Last Wednesday I spent the afternoon back at Dab Toon in Kaeng Krachan National Park. A couple of weeks ago there was a bit of a scare with rangers coming to close it down. The boss must have had a bad day as it was open the next day. Unfortunately, that day, my friend was in the hide and they were told to leave. Apparently, they are in discussion, the future is still uncertain so I have been frequenting the hide for my main targets of Ferruginous Partridge and Grey Peacock-Pheasant.
The highly sought-after Blue Pitta spends most of the day hopping a few metres from this hide, when this, plus the chance of displaying Grey Peacock-Pheasants, and frequent, reliable Ferruginous Partridge, make this undoubtably the best hide in Phetchaburi at this time of writing.
The targets came in rather late so most of the afternoon was filled with anticipation and waiting. Plenty of other birds to keep you entertained though. I’ll put some of my photos from the birds that I saw and frequently appear everyday.
At 4pm the male Grey Peacock-Pheasant arrived, unfortunately not with the female, she came an hour later. I wasn’t disappointed as I just wanted to photograph them, and if they were displaying that would be too much!
One thing I learnt previously is never leave the hide until it’s DARK. Today, I already knew to stick around as the Ferruginous Partridge duo were quite consistently showing at 6pm+. Activity usually has a little explosion at around this time anyway. It was exciting when the Ferruginous Partridges made their way into the clearing, they were extremely cute and friendly. They were joined by all the other Partridges, Bar-backed and Scaly-breasted.
An amazing day came to an end with the stunning pair of Ferruginous Partridges. They stuck around and kept waiting in front of the hide as they usually get some supplemental foods thrown to them. I’m not sure when I’ll be back at these hides, possibly if someone wants to have a guided visit, because as of now, I’ve ticked all that I wanted to see!
All images and video © 2023 Sam Hambly.
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