Kaeng Krachan National Park Day 1 - 23rd May 2010

Kaeng Krachan Birding Holiday Day 1

Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petchaburi Province is about 3+ hrs drive southwest from Bangkok. It covers an area of 2,915 square km. It is the largest national park in Thailand. Kaeng Krachan National Park’s vegetation consist of tropical rainforest, dipterocarp forest and deciduous forest. Kaeng Krachan National Park geographically situated at midway on the southern Thai Peninsula spanning to the border of Myanmar. Due to this, it is in the zones of biodiversity mix Malaysia and Burmese.

More info about this largest Thailand national park I have share earlier in my previous posting.
As the day approaching nearer to the day of our travel from Malaysia, Bangkok political issue between the red-tshirt group with the existing government is getting more chaotic. Peaceful streets demonstration that has prolong since last year has up-turn to a tense un-control situation. Tourist are being advice to delayed their travelling plan to Bangkok until the un-control situation subside.

Due to safety reasons 3 of my other friends initially agreed to visit this largest Thailand National Park together with me decided to called off their plan. My parents who is keeping themselves closely with news update of Bangkok situation, have a heavy heart as I had set my mind to proceed for this trip. I keep assured them that my travel literary will bypass Bangkok city centre. I will also keep my focus right not to land myself in any shopping mall.

Mr Lam too having the same thought as mine. Once we land at Bangkok’s airport we will travel to outskirt. The news update of Red-t-shirt gang decided to step backed a day before our flight schedule to Bangkok has indeed lifted the worries of Mrs Lam on her husband safety. With this it seems that the chaotic situation at Bangkok will subside very soon.

Our Air Asia flight AKxxx take off from Kuala Lumpur LCCT as per schedule. We realised that there are a number of seats are empty. Hmmm maybe some tourist decided to called off there travelling to Bangkok with the political uncertainty situation.

After stepping our from Bangkok airport custom checkpoint the surrounding indicate that life are as usual in this part of Thailand. Unlike my previous visit during winter where people wears extra to keep warm, this period of my travel is summer. Some days temperature may soar to 39 Celsius. It is humid just the same in Malaysia, however Malaysia have yet to experience temperature gone beyond 37 celcius.

Our friend Mam picked us up from airport to continue our journey to Kaeng Krachan by car. In my replied to her question of what is expectation of this birding trip, I indicate to her that I only aimed to have 2 lifers (Brown Hornbill and Rachet-Tailed Treepie).

The land of smile greeted us with the scene of many Cassia bakeriana trees full bloom along our journey is indeed an eye-opener.

With the smooth traffic situation combine with heavy conversation of old friends catching with each other, the 4+ hrs journey inclusive of a meal and fuel top-up break seems to past very swiftly.

We stopped a little while at KaengKrachan National Park VISITOR CENTER.


This time there aren’t any single camping tent unlike during my 1st visit in last year Jan. The water level is also shallow. Water dam management at Thailand was well managed, if the same condition of water level in Malaysia we surely have water rationing.
We decided to have dinner cum watching the sunset before we checked in to our accommodation.




This meal of Thailand fragrant white rice, seafood tom-yam soup, squid salad and deep fried local freshwater fish cost us approximately 600 Baht.

After this yummy dinner we continue our journey to Barn Soong Nok.

Birds heard/seen
At Visitor Center – Copersmith Barbet, Black-Collared Starling,
At Restaurant – Red-Waltted Lapwing, Egret spp
On the way to Ban Soong Nok we encounter countless of large tailed nightjar.

Kaeng Krachan National Park Day 2 - 24th May 2010

Kaeng Krachan Birding Holiday Day 2

Even though it is the off-peak period, we are unable to book any of the Park’s chalet/bungalow. This is due to they make use of this off-peak period to refurbish/renovate all visitor chalet/bungalow.
The other choice of park’s accommodation is camping. This is not too practical unlike during the dry winter. We foresee from April - Oct some days there will be heavy downpour.

To reduce our travelling time to the park daily, there are only 2 places of accommodation
to consider (Barn Maka and Baan SongNok). If the group is more than 4 then Barn Maka is the choice. Baan SongNok only has 2 chalets. Only one chalet is equipped with air-con.

To book Baan SongNok accommodation call the owner at 66-0860488330. FYI due to limited hand-phone signal, the owner may not able to attend on your call at the very moment.

This is the air-con chalet. It has bathroom and toilet attached. Cost us 1,500baht per night.
Today we start part of our morning session to try our luck for Khalij Pheasant. We wait in silence with mosquitoes whizzing condition behind the bird hide in Baan SongNok.

We have a Lesser Treeshrew.
Then a flock of Spotted Necked Dove,

followed by a group of Red Jungle Fowl flock with more female than male.

This time I notice one individual look alike female however it’s plumage are more like a sub-adult male.

The owner of Baan SongNok planted a number of fruits trees around the compound.
As papaya bear fruits more quickly than one could consumes, therefore the owner shares it with…
Our high hope of Khalij Pheasant appearance reduces as the day began brighter as the clock ticks. Knowing well that this shy species will not prefer to forage openly after prominent daylight. This reduces us one day less of the chance of seeing Khalij Pheasant. Well today is just the starting of our birding trip. Hopefully tomorrow or the day after we have the 'moment with Khalij Pheasant' . Without much delay we adjourned to the Park.

We drove pass some villages, paid our park fees inclusive of the vehicles park fees and here we are at Kaeng Krachan National Park. The Jeep track start, our dear friend Mam who is our chauffeur have to be careful negotiating the rough track. At one point ahead of us on the jeep track I saw a vibrant colour standing bird. I shouted… OOOOh .. that is pitta. Even though it is the most common Pitta species among the rest, I could not believe that I have to travel thus far to have the first glimpse of it.

During early April till end May the common reason for people to visit Kaeng Krachan National Park is for Butterfly Watching.







I could not believe my eyes on our journey to Baan Krang Camp we are greeted with such a mass amount of butterflies. There are big flock of butterflies fluttering in the air, some so engrossed sipping nutrients on the jeep track and not to mentioned the amount of butterflies congregated near the streams. The public toilet/bathroom wall at the camp group of Baan Krang is also full of butterflies.



There are not even aware/sensitive of the surrounding. Many have being run-over by vehicles.
The experience of so many Butterflies fluttering around, mass congregate on the road and river bank as well as sipping nutrients from flowering trees is totally a new experience to me. So far I have yet to encounter the same experience back in Malaysia. Hmmmm maybe this Kaeng Krachan National Park forest is a contiguous therefore the biodiversity is so rich.

I was so mesmerized by the butterflies phenomena have nearly forgotten about my wish list Brown Hornbill and Rachet –Tailed treepie.

Anyway have to force myself to move away to trek towards streams 1 , stream 2 and stream 3.
As it was nearly mid-day it was hard to hear any vocal birds call. Looking out for any movements of leaves and branches, scanning with a pair of binoculars on the canopy is totally exercising my patience. Anyhow I was rewarded of sighting of a flocks of at least 5 Brown Hornbill, Streaked Breasted Woodpecker. These lifer does not allow me any photography opportunity.

Only a Orange Breasted Trogon and Red-Wattled Lapwing is very obliging

We call it a day at Kaeng Krachan National Park towards the evening as it was hardly any vocal birds calls. We head back to continue our bird-watching activities at Ban Song Nok compound.

Once we reached Ban Song Nok, the lovely owner (Khun Aik) with all excitement informed us a new bird appearance. I looked through her tele-scope of that woodpecker perched far away… OOOh it is definitely a lifer for me too. We were debating could it be the Black Headed…no it does not look like one.

The woodpecker came nearer but somehow it does give us a greater window to determine what species. The birds was playing hide and seek with us. It fly away before we could pick up our binoculars to have a good look.

With great determination we tried to locate the bird scanning through our binoculars towards the direction of its call. After a long while this woodpecker hop to a spot that is no obstructing…
we managed to identify it as Grey Headed Woodpecker – female.

Birds sighted/heard for the day.

At Kaeng Krachan National Park
Red Jungle Fowl, Grey Headed Woodpecker, Streaked Breasted Woodpecker,
Greater Flameback, Common Flameback, Green Eared Barbet, Brown Hornbill, Pied Hornbill,
Orange Breasted Trogon, Chestnut Breasted Malkoha, Green Billed Malkoha, Greater Coucal,
Indian Roller, Red -Waltted Lapwing, Crested Serpent Eagle, Blue Winged Pitta, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Spangle Drongo, Greated Racket Tailed Drongo, Black Naped Monarch, Tickel Blue Flycatcher, White Rumped Sharma, Sooty Headed Bulbul, Black Headed Bulbul, Stripe-Throated Bulbul, Streak Eared Bulbul, Ocracheous Bulbul.

Mammals - Burmese Ferret Badgers, Barking Deer

At Padang Camp ground
White Breasted Woodswallow, White-Throated Kingfisher, Oriental Magpie Robin.

At Barn SongNok
Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Puff-Throated Babbler, Red Jungle Fowl, Spotted Necked Dove, Common Tailorbird, Grey-Headed Woodpecker - female.

Kaeng Krachan National Park Day 3 - 25th May 2010

Kaeng Krachan Birding Holiday Day 3

Prime birding spots at Kaeng Krachan National Park are :-
a) Barn Krang Campsite (KM15) trek up to cross stream 1, 2 and 3. If there is still time permit explore the well carve nature trail near the camp site

b) Panoen Tung Campsite KM30. (1,207 meter asl)
Due to the narrow jeep track, vehicles heading up are restricted at 5:30am – 7:30am and 13:00pm – 15:00pm. Timetable for vehicles heading down are at 9:00am – 10am and 16:00pm – 17:00pm.
Visitors that do not stay in any of the Kaeng Krachan National Park’s accommodation need to leave and pass the park entrance before dark. Visitors that have their accommodation inside the park are not allowed to roamed around after dark. This is due to many wild animals such as Wild Elephants are more fierce and active at night. For safety sake, the Park Authority impose the curfew rule to it’s visitors after dark.

A normal saloon car or van can safely land you to Barn Krang Campsite with careful manoeuvre. However 4WD is required for assessing Panoen Tung campsite due to 3 streams to cross from Barn Krang Campsite. During raining season the streams could suddenly swell up. In this situation it will pose difficulties/dangerous to any 4WD.

Today we hire Khun Piak the local nature guide with his 4WD to fetch us to Panoen Tung Campsite. Apparently he is one and the only local guide. He is also interested in bird-watching. Having him around as our chauffer to Panoen Tung, it makes us feel that we are interacting with a friend who have the same interest. Beside being a walking field guide himself, he also carry along birds and mammals field guides. He earned his living by fetching birders as well as normal tourist to admire the morning “sea of fog” at Panoen Tung. He told us during peak seasons (winter) everyday he is fully booked. Anyhow his preference is to fetch birders. Since he is the one and only local nature guide, his booking can be made with the help of your accommodation owner.

FYI Panoen Tung for bird-watching activities it is best to avoid Sat, Sun and public holiday.

Khun Piak arrived at our chalet doorstep about 30 mins earlier. It is norm for him to be earlier to wait for his clients. However I feel that “ooh no I’ve yet to change from my pyjamas….” .

Unlike my previous visit during winter, I notice that the journey to Panoen Tung campsite is not chilling cold even I sat on back of Khun Piak’s truck like vehicle. The journey is as rough and bumpy as before. A few times we nearly felt off from our seat.

Khun Piak would normally stops at a few strategic place before the last destination of KM30 to allow his client to have the chance to look out for White-Browed Scimitar Babbler, Hornbill fly pass and etc...

While trying to look out for birds, I notice a small forest crab crawling on the track.
We stopped a little while to look at long-tailed broadbill nesting activities. Nearby we noticed 2 cute short-nosed fruitbats clutching together.
Sightings of Blue-Throated Barbet seems to a guarantee at this higher altitude.
Something fells on the track like raindrops. Hei...wonder is these the act of Hornbill feeding activities? It looks like an edible fruits, however it seems that only the macaque are interested on this.
We reached KM30 station safely though. This time of the year there is no sight of any camps. During winter KM30 Panoen Tung campsite is full of tents.

Just incase you miss to see the Rachet-tailed Treepie. There is a photo of if inside the restaurant.
This Leopard was photograph by one of the Thai birder. They told us that one "auspicious day" this Leopard was noticed resting on the big tree in front of the restaurant. There are few photographs of this majestic mammals hangs on the restaurant wall to commemorate the very moment.
One can easily spot the Flasvescent Bulbul, Blue-Throated Barbet and Ochraceous Bubul at Panoen Tung campsite restaurant. Sharing with you the series of birds that I could freeze it’s moments.


Noticed another Long Tailed broadbill nesting activities. Nest building are done by both female and male.
The bird will get the nesting materials somewhere, would not fly directly to the nesting spot.
They will perched at some spot nearby for awhile. Will have at least 2 stop-over, each stop-over is getting nearer to the nest. They need to be cautions of any predators around.
This is how broadbill weave it's nest.
We have to hide behind some bushes to peep into this individual. This Green Magpie came many rounds bathing and foraging.


Another pose of Blue-Throated Barbet. Actually this fruiting tree attracted a few Blue-Throated Barbet.
Mam mentioned to us that she saw a flock of small birds waves of a plain looking bird. Since it is a lifer for even to my Thai birder friend, it is then worth for us to look out for. We look out and OOOPs another lifer. The Burmese Yuhina.
It was quite disappointing cause n the midst of our good birding day, our afternoon session have to ended earlier due to heavy downpour.

Birds heard and saw for the day
Red Jungle Fowl –male, Bay Woodpecker (L), Great Barbet, Blue-Throated Barbet, Moustached Barbet, Green-Eared Barbet, Moustached Barbet, Great Hornbill, Orange Breasted Trogon, Black-Backed Kingfisher (L), Greate Coucal, Emeral Dove, Little Cuckoo Dove, Red Waltted Lapwing, Blue Pitta (H,L) – call (peru-whit, peru-whit), Greater Green Leabird, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Long-Tailed Broadbill, Rachet-Tailed Treepie (L), Black-Naped Monarch –female, White Rumped Sharma, Flavescent Bulbul,Ochraceous Bulbul, Ashy Bulbul, Buff-Vented Bulbul – juvenile, Dark Throated Tailorbird, flock of Oriental White Eye, Black-Throated Laughingthrush (L), White Hooded Babbler, Burmese Yuhina (L), Streaked Spiderhunter, Little spiderhunter, Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird.

Mammals sighted
Gibbon
Spectacled Leaf Macaque