling nearby…and a new sign that made me change my mind about Thailand…I was almost convinced we weren’t interested at all in reducing Co2 emissions. We love our gas guzzling massive 4x4s, we do not believe in insulation so the air-cons can keep going at full power…but then, here it is. We ARE making our contribution after all! Cheers! Love you!