Noodle Shop Gems

Today the plan was to checkout the noodle shop spot in Klong San in Bangkok. It’s a well known site that consistently attracts desirable migrant birds during appropriate times of year. It’s just some scrubby habitat in the middle of the city but I guess it must have always been a historical migration spot. I tried to see a Hooded Pitta during spring migration earlier this year but didn’t know how to access the hide. Today, the target was Hooded Pitta but I felt fairy sure it had already travelled onwards since it had been well over a week.

This time I found out how to access the hide, and the first bird that was showing amazingly well was this female Siberian Blue Robin. No sign of the Pitta, so I didn’t have much expectations for that, the Robin was already a nice sighting. It was actively foraging, often times in the open. Even contesting food from the House Sparrows.

Next up for migrants was a female Chinese Blue Flycatcher which was perching quietly observing her surroundings, shifting places every few minutes. 20 minutes later I caught sight of an Orange-headed Thrush, our third passage migrant, landing in the mid-storey of the trees but it didn’t show well until a little later on.

After reporting a good selection of species, many of which were only heard, such as Black-naped Monarch, Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Black-naped Oriole and Ashy Drongo, I decided it might be time to leave. Before this happened, the hide-owner arrived and another birder also came by. He added some mealworms, said the Pitta was still present today, and almost instantly, the Hooded Pitta came out of hiding and into the open!

Lifer and my third species of Pitta, Hooded Pitta (Chestnut-crowned)

The Pitta would only venture out every hour-or-so, taking no chances being exposed in the open for too long. Not long after this great showing, the Orange-headed Thrush also joined in. Soon after its first appearance the Pitta went back into hiding.

Before leaving, I saw the Pitta lurking in the thick undergrowth. Overall, it was very nice to finally understand this productive patch of land in central Bangkok and hope to be back in the future to twitch some rarities. I had missed the Hooded Pitta at a more local patch a week ago, it only appeared for half-a-day, so it was even nicer to catch this long-staying individual.