Doi Angkhang - A bird watcher's diary By Tony Ball

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1 Doi Angkhang - A bird watcher's diary By Tony Ball I was, once again, very pleasantly diverted from my usual spots by a request to check out the birds of Doi Angkhang by the Amari Hotel Group. I have to admit that this was the first time that I have been there to have a serious look at the birdlife and I wasn t disappointed. The Amari Group have opened a new resort, the Doi Angkhang Nature Resort, right next to the Royal Angkhang Research Station. It was built partly to help house the overflow of people attending seminars at the project and partly to accommodate people who want to get away from the city and immerse themselves in nature. There is plenty of nature there, or at least the birds seem to think so, because they are there in pretty impressive numbers. There has been a lot of deforestation in the recent past but there is also a lot of forest left. What was lost in the way of forest birds was made up for by the influx of grassland and scrub birds. If you are thinking of visiting the Resort it is best approached by turning off the Fang road (route 107) at kilometre 79 and there the holiday begins. It is beautiful, the road takes you along mountain ridges and through Hilltribe and Chinese villages (Kuomintang) and other villages nestle, picturesquely, in the valley floors. I don t know how it will affect others but for me the trip was magical and the nearly 3 hours that it took passed all too quickly. The work started immediately on arrival, as I got out of the bus, I looked up to savour the surrounding mountains and to my astonishment was confronted by a Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus). This one was a female (mainly brown) but there was no mistaking the long narrow wings and my surprise at seeing it was because this bird is a rare winter visitor. If I needed convincing it was confirmed for me the very next morning when I spotted the male which is grey, black and white, in almost the same place. That first morning I asked the hotel staff about methods of getting to and from the birding sites and they said that they could deliver me to any place I decided was right for bird wathching and pick me up again at a time and place set by me. This system worked perfectly and allowed me to get on with the job without the worry of having to arrange my own transport. The first two mornings were interspersed with rain or to be more exact I was in the clouds which had rain in them, the Resort is at about 1400 metres a.s.l. But, with my ever handy poncho at the ready this presented no problem, I even rather enjoyed it, refreshing as it was. Birdwise, Doi Angkhang has a lot to offer especially in species that can only be found in that area ( in Thailand). I came away with three new species for me, the Harrier for one, the Brown-breasted Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous) and the Whiskered Yuhina (Yuhina flavicollis), the latter two are both locally

2 common. Another rare bird to be found on Doi Angkhan is the Hume s Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) also the Giant Nuthatch (Sitta magna), which is uncommon, can be found around stands of pine trees above 1200 metres. The first two mornings, because of the rain, I only spotted 33 and 37 species respectively but I think that those are respectable numbers. On the third day ( I only spent 3 days this time) I recorded 49 species and the total numbers of different species totalled 72. Most of the birding was done by the roadside and around the Resort area, I took a few side trips along trails created by the Forestry Department leading, usually, to nursery areas where they were planting seedlings and saplings to help with reforestation. Things seem to be going in the right direction and I think that this is because of the presence of the Royal Angkhang Research Station which was set up in 1969 under the auspices of His Majesty King Bhumibol and is now run by His Serene Highness, Prince Bhisadej Rajani. The birdwatching sites are numerous and I only covered a fraction of them so I will be going back periodically to cover more and to get a better picture of how to get the best value in as short a time as possible. Most people, nowadays, just don t have the time to wander about hoping to see something interesting, what they need is an itinerary which will more-or-less gaurantee them a minimum number of sightings. I don t blame them, in these times, time is money! Finally, it was very pleasant to come back to the Resort after a six hour stretch on the mountain (6am-12pm), have a hot shower and amble on down to the restaurant for a very welcome meal. Birdwatching doesn t have to be a trial. Birds Sighted in Angkhang 1. Common Buzzard 2. Rufous-winged Buzzard 3. Hume's Pheasant 4. Mountain Bamboo-Partridge 5. Ashy Wood-Pigeon 6. Large Hawk-Cuckoo 7. Green-billed Malkoha 8. Blue-Bearded Bee-eater 9. Great Barbet 10. Pacific Swift 11. Barn Swallow 12. Red-rumped Swallow 13. Olive-backed Pipit 14. Grey Wagtail 15. Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike 16. Grey-chinned Minivet 17. Long-tailed Minivet 18. Red-whiskered Bulbul 19. Brown-Breasted Bulbul

3 20. Flavescent Bulbul 21. Mountain Bulbul 22. Ashy Bulbul 23. Ashy Drongo 24. Bronzed Drongo 25. Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo 26. Grey Treepie 27. Great Tit 28. Chestnut-vented Nuthatch 29. Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler 30. White-browed Scimitar-Babbler 31. White-browed Laughingthrush 32. Red-faced Liocichla 33. Grey-cheeked Fulvetta 34. White-browed Shrike-Babbler 35. Blue-winged Minla 36. Siver-eared Mesia 37. Black-Headed Sibia 38. Spot-breasted Parrotbill 39. Buff-throated Warbler 40. Radde's Warbler 41. Arctic Warbler 42. Greenish Warbler 43. Blyth's Leaf-Warbler 44. White-tailed Leaf-Warber 45. Orange-barred Leaf-Warbler 46. Hill Prinia 47. Siberian Rubythroat 48. Orange-flanked Bush-Robin 49. Stonechat 50. Pied Bushchat 51. Grey Bushchat 52. Blue Rock-Thrush 53. Blue Whistling Thrush 54. Asian Brown Flycatcher 55. Red-throated Flycatcher 56. White-gorgetted Flycatcher 57. Grey-headed Flycatcher 58. Verditer Flycatcher 59. White-throated Fantail 60. Long-tailed Shrike 61. Gould's sunbird 62. Green-tailed Sunbird 63. Streaked Spiderhunter 64. Oriental White-eye 65. Scaly-breasted Munia 66. Common Rosefinch 67. Chestnut Bunting 68. Crested Bunting

4 Bird Watching in Angkhang The famous Thai ornithologist, Dr. Boonsong Lekagul, visited Doi Angkhang on the 8th to 11th February, 2002 and reported the following bird sighting. The time when he was twitching was generally from 14: to each day. He also commented that he would have seen more species if he had been able to climb further of the beaten track which regrettably his age now prevent him from doing. The numbers listed referred to the numbers given to species in the revised version of his book Lekagul. This is available from good bookstores in Thailand such as Asia Books. February 8, Saxicola ferrea 772 Muscicapa dauurica 469 Hirundo daurica 481 Motacilla cinerea 454 Apus pacificus 577 Sitta nagaensis 501 Pericrocotus ethologus 574 Parus major 547 Dicrurus leucophaeus 834 Acridotheres javanicus February 9, Minla cyanourptera 519 Pycnonotus jocosus 546 Dicrurus macrocercus 112 Falco tinnunculus 98 Ictinaetus malayensis 751 Monticola solitarius 752 Myiophoneus caeruleus 480 Motacilla alba 738 Chaimarrornis leucocephalus 651 Heterophasia melanoleuca 499 Pericrocotus solaris 500 Pericrocotus brevirostris 729 Copsychus saularis 486 Hemipus picatus 524 Pycnonotus flavescens

5 February 10, Saxicola caprata 745 Saxicola torquata 471 Delichon dasypus 270 Streptopelia chinensis 550 Dicrurus remifer 797 Eumyias thalassina 819 Lanius schach 888 Carduelis ambigua 424 Picoides atratus February 11, Phylloscopus tenellipes 520 Pycnonotus xanthorrhous 521 Pycnonotus aurigaster 513 Pycnonotus striatus 903 Melophus lathami 90 Spilornis cheela 557 Oriolus traillii 597 Pomatorhinus erythrogenys 798 Cyornis unicolor 647 Leiothrix argentauris 901 Emberiza rutila 478 Anthus cervinus 466 Hirundo rustica 476 Anthus hodgsoni 74 Accipiter trivirgatus 305 Centropus sinensis 845 Nectarinia asiatica 844 Nectarinia jugularis 510 Chloropsis hardwickii 306 Centropus bengalensis 792 Niltava grandis 544 Hypsipetes madagascariensis 554 Oriolus chinensis 579 Sitta frontalis 870 Zosterops japonicus 637 Yuhina castaniceps 282 Cuculus sparverioides 378 Megalaima virens 649 Actinodura ramsayi 630 Liocichla phoenicea 654 Paradoxornis guttaticollis

6 858 Arachnothera magna 541 Hypsipetes mcclellandii 385 Megalaima asiatica 91 Spizaetus nipalensis 566 Dendrocitta formosae 549 Dicrurus aeneus 726 Luscinia cyane 636 Alcippe morrisonia 764 Turdus obscurus 658 Paradoxornis gularis 511 Spizixos canifrons 700 Prinia atrogularis 846 Aethopyga gouldiae 895 Mycerobas melanozanthos 580 Sitta magna 427 Picoides canicapillus 365 Upupa epops 75 Accipiter gentilis 414 Blythipicus pyrrhotis